Fatigue in Captaincy
An Update From The Bridge – an article written by the captain’s committee
The International Superyacht Society (ISS) is the representative organisation of the Large yacht industry with a mission to; “Promote Excellence and Ensure Sustainability in the Global Yachting Industry”. Within the ISS are committees established to work towards this mission.
The Captain’s Committee is a collective of current seafaring Captains from varying backgrounds and locations that work together to represent the concerns of yacht crew and Captains. Major projects include, the support for ISWAN and the launch of the yacht crew helpline
www.superyachthelp.org and the publishing of issues of wide industry concern.
In this first article, from the ISS Captains, is the unanimous view of the greatest challenge to today’s Yacht Captains is fatigue management. Their own and that of the Crews they lead.
There is a sense that we, the Captains, are sitting on the greatest “Dirty Little Secret” in the yachting industry. In this article we will break out some of the reasons we feel this and that it is not constrained to any one size or segment within yachting.
“A Symptom, not a Problem”
As the Captains began sharing anecdotes, one in the committee members spoke up and asked if we were all looking at this the wrong way: “Is fatigue not a problem in itself but a just a symptom of the wider problems in modern yachting?” The penny dropped and the group on the call took a pause, ‘If fatigue that is such a concern is the symptom, what are the cause(s)?”.
When looking for causes it became tricky as we have what could be called a “Progress Paradox”, in that everything is better, but the Captains and crews are feeling worse.
Breaking this quandary to its components:
I. The yachts have never been built better, and this extends to operational capability, environmental considerations and with MLC now well entrenched better accommodation and facilities for crew.
II. The Crew are better trained, more professionally focused and their terms are better than the past.
III. Supporting companies are stronger, more comprehensive and staffed by more qualified personal.
So with all this, the industry’s performance must be ‘never-better’, right? Why then, are we, the Captains, feeling stretched like never before?
There is no single answer of course, more layers of factors that when combined leave Captains and their Crews feeling physically and mentally exhausted trying to hold the tails of the ocean-going tigers they work within.
The Culture
The stakeholders in the larger maritime world, have had a decades long campaign a positive error culture, where all are empowered to speak out on safety. Parallels have been drawn with aviation and medical industries which have successfully increased safety and reduced costs by empowering staff to report and document their mistakes so their industries can learn from it. Excellent further reading on this can be found at: “Making Critical Decisions at Sea”, which was recently published by CHIRP and distributed by the Nautical Institute amongst others.
Many yacht Captain’s feel the opposite situation is entrenched within their yachts. Captain’s do not feel empowered to openly state;
“I am stretched to breaking point and fatigue is endangering myself and my crew.”
The shore support teams rely and demand the Captain to have and execute the authority to operate the vessel safely. Does this extend to stopping the yacht when fatigue is placing crew at risk? If this is said there are too many cases where the resolution is to replace the non-cooperating Captain at the next opportunity that doesn’t impact the Owners enjoyment with another Captain that will accept the motto of yachting “Harden Up, Sleep later and deliver the Guest Experience”.
Ironically, all the ISS Captains have been guilty of this view as it is how they entered the industry and it is ingrained in their DNA. Now the industry has outgrown this Neanderthal-esque view and the question is; How can this cycle be broken?
Is this critical problem even known by the most important members of our yacht community, the Yacht Owners? The yachts that are being marketed are so capable that the crew cannot maintain them. Is there meaningful representation by the DPA to the highest levels of Ownership of this concern as required by the ISM code?
The legislation has flexibility, and, in many cases, fatigue could be easily mitigated by sensible turnaround times or an industry wide education campaign, so guests understand the yachts are not resorts with shifts – there is only one crew. No harm, no foul is only going to work while the yachts ride their luck until some terrible tragedy shakes the industry out of our self-induced blindness where fees and commissions exceed a true commitment to safety.
There are more incidents in yachting than are reported. This is a whispered, though well-known fact. Yes, the responsibility for reporting returns to the Captains, but when fatigue is a contributory factor there is no action, or worse the captain is held to improve the work rosters, something they have too little control over when the charter or private guest routines exceed what they can address with crew numbers available.
It ought to be so easy to explain to an UHNWI that the commitment to crew rest is in place for the safety of themselves, their families, their asset and their crews. They are also in place to protect all in the operation against liability issues.
It is beyond the capacity of the Captain, with their single source of income to speak out, Captains will buckle in deference to their job security. It takes an industry-wide commitment.
