On the high seas

Whether it’s calculating your position by reading the stars or admiring a snow-covered deck, life for a seaman is thoroughly unpredictable

Das Choudhury Arupnarayan, Stowage Coordination Manager, Maersk

Das Choudhury Arupnarayan is just getting used to his new job on land. He has transferred from First Officer on one of Maersk’s ships to Stowage Coordination Manager in their Dubai offices. His duty timings are now from eight to five.

At 17, the regular nine to five office job held little appeal for Arupnarayan. He was looking for adventure, a challenge, something that would give him an extraordinary life. All of those wishes were answered when he applied for a position on one of Maersk’s ships. His selection was a major high.

Rules of the sea The rules of the sea are very much like the driving rules on the roads, says Arupnarayan. The lines cannot be seen but are clearly visible on the chart. The only major difference between navigating a ship and driving a car is cars have brakes and ships do not. So, a captain needs to be savvy enough to pre calculate forthcoming mishaps and stop the ship’s engine about 20 to 30 nautical miles (approximately an hour) before the location in order for the ship to stop on time. It takes about 30 minutes for a ship to stop moving from the time of shutting off the engine. This makes the role of the captain very crucial.

“Life at sea for months at a stretch can be exciting, perilous and, at times, routine,” says Arupnarayan. On a day-to-day basis, the work of the Second Officer, First Officer, Chief Officer and Captain revolves around the upkeep and maintenance of equipment and machines on the ship. All of the machines in the engine room are connected to sensors, which are connected to alarms. So if anything goes wrong, the problem is checked and rectified whatever time of day it may be.

The Second, First and Chief officers have to keep a 24-hour navigational vigil, each doing two four-hour shifts at different times of the day.

The watch takes place on a bridge on top of the ship, known as the Navigational Control Room. This room holds the radar, eco finder, path finder and other high performance equipment. These equipments provide vital information to the ship about the journey, what lies ahead, what the visibility will be like in the next few hours and whether fog is on the way. Out at sea the fog can be so thick that people cannot see each other on the ship and approaching ships are certainly not visible. Radars can spot other ships, however, and hence the control room must be manned at all times.

Weather surprises Mostly things are as usual, but the element of surprise is almost always supplied by the weather, say Arupnarayan. He has experienced plenty of hurricanes and big storms out at sea. He says that storms generate a lot of low pressure and travel through the sea at great speeds. When a ship meets a storm, its speed reduces to almost two nautical miles per hour instead of the usual 26 to 28 nautical miles per hour, thanks to choppy waters and the intimidating high waves that at times reach six metres. These storms usually lose their momentum as soon as they reach land but cause major havoc when they travel over the sea.

The crew also takes special precautions when they have a hurricane warning. As the ship is built of steel, the high speed winds can throw people into the ship’s steel walls. Hence everything on deck, inside the accommodations and everywhere has to be secured.

Today, after seven years, Arupnarayan wants routine and normalcy. He says life at sea can be stressful as he has helplessly witnessed ships sinking. And since remunerations are not extraordinary, he’s had his fill of adventure.

MAERSK in the Middle East

Maersk has agencies all around the world, but being well-established doesn’t make the shipping giant at all complacent

Being an established name makes no difference in Maersk’s growth strategy in the region, according to Robert Uggla, Managing Director, Maersk Line UAE, Oman and Qatar. “We’re an established company but the market in the Middle East is highly competitive, so we have to continue to prove ourselves. The region will continue to grow, as it has strong fundamentals so, of course, the coming year looks promising,” he explains.

The container giant deals with a number of challenges regionally. Uggla says, “Dubai is becoming a high cost location. There is very high inflation, higher salaries to be paid, higher cost of logistics. We see a shortage in the industry in some origins of 20 foot containers. It’s a matter of having containers and vessels to cater for the growth requirements. The Middle East has historically been an import region. In recent years, we’ve seen a very strong growth within the UAE, in the petrochemical segment and the industrial segment, which leads to higher demand for capacity on the export routes.”

The main concern Maersk Line faces right now is the rising cost of fuel. “Passing on the additional bunker cost down the supply chain is a challenge. The only way for us to have a sustainable business model is to make sure our clients share the transportation cost,” says Uggla.

“In the past, we’ve had a fixed freight in many contracts. Going forward, we have to make sure that the so called bunker adjustment factor is a floating part of the contract,” he adds. “It’s great to see that most of our clients and the industry as a whole share this view.”