Internship Report: Crowley Maritime Corporation Research Proposal

After meeting Ms. Aida Ortiz, CMA's Human Relations Specialist, she presented a brief overview of the office and explained the particular responsibilities my internship would encompass during the two-week period. The first "order" was to have my port ID made. After being officially identified as part of the intern program, Ms. Ortiz and I attended the 0930 morning operations meeting. After the meeting, I worked with Jackie Fisher, supervisor of CMC Equipment Control. While observing her work practices, I gained a firsthand overview of the department processes, which included: Equipment assignment, Vessel reconciliations, and Seal and Weight Verification. My intern experience this day also included work with electronic data interchange computer system. During the afternoon, I received hands on experience comleteing Vessel Reconciliation; ensuring the containers were "married up" with the right chassis.

Tuesday November 6, 2007 on this day, I worked with Gloria Pratts in Freight Services, who secured one of her employee's cubicles for me to work in. Ms. Pratts gave me an overview of Traffic Procedures; Tracing and Load- equipment; Finals to Stevedoring; Overview of Inbound Processes; Release of Cargo; Manifest Reconciliation. My experience on this day also included work with the program automated manifest system. In the afternoon, I worked on a vessel to help develop a manually written paperwork of materials / products removed from the ship; matched what materials/products assigned to be removed. During this particular project, I noted a number of misspelled numbers, missing numbers and number that did not match up with designated purposes. This particular project required approximately four hours to complete.

Wednesday November 7, 2007 at 0800 on this day, I met with Michaels Hopkins, who warmly welcomed me and my fellow interns. Mr. Hopkins summarized what he hoped we would learn from the company. After his overview, the other interns and I attended the 0900 morning operations meeting with Mr. Hopkins. Next, I met with Marcia Brown, another employee in Freight Services, who provided a detailed description of relevant duties for this department; recounting things I learned the previous day. I then watched over the shoulder of an unidentified individual to begin to learn about the Pegasus system. Later that morning, another employee drive me to the U.S. Customs House to witness the notarization process of the inbound and outbound documentation. My work after lunch included looking up a list of booking numbers on the Pegasus system to locate the matching contact and verify that the customer's cargo was not hazardous, and that it had not been transported to a bonded warehouse. I also examined the Bill of Lading for the matching number during this time. This exercise taught me how to directly handle the customer's order; consequently equipping me to contribute to Crowley's quest to maintain a positive customer service reputation.

Thursday November 8, 2007 for my first appointment today, I met with Charles Meridth, in charge of Maintenance department. After he gave me an overview of this area, Mr. Meridth escorted me to the shop area where employees repair broken equipment; i.e. lashing, containers, and tires. He then pointed out the three lanes used for inspection of the trucks, prior to their departure from the port. Employees in this department examine tires; specifically searching to discover under pressurized tires, and identifying repairs that need to be made to the alignment and various parts. Next, we moved on the Reefer Bay where CMC houses the generators for refrigerated containers. The rationale for the refrigeration includes ensuring that when customers' shipped containers arrive in Central America and/or the Caribbean, ensuring contents remain cool does not depend on unreliable shore power. After observing practices/work in this area, I visited the warehouse where CMC houses all offices supplies that ship on the ships to their various Crowley offices in South America. Mr. Meridth showed me the company's recently installed "new and improved" washing area for cleaning containers. After lunch I travelled to recently installed the dock area and observed the cargo "checkers" as they recorded in writing what items were removed from the ship. Mr. Meridth also explained in details how the sick-bay operations work; from how the inspectors/checkers tagged the broken container to be repaired and returned to operational status. As part of my intern experience this day, I also assisted in inspecting empty containers and rating each one I inspected with either "A" (perfect), "B," or "C."

