How To Be An Effective Chief

Officer On Board Ships?

Each rank onboard ship from Master to Steward has its own importance, defined
functions, and responsibilities. The rank of Chief Officer, First Mate or the First watch-
keeping officer, acquires a pivotal role being responsible for Cargo operations  , which is
main commercial interest, along with which maintenance of deck and accommodation
areas further enhances his interaction with different ship departments, operational
and management staff onboard and ashore.

The chief officer has to be a good judge to utilise human resources available for jobs at
his disposal by means of communication, team spirit and maintain high levels of
safety while executing them. At the same time being too authoritative or domineering
while doing so places him on the negative side thereby creating a tense work
atmosphere onboard.

At such a stage, inter-personal skills have an undulating influence over his expertise

and professional skills. To acquire and maintain the balance is what experience teaches
to chief mates.

To elaborate above few incidents, we have highlighted how a Chief Officer has to create
a critical balance, where being second-in-command he needs to have requisite levels of
authority over crew members and be a quick, firm decision maker but at the same
time actively involves him to be a master in inter-personal skills owing to direct work
related interaction with them.
Case 1: It was few hours before lunch onboard a vessel bound for Singapore while she
was transiting South China Sea. The Second Engineer and Master went for Inspection
of cargo tank onboard a VLCC as she was due for dry docking. The gas pocket below a
frame burst open and before they could realise or react, both fell unconscious. The
Chief officer upon realising that two management level officers are down took
charge and the team which had been very well trained acted, rescued and saved lives
of both the officers which otherwise could have led to a disaster. Ability to take initiative,
calmness, strength of mind and quick decisive powers enable a chief mate to act as
second-in-command.

A Chief Officer’s rank involves handling a plethora of jobs  related to routine tasks as
well as breakdowns. He is also responsible for implementation of safety practices
and safe working procedures onboard. He’s omnipresent onboard with a vast and
diverse work area and job profile. His job profile takes him from varying locations
onboard such as in a cargo or ballast tank, bilge keels, double bottoms , behind the
funnel, near the windlass, on the steering flat, inside the rope locker, beneath the galley
stores, conference rooms, ship’s office and even on the masts !

Case 2: In an another incident, a Chief officer went to the Bosun, pointed his finger at
him and ordered – “Bosun ! Hand over the hose to me. I need it !” The Bosun instead of
handing over the hose chased the Chief Mate around the ship and threatened him of
dire consequences. Later on investigation revealed that the Bosun and chief officer
were of different nationality and custom. The finger pointing was regarded as an
offensive gesture in the culture of Bosun about which the Chief mate wasn’t aware. The
management later on decided to organise various inter-cultural trainings which made
officers aware of nationality and culture based issues faced onboard. Bosun said later if
chief mate’d used the word ‘ Please’ he would have readily handed over the hose to
him. The training needs of anger management and temper control were identified for
the Bosun after a discussion with the Master. Thus inter-personal skills do play a vital
role in establishing an ideal working environment onboard.

Chief officer’s job involves interaction and participation in management team and also
he has to deal with a wide range of operational activities which generates his
involvement in operational and management aspects to a deeper extent. The deck is
the first visible and apparent area of a ship where any visitors, inspectors, owners ,
operators or other officials visit. It is vital to maintain the main deck and areas of access
presentable and clean.

Being a management level officer onboard he takes part in almost all the operations
related to deck and galley department, a few in engine department as well . Besides
these audits, surveys, inspections also require his active participation being involved in
maintenance and related documentation.

Being the Department head of Deck he is also incharge of works assigned to deck
personnel, and monitor and enhance work planning with efficiency. Every day tool box
meetings are organised where he interacts and gets along with deck crew members.
The discussions of these meeting vary from on job discussions, both routine and non-
routine. The crew members can discuss other issues which they face onboard or in their
life both onboard and ashore. Such meeting is a very important tool identified across
global shipping industry to recognise the potential of team members and help them to
come up with suggestions to improve and enhance professional skills. Besides
professional relations a Chief officer does maintain good personal relations with his
counterparts and colleagues.

On the contrary in another incident the Chief Officer achieved zero loss time injuries during six
consecutive contracts as he was also an able leader and safety mentor for his team. The
Company recognised his efforts and Crew as well as Masters opted and longed to work with
him.

Case 3: Few years back, a chief officer was hit by some of the crew members. The
crew members were having a small get- together party in the crew smoke room where it
became too loud with the celebration mood. The chief officer attempted to restore the
order and shouted at one of the crew members . In rage he hit the Chief officer who lost
his front teeth due to the impact. This incident raised widespread concern across the
marine industry regarding handling of disciplinary matters.

Ship Master and chief officer are responsible to maintain the discipline onboard and at
the same time ensuring that crew members aren’t offended and a cordial and healthy
work relationship is maintained as well.
The chief officer acts as a vital link between the operational and management staff
onboard. Being an active member of the management team onboard and controlling
various operations on deck, he experiences frequent role shifts. Following one liners
would definitely add to value while a mate plans and executes various shipboard tasks

 Plan, discuss, re-plan and then act on any major jobs with management and
operational staff
 Clear all your doubts before they start turning up into a mistake
 Check your stores well in advance before planning overhauling, exhaustive
maintenance
 The best technical team onboard is available in the Engine Room
 Appreciate, listen to and encourage team members and subordinates
 Understand and access potential and calibre of each member of your team
 Always plan work rest schedule considering some extra couple of hours for any
emergency
 It’s always wise to have a good inventory of stores prior ordering next
 Prior arrival ports it is wise to plan service, repairs or rescheduling considering
facilities available, duration of port stay and port rotation and above all these
Safety and Emergency preparedness is a priority
 Do not hesitate from giving feedbacks or returning substandard stores
 A healthy interaction with shore authorities, cargo surveyors and loading masters
can save a great deal of time and efforts on both sides
 Never hesitate to prevent any unsafe acts or take more time to inspect and
assess risk factors associated with any job directly under your supervision
  Different nationalities have different styles of working and culture , adapting or
understanding them improves the overall efficiency of the team

Thus, before a Chief officer gets promoted to his next rank as a Master where his role
becomes more of administrative and managerial, his present rank as a First Mate gives
him a lot of insights and understanding into operational aspects and cultural differences,
difficulties involved, decision making and its impact on shipboard staff and commercial
interests .These certainly are handy when his role as a Master is much wider – more of
a directional nature and a guide. The rank of chief officer can be highly decisive in
laying foundation of a future Master with good leadership skills and decision making
abilities.