8.15.2009

maritime museum

MARITIME MUSEUM
A World of Discoveries








GENERAL INFORMATION-


The Maritime Museum is located on the western wing of the Jeronimos Monastery, very close o the Tagus river and to the place from where the Discovereis ships departed.

The Maritime Museum was founded by King Luis on the 22nd July 1863, in order to promote the Portuguese maritime history. Today, the museum owns over 17.000 items, 2500 of which have been selected to be a part of museum’s permanent exhibition as well as photographic archives, drawings and ships plans.





The museum is divided in many halls according to their exhibits. One of them is the Entrance Hall in wich a statue of Prince henry the Navigator flanked by the portuguese navigators began the Atlantic Adventure.



Another is Barge Pavillion which displays several originals Portuguese fishing crafts, as well as three seaplanes, including the santa cruz in which Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral completed the first crossing of the South atlantic by air.
















Then it is the Discoveries Hall the area of the permanent exhbition, bringing together the most important ítems that gave Portugal the primacy in Atlantic voyages and the Discovery of new lands and people.








During your visit you shall see objects of many different kinds produced by people of many cultures. A careful observation provides a glimpse, not only of the environment that gave rise them, but also the influences that marked them, and that through all these ítems on display we may contribute to the formation of a most ample perspective of one of the most fascinating aspects of the history of mankind.

A visit in the maritime museum offers the opportunity especially to the younger people to learn about the history of maritime life in Portugal. That´s a way to expand their knowledge in how portuguese people managed with the means of that time to discover a whole new World. Also they can collect information about ship structure and how their construction characteristics evolved throughout time. All these serve the educational purpose of the existence of the museum. Its impressive exterior is also another appealing reason why someone would be urged to visit it.
Among its many advantages a reason why a young person would lose its interest during the visit could be the enormous size of the building and the constant repeat of its exhibits. But this counts nothing to what you gain after a visit in this thesaurus of maritime life.
The Maritime Museum, one of the best in Europe, evokes the glory that characterized Portugal's domination of the high seas.
It is dedicated to all aspects of the History of navigation in Portugal.

8.14.2009

European Maritime Safety Agency: New opportunities for collaboration



EMSA – European Maritime Safety Agency

The EMSA is one of the European Unions decentralised agencies, based in Lisbon the agency provides technical assistance to the European Commission in the development and implementation of EU legislation on maritime safety. It has also been given operational tasks in the field of pollution response, satellite monitoring and tracking of vessels.

Its mission statement is to ensure a high, uniform and effective level of maritime safety, maritime security as well as prevention of and response to pollution by ships within the community.

The Agency’s objective is to provide the Member Sates and the European Commission with the technical and scientific assistance needed with high level of expertise in order to help them:
To apply community legislation properly in the field of maritime safety, security and prevention of pollution by ships.
To monitor its implementation.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the measures in place.

Its main aims in effect are; projects to assess and combat traffic monitoring, and acquiring information on ships and cargo, to visit and inspect in order to monitor the implementation of EU Legislation and to detect and respond to pollution.

The agency has a lot of resource and economy in order to carry out and fulfil their objectives, and they are hoping to collaborate and build on their already strong links with other organisations and NGO’s.

N.R.P. Bartolomeu Dias - The navy visit



Today we visited the Portugese Navy. We got on board the N.R.P "Bartolomeu Dias", a ship named after one of the navigators assosiated with the most significant moments of the Portugese age of discovery.

The visit introduced us to the Navy life, and we got to learn a lot of new things.
Our guides told us that the Portugese Navy has interest of being an environmentally friendly organisation.

They explained that compared to other countries they have a lower consumation of fuels, and good systems to clean water, and remove oils. Still, instead of using diesel as fuel, like they do to this point, they could look at alternative solutions in the future.

Unfortunately the Navy has some weaknesses as well. For example the people working on the ships need to spend a lot of time in the same environment, in missions that can last up to 6 months. They also work in an invironment that has lack of fresh air. Critics of the military in general could also say that they spend to much money on the Navy.


During the visit we were told that the Navy give the opportunity to a lot of people to have a pleasent job. The people also get training to be in the best possible physical condition.

There are also some threats against the Navy when it comes to safety. For instance, they have to deal with piracy, illegal drug trades, and the danger of helping unstable regional with there situations.

It was a good experience visiting the Navy, and we feel lucky to have been there.

