Minister launches Sea Sunday 2008

Our Sea Sunday 2008 campaign was launched on 3 July when Minister of Shipping Mr Jim Fitzpatrick accompanied AOS on a ship visit in Silvertown Docks on the River Thames.

The ship, Darya Yog, was offloading a cargo of raw sugar to be taken to the Tate & Lyle Thames Refinery. The minister accompanied AOS national director Captain Paul Quinn OBE and port chaplain Fr Colum Kelly on the ship visit. Onboard he met the master of the ship Captain Saraswate Shrikant. Also present were Mr Shewaram H and Mr R Gandhi, representatives of Chellaram Shipping which owns the Darya Yog.

Left to right: AOS national director Paul Quinn, Mr R Gandhi, minister Jim Fitzpatrick, Mr Shewaram H and Fr Colum Kelly onboard the Darya Yog

The visit enabled Mr Fitzpatrick to experience something of the daily work of AOS, visiting ships and attending to the welfare of seafarers. The Darya Yog is typical of the ships we visit with a mixed crew, predominantly Indian but with some Burmese and Ukrainian nationals. The minister talked to individual seafarers about the services which AOS offers, for example helping them to contact their loved ones when they come into port.

Mr Gandhi of Chellaram Shipping explained

“Our crew are contracted for long periods of time, therefore their welfare is paramount. We do our utmost to ensure our crew is happy and healthy and we take pride in this as a company. By helping charities such as Apostleship of the Sea we do even more to ensure the welfare of our and all seafarers”.

Mr Shewaram H then presented a cheque for the the generous sum of £5,001 to AOS, thus launching our Sea Sunday 2008 campaign. Our thanks to Chellaram Shipping and also the Tate & Lyle Thames Refinery who kindly hosted the visit.

click here to learn more about Sea Sunday 2008

The Darya Yog docked in Silvertown