A truly special community characterized by values such as room for cultural diversity and appreciation of others. The captain of DFDS’s ship, KING SEAWAYS, Andreas Kristensen shows no doubt when asked about the driving force behind his profession as a seafarer and a captain. When asked about his choice of profession, he promptly replies: “It’s in my blood so to speak: my father was a seafarer, and so are my three brothers. Every time we received a letter from faraway places, it was so exciting and fascinating that I was not in doubt about what path to choose, ” he says. And as expected, the life on board pleased him. “You live and work side by side, which is why everybody agrees on the general idea that everything should fit together properly. For instance, I believe that Filipino seafarers are exceptionally good at keeping up high spirits, even after being away many months at sea, while we Danes may get tired already after a couple of weeks. And yet, I experience that the vast majority of people are putting a lot of hard work into creating a nice and pleasant environment, ” Andreas Kristensen says.
Andreas Kristensen also thrives in his role as a captain. Prior to 2012, he was a chief officer in DFDS, after which he was promoted to a captain, and since 2017, he has been working on KING SEAWAYS. When being asked to express his strongest qualities as a captain, it is having good social skills that comes to his mind. The ability to listen to and understand the challenges faced by the members of the crew. “Of course, my main task is to monitor the physical conditions on board and to have the full picture of what happens where. But being a good captain is equally about paying attention and talking to people, ” he says. “Besides, it is paramount that you keep your composure and recognize that things are not always turning out the way you want them to. Losing your temper at trivial matters and doing everything yourself is simply not an option. ” Andreas Kristensen has earlier received publicity for his role as a captain, when he, together with his crew of the DFDS’s cargo ship, BRITANNIA SEAWAYS, received the International Courage Award for having handled a serious fire on board. But according to Andreas Kristensen, he himself did not perform exceptionally valiantly and brings the crew and the firefighters involved in the accident to the forefront.
Even though we usually take a community at sea for granted, it requires a continued effort to ensure that it is well-functioning. That is something KING SEAWAYS has been specifically focused on, says Andreas Kristensen, and goes on to explain that a prolonged effort has been made to refurbish the mess halls. “Before that, we had a classic division of officers and private sailors in separate mess halls, but we realized that almost nobody used the facilities after hours. That is why we decided to merge the mess halls so that everybody ate together. As far as I am concerned, it has been an improvement cutting across different branches of the ship, and having officers and ratings eat together, ” he says and adds that since the merging the noise level has gone up, making it necessary to also have a separate “quiet” mess hall.
One of the reasons why the noise level in the mess is sometimes loud, is that apart from the noise coming from normal conversations, the breaks are also utilized to checking and making calls from mobiles. “Shipping and seafarers reflect a general development in the rest of society, and that’s why we face the same challenges when it comes to the use of mobiles. As far as the social media are concerned, they do not really pose any problem because of the poor WIFI signal on board. But I still experience people spending considerable amounts of time with their mobiles, and I am not an exception in that regard, ” he says. Yet, Andreas Kristensen has no intention of introducing rules in this area, even though mobiles can impinge on the community. And that is because a mobile enables you to maintain contact with family and friends: “We’ve got so many rules on board that it would pain me to also impose new regulations on the use of mobiles. There is nothing wrong about seafarers speaking with their families, and I do that pretty often myself, ” he says at the same time pointing out the importance of not hindering the opportunity of having a close contact with the family for the members of the crew of other nationalities who have been away from home for a long time. On KING SEAWAYS, there are 150 seafarers of about 10 different nationalities - primarily Scandinavians, Polish, Filipinos, and Ukrainians.
According to Anders Kristensen, restrictions on mobiles is not the best solution. He believes that it is more about creating a balance and offering alternatives. And he points out several ones, which do make a difference. Firstly, there is the ship’s gym: “The gym is the optimal place for creating team spirit and a feeling of community, because I see that people across nationalities, cultures and branches are working out together, competing for the best lap time on the spinning bikes, ” he says. “The brilliant part is when we occasionally play football or basketball ashore - it really creates a sense of community. I am no longer a captain in these games, but I am gracefully allowed to play, as a left full-back, while it is others who step up and control the flow of the game. On the football field, you take up different roles. On top of that, it is simply fun to be a part of. ” Luckily, a special community does not only come into being at the gym - which, according to his estimate, is used by about one third of the crew - or at the month’s game ashore. This can also happen at everyday tasks, “A usual busy working day, when people depend on each other to make things come together, can also bring about a sense of community. Or at the time of large operations, say, when docking the ship, with everybody leaving his or her steady routine and cooperating across sections. I’m liable to think that it is there that the sense of unity peaks, ” he concludes.
