Two stories from the past year remain in my memory, the first of which was a case before the court in Puck, Poland, concerning an accident in nearby Hel.
It took all my self-control not to descend into schoolboy humour and caption this column "Puck in Hel case," but there was nothing funny about the circumstances.
So far as I can tell, the case involved an emergency response vessel mobilised to assist a ship in trouble in the Baltic Sea. Racing out of the port (Like a bat out of Hel, perhaps?), the vessel hit the breakwater and two crewmembers were injured with one suffering life-changing injuries.
The captain has been accused of failing to adjust his navigation and tactics to the prevailing weather and darkness and of failing to exercise due caution. He is charged with unintentionally violating water traffic safety rules and causing an accident that resulted in injuries to two people, hence facing up to eight years in prison.
I say "So far as I can tell" because the report was a rather vague translation from the original Polish, and I was unable to find any follow-up reports, so I have no idea what happened next. Nonetheless, the report raises many questions. Was alcohol involved? If the vessel was fast enough to cause severe injuries when it stopped suddenly, why were the crew not strapped into their seats? And if the violation was unintentional, why does the skipper face up to eight years in jail?
Most of us in towing will probably find ourselves involved in emergency response operations during our careers and will not hesitate to assist, but I suppose, in the back of our minds, we are quietly confident that the authorities will forgive us our trespasses if things go wrong. Let us hope the court in Puck is similarly compassionate.
The second report concerned the tragic death of a tug engineer in the United Kingdom. On a cold January evening, the tug received orders to assist a vessel, so the chief engineer stepped ashore to release the mooring lines. As he attempted to get back aboard from damaged timbers on the dock edge by climbing down to a fender, he fell into the water.
The tug master manoeuvred away from the pier for safety and the crew threw the engineer a lifebuoy with a line attached. They pulled him to the tug's boarding ladder, but he was unable to climb it. Although the engineer was wearing full safety gear, he appeared to lose consciousness after about five minutes. A rescue boat arrived around 22 minutes after he fell, but he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Both the tug master and the company faced charges in court. Fortunately for the master, the MAIB report into the tragedy revealed that the lack of safe access at the berth had been recognised for at least 14 years and had been raised many times at safety committee meetings and during company inspections.
The prosecution claimed the master instructed the engineer to board using "an extremely and quite obviously dangerous" method with the tug pitching and rolling due to the weather, but he denied wrongdoing and was ultimately acquitted. The company was fined around US$2.5 million.
I doubt if anyone involved in towage has not found themselves in a similar situation. Tugs tend to berth in odd spots, especially if it saves the time of steaming back to base then out again for the next job. The extra time to rest is generally welcomed by all hands, and a lack of suitable boarding arrangements tends to be accepted.
I have yet to find a solution that would be suitable on all jetties at all times, so this is not a problem that is easy to solve in a practical and user-friendly way. I hope people more clever than I will come up with something, because good men and women should not be risking and losing their lives in this way.
Whenever I discuss the question of women in shipping I tend to fall back on a standard, if superficial, response – that the women we have in shipping, both ashore and afloat, tend to be outstanding, but most women probably have enough sense to find easier jobs.
Now I discover a report published in The Economist a few years ago that actually supports my position. Their survey concerned politics, and found that when asked the question, "How interested would you say you are in politics?" the proportion of men who answer "very" or "fairly" interested is significantly higher than that of women. This phenomeneon has been observed in more than a dozen rich democracies, and The Economist says that the gap in Britain is about 30 per cent, although that figure rises to 37 per cent among graduates. Given the state of British politics, I suppose that supports my assertion that women have more sense but, as the author points out, this means their views on issues such as workplace equality, parental leave, and child care may not be adequately represented in government.
And so it is in shipping, I suggest. But should we be satisfied with the excellent women we have, or should we be actively campaigning for more?
The World Economic Forum (WEF) studies the gender gap, and in 2017 they reported it is widening and that gender parity is over 200 years away. Our industry may not be typical because we have gone from no women on ships to at least a handful, so our gender gap should be closing. The WEF argues that gender parity is important because it "strongly influences whether economies and societies advance".
Since this is pantomime season, I am tempted to yell "Oh no it doesn't," from my seat in the stalls. We managed to abolish slavery, create the industrial revolution, and put men on the moon without gender parity, so we need to come up with proper evidence, not sound bites, if we are to succeed in attracting more women to the industry.
I came across a 2018 interview with Lena Gothberg of Stena Line, who is described as a shipping industry thought leader, consultant, and podcaster. Among other things, she said women are essential to a viable and robust future for shipping because young women are bringing in the new knowledge that we need such as 3D printing, blockchain, remote management, and so on. The problem is, I suspect young men can be found with similar skills, so this is not really a convincing argument.
She also said that shipping needs to rebrand to fix its recruitment problem. We need to build the brand of an exciting industry with many cool jobs. I completely agree, but suggest this applies to all young people, not just women.
She also claims you don't need to be a sailor to be in shipping, which is also true, although I would add that there are many jobs in shipping where being a sailor is a distinct advantage.
Shame on me, but I actually prefer the arguments put forward by a man. Adeel Ahmed of the Eastern Group claims employing more women, especially in senior management roles, will improve productivity and lead to more thoughtful and better decision-making. He cites research to back up his claims and shows how female representation leads to better performance, higher productivity, better return on equity, and increased profit. Those are facts that will make the average shipowner sit up and take notice!
Despite his enlightened views, Mr. Ahmed admits that the total number of job applications received from women by his offices in Pakistan and the UAE is zero. So we are back to Ms Gothberg, and the need for shipping to rebrand as a desirable place for everyone of any gender.
I close by wishing you every success in 2024. Happy New Year!