The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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OUR PEOPLE SHORE TIME LEADS TO SURVEYOR BY CAROL FORSYTH "I f you really want something you have to go for it!" says Leon Klijmeij, Marine and Engineer Surveyor at SGS New Zealand Ltd. Leon started his working life as a marine engineer after attending the Maritime College in Amsterdam and IJmuiden. His marine engineering ticket took him all over the world, and he knew that there was more to living than life in his own small country, the Netherlands. His seven years at sea on Dutch merchant ships gave him a wide range of experiences on reefer ships and general cargo ships, with deck cranes of up to 400 tonne. Cargo could range from bananas, oranges, pineapples, frozen fish and meat, to big machinery, we m e n n ve er ck uld es, ery project cargo and containers. "One trip we were stuck for three weeks on the Warri River in Nigeria discharging frozen fish from the Netherlands, with the temperatures incredibly warm and muggy!" iver the ibly He learned that when you are out in the middle of the ocean you can't call in a contractor, engineers have to fix things themselves. "On board you have to do everything, know about a lot of things, and be pretty inventive at times. You have to fix it yourself or get it going again until in the next port to get parts, and the whole ship is relying on the engineer to make it happen!" "We spent 26 hours once floating around in the Caribbean changing the piston, cylinder liner and cylinder head of the main engine after we had a broken exhaust valve. We had all the spares on board except a spare rocker arm, and that was damaged as well." th His passport shows stamps from places such as Duala (Cameroon), Punta Arenas (Chile), Rio De Janeiro, Hong Kong, Kingston (Jamaica), Valencia and Shanghai "We were in the Port of Alexandria, Egypt, for a couple of weeks and we did a day tour to Cairo and the Pyramids of Giza. In what other job can you do that?" he asks. Within a few short years Leon was chief engineer, and "then I met my wife, and before I knew it, I was working ashore and 'married with kids'!" Working ashore in Leon's case was as a building maintenance operator in a large insurance company office. He then became a fire sprinkler system inspector. "Slightly different, but I was still working with water!" Although Leon had never actually sailed in New Zealand waters, he decided to emmigrate to New Zealand with the family in 2007. "If you set your mind to doing something and it's meant to happen, it will happen! We'd seen others struggling with the immigration process, but for us everything went very smooth." His sole NZ role has been with SGS New Zealand Ltd where he is currently Auckland branch supervisor. He relishes the variety of different inspections and sites. "One day I am at a hospital inspecting sterilisers, and the next day at the Glenbrook steel mill inspecting gantry cranes." The next day Leon could be crawling over a fishing boat inspecting double bottom fuel tanks. He says he is not a nine to five person because of his background up." He will time a crew member to put one on saying, "Come on, the boat is sinking", or "the boat is full of smoke – hurry up!". During these drills he will also be passing on skills learnt from his time at sea. "How do you get somebody out of the water?" he'll ask. "First push them under and you get extra buoyancy upwards." On the larger ships, he sometimes asks the crew to perform a breathing apparatus drill. Crew training records and certificates are also checked. " H ill ti "While we have some really good operators, leading examples, the 'less organised' operators need a bit more education." Leon says it's all about how confident the crew is. "That's all about training and convincing me as a surveyor that you can operate the boat safely." When he signs a Fit for Purpose certificate, that vessel is fit for a purpose. His approach towards any inspection/survey is that he is there to help and will explain why they have to fix it and make it work. If it's wrong. Leon, like all surveyors, develops specific manuals for each vessel in their system. "At the moment I am involved in the whole process of SSM and under MOSS I will be focussing more on surveying the vessel." He believes the change has been dragging on for too long and is really looking forward to MOSS coming in and implementing it fully. "I'm not a fisherman myself. I don't own a yacht or a boat, and although I like to go out on a boat I buy my fish at the shop." Leon loves photography and is often found tramping the Waitakere or Hunua Ranges around his Auckland base. Once a year he'll do a bigger walk like the Tongariro Crossing or the Crater Lake on Mt Ruapehu. "Last Easter we walked to the summit of Mt Taranaki. I love being in the outdoors with the fresh air and wide views." Although Leon is not a nine to five person, his life is balanced with work and family time. When you live intentionally, you lead intentionally, and supervising a team of four industrial and marine surveyors along with four building inspectors, the outcome shows up in fruitfulness and excellent family dynamics. July/August 2012 Professional Skipper 33 as a marine engineer, and he has a very practical approach when carrying out surveys. Dressed in white overalls, Leon's tools of trade include a camera, hammer, torch, note book, ultrasonic thickness tester, moisture meter and extendable inspection mirror. He has become a contortionist, crawling in and around fuel tanks searching for corrosion, cracks and faulty fittings, before returning to the office to complete the inevitable reports. "Then we have to return sometimes for rechecks to make sure everything has been carried out and is safe to use or to operate." When conducting man overboard drills, Leon has been surprised that some experienced skippers don't always know how to put on a lifejacket correctly. "Often it's not tight enough with straps incorrectly clipped as a m pract surve Dr of t torch teste insp con fue cra ret the to m ou d s tight eno Leon Klijmeij, marine surveyor