So the Italian cruise ship disaster it seems was the captain's fault. No lifeboat drills. Turned off the auto pilot, came too close to the shore.
Clearly, this was human error and an operational aberration, which any normal human can see.
But having covered maritime affairs off and on for 30 years, I am pretty abnormal. And I know this industry is every bit as abnormal as I am.
No major ship wreck I can think of has not been blamed on pilot error, captain error, crew error, even errors by the cooks.
Yup, a cruise line once blamed a cook for sinking a ship. Guess the captain wasn't around.
So I'll wait a bit longer here to see what emerges.
Keep in mind as you read news stories that the maritime industry is the one industry in the world that has an "error-inducing" system -- a process that actually assures that there will be more wrecks, not fewer. ("Normal Accidents," Yale University.)
The industry does this in many ways, in part by investing heavily in technology that may or may not work but must appear to work. And the attention to crew and officer costs is absurdly intense, a race to the bottom of the salary pyramid, often with little concern for skills. Then, captains and crew -- often from different countries with no common language -- spend sleep-deprived months at sea.
Insurance is cheap. So if one ship goes down a year, no big deal.
Truth is though, about one big ship goes down a week. You just don't hear about it because they aren't passenger ships and there are few Americans or Europeans in the crew.
Captains once had control of their ships. In an age of sail and early steam, they were in fact little CEO's.
But today, they are middle management and subject to the pressures of all senior managers, whose degrees are likely to be MBAs, not a masters in nautical engineering.
Does anyone in today's world think that a major corporation did not have constant contact and control of this ship? Good lord, they know what their overland truckers are doing. To suggest there were not daily updates on drills and course is absurd.
So what is the alternative version for the cap here? Perhaps none. But it is not hard to imagine that policy drove these bad decisions, not poor operations and execution by the captain.
It is not hard to imagine the captain and his corporate senior going over a check list like this.
Cap:
First day out, gotta do the lifeboat drill. Go by the book, you know.
Corp:
Bummer of a first night experience. Wish you could get on board here with the experience. Nobody wants a lifeboat drill on the first day.
Cap:
Well...okay...but....there's plenty of time and we're out in the middle of the ocean and...
Corp:
Do we have to really be out in the ocean? That's not much of an experience either. Can't you get in closer to the shore? Look here at these beautiful cliffs... that would be a really great view.
Cap:
Well, I suppose, okay but....we can't use the auto pilot and in that close, you never know when...
Corp:
Can you get on board with the experience here? There are a hundred captains who would take your job tomorrow and I guarantee you I would not hear this from them...they would be committed to the experience...
Unfortunately, this is not a an absurd scenario.
Perhaps here the cap did blow it. I'd be surprised if it is that simple.
Clearly, this was human error and an operational aberration, which any normal human can see.
But having covered maritime affairs off and on for 30 years, I am pretty abnormal. And I know this industry is every bit as abnormal as I am.
No major ship wreck I can think of has not been blamed on pilot error, captain error, crew error, even errors by the cooks.
Yup, a cruise line once blamed a cook for sinking a ship. Guess the captain wasn't around.
So I'll wait a bit longer here to see what emerges.
Keep in mind as you read news stories that the maritime industry is the one industry in the world that has an "error-inducing" system -- a process that actually assures that there will be more wrecks, not fewer. ("Normal Accidents," Yale University.)
The industry does this in many ways, in part by investing heavily in technology that may or may not work but must appear to work. And the attention to crew and officer costs is absurdly intense, a race to the bottom of the salary pyramid, often with little concern for skills. Then, captains and crew -- often from different countries with no common language -- spend sleep-deprived months at sea.
Insurance is cheap. So if one ship goes down a year, no big deal.
Truth is though, about one big ship goes down a week. You just don't hear about it because they aren't passenger ships and there are few Americans or Europeans in the crew.
Captains once had control of their ships. In an age of sail and early steam, they were in fact little CEO's.
But today, they are middle management and subject to the pressures of all senior managers, whose degrees are likely to be MBAs, not a masters in nautical engineering.
Does anyone in today's world think that a major corporation did not have constant contact and control of this ship? Good lord, they know what their overland truckers are doing. To suggest there were not daily updates on drills and course is absurd.
So what is the alternative version for the cap here? Perhaps none. But it is not hard to imagine that policy drove these bad decisions, not poor operations and execution by the captain.
It is not hard to imagine the captain and his corporate senior going over a check list like this.
Cap:
First day out, gotta do the lifeboat drill. Go by the book, you know.
Corp:
Bummer of a first night experience. Wish you could get on board here with the experience. Nobody wants a lifeboat drill on the first day.
Cap:
Well...okay...but....there's plenty of time and we're out in the middle of the ocean and...
Corp:
Do we have to really be out in the ocean? That's not much of an experience either. Can't you get in closer to the shore? Look here at these beautiful cliffs... that would be a really great view.
Cap:
Well, I suppose, okay but....we can't use the auto pilot and in that close, you never know when...
Corp:
Can you get on board with the experience here? There are a hundred captains who would take your job tomorrow and I guarantee you I would not hear this from them...they would be committed to the experience...
Unfortunately, this is not a an absurd scenario.
Perhaps here the cap did blow it. I'd be surprised if it is that simple.
Wondered if you'd weigh in here...good perspective! My first thought was definitely a "it's gotta be more complex than just a captain making a mistake or two" as things like this are usually a "multiple points of failure" type of situation. Good reminder about the potential for "profit motive" (via corp) to outweigh safety and, well, lives. We need more and more people to do the right thing, even though it seems like it's getting harder and harder.
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