It is indeed commendable that our national flag carrier in a recent board meeting has taken the initiative of corporate social responsibility, rewarding PNSC afloat staff on yearly performance. The new management is dedicated not only to keep the organisation in green, but has embarked on replacing old tonnage.
The welcome news is induction of two double hull Aframax Tankers and plans to purchase a bulk carrier. The management is fully alive to its responsibility and, being public sector organisation, is making profit without any liability on taxpayers. The accelerated growth in tonnage is good one and even private sector is willing to join hands with PNSC, due to its performance, based on market reports.
Shipping is able to boast of its history and tradition that few other industries can match. And yet it remains as relevant to the modern world as it has ever been, perhaps, even more so because, without it, today's global economy simply could not function and half of the world will freeze.
The legacy that seafarers hand down to one another is one of the pride in a job well done, of attention to details, of innovative skills assiduously learned and in short pains-taking application of seamanship. It is widely predicted by maritime analysts, that unless something is done sooner, shipping is bound to face manpower crisis and there will be acute shortage of qualified officers to manage the ever-increasing world fleet.
There is a strong evidence that today educated young population does not find it an attractive career, thus industry cannot ignore the current shortage of good entrants. It is on record that in the recent past, shipping has done well to improve its safety/environmental records and complied with the stringent regulatory regime of IMO.
Recently, STCW 95 has been revised in a diplomatic conference held in Manila, thus it is imperative for the industry to complement the simultaneous developments with sense of corporate social responsibility to attract young educated officers.
Unfortunately in the past, there was no formally established and internationally accepted standard or principle for CSR and nobody was clear as to what the concept means and its application. It was addressed by the international standard organisation and now the ISO 26000 is the principle of CSR. The UK nicely summed up in a seminar, attended by me, that CSR is about how a business takes account of its economic, social and environmental aspects in the way it operates maximising the benefits and minimising the downslides.
The world business council for sustainable development defines corporate social responsibility in the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as local community and society at large.
It was heartening to note that the management of PSNC has comprehended the issue of staff morale, motivation of brand loyalty, reputation risk and environmental sustainability, widely recognised as drivers of competitive advantage. CSR has come to mean more than charity or philanthropy. It has moved from margins to mainstream of corporate strategy being inter linked objectives of doing business.
Needless to mention, in the 19th and 20th early century industrialist luminaries, W.H. Lever, George Cadbury, Rockefeller exposed visions of content, healthy and as a consequence, efficient workforce to place their countries on world map. Today environmental considerations, the fair treatment of workers and the duty of care businesses have toward their customers are of increasing concern. The status of employee as a " sensitive asset" has led the companies to perceive the value of creating work place attractive to applicants and corporate values that are aligned to wider social interest.
Ships today are indeed technologically advanced, workplace and, in future, it may be controlled by a single joy stick and a mouse ball in the arm of helmsmen sent out, and engineers will have probably clean hands and the calluses on their finger will be from tapping a keyboard rather than wielding a spanner. The crew accommodation will be clean and food will be good. I simply wonder if we are preparing for future by training the educated officers strictly on merits and changing the syllabus of our training academies and school.
Pakistanis need to work hard to remain employed on the ships of the future and there is a dire need to recruit quality officers and train them for future needs. Shipping is no different from other industries, and it was pleasing to participate in a seminar organised with the support of PNSC at Karachi where shipping was introduced to audience from different walks of life, ie businessman, bankers, insurance and investors, a first ever good effort to market the industry.
In Pakistan, shipping still suffers from relatively poor public image, probably through lack of understanding of its true importance and the fact that it only seems to grab the headlines when, an inevitably accident or pollution occurs as was the case of M.T. Tasman Spirit in 2004, which spilled 30,000 metric tonnes of crude oil.
The unique hazards confronting the seafarers are pirate attacks, unwarranted detention and abandonment, which serve as disincentive to recruitment, although seafaring is potentially exciting, financially rewarding career. Shipping carries more than 90% of the world trade safely, but it surely needs to attract and retain the sort of educated, qualified and motivated workforce of high calibre, to secure its own future, but without CSR application, it may not attract qualified educated youth.
The most welcome development for the seafarers is the adoption in 2006 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) consolidated maritime convention dealing with seafarers working condition. I am proud to be a contributor at ILO and I hail this as the fourth pillar of regulatory regime for quality shipping, complimenting three IMO key conventions, SOLAS, MARPOL and STCW these treaties address the all-important social dimensions.
The IMO has launched go to sea campaign in 2008, which has been endorsed by all seafaring nations except Pakistan where it did not receive any attention, although we have young educated youth, who can readily fill the world seafarers shortage only after intense training.
I hope some realisation may dawn on the concerned ministry to use this window in time, getting our due share in world maritime jobs. The IMO has declared 2010 as year of the seafarers, thus appreciating the 1.5 million seafarers, who are serving the industry.
The concerned ministry may pick up the blueprint of PNSC-CSR and implement same through the government shipping office as incentive to seafarers working on foreign fleets remitting about 100 million dollars to the exchequer. The problem of the global seafaring shortage of 34000 persons can only be resolved through CSR initiatives by the ship owners, industry and concerned ministry.
