Capt N Jaijit Nair
“The call of the seas is hard to resist,
Through storm and hail along the way,
The sailor and his ship, together they persist,
And yearn to sail another day.”
It is not without reason that a ship is called ‘a floating city’, for within the gigantic and splendid steel hull, a miniature city hums with life. The magnificent machine and the men who man her, in perfect synchrony with one another, carry on, day and night, through fog and storm, rarely heard and seldom sung about. These adventurous members of the Sanmar family sail our eight graceful ships that proudly fly the Sanmar flag to the farthest corners of the world. A modern, technically sophisticated ship demands the best shore based support and a highly trained professional crew. Manned by about twenty five men under the command of a Captain, the team has to execute its task with clockwork precision in very rigorous environments. Staying away from the love and comfort of home and family, these men have to live and work in close proximity for long periods of up to eight months at a stretch. This calls for the highest levels of professionalism and team spirit from all on board backed by innovative and sensitive man management.
The shipboard management structure has evolved over the years into a unique form of flexible horizontal team based management system which finds few comparisons in the annals of modern management structures. Each officer and engineer is given a separate area of responsibility. With limited manpower available on board, it is not possible to have a dedicated task-wise team structure. To overcome this, flexibility is built into the system, whereby, depending on the task at hand, different team structures are automatically formed. When the ship is faced with a serious situation involving safety of life, property or the environment, crisis handling team structures automatically come into play.
To inculcate such professional flexibility and tacit knowledge, all the officers and men on board have to be multi-skilled as well as specialists at the same time.
A ship is a maze of myriad compartments, machinery and equipment. A typical ship has a huge 10,000 to 15,000 HP main propulsion engine, power plants, air-conditioning plants, refrigeration plants, fresh water generators, massive boilers, steering machinery, hundreds of other auxiliaries, navigational systems and cargo handling machinery, all of which have to be maintained in ship-shape condition.
The onerous task of maintaining and operating these complex systems is carried out by the ship’s staff with technical support from the office. Safety and quality audits are conducted around the world to ensure that international standards are maintained. We at Sanmar Shipping are proud of the fact that our ships have consistently come through with flying colours.
Over and above these technical functions, other specialised duties include navigation, commercial operations, cargo planning and handling, ship-repairs, communications and documentation. Emergency handling tasks include fire-fighting, flooding, heavy-weather damage, medical emergencies, search and rescue operations, grounding, collision, environmental pollution and finally survival in lifeboats.
The merchant navy also has a vital role to play in times of war. Over and above being a second line of defence, we will also be involved with transportation of troops and armaments and keeping the nations trade routes alive.
And in all these multi-faceted roles, we cannot forget that the ship is basically a mobile strategic business unit, with the primary purpose of safe and economic transportation of cargo by sea. The stakeholders in the ship’s successful operation are many, including cargo owners, charterers, insurers, ports, governments, insurers and the environmentally conscious public. It is a challenging task to look after the interests of all these diverse groups while continuing to function as a profitable business unit.
Globalised and borderless
The shipping industry is globalised and borderless. It is a service industry that depends on derived demand, and the markets are highly volatile and cyclical. The main business unit, the ship, is mobile. In order to survive and succeed, we have to compete in the international markets with the best from around the world. For a young shipping company, Sanmar Shipping is striving to establish its place as an industry leader in quality, safety and professionalism. Well, we are not there yet, but we can confidently say that we are on the way.
In yesterday’s world of shipping, the ship was the most prized asset. If you had a ship, business came calling. But today’s world of shipping has undergone a paradigm shift. The basic asset, the ship has become a commodity, standardised and universally available. The key to distinctive advantage today are the skills of the men who run the ships. It is this that will differentiate the good company from the bad, the winner from the loser. Sanmar Shipping has ben steadfastly pursuing this aim by taking up manpower training as a strategic investment in building up key resources. It takes many years of intensive training in the practical and theoretical aspects of the shipping industry to turn a youngster into a multi-skilled and versatile seafarer. This responsibility is shared between the company and the person concerned. Every aspect of the training and examination system is monitored by national and international statutory bodies. This is supplemented by very rigorous on-board training systems. Even with a very limited training infrastructure, the Indian shipping industry has been successful in producing world class professionals to meet the needs of Indian and a good part of the world’s shipping industry needs. With the worldwide shipping industry facing a severely depressed market, we at Sanmar Shipping have been battling on, braving the storms, and positioning ourselves to take advantage of a market upturn, which we all hope, is around the corner.
“Would thou learn the secrets of the sea?
Only those who brave its dangers comprehend its mystery!” – (W H Longfellow)
The author is a Master of vessels with Sanmar Shipping.