Halim's Challenge

"Remember Jacques Cousteau?" Tan Sri Halim Mohammad asks. The famed French marine explorer and researcher of the award-winning Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau TV documentaries? The man on a life-long quest to study and protect the planet's largest and least explored frontier? Of course.
In the 1970s, Cousteau took millions of TV viewers around the world to the depths of the oceans with his research ship, The Calypso - in search of sharks, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, octopuses and the most obscure of creatures of the deep.
"I have been waiting to do this for some time now," Halim says, when met at Berth 7A of South Port in Port Klang.
"I love the sea and anything that has to do with it. In my small way, I would like to emulate Cousteau, who did more than anyone in history, to educate humankind on the wonders of the watery world."
For a start, the 53-year-old executive chairman of Halim Mazmin Bhd has acquired his own version of The Calypso in the form of a former Japanese tuna fishing training vessel turned oceanographic and research vessel - the 48-metre MV Reef Challenger.
The Calypso was a converted US-built 42-metre British Navy minesweeper.
It had actually been refurbished to operate as a ferry before Cousteau, in his familiar red woollen hat, came along to make a floating legend out of the vessel.
Halim is understood to have paid RM350,000 for the 16-year-old Japanese vessel Wakatori Maru, and spent another RM600,000 on converting the 426-tonne ship into Reef Challenger.
It may not have a helipad on board or The Calypso's "false nose" (the underwater observation chamber built around the prow complete with eight portholes) but the Reef Challenger is, from day one, designed and equipped for scientists and researchers.
There is a windlass on deck, a lifting device consisting of a crank-driven horizontal cylinder wound with a cable or rope. There are dry and wet laboratories where scientists can conduct in situ experiments and undertake an inventory of the biodiversity of the Malaysian waters.
The Calypso's first assignment was a study of corals in the Red Sea way back in 1951. The ship is now at a dry dock in La Rochelle, France, after having keeled over and sunk at the Singapore port on Jan 8, 1996.
A barge, in the process of being moved, had punctured The Calypso's hull just as it was departing for China for a Yellow River expedition. It took 17 days to raise the ship back to the surface.
The Reef Challenger, meanwhile, embarked on its first assignment early this month. Billed as the Scientific Expedition to the Seas of Malaysia (Sesma), it was a collaborative mission between Universiti Malaya and the Halim Mazmin Group.
"I was extremely excited when I learnt of Universiti Malaya's plans. The expedition offers me an opportunity to contribute towards the protection and preservation of our marine environment.
"I am sure the Reef Challenger will be of assistance to the marine scientists, especially to access the ocean depths, which couldn't be done before. The marine resources, diversity... the eco-system must be protected and regulated, but this could only be done if we know exactly what and how much is out there."
Halim's affinity with the sea is no surprise. He had joined the merchant navy at the age of 18 and has sailed most of the oceans on earth.
"As a sailor, we develop a special bond and love for the sea, not only because we spend more time looking at it than most people but also because we owe our living to it.
"We come to see the sea as a friend. Which means we have to take care of it, keep it clean and respect it. We are duty-bound, particularly, to preserve the resources for future generations," he adds.
There is a more urgent need, Halim says, to explore "our own backyard" than, say, to go study the Antarctica."
"Clean seas are important for everybody - marine creatures included - because clean seas means safe seas."
And there are issues of security to address as well. For example, many areas along the country's maritime borders, off Sabah especially, remain uncharted, he notes.
Halim Mazmin Group operates a fleet of nine vessels with a combined weight of 311,272 dwt. The diversified fleet includes clean product tankers, dry bulkers and container vessels.
Besides the Reef Challenger, Halim has three other training and research vessels - RV Mahsuri, MV Puteri Mahsuri and MV Reef Explorer. "This is only the beginning," Halim promises.