The Other Human Element in shipping
Posted on | December 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
When shipping gurus, or guru wannabes, gather, we often speak of the “human element.”
This is understood to be the merchant seafarers who are, as is well known, often in short supply these days. There is, however, another “human dimension,” one that we often forget.
I refer to the public as a whole. Our industry, absorbed in communicating with itself, has never gotten the hang of establishing rapport with the people we serve – the hundreds of millions of members of the human race who depend, whether they know it or not, on the maritime supply chain to receive the necessaries of life. And so, we bewail (a) our supposed obscurity, and (b) our bad public image.
Some of us believe that this need not be so. Every so often, a beam of sunlight illuminates our inward-looking world, and gives a hint of how we could break down the wall of stuffiness that surrounds us.
One of us who understood this was the Greek ship-owner George Livanos, who, in the 1980s, founded the Hellenic Marine Environment Protection Association (HELMEPA), an early green initiative that was spurred by (imagine!) the Greek shipping industry. Today, HELMEPA is a standard-bearer for everything from beach cleanups to children’s poster contests, all themed on the marine environment. Mr. Livanos understood what public relations professionals call the people-to-people contest.
A dramatic example happened during World Maritime Day observations last month. NAMEPA, the North American Marine Environment Protection Association, of which I’m chairman, sponsored a poster contest. The winner, Kevin Lopez of Levittown, New York, USA, aged 11, gave a fine speech, and, as they say, brought down the house. Several members of the audience cried. It was a remarkable moment, shared with Kevin’s teacher and parents. It was nice, to put it mildly, to share our environmental concerns with members of the public. Imagine.
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December 19th, 2009 @ 1:47 am
Not a comment on “The Other Human Element in shipping.”
Posted at the above website – I invite you to be a member of our group.
Ahoy,
Probably our council’s links page, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PMMC-NLUS/links, with a 130+ links already may not need another. But here goes – one more of a timely nature, Clay Maitland’s Blog. I found the posts written by him and his team well thought out and cogent. See http://www.claymaitland.com/about to read a bit more about him as an individual and his international team, Dr. Hans Payer, Michael Grey, and Neville Smith.
I would love to see our own Captain John Denham post his comments and well as the Navy League’s Merchant Marine Committee Chairman Vice Admiral Al Herberger enter his compositions on the subject. Below are three recent posts that should stimulate dialog.
Phelps
PS Here are a few more blogs, some already on our links page.
Blogroll
59° 56′ N
Dennis Bryant
gCaptain
Lloyd’s List Climate Blog
Regulatory Seas
Sea Fever
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Clay Maitland Blog
On a quest for quality in shipping, Clay Maitland, the maritime executive and commentator, has established a new safety & environmental blog for shipping focused on stimulating a dialogue on the environmental standards generally described as “quality issues.” This site will aim to stimulate maximum participation within the industry and all interested parties, with lots of “buzz” and “twitter”. This site will be updated frequently, possibly several times a day.
http://www.claymaitland.com