New technology and new international regulations are re-shaping maritime shoptalk. To be honest, some of the current terms and buzzwords have us bemused. We understand what’s meant by “management level” and “operational level” and have a fairly good idea of what knowledge and skills are required of ship officers in each category. But why doesn’t the International Maritime Organization (IMO) stick to tradition and refer to the fellows simply as “senior officers” and “junior officers”? Why complicate life?
It’s not as though the officers’ basic functions have changed. The ship’s master, for example, has always played a management role in the general sense. Now as before, he’s responsible, with the help of his second in command, for getting the crew to act harmoniously together for the safe, efficient operation of the vessel and the delivery of the cargo to its destination in the fastest time possible. As we’ve seen in Manila’s implementation of the so-called management level courses, the new nomenclature has given training centres yet another excuse to exact money from seafarers.
In addition to IMOspeak, we’re bombarded with buzzwords whose meaning is often not clear or is subject to various interpretations. How many shipping CEOs can give an off-the-cuff, one-sentence definition of “sustainable shipping”? The term itself, as we noted in another article (Madness over “sustainable shipping”), is bad English. And then there’s “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)”. Why the big fancy words? Aren’t all corporations supposed to act responsibly by following government regulations, being honest in all transactions, providing efficient service to clients and cleansing company income though some form of community service?
And yet everyone, not least the maritime bureaucrats, has to live with the linguistic mumbo-jumbo. In Manila, the two main ship officers’ groups, Masters and Mates Association of the Philippines (MMAP) and the Marine Engineer Officers Association of the Philippines (MEOAP), are officially designated as “Accredited Professional Organizations” or APO for short. However, we still have to see either one work for the welfare of ship officers. What both clubs seem to have accomplished is to make a profession out of collecting membership dues and other charges.
Changing terminologies from SEAMAN to SEAFARER was probably a good start. If there was any wisdom to this, SEAMAN is NOT gender sensitive but SEAFARER covers both man and woman.
Senior Officers versus Management Level Officers may differentiate issues on age. Senior Officers may mean older officers than Junior Officers. The phrase Management Level Officers addresses issues on levels of responsibilities regardless of age, seniority or you may call it juniority.
Today, by any means, a younger (junior) SEAFARER may become Management Level Officer.