Charity is a great thing. It uplifts the human spirit and acts as an antidote to greed. Unfortunately, charity in the shipping world has descended to the level of propaganda, corporate almsgiving and media spectacle. The maritime charities drum up a particular issue (e.g., depression at sea), and large corporations, their conscience pricked, donate money to the cause. The whole cycle is attended by publicity.
I cannot, for the life of me, understand why maritime charity workers love to post selfies on social media. Can anyone imagine Mother Teresa carrying a selfie stick whilst ministering to the poorest of the poor in Calcutta?
With so much talk about seafarers' rights, one might miss the bigger picture and overlook other cases of human exploitation. Not the least is child labour, which French painter Fernand Pelez (1843–1913) poignantly depicted in A Martyr – The Violet Vendor, 1885...
French artist Alfred Guillou depicted the horror of being shipwrecked and drowning at sea in his heart-wrenching 1892 painting, Adieu! (pictured above). Today, life is imitating art as people continue to flee from Libya to seek asylum in Europe. Thousands have died on...
The noble tradition of saving lives at sea, which British engraver Henry Edward Dawe depicted in his 1832 print They're Saved! They're Saved! (pictured above), is under attack. This year, two German captains of rescue vessels operating under the umbrella of Sea-Watch...
I was a bit shocked when I recently watched the RT television report about German boat captain Pia Klemp facing charges in Italy for aiding human traffickers. She and her crew are credited with rescuing more than a thousand North African migrants who tried to reach...
On 7th June the remaining 11 crew of the MV Albedo finally tasted freedom after being held captive for 1,288 days by Somali pirates. No doubt, they'll be sought out by journalists for interviews. An enteprising author might even write a book about their ordeal. But...
We don't know how many of our readers have noticed. People say 'Happy Valentine's Day' or 'Happy Mother's Day' but not 'Happy Day of the Seafarer'. And yet, the 25th of June is supposed to be a day for showing our love for the men and women who toil at sea - just as...
If there's an Air Pollution Index, a Corruption Perception Index and a Poverty Gap Index, why not a Greed Index? It is, after all, human greed that fuels the despoilation of the environment, drives government officials to steal and increases the divide between the...
MARISSA OCA Five minutes into our conversation with Marissa Oca on a hot May afternoon and we knew that this was one tough, driven woman. "I am a blazing fire of passion for work," she said. "Work has to be done." The toughness and the drive she apparently got from...
In the dog-eat-dog world of Philippine manning, it's a delight to see some players looking beyond profits and thinking of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). One such company is Crewcare Inc. On 23rd October, its executives and staff drove to the National Bilibid...
We've been an admirer of shipping expat Jae Jung Jang, chairman of the Uni Group of Companies, ever since we learned about his philanthropy. He's Korean, and his Sorok Uni Foundation has been helping cured Filipino lepers reintegrate into mainstream society. It's a...