The shipping industry generally has a bad rap among the public at large, but a new initiative by Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers hopes to change that.
Commercial ships, as depicted in the mainstream media, are dirty things that belch out noxious fumes that pollute the atmosphere, spill oil over beaches, and are run by dodgy companies that hide in tax havens that care little about the environment, human rights and gender equality.
Anyone who works in shipping knows that this depiction is grossly overexaggerated, applying only to a very small number of industry players.
Fed up with this bad image, the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers has launched the Shipping for Good Collective, which it hopes will bring it to the attention of the greater global community just how good the industry really is.
“Shipping has been and remains the backbone of the global prosperity and well-being. Even before the English language was invented, shipping was a key foundational pillar of all the ancient civilizations - Egyptian, Indian, Chinese, Roman and more,” Institute president Punit Oza told TradeWinds.
“We lost that ‘goodwill’ somewhere in the past five or ten decades and today the maritime industry is more in news for all the negative aspects. Even the superhero efforts of our seafarers and the industry during Covid-19 have not been brought sufficiently to the fore,” he lamented.
So how will Shipping for Good collective help improve the industry’s image?
The Institute want to capitalize on what Oza describes as its greatest resource - its own members - to bring out personal, relatable stories, that through social, maritime and mainstream media will show how, just by "doing their job", they are positively impacting ordinary people's lives both directly or indirectly.
“This is not a corporate social responsibility (CSR) story or a company agenda. These are simple down-to-earth stories that need to be told to turn the tide, so that these members and the industry they proudly serve in gets its due credit,” Oza said.
“The maritime industry is quite aware of the stellar job that we do, but we have to make the general public aware of its contributions. This can only be done by all of us collectively,” he added.
To accomplish this goal, the Institute wants its members and fellows to share their stories, which it hopes will be given worldwide through newsletters, press and during other interaction opportunities.
Oza said the Institute hopes to widen coverage eventually to include stories of the entire shipping community, whether they are members of the organisation or not.
