Who will be Shipping's Patagonia?
For those who believe in New Year's resolutions...there's still time
Jesus claimed “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, NKJV)
To the steady drum beat (sometimes rapid) of all-too-negative news, one watershed moment came and went this past year, and we missed it entirely.
In this peculiar, not-quite-right, discombobulated post-pandemic world, the trampling, stampeding herd of global business didn’t even blink.
The post-pandemic orgy of profiteering, capitalism at its best, and the wanton destruction of the planet didn’t even catch its breath, on the contrary it accelerated.
One business, and one alone, took that narrow way and separated itself from the tainted masses to save the planet. Because indeed, wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leads to destruction.
In a stunning act of altruistic business suicide, Yvon Chouinard the founder of iconic brand Patagonia, laid bare the rank hypocrisy and greenwashing of commerce the world over and literally sacrificed his business to put Planet and People before Profit.
Chouinard, gave his company, its profits and its future, to the planet.
Just let that sink in for a moment…
He had at least 3 billion reasons, according to capitalist economics, to NOT do precisely what he did.
Remarkable.
Of course, narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Patagonia Moment
Industries and businesses everywhere are all heading for their own “Patagonia moment”. In fact they’re predestined to it. It’s inevitable. The day and time of reckoning is coming. None shall be spared, ultimately.
Shipping particularly stands out as one, (one of many to be fair), that has a long laundry list of failings. And it’s quite putrid;
Pandemic price gouging
It seems we are worse than used car salesmen, (or people, sorry to all the decent used car folk out there!). Are there no depths to which the industry will not sink, is nothing sacred, is there no honour left, no integrity?
At a moment in human history when shipping and supply chains could have risen to the occasion and been part of the solution, they chose instead to hold markets to ransom, to extort and coerce to the utmost. Shameful.
Plight of Seafarers
The hundreds and thousands of seafarers and workers left stranded during the pandemic and beyond is a blight on the entire industry. Seafarers abandoned at sea for months on end, with pay-checks cancelled, with no medical support, left to the ravages of the pandemic and limited supplies. We treat hardened criminals in prison more humanely than this (by and large). Also shameful.
Ship Breaking
“We’re green”, “we’re safe” , “we’re sustainable” , “we’re even recycling”. Bullshit. Even when it comes to end of life sunset and fleet decommissioning, shipping is a basket case.
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"Shipbreaking has grown into a major occupational and environmental health problem in the world. It is amongst the most dangerous of occupations, with unacceptably high levels of fatalities, injuries and work-related diseases." (ILO).
Greenhouse Effect
Seeing the words “IMO” and “emissions” and “reductions” together in the same sentence is now such an epic contradiction it’s no longer even comedy. Maritime transport (and aviation just quietly) are still standout offenders in the emissions stakes.
It bears no further discussion and in one of the most profound technical commentaries of the last year, could best be described as “Blah blah blah”.
We could add to this list, toxic ballast water, containers overboard, ships' fires and many more…
Who will take a stand?
The industry is ripe and stuffed to the gills with fat profits. It’s overripe and overdue. Who will get real, who will get serious, who will take a stand and DO something radical, something meaningful that puts planet and people before profit?
Who will be Shipping’s Patagonia?
Is there one…anyone?
Who will act so decisively and so definitively so as to lay bare the hypocrisy that abounds, to change the game and rewrite the rules of the game in fact?
Crickets…
Just follow the trampling herd. Everybody’s doing it. How could the majority possibly be wrong…?
The last laugh
In a perverse and paradoxical twist, Mr Chouinard may well get the last laugh.
Not so long ago, the brand’s “Don’t buy this jacket” campaign was literally intended to tackle the issues of rampant consumerism head on.
But that whole meme can now be flipped to “Buy this Jacket and save the Planet”. Well to some extent at least…
Imagine a Shipping Line taking this approach… the sky’s the limit, absolutely.
And this gets us to the crux of the whole matter.
The reason Chouinard’s stand is so powerful, is precisely because it did cost. It took sacrifice. It meant less gain, less greed, less profit, less advantage, less benefit. That’s how we know it’s real. (Argued masterfully as usual, by Prof Mark Ritson , here).
Contrast that with the vacuous ramblings of this current industry, now decades on and the choice is very clear.
If your environmental “messaging” is not “cutting through” just hire a new PR company. Up the advertising budget. Do more polling and market research. Craft a better “message”.
Or you could get real and actually take the road less travelled… the Patagonia route.?