Author: MSAteam

After the success of previous years and the disappointment of missing out last year due to Covid, it was decided that this year we would revive our annual end of summer staff social event.

We closed our UK offices and training centres at 4pm and invited all staff members from both Dover & Portsmouth to an afternoon of fun activities, food, drink and live music.

Teams were chosen, mixing up the different departments in the businesses, captains were nominated, and some interesting team names were shared! It was then time for the games to begin under the watchful eye of our Chairman and Founder, Dieter and his wife Jill. The team games were a good opportunity for everyone to mingle and mix with people outside of their department, who they wouldn’t necessarily get the chance to speak to usually in a working day. There were a lot of laughs and some serious competitiveness!

After a quick tally up of the scores, “5 Alive plus 2” were announced the winning team and presented with their trophy. After a short acceptance speech from their Captain, Paul, it was time for the real entertainment to start!

The staff were treated to a live music set by local musician Thom Cakebread, while enjoying a delicious BBQ with all the trimmings by MK Catering. Everyone was kept hydrated throughout the afternoon with a tasty selection of beverages, supplied by the Breakwater Brewery Mobile bar.

A fun afternoon was had by all, and we look forward to doing it all again next year!

 

On Saturday, members of the Viking Maritime Group were lucky enough to be invited onboard the Steamship Shieldhall in Southampton.

Dieter, Group Chairman & Founder, Jill, Oversight & Governance Director, Kevin, Operations Director at Chiltern Maritime and Ken, Non-Executive Director, were treated to a complimentary harbour cruise.

The invite was offered as a thank you to the VMG for the charitable donation of free Bridge Resources training for all officers and crew onboard, to take place at the Maritime Skills Academy in Portsmouth.

Steamship Shieldhall is the largest working steamship in Britain. As a member of the National Historic Fleet she serves as a sea going tribute to Britain’s maritime heritage and is operated by a team of dedicated volunteers. Capt. John Scott, a consultant instructor at the Maritime Skills Academy is currently relief Master onboard.

The VMG team had a lovely time onboard, seeing the impressive engine room with its original steam engines at work and the bridge, with its traditional instruments and gleaming brasswork.

 

Date of Issue: 15th September 2021

The Maritime Skills Academy would like to welcome its newest member of staff, Andrew Walker.

Andrew is joining the instructors team at our MSA Portsmouth training centre where he will work along side our growing team of maritime professionals, teaching BRM, ship handling, ECDIS and a variety of other professional development and STCW courses.

Andrew has most recently been Deputy captain with P&O Cruises and Cunard. However, Andrew is not a stranger to the Viking Maritime Group, as he started his career in maritime industry as a cadet with Chiltern Maritime.

“Growing up in Cyprus from a young age, I was always fascinated with boats and the sea and was very fortunate to spend a lot of my childhood on the water. From there I was drawn to a career at sea and I started my career in 2004 as a Chiltern Maritime cadet, sponsored by Maritime London.

I was given the opportunity to sail on a variety of ships and companies during my cadetship including a BP VLCC, a coal bulker, MSY Windsurf and Holland America’s Ryndam.

Once qualified I was offered a position as 3rd Officer with CUK (P&O & Cunard) where I stayed for 15 years rising up through the ranks to Deputy Captain.

Some of the highlights of my career were being part of the team that delivered the 2007/8 Antarctica and South American Cruise on board P&O’s Artemis where I later met my wife Kylie, and also being part of the New Build teams delivering P&O’s Britannia from the Fincantieri Monfalcone shipyard in 2015 and bringing into service the XL Class LNG fuelled ‘Iona’ from the Papenburg Meyerwerft shipyard in 2020.

I am really excited to join the team at Viking Maritime Group and MSA Portsmouth and continue my career ashore and be a small part of Training the next generation of seafarers.”

Welcome back Andrew, its great to have you back onboard!