Upon arrival at port a seafarer would normally finished his job and turn over his duties in order to go ashore. After a 15 to 27 days of voyage at sea, we normally get excited whenever we see land. Putting aside the idea of having a visa, a typical seafarer would normally ask permission to the officer in charge in order to go ashore. Imagine the disappointment of a seafarer whenever his shore leave is denied due to not having a visa. Why do they really require seafarers to have a visa? We only stay a few days or most of the time less than 24 hours alongside a port.

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A sophisticated equipment known as the Voyage Data Recorder (VDR) can determine the past actions or movements of the ship in the event of an accident. It serves as the ship’s “Black Box” if you would compare it to an airplane. How would a Voyage Data Recorder help us in terms of safety? Many accidents that involve two or more ships often resulted to human error. With the invention and implementation of the voyage data recorder, solving ship related accident cases will consume less time and better result.

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