Many factors are blamed for the decline- in calibre, numbers
and demand- of Indian seamen. Like in the fable of the blind men and the
elephant, everybody seems to have a pet theory. I, for example, have often blamed the STCW
regime for, in reality, lowering standards instead of raising them. However,
what almost all of us have ignored so far is the long term impact of recessions
on the psyche of the industry and its people afloat and ashore, and why this cumulative
impact is a significant contributor to this decline.
Indulge me for a moment while I explain. Before approximately 1980, an overwhelming
majority of deck cadets went out as apprentices to Indian companies after they
had undergone some pretty good training- academic and practical- ashore. On-board training lasted for two or three
years and was the first step into a permanent job that was theirs for the
taking. The system was similar for junior engineers. Officers on board took the trouble- even the
sadists amongst them! - to teach and train these youngsters. This was an
unspoken tradition that was almost never breached. At Scindias, the company I
joined as an apprentice, this sense of tradition was palpable, but other
companies were almost as invested in their trainees.
Then, in the early eighties, the recession hit. In India,
the face of the carnage was Scindias floundering (and eventually closing down),
SCI – the largest employer of Indian seamen and officers by far- telling some
of its junior officers there were no jobs for them ‘for five or six years,’ massive
numbers of laid up ships, desperate cost cutting in maintenance and all crew
matters, gross ill treatment of Indian crews by most shipping companies whether
Indian or foreign, protest marches by seamen in Bombay and Delhi, magazine
headlines and stories of Second Mates parking cars in Delhi to survive. And
crowds of applicants landing up at shipping companies for every job advertised.
That the end of that recession did not end the many unsavoury-
sometimes downright illegal- malpractices connected with ships and their crews is
a known fact; many of these continue even today. What happened in addition is
that the idea of a permanent- or even long term- employment in Indian shipping
companies was thrown out of the window.
There was never a feeling of permanency in foreign companies anyway, but
the concept that Indians would work on Indian registered ships on contractual
terms –as happened in and after the eighties- was alien. This practice is well established
by now, as is unfortunately established a widespread belief that working
conditions- not just wages- in even the better managed Indian companies are
much worse than those in even average foreign companies.
The loss of a sense of belonging to a company gradually
translated into little attachment to it. A culture of low commitment has encouraged
unprofessional behaviour ashore and afloat. Not surprising, then, that, for
example, the Indian Chief Officer who trained his Indian cadets with professional
pride and a sense of duty has ceased to exist. Foreign companies are a mishmash
of nationalities anyway, although a few are trying to get around the problem by imposing stricter on board training regimes. And, while there is truth in the complaint that Indian
shipping companies trained earlier generations of officers, many of whom then
left them (usually after their Command or promotion to Chief Engineer) for foreign companies, there
is no doubt that the emotional disengagement of seamen from their companies accelerated
hugely after the end of the eighties, whether in Indian companies or foreign.
The end result is that, in this industry of low commitment
and short term relationships, few anywhere have any belief in the old tradition
that said, with pride, that we will pass on our experiences to the young.
Postscript: Will history
repeats itself? Many Indian shipping companies are in deep financial trouble today;
some are insolvent and others are teetering on the verge of bankruptcy.
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