I’m in Gibraltar returning home after a ship visit. At the airport, I meet with a young seaman who is also going home after being 6 months onboard.
Jonardo’s vexed eyes look deeply sad. At first, I thought he was repatriating on medical grounds or someone in his family had passed away.
You, ok? I asked Jonardo.
‘No, I am not, sir.’
Going home and not happy?
Only 6 months, how I can I be happy?
Wait, I said, is that why you are not happy? What do you want? 9 months? Maybe 12? I thought I was being funny.
Jonardo took a little pause, and then he took his chance with a stranger who he has just met 10 minutes ago.
Of course, I want 12 months. We [Filipinos] don’t get paid when we are home unlike the Europeans. We don’t even know when we will have a job again.
Shocked by what I had just heard, I said to him, why don’t you say this to your company?
They don’t care, sir. It’s 6 months finished and they say you must go home because of this new thing … fatigue.
Some 30K feet above the clouds, I’m reminded of a powerful story from the Italian author Ernesto Sirolli. A group of Italians land in Zambia and they are left surprised by the ‘lazy attitude’ of the locals. Fertile soil, ideal climate, abundant manpower and streams of rivers. Why should these Zambians suffer from starvation? It is our duty to save them all.
And so, a bunch of Italians get together to plant tomatoes all along the Zambezi river only to find a herd of hippos munching and destroying all their hard work just when the harvest was red and ripe.
‘Why didn’t you tell us before?’ yelled the Italians to the locals.
The locals laughed and responded, ‘because you didn’t ask.’
Sirolli’s straight advice (and his TED Talk title). Want to save someone? First shut up and listen.
I’m left wondering what a mess we have created with maritime regulations and technical solutions. How are we any different from those missionary Italians in Zambia.
First, we single out fatigue as our biggest problem. Then we put AI at work to prove our point. And then we create products and solutions. This is not the first time of course. We have singled put many such problems and sold a range of products in the name of safety. Bridge navigation alarm systems; electronic charts; non-technical skills; ISM Code; certification standards; and the list goes on. Piece by piece we create a catalogue of solutions, but we never take a step back and ask, what is the problem we are trying to resolve?
Fatigue is not even a problem for Jonardo. He’s more concerned about a steady employment to provide for his family.
Next week, the maritime industry meets once again in Philippines for the Crew Connect Conference.
I just browsed through the list of 85 speakers.
Guess who is missing in a crew conference? Ship’s crew of course.
I think Sirolli is right.
