2009 Review & Outlook
January 11, 2009
Andre Grikitis
President and Chief Executive
Intermarine, LLC
Keeping a Sharp Lookout
If the events of the last few months - the global financial crisis and resulting repercussions to the shipping industry - have shown us anything, it is that we must be ready for the unexpected. To date, project and breakbulk carriers have not felt the full effects of a declining worldwide economy, but we will. Our segment of the shipping industry may not be as devastated by this pronounced downturn, but we enjoy no immunity from the negative consequences that will follow.
How do we, as an industry, guard against the potentially crippling effects of a worldwide recession? First, we must work together to promote effective communication throughout our entire segment. Collectively, we must improve the stream of communication between project owners, planners and providers throughout the entire transportation cycle. Doing so will permit our industry to respond to market forces instead of falling victim to them.
In an increasingly globalized economy, culture and language can become barriers to effective communication. Adjusting to this new economic landscape will require a communication skill set that must be anticipated, developed, and honed through focused training. Precise communication is fundamental to our business; vague communication is costly, and leads to increased disruptions and disputes.
Second, we must be able to adapt as an industry. Since the world is now experiencing unprecedented events, I expect the unexpected will be part of the near term landscape. The ability to avoid rash decisions, conflicts and disputes that seem to manifest themselves in turbulent times is imperative, otherwise imprudent behavior will result in misplaced energies.
In last year’s JOC Review and Outlook, I wrote that qualified personnel and effective training were critical to the success of our industry as a whole. In the current environment, the leadership required to provide that training will also be called upon to demonstrate crisis management skills to deal with the inevitable conflicts in a measured manner.
The functioning of an experienced, trained and efficient staff will now be particularly important to respond to an unprecedented number of contractual changes. As corporate budgets are tightened, the decision to invest in personnel development will now face increased internal scrutiny and, perhaps, opposition. However, if the industry ignores training now, we will collectively fall victim to the never-ending cycle of under performance in an under appreciated business. To succeed, we must be willing to keep pace with advances in personnel development embraced by other disciplines of world commerce.
Finally, industry cooperation and consolidation in our segment must be considered as potential avenues of distributing the costs of training and centralizing industry know-how. Project and heavylift shipping in particular has an acute, ongoing need for technical competence in addition to the traditional carrier skill sets. These needs can be rather dramatic as the errors made in our industry tend to have consequences extending beyond just the cargo we handle. Leveraging strengths, minimizing costs, improving efficiencies - these are all worthwhile reasons for considering industry cooperation.
In sum, we all need to be on high alert in these rough seas and continue to promote the fundamentals and nuances of our business. Those with broad and deep experience, market knowledge gained over time, and proven stability must keep a firm grasp on the wheel and be prepared to weather the storm.