With the aim of providing real contact with the world of work carried out on board seagoing ships, three students from the Maritime Machinery Engineering (LEMM) degree course boarded the container ship "FUNCHALENSE 5" owned by the shipowner Grupo Sousa, accompanied by a lecturer who teaches on these courses.

The Sousa Group is one of Portugal's largest maritime-port groups which transports cargo and passengers by sea and which sees the sea "...as its firm territory that extends to land....", stating that "...we sail guided by credibility and ethics and by delivering a service of excellence...", values which are conveyed by its highly qualified crews with a great sense of responsibility and which are transversal to all the teams, from the seafarers with operational duties to the officers with management duties.

The Sousa Group operates a fleet of 6 container ships: Ferdinanda S', 'Raquel S', 'Rebecca S', 'Laura S', 'Funchalense 5' and the 'Lobo Marinho' ferry, which provides regular daily connections for passengers and goods between the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo.

The ship "FUNCHALENSE 5" embarked on March 23rd at 4:00 p.m. at the Port of Lisbon (Lisbon Multipurpose Terminal - TML), was bound for Caniçal (Madeira) - Leixões - Lisbon and disembarked on March 30th at 2:00 p.m. at the Lisbon Multipurpose Terminal - TML.

Despite the bad weather that occurred for most of the time on board, the students had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the equipment and working methods on board, and also accompanied various maintenance and routine work in the "engine room".

The Chairman of the Maritime Engineering Department and the EMM course Coordinating Committee would like to thank the Sousa Group and Mr. Valter Lopes for making this embarkation possible, Mr. António Sousa for his teachings in the engine room, Cmdr. Claúdio Serrão for accepting the responsibility inherent in this embarkation, for his availability and support throughout the trip, as well as the entire ship's crew, especially the crew of the engine section for their excellent technical support and accompaniment of the students.

Finally, we invite all readers to follow this project's instagram page @nautica_trip (funchalense_5__).