What’s a maritime blog if those who read it don’t bother to comment on the articles? A self-indulgent monologue. Marine Café Blog, fortunately, has often managed to provoke its readers into reacting and sharing their opinions. Many of the posted comments – from ship captains and ordinary crewmen to maritime educators and company CEOs – are insightful and informed. Here’s a sampling of what our readers from around the world said this year:
» Advances in ship structure and equipment do not necessarily make ships safer; otherwise, we would not see so many errors causing 80% of the maritime accidents. Legislation, training, inspections & victimization are not going to work either. Once the industry resumes treating the seafarers as humans again, then we can have some hope. – Captain Ardeshir Yousefi
» It is easy to forget that safety in our industry is not given, but created and developed by people, and people create safety through practice. On the other hand, it must be acknowledged that, since we operate in a productivity-oriented system, there is a tendency to trade safety (or thoroughness) for efficiency, as Dr Erik Hollnagel pointed out. – Alexandre Gonçalves
» We all have the experience that an increase of regulations does not reduce human errors. It is indeed a mental condition of the man responsible and in command. It is therefore that I on several occasions have promoted the idea that candidate captains and chief officers should be extensively psychologically tested before they are put in these responsible positions. – Jan R Scheele
» The issue is about the Philippine Government’s failure to carry out due diligence of training establishments. Filipinos are being treated no worse than Georgians. – Bob Couttie
» How can Malacanang assign STCW regulatory functions to an agency that is not quality assured according to the STCW Convention? – Michael B Cuanzon
» It’s the Filipino maritime bureaucrats who are messing things up for Filipino seamen. – Leon Somar
» I’ve sailed with some fine Filipino mariners. No reason to keep these seamen out of the market when good housekeeping can solve the problem! – Reid Sprague
» Conferencing has become big business and organisers have run out of ideas. Few speakers ever offer anything new and everybody goes out of their way not to be controversial. It’s just a huge waste of time and money. – Terry Hutson
» Wonder what price would shipping pay when the human element is shoved aside, neglected and abused? But frankly, does nomenclature matter? Would that change the way seafarers (are) treated? – Johnny Sim
» In my opinion it is of the utmost importance to realize that the front line of shipping is the seafarer. He deserves to be thought of and treated as such. – Ken Abel
» Some seafarers, they only care about how much they get (paid). – Said M Said
» You don’t need special forces or SEALS for maritime security… What you need are men and women who can follow directions, work well together, are professional and train together for the mission, which is to protect the ship and its crew from acts of armed piracy. – James M Canning Sr
» Only when we work together on the inside of this industry will positive change be realized. If ever the world needed to be strengthened by the Love this season brings to our collective hearts, it is now. – Victoria
~Barista Uno
