CONSTANTA MARITIME UNIVERSITY

FACULTY: NAVIGATION AND NAVAL TRANSPORT

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

MARITIME ENGLISH
STUDENT’S COURSEBOOK

4th year, 2nd term

 CONTENTS

UNIT 1 SHIP DOCUMENTS

Introduction
1.1 Charter Party
1.2 Bill of Lading
1.3 Captain’s Declaration
1.4 Cargo Manifest
1.5 Notice of Readiness
1.6 Mate’s Receipt
1.7 Sea Protest and Letter of Protest
1.8 Glossary: idioms and expressions in documents
References
UNIT 2 PROJECT: Voyage of MV Ocean Empress from Recife to Rotterdam
Introduction
2.1 General data
2.2 Documents to fill in – Voyage Charter Party, B/L, NoR, Mate’s receipt, deadfreight letter, statements of
facts, letter of protest, captain’s declaration, vessel’s requirements
References
UNIT 3 CORRESPONDENCE
Introduction: Structures in correspondence
3.1 Opening/Closing of a letter
3.2 Formal letter
3.3. Letter of application: cover letter and Curriculum Vitae
3.4 Reports
3.5 Glossary: sentences and phrases in letters and reports
References
UNIT 4 TASKS: LETTERS AND REPORTS
4.1 Formal letters: enquiry, response, placing an order, letter of confirmation, making a claim, letter
of apology
4.2 Reports: disaster, investigation
References
 Preface

This course is designed for fourth year students at the Faculty of Navigation and Naval
Transport. The course aims to meet the basic communication requirements as laid down in the relevant
sections of the IMO International Convention on Standards for Training, Certification and
Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW), 1978/95.
The course consists of four units which cover language work specific to the topic of each unit
and assumes an intermediate knowledge of English.
The topics cover the essentials a ship officer in a multilingual crew needs to master in order to
successfully meet the communication requirements at sea and in ports. The course lays emphasis on
the Standard Marine Communication Phrases (IMO SMCP 2002) which are introduced in each
relevant context. In order to assist maritime students, the course aims on the one hand to develop
within maritime related topics, speaking, listening, writing and note-taking skills and on the other hand
to build up the students’ vocabulary of maritime terms and expressions.
On completion of the course they should be able to understand contracts and clauses and to fill
in the ship’s documents (CP, B/L, NOR, etc.) and use English in written and oral form.