Learning by Training

30 YEARS AGO

A LOOK BACK AT DECEMBER 1989

Thirty years ago, HCB celebrated ten years of monthly publication with a bumper issue of 124 pages, boosted by advertisers keen to ride the magazine’s coat tails at the 1989 MariChem show at the RAI Amsterdam that December. In those days, MariChem was still an event for the chemical tanker sector as well as the new-fangled tank container business, so it was a major happening in the dangerous goods calendar.

Even the list of advertisers in the December 1989 issue was a veritable who’s who of the industry, and this was matched by the announcement of the publication of HCB’s fi rst-ever Tank Guide, a 200-page directory of everything relating to tank containers and road tankers. “One of the strongest themes to emerge during ten years of writing the Bulletin is the sheer dynamicism of the tank sector,” said editor Mike Corkhill in his comment piece. “More and more shippers have become aware of the [tank container] concept’s advantages over competitive forms of transport.”

In fact, within the pages of the December 1989 issue, it was not the tank container that took centre stage but more traditional means of moving dangerous goods. Our report on the incoming changes to ADR and RID made no mention of tank containers and the Regulations section led with a report on the recent session of IMO’s Bulk Chemicals Sub-committee, which made some important decisions regarding hazard evaluation during ship loading and unloading and on the use of vapour emission control systems.

HCB’s annual survey of the chemical tanker fl eet showed that the ‘big three’ – Stolt-Nielsen, Odfjell Westfal-Larsen and JO Tankers – continued their dominance of the deepsea business and had a successful year, with rising petrochemical production helping bolster vessel demand in a comparatively tight supply position. Some of the leading names in the shortsea business, other than Stolt-Nielsen, may be less familiar to younger readers: Adriatic Tankers, Dorval Shipping, United Chemical Tankers and Gebr Broere were among the larger fl eets in those days.

There was a bullish report from the LNG-9 event in Nice, France in October, where Shell’s Malcolm Peebles may have thought he was being over-optimistic in saying that LNG trade volumes should be able to reach 100 mta in the fi rst decade of the 21st century, or “we ought to be ashamed of ourselves”. In fact, by 2012, international seaborne trade in LNG had exceeded 220 mta. Somewhat wider of the mark, although interesting nonetheless given current attempts to improve sustainability in the supply chain, was a Russian project to use LNG as an aircraft fuel. While some practice fl ights had taken place, the developers reported, perhaps not surprisingly, that “many problems have still to be resolved”.

In the US, debate continued about the desirability or otherwise of adopting the UN approach to the approval and use of packagings for hazardous materials. The then little-known Conference on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA) debated the issue, with Larry Bierlein noting that the US had been trying to move towards ‘performance-oriented packaging’ since 1982. Andy Altemos and Martin Castle provided more detail on the UN’s multimodal system but Bob Ten Eyck was more cautious and Ed Mazzulo acknowledged industry’s reservations. It would be some time more before HM-181 came into effect.

LEARNING BY TRAINING

By Arend van Campen

THE KODAK EFFECT

The Kodak Effect is a well-known phenomenon. The erstwhile industry leader in the 1970s started developing technology that later would be used for digital photography. But as it kept its focus on the old analogue technology for too long, it missed the train and dropped out of competition.

We see this effect in our town centres too. Department stores like V&D and Hudson Bay in Holland were too late to compete with online shopping expansion, because they were holding on to an outdated idea and were unable to adapt in time. Ebay, Amazon, AliBaba, Coolblue and BOL lured the shoppers away and told them they can sit on their couch, press ‘pay’ and have their laptops or clothes delivered.

A friend of mine who works in the consumer industry tells me that ‘convenience’ is the magic word. Now, let me consult a dictionary first to find out what ‘convenience’ actually means: I found two definitions: 1. the state of being able to proceed with something without difficulty 2. a public toilet

For the sake of the reader I shall only try to explore the first definition. My gut feeling tells me this is about easiness, relaxation, but I can’t help to link it to laziness too, which according to Professor Louis Mackey is one of the fundamental causes for the underdevelopment of mankind. In the movie ‘Waking Life’ he says: “There are two kinds of sufferers in this world: those who suffer from a lack of life and those who suffer from an overabundance of life. I’ve always found myself in the second category.”

When you come to think of it, almost all human behaviour and activity is not essentially any different from animal behaviour. The most advanced technologies and craftsmanship bring us, at best, up to the super-chimpanzee level. Actually, the gap between, say, Plato or Nietzsche and the average human is greater than the gap between that chimpanzee and the average human. The realm of the real spirit, the true artist, the saint, the philosopher, is rarely achieved. Why so few? Why is world history and evolution not stories of progress but rather this endless and futile addition of zeroes? No greater values have developed. Hell, the Greeks 3,000 years ago were just as advanced as we are.

So what are these barriers that keep people from reaching anywhere near their real potential? The answer to that can be found in another question, and that’s this: Which is the most universal human characteristic - fear or laziness?’

And that is what I am observing daily in my job as a trainer. We educate people to use technological, often computerised systems to do tedious tasks for them, but because of ‘convenience’ they don’t learn the basics and may forget how things really work. They may become even more lazy, blaming the system or algorithm, not themselves. But what will be left to create when everything is conveniently provided for? Kodak refused to learn because convenience halts creativity.

This is the latest in a series of articles by Arend van Campen, founder of TankTerminalTraining. More information on the company’s activities can be found at www.tankterminaltraining.com. Those interested in responding personally can contact him directly at arendvc@tankterminaltraining.com.