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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.” |
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| 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. |
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