URSABLOG: I Saw Three Ships

One of the nice things about living in Greece is that Christmas doesn’t come too early, at least for me. There is a welcome delay in putting up the decorations until December (compared to early November in some cases in the UK). Maybe it’s the climate, or the light, but I am grateful that Christmas isn’t being shoved down my throat so that by Christmas day I am sick of it. I can’t really get in the mood until round about now, but now I’m buying presents and preparing for my travels, I am going to see my sister and her family in New York at the end of next week for a few days before I come back to Greece to celebrate New Year. I may even put up a few lights for my cat, Chrysa, if only to see how long they stay up.

Shipping however never stops, and although the more aggressive sale and purchase brokers are winding down as they wait for their annual bonuses, the rest of us keep going, turning over stones to see if there are any deals under them. Ships still need to be fixed, operations still need to be dealt with; ships never stop sailing, whether it’s Christmas or not.

For those of us on land, this may serve as an irritation as we are trying to enjoy ourselves amongst family and friends. But many of us, tend to forget the many people who have to carry on working, usually in very difficult conditions, all the way through Christmas. No, I don’t mean barmen and waitresses, or petrol station attendants, but seamen, on board ships.

Their life is hard enough. Months away from home, on board ships that call in ports miles from any inhabitation, boredom at sea replaced by very hard work when in port to ensure a quick turnaround. They are the unknown and unsung heroes of our industry, and of world trade; imagine Christmas without the estimated 1,647,500 seafarers serving on internationally trading ships. But because they are out of sight they are also out of mind: we very rarely see them unless we have the privilege to visit ships often.

There are other stresses of life at sea which are worth noting:

-         Anxiety: this is not just the stress of work, but the stress of being alone and helpless when problems at home or elsewhere arise. The internet alone cannot resolve this, in fact it can make the problems worse even though 75% of seafarers in a recent survey said it influences their choice of employers. However the same survey showed that that accurate and timely payment of salaries, employee benefits like health care and family services, training and career development, and high quality food on board are more important to seafarers than access to the internet. This is, I suggest, about respect for workers operating complex and expensive assets in very challenging environments.

-         Social isolation: Social interaction on board ships has declined, especially with older seafarers. This is probably a reaction to improved access to the internet but being able to talk and communicate with your colleagues is a good thing. Younger seafarers escaping into their online life is bad for them too, and bad for the crew as a whole, and perhaps the ship. This is a problem that all society faces after all, but on board a ship it can be dangerous. I know from my own conversations that some ships are ‘happy’ ships, and others are ‘unhappy’. I cannot imagine a ship where most retreat to their cabins to their devices is a particularly happy one.

-         Pressure of work: The demands of the office, paperwork, class inspections, port state control, charterers, shippers, receivers, insurers and so on. This is just the normal stuff, without problems occurring. Imagine engine breakdowns, bad weather, the threat or occurrence of piracy, or anything else the more malevolent of the shipping gods want to throw at a ship at sea.

-         Sleep deprivation: this is not just the loss of sleep in port when everything has to move as quickly as possible. Imagine a voyage where the week before you arrive in port you have been sailing through rough weather, where more than two or three hours of sleep per day is impossible. Are you going to be able to work properly? Continued lack of sleep is a well known instrument of torture; at sea it is just another occupational hazard.

 All of these factors can negatively affect the mental health of seafarers, and turn any ship, whether modern or old, into a living hell for the crew. Add to this the risks of alcoholism and drug abuse, and life is indeed tough. Enlightened managers will be aware of these issues to make sure that they have policies in place to promote mental wellbeing and have procedures in place to deal with it when times get bad. These issues cannot be resolved by well-meaning posters or promoting feel good statements. It means care and interaction with the crew, and an understanding of the problems they face.

 This Christmas, don’t just spare a thought for seafarers, reach out where you can. It is a very important Christian festival of course, and with most seafarers coming from the Philippines, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, make sure they know the day is different from others. If you have Chinese, Indonesian or other crew, make sure they know too that you understand their lives.

 There are many charities that support the welfare of seafarers, but don’t just give some money and leave it to them. Charity begins from a good thought, not a moral duty.

One of my favourite books ever is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. I try to read it every year. This is the passage with the Ghost of Christmas Present takes Scrooge to see how people are celebrating Christmas:

 Again the Ghost sped on, above the black and heaving sea—on, on—until, being far away, as he told Scrooge, from any shore, they lighted on a ship. They stood beside the helmsman at the wheel, the look-out in the bow, the officers who had the watch; dark, ghostly figures in their several stations; but every man among them hummed a Christmas tune, or had a Christmas thought, or spoke below his breath to his companion of some bygone Christmas Day, with homeward hopes belonging to it. And every man on board, waking or sleeping, good or bad, had had a kinder word for another on that day than on any day in the year; and had shared to some extent in its festivities; and had remembered those he cared for at a distance, and had known that they delighted to remember him.

Let those of us on shore do our best to let seafarers know that we are thinking of them, not just on Christmas Day, but every day. We cannot make someone else happy if they don’t want to be, but we can create the right environment for them to be happy. It makes business sense: a happy ship is a profitable and safe ship. You will get more out of the crew and problems will be identified earlier, and solved quicker. If your whole life is difficult, your ability to spot issues and deal with them is reduced.

More than that, it is simply the right thing to do, and we shouldn’t need Christmas lights to remind us of our responsibilities and then forget about them. Seafarers are people too. 

Simon Ward

www.ursashipbrokers.com