Author: Nicholas Chan
http://we.tl/w3KtTEdVTD
SINGAPORE (August 2, 2013) – Fredrik Marine IT Services Pte Ltd was awarded the Distinguished Defence Partner Award (DDPA) for the second year running by Singapore Acting Minister for Social and Family Development and Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Defence Major-General (Ret) Chan Chun Sing from amongst 114 DDPA awardees at the Total Defence Symposium 2013 held at the Grand Ballroom of Ritz-Carlton on August 2, 2013. “We at Fredrik Marine are honored to be recognized in standing resolute with other government and private organisations in Singapore for our efforts in supporting our national defence,” said Fredrik Marine Managing Director Nicholas Chan. About The Total Defense Awards The annual Total Defence Awards are conferred by the Ministry of Defence of Singapore, recognizing and acknowledging the sacrifices and support that employers and civil resource owners have extended towards National Defence and National Service; the Distinguished Defence Partner Award is presented to companies that have shown outstanding support for Total Defence. Read more here: [1] Speech by Dr Ng Eng Hen, Minister for Defence, at the Total Defence Symposium 2013, [2] Companies recognised for supporting National Service and Total Defence, [3] Employers and Civil Resource Owners Honoured for Support towards Total Defence, [4] Fact Sheet: Total Defence Awards About Fredrik Marine IT Services Pte Ltd Fredrik Marine is the market leader in providing Maritime IT, Marine Communications and Marine Navigation technical services in the maritime industry within Asia, providing rapid response support both on-site and remote to a global clientele across the world’s oceans. Fredrik Marine serves ship owners, ship managers and ship engineering firms and is a technical representative for various maritime IT, communications and navigations equipment manufacturers. Fredrik Marine is a privately held corporate entity registered and domiciled in Singapore. For more information, visit www.fredrikmarine.com. ###
He’s only 34, and already heads two major companies — a venture capitalist fund that invests in promising start-ups and a maritime info-communications firm. But Nicholas Chan’s life could have gone down a very different path if not for a near-death, life-changing experience in 2004. Read the full story here: http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/poly-grad-turned-top-entrepreneur-030016544.html Reporter: Melissa Law News outlet: Yahoo! Singapore Finance
The following letter was sent via the SaveOurSeafarers website to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Singapore on the 11th of August 2012. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tanglin, Singapore 248163 11th August 2012 Dear Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, URGENT NEED FOR ACTION TO ERADICATE PIRACY OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA AND IN THE INDIAN OCEAN Violent acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden have spiralled out of control into the Arabian Sea and the entire Indian Ocean. Never in history has such a vast sea area been ceded to armed criminality. Urgent action is required by all governments to take the necessary steps to eradicate this unlawful scourge. The threat to the flow of world trade is unprecedented, throttling the Suez Canal routes as well as oil flows out of the Middle East Gulf- 40 percent of shipborne oil passes through this area. Ship owners have been reassessing their options. Recent reports indicate that piracy is already costing the global economy $7-12 billion per year. There are currently more than 35 ships being held captive for ransom with a shocking total of almost 800 seafarers held hostage. The human cost to the captive seafarers held in appallingly stressful conditions – including physical torture and psychological harm – cannot be adequately calculated. The stark figures do not include the much greater number of seafarers facing gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades as they skilfully evade capture in the face of increasingly determined and aggressive attacks. Loss of life has already occurred and more is inevitable. A significant number of warships and other military assets have been deployed to the region. These efforts are deeply appreciated but, in the face of the current escalation of piratical activity, and particularly with the escalating use of captured merchant ships as motherships to extend the pirates’ reach and capability, these naval forces are simply insufficient in the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean. There is an urgent need to return law and order to one of the most vital intersections of trading routes in the world. If nothing is done, the world economy is at risk. I specifically ask for your government to take the necessary steps to eradicate piracy at sea and shore by: Reducing the effectiveness of the easily-identifiable motherships Authorising naval forces to hold pirates and deliver them for prosecution and punishment Fully criminalising all acts of piracy and intent to commit piracy under national laws, in accordance with their mandatory duty to co-operate to suppress piracy under international conventions Authorising naval forces to take action against pirates and their equipment ashore Increasing naval assets available in this area Providing greater protection and support for seafarers Tracing and criminalising the organisers and financiers behind the criminal networks Yours sincerely, Nicholas Chan Managing Director, Fredrik Marine IT Services Pte Ltd
On this very day 47 years ago, a fledgling nation had its independence returned to it just 2 short years after it was returned to Malaysia in 1963. Its very existence was thrusted into the hands of a small group of dedicated individuals fighting for the very survival of a small island state with no natural resources save its people and its sheer tenacity and desire to survive and thrive. Minister Mentor Lee Kwan Yew said succinctly in his Independence Speech “And I say that we make it succeed — from here. “. 47 years later, I certainly believe we have made not only made a success of ourselves, but that we will continue to do so for many more years to come. From all of us at Fredrik Marine, Happy Birthday Singapore!
