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Chamber of Shipping: The Merchant Navy - 'Fly on the Wall' documentary

A remarkable observational documentary series focused on the men and women of the Merchant Navy, from raw recruits to seasoned sea dogs, is to be screened from Monday 13 October 2008. It explores the work of the Merchant Navy for the first time on TV.

The six-part series to be shown at peak time, entitled The Merchant Navy is the result of a collaboration between Scottish TV (STV), the Merchant Navy Training Board (MNTB), Maersk Line, P&O Cruises, and BP Shipping, with filming at Glasgow College of Nautical Studies and Warsash Maritime Academy.

The series has taken 12 months to develop and introduces the men and women of the Merchant Navy who sail the ships of the growing UK fleet around the world, from raw recruits to seasoned sailors from the Panama Canal to Singapore.

The documentary offers a unique insight into the Merchant Navy and leading shipping companies as they train the seafarers of tomorrow.

Highlights include following new cadets on the shakedown cruise of P&O Cruises superliner Ventura, and watching trainees help to navigate a 51,000 tonne Maersk Line container ship, The Maersk Gateshead as it travels through the Panama Canal.

The programme also featured BP Shippings crude oil supertanker The British Progress, as she undergoes a shipyard overhaul in Singapore before heading to Iraq to pick up a full load of oil, and keeping watch for pirates off the coast of Somalia.

The series has been project managed by the MNTB and the Chamber of Shipping, with significant contributions from Maersk Line, BP Shipping and P&O Cruises and STV themselves.

Glenys Jackson, Head of Training, Education and Careers for the MNTB says: We are really pleased with the quality and content of the programmes.

The series really conveys the excitement and diversity of the Merchant Navy, following different seafarers and showing the glamour of floating five-star resorts, the awe-inspiring engineering feats of the vast oil tankers and of course the dynamics of an industry responsible for transporting over 90% of the worlds goods by ship.

The programmes also reveal, just how unique and intensive the Merchant Navy Training is.

The documentary will be shown on STV and will be available on the STV website, as well as being accessible on Sky.

Visit: http://www.stv.tv/content/tv/featuredprogrammes/the_merchant_navy/index.html to view a trailer for the series and information about the six episodes.