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I am ashamed to be an executive in the maritime industry!” said Frank Coles in a recent LinkedIn post.

This statement was in regard to his recent petition asking Joe Biden and Boris Johnson to prioritize seafarer travel.

The petition has surpassed its goal of 5,000 signatures (6,070 to be exact). So Coles is pleased, right?

The Coles controversy all started last month when maritime influencer Lena
Göthberg published the 165th episode of her popular Shipping Podcast, and the content shocked listeners. Her guest, the former CEO of Transas and Wallem Group Frank Coles, put forth a radical new idea: organizing a global seafarer strike.

The idea went viral, but rather than pushing for an immediate strike, Coles asked his thousands of social media followers to sign and share a simple seafarer travel petition. The petition asks world leaders to protect the right of seafarers to travel without onerous regulations for visas.
But rather than submit the petition, Coles has doubled his target from 5,000 signatures to 10,000 and has widened the scope to include the IMO.

“The IMO is the most ineffective UN body,” said Coles. “Their recent seafarer video (linked HERE) is stating the obvious. It’s diplomatic waffle. How have we come to this level of over-the-top treatment of seafarers? On top of dead crew not being landed, crew being forced to stay way over their contracts, etc etc etc.”

Regardless of your thoughts on Coles’ media tactics, his petition is picking up steam. 

Click HERE to read, sign, and share Coles’ petition supporting seafarers.

NPESC is pleased to announce the creation of the Nautical Professional Education Society of Canada (NPESC) Legacy Fund with the Vancouver Foundation.

The purpose of this fund is to provide income (through interest) that will provide education bursaries and/or scholarships that will be made to maritime students within Canada in the name of those NPESC members who have crossed the bar and are no longer with us.

If you would like further information regarding this fund and/or would like to make a donation to the fund please CLICK HERE.

We are very pleased to announce the successful applicants for this Spring’s NPESC Bursary awards which, for the very first time, includes the winner of The Brian Silvester Maritime Bursary Award.

As always, the competition for these bursaries was extremely good and the selection committee has a difficult task in choosing the eventual winners from this group of applicants.

Those applicants that were successful were (in no particular order): –

Axel Noringseth – A third year Nautical Sciences Cadet at BCIT

Gurkirat Mangat – A second year Nautical Sciences Cadet at BCIT

Landon Wilson – A second year Marine Engineering Cadet at BCIT

and, the winner of The Brian Silvester Maritime Bursary Award for 2021 is:-

Jacqueline Weston – A Camosun College student pursuing het 60T limited Masters Ticket

We thank all of our applicants for this year’s Spring Bursary awards and wish them all the very best in their careers at sea. We look forward to hearing from our winners, in due course, about what they have been up to and how their awards have helped make their dreams become a reality.

The May 2021 edition of our newsletter is available now. Yet another great newsletter made possible by the efforts of our very own Captain David Whitaker, FNI. If, like many others, you enjoy reading this publication, please think about making a donation to our society by clicking here.

To read this latest edition please click here.

Captain John Lewis had the pleasure of attending at WMI in Ladysmith to present an NPESC book award to student Aaron Marsden.

Aaron has just completed SCS 3 and did Chartwork 2 before Christmas 2020. He is working on his 150 ton Master’s certificate but only able to take couple of courses at a time due to how COVID is affecting the marine education system right now.

Spring has finally arrived and we are pleased to be able to accept applications for our 2021 Spring Bursary Awards. These awards are open to Nautical Science and Engineering Cadets returning for their second or later school terms as well as other maritime students who meet the minimum enrolment conditions.

Click Here for further details

NPESC director Vivienne Siddall was pleased to attend at Camosun college earlier this week to present a book award to student Nigel Mark. In addition to our bursary awards, NPESC also makes book awards to students

Vivienne also took the opportunity to speak to several other students who were in attendance to let them know about NPESC and it’s aims.

The February 2021 edition of our quarterly publication “Seatimes” is now available and jam packed full of Covid busting articles that will put you in the right frame of mind to deal with the ongoing, worldwide pandemic. CLICK HERE to get yourself back in the groove.

BCIT Nautical Sciences student, Kyle Clare receives his NPESC Fall Bursary award.

Camosun College student Jennifer Hines, who was enrolled in the bridge watch rating program, receives her NPESC bursary award from NPESC director Captain Ivan Oxford.