20: 20 VISION FOR PORT OF LISBON


Porto de Lisbon borrows from world bank to create an environment for the 21st century!
VTMS has developed a service for clients for quality controlled water supplies to ships, movement of hazardous cargo and management of daily repairs to prevent sea pollution.
Lisbon already has an effective method in place.

Porto de Lisboa - official webpage

The money will help develop the old warehouses that are no longer in use at the harbour front. The vision is to create sea view apartments and restaurants to attract tourists and boost the economy.

Standing at the entrance to Lisbon harbour, the Monastery of the Hieronymites – construction of which began in 1502 – exemplifies Portuguese art at its best. The nearby Tower of Belém, built to commemorate Vasco da Gama's expedition, is a reminder of the great maritime discoveries that laid the foundations of the modern world.



Monastery of the Hieronymites and Tower of Belém in Lisbon
Our 20:20 vision is to expand on this and make Lisbon the most appealing harbour in the world!

Lisnave: Where time is the most important thing.




Lisnave is a shipyard who´s plan is to improve the condition of vessels and its purpose is to keep the ocean clean; and to create sustainable employment. It is located in Setubal, 60 km south from Lisbon. It has 6 docks which covers approximately 9.000 sq. metres and facilities included are: fire fighting systems, cleaning systems, hydrolift systems and others to keep clean the installations. Also they have acquired 35 million Euros to update the service and facilities.


Lisnave is a private company; which has shares owned by a variety of other companies. The Portuguese navy vessel company has 73%, 3% is owned by the State which is more of a symbolic participation, a German company has 20% and other private owners is equivalent to 20%(used to be 40%).

Employment in Lisnave is permanent and also temporary, according to the needs; at the moment there are 2500 people working for the company.


Service offered by the company is that they could potentially take over 50 vessels a week which is approximately around 3000 people; and flexibility is very important to answer the clients demands.


2008 was a very good year for the company; vessels were brought from all over the world, from 70 different clients. There are many repeat clients as they are pleased with the service offered. For Lisnave they feel that time is the most important factor, and other than the quality and efficiency of the service which exceeds this, it is the second most important thing, more important than the money; the longer the ship stays in the yard the slower the service and therefore there is a decline in economy in the client.

The shipyard is well placed; geographically were it is positioned means that many ships can access it and all commercial lines pass through here, and there are also good weather conditions here, which means ships can pass through here with little damage and safe journety through.

Overall the company has a focus; which has 3 aims: the first is to ensure all clients are safe, the second is environmental protection and the third is quality of service, they are also keen on education(training) in order to warrantee the future of the company, and have invested 6 million Euros into doing so, for more than 200 students.


8.11.2009

Ocenarium Day


A group of young people from 7 countries who taking part to a European youth in Action project,have visited the Lisbon Ocenarium in 9th of August.

The main purpose of the activities hold during the exchange is to make youngsters more aware of ocean pollution risks and to know more about sea life.

The participants of the visit had the chance to admire ecosystems of many regions of the world such as the atlantic, the indish, the pacific and the antartic ones.

In addition to all different sections during the tour the group could enjoy a 5.000 cubic meters water aquariumhosting many variettes of fishes such as breathtaking sunfish,imperssive sharks,fluid flying flat-fishes and much more.

At the end of the main circuit there were backstages explaining how the oceanarium is organised and administrated.

The group was attracted to the sealife topics after having visited the ocenarium.

The majority of the 36 visitors had a positive impression of the aquarium and would love to come back.

Some words from the participants:

"Unforgettable experience"
"Interesting"
"Poor fishes :("
"Abosultely magnificent"
"Majestic"



Link: Ocenarium of Lisbon

8.06.2009

"STRATEGY FOR THE OCEAN"

Conference
"STRATEGY FOR THE OCEAN"
Local: Instituto Superior Naval de Guerra, Lisbon
August 15
10am

free entry

8.05.2009

OUR OCEAN - Youth Exchange

An European Multilateral Youth Exchange under the subject of the Oceans held in Almada, Portugal, for 36 youngsters from 6 european countries (Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom) with something in common: a strong connection with the sea and/or the Ocean, in order for them to get to know the issues related to the Oceans. During eight days, the participants will have the opportunity to discover the imense and fascinating issues related to the maritime affairs, and to reflect in how they can be active promoters and/or defenders of our Oceanic heritage. They will try to respond to the question is there an (European) maritime identity?