This article was better than I expected.
After multiple contracts with different owners and different technologies, seafarers get confused with requirements and methodologies. Beyond confusion, seafarers lose interest in the specific needs of their given employer and result in procedures with a common-denominator just to get by. Eventually, this negativity creates indifference and loss of engagement.
Good article & I’m surprised by the bio of the author. The guy has some insight that I would figured could only be gained on board but he did it from shore.
Two things add, my opinion only.
Seafarers live a life at sea but that can sometimes be different & separate from providing a service while living a life at sea. Substandard seafarers can go to sea to live a portion of their life or worse, try to live their life ashore remotely from sea. A great seafarer will go to sea to live a portion of their life there while trying their damndest to provide a good service in the process. I found the atmosphere for this as a group has to start from the top with the Master, Chief Mate & Chief Engineer. If those 3 tops are into providing a good service while living at sea then usually there’s enough great seafarers on board to get it done.
The author manages Ukrainian officers & with my bad luck I always worked with substandard Ukrainian officers. I’m sure there’s good ones somewhere but from my experiences they don’t have any loyalty to their employers or to hiring agency back in the Ukrain. The author has his hands full trying to get those guys to give a damn & not be “box checkers” there to fill a spot.
With mariners employed thru a hiring agency their first loyalty is to the agency. The agency IS their employer and can remove them on a whim of the agency or the company that hires the agency. If the agency is charging stupid amounts of money to get these mariners jobs, forgetting about them once they place them. Yeah, problems and attitudes occur. Most Eastern European mariners I worked with did a good job on larger ships, most were top notch. On the smaller vessels with the bottom of the barrel agents? I have had a not so good experience. One thing US mariners do not understand is the degree to which agencies in less developed countries control their mariners. They are like owners of indentured servants renting out their indentured servants but the servants have to pay the owner to get rented out. Once they pay the owner back their fee which has all manner of expenses they make a little money.