COVER STORY
Cultural lockdown Books Heidi: Wild Swans by June Chang Esben: by Michael Palin Bjorn: Red Notice by Bill Browder
“
We need to change as an industry to embrace more flexible working. It’s one of the things that makes us very unattractive
”
of each show. The first episode conducted, Zoom-style, featured Esben Poulsson, the chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), dialling in from Singapore, Heidi Heseltine, CEO of UK-based Halcyon Recruitment and Bjørn Højgaard, the CEO of shipmanagement giant Anglo-Eastern and chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners’ Association. Højgaard discussed how impressed he has been with the speed with which shipping has gone digital during the coronavirus and how seafarers had soldiered on brilliantly during the crisis. “Ashore I must say I don’t think any of us were quite ready to go digital in our communications and daily processes like we have done and yet it has been a remarkably smooth process,” Højgaard said. Shipping has in general adopted a solution-driven, empathetic approach to handle the crisis, according to Halcyon Recruitment’s Heseltine. “It has been the cohesion and collaboration that has made the most difference for me,” she said. Whereas many in shipping had previously been “technophobic”, Heseltine reckoned the current situation has allowed everyone
ISSUE TWO 2020
to appreciate the real benefits of technology. ICS’s Poulsson praised the industry for how it had handled the pandemic to date. “It underlines what I have always said about this industry,” Poulsson said. “It is amazingly resilient and amazingly flexible and has the ability to change course very quickly as conditions dictate.” Højgaard predicted there will be much less business travel once the virus recedes with shipping embracing more flexible hours. “We will never get back to the
way things were. Flexible working hours, much more video conferencing that is here to stay. The way we have adopted technology over the last few weeks will have a lasting impact,” Højgaard said. The Dane’s point of view was heartily embraced by Heseltine, someone who has for years championed the idea of less rigid working hours for shipping. “We need to change as an industry to embrace more flexible working. It’s one of the things that makes us very unattractive as an industry,” Heseltine said, pointing out that it would be good from for both worklife balance as well as a cost saving perspective. Many of the viewpoints raised in this debut episode would be chewed over by the luminaries in the shows that followed. ●
Sponsored by
23
