A Captain’s view: running our new methanol-capable vessels

After nearly four decades at sea, what made you want to be part of the crew sailing the new vessels?

For me it was the challenge of something new – not the technical challenge per se but the organizational one in being ‘the first of the first.’ And of course, the chance to play a role in our decarbonization story is quite special.

Of course, it will take some time to get familiar and get to know the new crew – this is always my goal – but my first impression is that they are all very proficient. Their professionalism will take over the minute we step on board. We know how to run a vessel; we know how to deal with problems. And most important is that we know how to build a team!

What do you think will be some of the challenges on the first voyage?

It starts when you take the vessel out of the yard, when the ship builder hands the keys over to you! Then we start learning all the ins and out of the vessel, and make sure we can operate it within its limits, in a safe way.

Every vessel from the yard has her own challenges. And her own specifics. The first day at sea for example you find all sorts of alarms, all sorts of things happening, many logged events in the ship’s system. Professionally, you know what to do. But physically on this new ship, you need to find the correct button - how to kill the alarm? How to change the parameters? Where is my password for this? I personally like this excitement.

If you could talk to a new cadet, just out of the Academy and starting his/her career, what advice would you give?

I would say the standard things like be safe, be careful, etc. But I’d also say enjoy your time at sea, enjoy your new career!

Some of the new cadets do not even have their own mobile phone, but we make sure they can use a satellite phone to make that call. It’s important to making sure they are not feeling homesick in the beginning – feeling homesick is much worse than feeling seasick!

Maersk is putting a strong focus on its culture at sea. As a leader, what is the biggest challenge to creating an open culture on our vessels?

It is often that the younger ratings are afraid to come to the Senior Officers because of the power distance. They are more comfortable going to someone of the same rank or one level above. So, it’s important for me to show that I am available. I want to hear from them. I want them to feel comfortable coming to me directly, but I must understand if they don’t.

This is big a shift in an environment that historically has been quite hierarchical. I get challenged by the Chief Engineers, but not the Cadets, the younger ranks. I wish they would! So, the first crew meeting on a new voyage, I sit with the crew and try to challenge this fear. I let them know that I make mistakes, and that I want people to tell me when I do. It is how we learn.

It is also important that people realize that we sail with multinational crew - that aspect is sometimes overlooked. We have Senior Officers from Denmark, Poland and Ukraine, many crews are coming from the Philippines or India, from London, China. It takes time to get to understand one another to the point where we are all comfortable being ourselves.

Are there things you do as a leader to help create this understanding?

Socializing is important. And now we're going to the new vessel, a new thing. So, everybody is excited, but after a week you get into a working routine, and you need to keep the energy and keep working to know one another. As a leader, you should make sure that there are moments of reflection and time for socializing, this must be actively managed – it does not just happen on its own.

So, we do a barbecue, watch a movie, or play bingo together. Whatever - just sit down, switch off, have a laugh. It's not all business. If many of a crew enjoy karaoke, it’s my job as a leader to make sure the karaoke machine is there and working and suddenly Tuesday is karaoke night!