By Michael Grey*
“Unfriendly natives” – it said, recalling a previous visit, but the Old Man, worrying about the reaction of the pilot, demanded that the Third Mate erase this scurrilous observation, even though he subsequently agreed with its accuracy. It is not the first time they have featured as a source of seafarers’ exasperation, but ports and their official (and officious) inhabitants are noted in the latest Seafarers’ Happiness Index as one reason for its fall in satisfaction.
The safe arrival in port after a sea passage might mark an interval in, or even the conclusion of, a voyage, but is, more often than not, a reason for stress and unpleasantness for those aboard ship.
High-handed behaviour by port authorities, immigration, customs and others who consider they have a perfect right to march aboard and demand instant attention from people who, unlike them, have had no rest for many hours and many different responsibilities will be familiar to most aboard ship. People stamping up the gangway looking for faults and reasons to detain, fine and prosecute the ship for failure to obey its complex, inconsistent and arcane bylaws.
Missing courtesy in ports
A general lack of courtesy, with often unrealistic expectations of the visiting ship – the ship is never right – being a regular observation. The ship, it has been often pointed out, is the “customer” of the port, which like any old retailer or service supplier, would not even exist without their “footfall”, but is rarely treated as such.
Even your friendly agent, which once would be firmly on your side and pointing out all the pitfalls, will be also working for the charterer, firmly favouring the latter, possibly even conspiring against you and your interests. Then, there are places where shore leave is prohibited, because it is so much easier to just say “no!” than to facilitate some arrangement that will allow a few crew members who can be spared their duties to get to the shops. Ships’ crews will be regarded as a downright nuisance and an interference to the smooth running of the port, or terminal.
Their welfare is “nothing to do with us.” And even if such liberty is permitted, the practicalities in the shape of distance, an absence of any affordable transport, required documentation, bureaucratic procedures or hostile gatekeepers might combine to put off even the most adventurous of souls. Small wonder that there were reports that seafarers were enjoying the longer sea passages around Africa, because of the Houthi pirates’ closure of the Red Sea. A longer interval between ports was something to be welcomed. It is not exactly an original observation, but the happiness of seafarers might be thought of as collateral damage from 9/11 and the hastily formulated ISPS Code, an explosion in the smuggling of narcotics, and the waves of illegal immigration. Covid, with the seafarers identified in the minds of the authorities as international transmitters of disease, scarcely helped, either.
The ports, of course, will tell you of their responsibilities in law, for security and health and safety, and you clearly cannot have individuals wandering around ports and terminals with deadly machinery hard at work. It is often too much of a fuss, it will be patiently explained, to put in place arrangements that will enable a couple of seafarers to be safely taken to and from the terminal gate. An even bigger ask to try and run a bus service into town, when there are not enough customers to make the service viable. It is invariably easier to spell out the reasons for not doing something – maybe (remember this from Covid) they can get ashore at the next port.
Need for ships working in harmony with port
I recall listening to the master of a ship talking about how the very best results come from the ship and its systems working in harmony with the port and terminal and its systems, but also noting how rarely this happened.
But it is not too much to ask that visitors are treated with consideration and politeness; how many busy officials ashore would expect be given immediate attention, without so much as an appointment?
It was many years ago that I was given the information and “welcome” pack that was provided by the Port of Ghent for all visiting ships, which offered comprehensive information for crews, which included bus timetables, travel arrangements, retail opportunities, location of welfare facilities and the like. I’m sure that there are other ports which will also make such an effort, but this was impressive. It was not a surprise that the then Chief Executive of the port was a master mariner, who clearly knew the significance of this gesture and the probable appreciation of its recipients.
(Seafarer photo from ITF)
*Michael Grey is former editor of Lloyd’s List. This column is published with the kind permission of The Maritime Advocate.