The Yachts
The wonderful new yachts are a privilege to call a workplace, but they are so capable that the crew struggle to keep up.
This begins from the day of the launch where challenges range from storage, to cleaning to operation. The crew are brought on too late in construction to provide an operational perspective and then are instructed to ‘make it work’. A series of innocuous compromises in construction combine to make a workplace that is physically improbable to operate efficiently.
An ISS Build Captain recently was asked to sail a 90m yacht from the shipyard 24 hours after taking delivery. The shipyard stated the ‘normal’ period post-delivery was 4 to 8 weeks. This time allows a completed yacht to be Seaworthy with crew trained, stores loaded, and the vessel secured. The Captain spoke out but none in the process would accept the concerns. This included the; owner, broker, shore side support company, and comfortingly the DPA. With such a start this yacht will struggle to truly ‘make it’ as a sustainable operation the stress and fatigue such a rushed delivery builds into the culture is hard to shake.
Once in operation the yachts the yachts limp through guest periods. Crew openly talk of ‘just making it’ through several weeks with guests. To an outsider this may seem strange.
“How hard can it be fetching drinks, making beds, driving people to the beach or wakeboarding? Hardly work at all, right?”
The Yachting Industry promotes an unparalleled guest experience with everything on call and no limitations to the guests. This is not possible for those tasked to deliver this model. Too many times limited crew numbers have seafarers navigating and maintaining engine watches through the nights after full days of guest service.
The Crew
Career focused and trained crew are amazing but impatient. The ‘hop onboard for adventure’ that yachting once represented has been replaced by a more mercenary approach.
Crew are well-informed on what remuneration, leave and entitlements they seek. This should be held up as a positive, though with an expectation of black and white employment terms yachting’s long-held refrain of working together for a single goal of guest benefit is waning.
Tenure on yachts is measured in months and not years, this is a great cost to the industry in administration, training, accidental damage and of course the ultimate measure being the team performance to the guests. This alone should bring to question the way crew employment is being handled. Too often a crew member leaves as they are just tired and want a break, they then repeat the cycle again in their next employment.
The ISS Captains understand this, and all are aware of their guilt in not having the time in their own days to speak to crew and guide them through their work routines and indeed their career decisions. “If only the time” seemed to be a common response to the conversation between Captains on how much time do you really dedicate to speaking and listening to crew.
The Shore Support Community
There has never been better support. This extends through; forward-leaning management companies, recruitment firms, medical providers, trainers, IT firms and suppliers. So many professionals all knowledgeable and all passionate wishing to assist.
The shortfall being all these companies want a piece of the Captain’s and Senior Crew’s time. There is an irony that everyone offering to make a Captain’s life easier actually takes just a little more of their time. Training is the one area all Captains say is lacking; however, it is not through lack of providers. Too many of the Captains speak of booking, re-booking and eventually cancelling valuable training due to lack of time or variations in the schedule making a booking improbable.
Overlaid with the amount of support firms needing time (particularly on larger yachts) there are layers upon layers to gain basic operational decisions and the Captains now struggle under the weight of communicating to all.
Lastly, in day-to-day operations the dance floor is full, however, what is also apparent when there is an incident of significance the Captain is alone. All the Captains are aware that it is the Captain that will be legally accountable when there is an incident involving serious casualty, discharge to the marine environment or damage to the vessel or a third party.
The Solution
We, the ISS Captains, as authors and concerned representatives of the yachting community would like to offer a simple solution, but if it were that simple it would already be in place. It is a multi-faceted problem that need multiple paths to find a solution
Hidden within this article is a plea. A plea to those involved in selling (charter and private), design and construction to seek operational input and then use your respective voices to educate and manage client expectations.
Even the largest of yachts are restricted in the resources that are available when in operation. Unlike shore residences, there is no second shift or the chance to parachute in five more staff to help out at peak times, in times of sickness or fatigue.
This article speaks to the daily operations where fatigue becomes a symptom. There is another layer that is compounding this. There is a privilege afforded to yacht owners to determine the programme at their whim. This is certainly their right due to the investment made, however, for crew this results in a situation where they ae unable to have a clear picture of when and where they may take their earned leave. Again, it is beholden to those in the higher levels of the yachting community that have direct access to Yacht Owners to make this stressor known to their clients.
For the love of yachting the ISS Captains ask that we all become stakeholders in supporting our Captains and crew in this most critical aspect of their safety and performance.
Sincerely,
Your Fleet Captains
