To go on voyage having a union membership card

Shipboard  training  is one of the  hardest periods in the life of a marine university cadet. Aleksei Maximov, a third-year cadet of the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping was lucky: he drew his golden  ticket as a child.

Aleksey is from Veliky Novgorod. He studied at the “Novoskul” gymnasium with in-depth study of the English and at the same time attended Electromechanics classes at the Captain Varukhin N. G. Maritime Center. Teenagers are taught there, and the center itself is well known not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Usually cadets undergo shipboard  training during summer vacations, they take the opportunity to reinforce on practice the  skills and abilities  in seamanship obtained during the training year. There are three vessels which take cadets on board: the M/V "Gospodin Veliky Novgorod" (40 cadets), the training ship "Mikhail Balaban" (22 cadets) and the sailing training ship "Ilmera" (8 cadets). During the voyages special classes are held with the cadets, they keep watch in the engine room and on the bridge, take part in ship operations, help in the galley.

Aleksei took his first voyage on board the M/V "Gospodin Veliky Novgorod". But the main thing – he realized that he really wanted to become a seafarer.

“ I found out about Makarovka College in the Maritime Center,” he says. - “I applied to it and entered. Now I place the greatest focus on  the improvement of my language  skills. I have made one voyage on board the sailing training ship "Mir", but it isn't enough to fulfill the seatime  requirements. 

Like many other  cadets, Aleksei faced  difficulties in hunting for cadet jobs. finding. In most cases  cadets have to search for vessel willing to employ them as  cadets for shipboard training by themselves. Unfortunately, not everyone succeeds in it.

Aleksei acknowledged that literally  a fortune smiled on him. He sent out applications to crewing agencies of St. Petersburg and one of them called him back: “Recently I was contacted from the crewing agency Baltic Merkur  and offered me a cadet job on board one of their vessels. I agreed. The company assisted me in obtaining  American visa as the ship is working mainly on the route  South Africa-North America”.

Aleksei Maximov is very pleased that everything worked out so well with his shipboard training. He is sure that it is his background that has played an  important role: a school with advanced study of  English  and the "Maritime Center of Captain Varukhin NG".

Now Aleksei is on the voyage on board the m/v “Atlantic Project II” under the flag of Malta. Before joining the vessel he looked into the union office. He took the preparation for the voyage seriously: before leaving, he joined the Baltic Territorial Organization of the Seafarers' Union of Russia (SUR BTO).

The source: SUR BTO