With the help of the corporate image design team from Electric Avenue and the talented WordPress development skills of Shaan Nicol of ChillyBin, Fredrik Marine now have a sharp new look and a whole bunch of new features dedicated in bringing you, our most valued clients with a far more productive and . New features Have a burning question regarding any of our products or services? Now you can ask us immediately with the addition of a Live Chat button at the bottom right of every page you visit (powered by ZopIM). If you prefer to call us or email us, our telephone number and email address is permanently and prominently displayed at the top of our website. You We More value to you Never used the services of Fredrik Marine and worried from your past bad experiences with other maritime technology companies that you might be taken for a ride? Read the testimonials of our satisfied clients along with their photos taken onboard! Not sure if Fredrik Marine is a trustworthy maritime technology provider despite its legacy since 1992? Have a look at the awards we received and check out our professional memberships! The content and navigation of the Fredrik Marine website is being migrated into this new website over the next 1 week,
At 0318 hours Singapore Standard Time, a call for assistance was received from a distressed vessel at Eastern Anchorage. Grabbing his helmet, ready bag and life-vest, Sherwyn quickly suited up into his coverall and boots and immediately proceeded for deployment. He is met by Nicholas Chan at West Coast Pier at 0348 hours who briefs him on the situation, hands him a loadout bag of equipment and parts for use onboard the vessel and pushes out to sea at 0358 hours, uncertain but ready. Working in the maritime sector is a non-stop 24/7 team effort. Needing to be able to rapidly and efficiently respond to on-call client requests at a moment’s notice, having a strong grip in order to climb up rickety rope pilot ladders 30 meters above a choppy sea in bad weather while carrying a backpack full of equipment and solving mission critical problems with limited resources and tight deadlines, these are situations not so very different from the duties we are entrusted with during our active National Service days and today in our NSMen times. Fredrik Marine is a small company managed, advised and staffed almost entirely of active NSMen. Since the company’s founding in 1992, the management has actively supported National Service as a platform for moulding and strengthening characters and post-National Service, as a means of “sifting the wheat from the chaff”; for us in management it has been and still is a good barometer of a person’s character to see if the individual-at-hand is equipped with crucial life skills and positive traits, on whether they thrive on challenges or run away from problems, whether they have a pro-active demeanour or consistently finds and gives excuses, if they are innovation and resourceful or live only for instructions, and whether they are outdoorsmen or a typical air-con addict. These exact same disciplines of commitment and duty matched with the core values that we uphold and look for in all our people are what our clients wholeheartedly count on us for and National Service plays a large part in this process. While it can be easy to see or even “play the victim” and blame In-Camp Trainings as a disruption to our daily work, we at Fredrik Marine recognize that In-Camp Trainings is essentially time to “sharpen the saw” both physically and mentally. It is also “time-off” for our staff to catch up with old friends in the spirit of camaraderie, getting some gym time and taking a short mental break from work and unwind. By proper strategic planning and the enactment of appropriate work policies, we do our best in ensuring that any work disruption is reduced to a minimum. As at 2012, we are proud to say that all our NSMen staffs have zero deferments due to work commitment for their In-Camp Trainings to date. However we also recognize the fact that business still has to go on regardless of whether or not we and our clients are able to cope with the fact that some of our staffs are away serving the nation. As a technology company, our people are our key assets. Taking a leaf from the Singapore Armed Forces playbook, we adopted an NSMen buddy stand-in policy to ensure peer coverage for work duties during each other In-Camp Training; this simple knowledge of our colleagues being able to fully trust each other in “I got your back covered” gives confidence both to the management and our clients. We also incorporated the concept of mission debriefing post-In-Camp Training for any learning points, new touch-points and resources that can be shared and assimilated by the rest of the staffs for the better operations of Fredrik Marine. Additionally, the pervasive use of mobile/satellite communications technology and an in-house developed intranet also helps in enabling our staffs to respond in a timely fashion to any work commitments wherever they are, be they on an oil rig in the Songkla Basin to a military training area in the forests of Singapore. As the Managing Director of Fredrik Marine today, I am proud to say that we wholeheartedly support National Service and the tenets of Total Defence. We recognize that National Service instils into us the spirit of personal responsibility tempered with the spirit of selfless service to the nation we call home. We recognise that: Without a prosperous economy, we have no stability in an ever-changing world. Without a harmonious society, we have no true peace. Without a national identity, we merely exist, not live. Without a civil defence, we have no assurance for the safety of our loved ones. Without a secure and safe country, we have no homeland to call our own. Majulah Singapura! CPL (NS) Chan Chiang Joo, Nicholas, 822 Singapore Infantry Regiment, 2 People’s Defence Force CPL (NS) Chew Yusheng, Sherwyn, 12 CSSB, Guards First published on 28 June 2012 4:16: http://www.facebook.com/notes/ns45-from-fathers-to-sons/zero-deferments-100-ns-support/364754190261037 Re-published on 31 July 2012: http://www.ns45.sg/web/guest/my-ns-story/-/asset_publisher/PFl1HggwynQC/content/employer-support-for-ns-by-fredrik-marine-it-services/10846 News outlet: 45 years of National Service (NS45)