But to me, in a totally different field, MCA is the Maritime and CoastGuard Agency, also have the ISPS (International Ship and Port Security code), TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit), FEU (Forty Foot Equivalent Unit), GM (Distance between metacentre and centre of gravity), TM (Torsional Moment), BM (Bending Moment), GoM (Distance between the metacentre and the centre of gravity after taking into account the FSM (free surface moment)), MPCH (Moves per crane hour), TEUPH (twenty foot equivalent units per hectare), GWT (Gross Weight), SNT (Suez Net Tonnage) , NT (Net Tonnage), PNT (Panama Net Tonnage), GT (Gross Tonnage), Kts (Knots - speed in nautical miles per hour), STCW (Standards of Training Certificate Watchkeeping), MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet), BDMS (Certificate for the Transborder movement of hazardous wastes), DGN (Dangerous Goods Note), MMDGF (Multi-Modal Dangerous Goods Form), etc. etc. Then there are all the educational abbreviations that change almost yearly and which one has to get to grips with as a School Governors, the SIP, the SERP, the RAP which became the KRAP (I loved that one) and has now disappeared altogether........we live in parallel worlds filled with abbreviations particular to our own fields
