Increasingly, as ship operation has become more precise, the work undertaken in port has grown in importance. Port time was always regarded as “non-earning” by owners anxious to keep their ships running productively, but the twin pincers of fuel costs and environmental pressures have focussed more attention than ever on in-port efficiencies.
Efficient port operations enable some of the round-voyage time lost through fuel-saving slower steaming to be recovered, while reducing the total time cargo spends on its journey. So the shipping industry has a very vested interest in the work of the stevedores and will surely encourage the educational work of the GSC to this end.
The GSC courses are designed to bring together people from a broad range of stevedoring experience from around the world, stimulate their thought processes and enable them to get away from their own local job pressures for the extent of the fortnight’s activities. During this time they will see a range of very advanced terminal operations, in countries other than those in which they normally work and have the opportunity to speak to those managing them. They will have presentations from a range of industry leaders, team up and undertake projects that will be useful to them and above all, learn a great deal from each other.
They will become better informed about cargo handling and the shipping industry worldwide, with the typical course taking in stevedoring managers from every continent. They will invariably make friends and in doing so, become better professionals through this “networking” process. And perhaps most important, the business of cargo handling, in whatever sort of terminal it may be practised, will gain from the spreading of ideas and best practice. BIMCO itself is anxious to see Continuous Professional Development established throughout the shipping industry. The transmission of ideas throughout the stevedoring sector worldwide by this initiative of the GSC can only be encouraged.