Other dates need to be added here when reworking TEMPLATE

Conclusion at the end of this internship tenure at Crowley, I recounted primarily positive experiences, with only a few negative incidents to challenge my coping capabilities. As a whole, I rate the experience, as well as the internship program to be an "A." Personally and professionally witnessing the work invested into loading one ship and ensuring it was sea worthy, proved to be an "eye opener," coming off container ships for seven months of my sea year. Because I enjoy shipping and the shipping industry as a whole, my time at Crowley proved to be basically worth the time I invested. Observing first hand all the effort and organization, as well as routine and at times, challenging tasks that must takes place in the intricate process of ensuring even one container goes from point a to point B. successfully reminded me that nothing is as simple as it may superficially seems. One reason I was permitted to see and experience so many facets of the shipping experience included evolved from a number of factors, which include, but were not limited to the following:

The people I worked with at Crowley encouraged me to learn while they patiently taught me what I needed to know, as well as some of the things I wanted to experience. Many of these individuals invested extra time and energy to answer questions and help me with my duties.

As I was not trained extensively in any particular area, another reason for my positive intern experience, this facilitated my moving around more freely in Port Everglades, in turn, contributing to me getting the big, overall picture of what was going on.

Most significant, however, I was self-motivated. If I had not taken the initiative to see and experience the things I did during my work as an intern (with some help from a few of the people who worked there), I would not have received any guidance or help those in the work environment. My willingness to step out, however, proffered the opportunity to not only help me learn more, but permitted others to share a bit of their expertise.

Having a unique place to stay during my internship, along with receiving a substantially salary for my time made the time at Crowley even more positive. A number of companies, I have been told, do not accept internships for only two weeks. Many do not want to pay interns for their service.

In addition, a number of companies have never "employed" an intern before and do little for the interns they contract with, other than providing the internship, per se. Making the decision accept the challenge to set my sail with Crowley ultimately, overall, I found turned out to be smooth sailing. Part of the credit, I contend, goes to Crowley. Part of the credit, however, I must choose to accept. After all, as Thomas Crowley Sr. once stated, what happens, ultimately depends on how the person looks at "it."

Works Cited

Crowley. Crowley Maritime Corporation. 2003. 26 Mar. 2009. http://www.crowley.com/default.asp.

Crowley Announces Management Changes." Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. 29 Oct. 2007. Maritime Reporter and Engineering News in partnership with MarineLink.com. 26 Mar. 2009 http://marinelink.com/enUS/News/Article/Crowley-AnnouncesManagement-Changes/315883.aspx.

Crowley Completes Discharge of Gas Plant Modules and Equipment Across Beach in Angola, West Africa." Business Wire. Business Wire. 2008. HighBeam Research. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.highbeam.com.

A www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-172981688.html"Crowley's green initiatives garner continued recognition by chamber of shipping of America." Defense Transportation Journal. National Defense Transportation Association. 2007. HighBeam Research. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.highbeam.com.

Crowley Introduces Bigger, Faster Ships in Caribbean Service." Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. 27 Sept. 2007. Maritime Reporter and Engineering News in partnership with MarineLink.com. 26 Mar. 2009 http://marinelink.com/enUS/News/Article/Crowley-Introduces-Bigger-Faster-Ships-in-CaribbeanService/315542.aspx.

Crowley Maritime Corporation Implements Sterling Commerce Gentran Integration Suite for Newer, More Complete B2B Integration Platform." Business Wire. Business Wire. 2008. HighBeam Research. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.highbeam.com.

Crowley Orders Heavy Lift 455 Series Deck Barges." Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. 23 Jan. 2008. Maritime Reporter and Engineering News in partnership with MarineLink.com. 26 Mar. 2009. http://marinelink.com/enUS/News/Article/CrowleyOrders-Heavy-Lift-455-Series-Deck Barges/326036.aspx>.

A www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-154392752.html"Crowley, VT Halter Marine team up for more ATB's." Marine Log. Simmons Boardman Publishing Corporation. 2006. HighBeam Research. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.highbeam.com.

A www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-186117926.html" Greenbrier Receives Major New Marine Vessel Orders From Crowley Maritime; Achieves Record Backlog." PR Newswire. PR Newswire Association LLC. 2008. HighBeam Research. 26 Mar. 2009 http://www.highbeam.com.

Hill Joins Crowley." Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. 26. Feb. 2008. Maritime Reporter and Engineering News in partnership with MarineLink.com. 26 Mar. 2009 http://marinelink.com/en-U.S./News/Article/Hill-Joins-Crowley/326379.aspx.

A www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-153429296.html" Rebuilding Vessels Engaged in Commerce Between U.S. Ports:Michael G. Roberts." Congressional Testimony.…