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| Kingston Upon Hull &
Humber Area Commitee |
Chairman
Ronald Keuning
Senior Surveyor, Lloyds Register EMEA
Contact Email : Ronald.Keuning@lr.org
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Leaving secondary school with no certain direction in mind, as so many
16 year olds, I decided to accompany a friend who was determined to go
to Marine engineers College in Harlingen, The Netherlands.The sight of
the massive 3 cylinder Bolnes test engine and other pieces of kit
hooked
me permanently.
After 3 years at Marine engineers College in Harlingen, it was off to
sea for 720 days to put all the theory to practice.I joined Beck's
Shipping of Groningen in 1987.Beck's operated a small fleet of coasters
around western Europe.
Having served my apprentenceship with them I was delighted that Becks's
offered me a permanent position as Engineer on one of their vessel's,
but upon advise from one of the Chief Engineers that guided me thru my
apprentecship, I decided to go back to college to find out if a
second's
and Chief's ticket would be obtainable.
Whilst intermittenly sailing with Wagenborg Shipping during the summers
I completed my theoretical Chief's ticket in 1992.
I applied with Holland America Line and joined their vessel Westerdam
as
a 4th Engineer.Over the years I progressed thru the ranks on both the
Westerdam and the steamer SS Rotterdam , were I met my future wife,
until I became 2nd engineer and chief of the watch in 1997.During these
very enjoyable years both my wife and I had a chance to see the some
beautiful places and meet extrodaniary people, some of whom are still
friends of ours today.
After obtaining my unlimited Chiefs licence from the Dutch Ministry of
Transport, I decided that it was a good time to get a job ashore.
I applied with Lloyd's Register in the Netherlands and was offered a
position as Engineer Surveyor at their Rotterdam office.After a year in
the Rotterdam office I took the opportunity to go for a position in the
Groningen Office in the North of Holland to gain some further
experience
regarding new construction.
After a year in the North of Holland , we decided to try our luck in
the
UK, as my wife found a difficult to settle in the Netherlands, and we
moved to the UK in September 2000.I applied for Membership of the
Imarest more or less straight away ,realising that professional
recognision would be something that was essential to be sucessful in
the
UK market place.
I applied with BP to join the Castrol Marine Lubricants team in Swindon
as Assistant Technical Manager and worked there for 3 years ansd have
many fond memories of the people I was priveledged to have been working
with.
Having always kept in touch with a few committee members of the local
Imarest Branch in Hull, thru the network I was asked to re-join Lloyds
Register in july 2004.Knowing the job, the flexibility and variety on
offer at Lloyd's Register we decided to go North yet again and move a
little closer to my wife's family near Sheffield.
Since July 2004 enjoyed working with my colegues at LR in the Hull
ofice
and enjoyed getting involved with the Local branch of the Imarest,
without whom I would not have ended up in the place we wanted to be and
doing the work that I want to do.
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