By Steven Jones, founder of Seafarers Happiness Index
I was honoured to be asked to speak at the Maritime Trends 2023 conference, excellently hosted by Marine Tours, and held in the splendid surroundings of the Divani Apollon Palace & Thalasso.
While the sunshine and pool were, of course, tempting on a Saturday, the real excitement was in the packed conference room as around 200 delegates heard from distinguished speakers, and me, and even shared their views.
The event was split into two sessions, one looking at more technical and financial trends. Yes, the focus on decarbonisation, but so too the impact of the shifting ship finance landscape. The change in focus from European to Asian banks and alternative lending and leasing has been nothing short of staggering. Add into the mix the likely uncertainty as UBS has been left holding the Credit Suisse book, then we can perhaps see an even greater pivot East.
We then heard about the changing focus on legislation, and how people are coming to the fore, a point stressed when the importance and significance of the S in ESG was explored. The Environmental, Social and Governance angles are the bow wave of much change, and it seems that Greek shipping companies are pushing themselves to surf this into new business and opportunities.
As Marine Tours is primarily a marine travel company, though they also excel at event organisation as testified by the magnificence of the conference, there was a fascinating presentation from Lufthansa. The airline talking about their efforts to decarbonise and make their business sustainable. From small things like packaging to the big-ticket dream of solar-generated aviation fuel. There is much we still have to learn from the airlines.
Then it was time to think about people, those ashore and also at sea. We heard about the moves by InterTanko and their evolution of SIRE to better understand and anticipate the human side of shipping, and another presentation focused on leadership and the need to accept that leaders are not born, they are grown. They are nurtured and given the chance to become a leader.
While Dr Robyn Pyne from Liverpool John Moores University, my own alma mater, spoke of the fantastic work within the Europe-wide SKILLSEA. It aims to inspire a new generation of highly-skilled maritime professionals. It includes shipping companies, shipowners’ associations, maritime trade unions and maritime education providers from 16 countries in Europe.
SKILLSEA, said Dr Pyne, was focused on research that would help equip people with the digital skills, green economy skills and transversal (soft) skills that would be essential for anyone working in the rapidly-changing maritime sector.
Given the long, sad tail of BREXIT issues, it felt like there was something of a recalibration of relationships and engagement. With shipping plotting the course (as it has always done) to bridge any gaps between those who wish to work together. To be in a room packed with vibrant EU shipping people, and to have the UK back in the fold (albeit, rightly, on the naughty step) felt hugely positive.
Then it came to me…my time to discuss the Seafarers Happiness Index, which I founded and am massively proud to work alongside the Mission to Seafarers, with support from Idwal, Standard Club, part of NorthStandard and Inmarsat.
The conference was a chance to initially feedback on the latest data from Q1 2023 and to report that we have seen a drop away from previous highs, and are perhaps in a time of reflection, the tide of happiness naturally ebbing slightly as we see the new operational and experiential realities which seafarers are experiencing.
The full report can be accessed here, https://www.happyatsea.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Seafarers-Happiness-Index-Q1-2023.pdf
The platform was a chance to look at the results and the rationale, the fact that we look to perform alchemy in taking the utterly subjective, and making it objective as we assess trends and the changing pressures on crews. The Seafarers Happiness Index as a sentiment barometer gives a valuable sense of scale and direction to problems at sea and solutions too.
It was that matter of translating seafarer insight into solutions which was the main thrust of the presentation. We are in a new operational environment, and the insight that cargo owners and charterers want and need is growing almost exponentially.
Tying back with the main conference themes, as finance changes then so too will the insights that lenders look to. We have seen this writ large with the Poseidon Principles, and while these focus on carbon intensity, there will have to be a similar focus on seafarers and the voices of those at sea.
This was the main thrust of the presentations by Ioannis Alexopoulos, Partner, Eurofin Group / Teaching Fellow at the ALBA Graduate Business School and Dr Iliana Christodoulou-Varotsi, Senior Legal Consultant & Industry Trainer / Visiting Lecturer, ALBA Graduate Business School ACG. That change is coming, and all bases need to be covered to take advantage and head off risk.
While again, going back to the role of S in ESG, George Teriakidis, Area Manager East Mediterranean & Black Sea, DNV, hammered the point that crew issues are business issues, they sit at the core of all things important and of the change that needs to be effectively managed.
In summing up, I took to the elephant in the room, that of ChatGPT and AI. The impact is already being felt, but no one seems quite sure which way things will go. From my viewpoint, I feel this is a time of immense opportunity for those who know their business, trade, industry, clients and people well. For now, we are at a time when the value emphasis has switched from answers to questions.
ChatGPT has all the answers, it knows everything. Except that is the questions that are now more vital than ever. AI does not know what it needs to know until it needs to know it. That is where we come in, we are the shipping people, and we are the ones who know the right questions.
We also know what we are trying to achieve, and at the conference, I felt utterly overwhelmed with positivity. I saw young people, a hugely diverse crowd – I would perhaps even estimate it was majority female. All these people caring enough to be in the dark on a sunny Saturday learning, sharing and caring…asking the questions which will shape the lives of our people, the quality of our societies, and the profitability of our industry. It wasn’t Socrates, Aristotle or Plato who said, it, it was me…” The future of shipping is safe in the hands of people who care!”, and I truly believe it.
