Nautical Friday in aid of Seafarers UK

The Martek team had a great day of dress up on Friday when we took part in raising money for Seafarers UK.

Our crew dug out their best pirate and sailor costumes, paying £2 for the privilege, and competed in the Nautical Friday Quiz.

We’re pleased to report we raised a total of £129 for a great UK charity, supporting seafarers and their families through times of difficulty and hardship.

Seafarers UK (King George’s Fund for Sailors) has been helping seafarers since 1917, growing to be the leading charity in the maritime field. The money raised will help maintain a reasonable quality of life to the crew and their families of the Merchant Navy, Fishing Fleets, the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. All money raised for the charity will help to provide accommodation, clothing and education for those in need. They aim to provide training to people of any age to prepare them for work or service at sea, promote safety at sea and efficiency and effectiveness of the maritime charitable sector.

After sending our best pirate jazz hands photo to @seafarers_UK, we were ecstatic to announce we won the #NauticalFriday best photo competition! We look forward to receiving our treasure! 

When will you be adopting ECDIS?

July 2014 will come around faster than you think, and here at Martek, we’d love to know when you plan on complying with the IMO mandated regulations for ECDIS installation by completing the online poll on our homepage.

It has been a requirement to fit Electronic Chart Displayand Information Systems on new build ships since July 2012, with IMO legislation coming into effect for existing passenger ships

in July 2014. This will be followed by existing tankers in 2015, and existing cargo ships from 2016 – 2018.

There are great financial and safety incentives to invest in ECDIS well before the IMO mandate.

According to DNV research, deploying ECDIS reduces the grounding frequency by 30%, the fourth highest contribution to marine fatalities. Early adoption also allows your crew a longer transition period to paperless navigation so they acquire competency and confidence before the deadline, easing pressure when ECDIS becomes mandatory.

ECDIS will also save your company money as it eliminates the need for paper charts, administration and logistics. Time is also saved as manual updates to the chart are replaced with automated updates.

ECDIS can also save fuel costs as the system will optimise and automate your route plan, taking into account weather and tidal information, ultimately cutting out transit times by plotting the shortest, safest route.

However, some companies have other reasons for holding back on purchasing ECDIS, as they are unsure about what’s required of them and the training involved. Visit our ECDIS information website to read about the implementation schedule, the training required under the IMO and FAQ’s. 

Martek Goes Outdoors

To celebrate Martek Marine achieving ‘Gold’ in the Investors in People award, last month the whole company took a day away from their desks to head to Thornbridge Outdoors, in Derbyshire.

The day was filled with whole company activities, including everyone laughing at Joe getting stuck in 3 hoola-hoops and running a ping pong ball down lengths of guttering to get it into a bucket – surprisingly harder than it sounds (we finally finished that task after several attempts)!

We then split off into 4 groups, allowing employees to work with people outside of their departments.

The day of adventure was filled with an apparent 4 mile bike ride (although we’re sure it was more like 8 miles!), abseiling off a viaduct, an Aerial Rope Course, a crawl through a marble mine, swinging through the trees on zip wires, a Jacob’s ladder and 10 meters of very difficult-to-climb netting – although Gary proved to be a pro!

The winning team (this is debatable  then received a £25 shopping voucher each and a few chocolate treats! Well done!

After a very exhausting day Team Martek reported back that 23% didn't enjoy the cycle and abseil and 7% didn't enjoy the Aerial Rope Course, but we just need to get them a little used to heights before the next visit!

However, 100% of employees agreed that they were given a chance to work with colleagues they didn't normally get a chance to work with, 97% thoroughly enjoyed the group tasks, and 90% said the event exceeded their expectations for the day!

We wound the day down with a BBQ in the sun and music from The Rogues of Rhythm. It’s fair to say there were a few sore heads in the morning!