Flotilla News 2024

PANDAW VALUES
SERVICE, SAFETY AND
SUSTAINABILITY
PAUL STRACHAN REFLECTS AFTER 30 YEARS AT THE HELM…
n our crew training service, safety and
sustainability are of paramount importance.
In each country we have a
I
marine superintendent (MS) whose
task is to achieve the highest possible levels for
these goals. In Vietnam and Cambodia, Captain
Huan is our MS. Huan joined Pandaw in 2010
having been a chief engineer on ocean going
cargo ships and obtained his master’s ticket. He
graduated from the Maritime Vocational College
in Saigon. He is responsible for marine crew recruitment,
training and ongoing drills. The fact
that we have such a good safety record is thanks
to the commitment of Huan and his colleagues
in Laos and India. ̇
▶ ‘SERVICE’ does not just apply to the
hotel crews but all crew including the marine
crew that Huan supervises. When passengers
go on expeditions ashore sailors
are on hand to cut steps on often steep
river banks and erect temporary bamboo
handrails. A sailor always accompanies any
group with a first aid kit and water bottles
and others are on hand to assist any elderly
or physically challenged walkers.
Sailors maintain our mountain bikes
for passengers seeking more rugged adventures
ashore. When passengers return
to the ship their shoes are taken from
them, cleaned and returned later to their
cabins. (This has the additional benefit of
not mucking the decks that will have been
mopped and buffed up whilst pax ashore!).
The marine team are up first thing in
the morning to invisibly and soundlessly
clean the entire outside areas, which on
Pandaws are copious, long before passengers
emerge from their cabins for a sunrise
coffee on deck.
Most of our marine team are recruited
from villages along the rivers we
sail and come from long lines of rivermen.
The more able and ambitious aim to
transfer to the hospitality crew usually
starting in housekeeping where they get a
chance to improve their English and move
up from there. A number of our senior
pursers, stars in the Pandaw firmament,
came up by that route. ̇
28 | PANDAW | FLOTILLA NEWS