Intercultural
communication is also an important tool
communication
improves safety
Seafarers have a long tradition of
working in a global environment.
It is estimated that 80 per cent of
the world‘s merchant ships have a
multilingual and multiethnic crew
composition that interacts on an
international scene with other parts
of the shipping community. Onboard
as well as onshore, they meet with
pilots, agents and surveyors, to
mention but a few.

S
everal studies have examined
the problems and potential solu-
tions when facing an intercul-
tural environment at work, but
on a ship an additional dimen-
sion is added. Not only do the seafarers
have to ensure good communication dur-
ing working hours. The ship is also a learn-
ing environment and a social environment,
where people eat and live together, often
for long periods on end. For this reason
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • OCTOBER 26, 2007
in establishing social harmony onboard.
Erik Hemming is a senior lecturer at the
Åland Polytechnic and has educated seafar-
ers in languages and culture for more than
15 years. The Åland Polytechnic is in itself
a cross-cultural institution with its mixed
influences from Finland, Sweden and the
island of Åland itself.
– Intercultural communication is what
makes the teamwork function on a ship,
says Erik Hemming. It gives you a positive
social environment, fewer problems and
most certainly fewer accidents.
Our culture can be called our mental
programming. It is the personality of the
group and “the way we do things here”.
We constantly try to decode our sur-

tove svensson
roundings from our own assumptions
and points of references from religion,
history, climate and so on. The decoded
message is then transferred to our way of
being with regard to working methods,
conflict solving, gender roles, games and
food.
– A culture clash is often the result of a
misinterpreted decoding of the signal. And
unfortunately, we often decode the signals
as being negative, or perhaps neutral. Only
rarely do we decode them in a positive way,
says Erik Hemming.
a.p. Møller-Mærsk
The difference in socio-material condi-
tions for the crew, for instance working
hours, cabin standard and other hygiene
factors can sometimes act as a barrier to
good communication.
To avoid the sense of “us and them”
onboard, Erik Hemming says it is impor-
tant to do things together and communi-
cate beyond the work-related order giving.
In his opinion, this should come from
higher ranks and down, since it is not as
SCANDINAVIAN SHIPPING GAZETTE • OCTOBER 26, 2007
easy for the lower rank AB to knock on
the chief mate’s cabin door and propose a
mutual cup of coffee, as it would be the
other way around.
– By spending time together you learn
to decode each other’s signals in a correct
way. It is a matter of give and take. Any-
way, it must be boring to spend a long time
together on a ship and not communicate,
says Erik Hemming.
A door opener
Another good example is learning at least
a few phrases in the other language or lan-
guages spoken onboard. Just a few words
can be a door opener and a source of many
laughs.
Poor communication between crew
members from the same culture and
speaking the same language can be a safety
threat through misunderstandings and
mistakes. It is only natural that the odds
on miscommunication are increased when
crew members are further hampered by
cultural differences and speak English as
a second language. According to a paper
written by Robyn Pyne at the University
of Plymouth and Thomas Koester at Force
Technology in Denmark, failures in effec-
tive crew communication have played a
central role in a number of maritime acci-
dents.
On the Sally Maersk a Polish repairman
died from pneumonia when he was unable
to communicate with the officer who was
trying to treat him. His shipmates thought
he was suffering from back pain after an
earlier injury.
Extreme example
The bulk carrier Bright Field, which ran
into a shopping complex in New Orle-
ans in 1996, leaving 66 people injured,
illustrates an extreme situation with a
crew and a pilot from different cultures:
American and Chinese. The word “no”
is a very impolite word to the Chinese,
A crewmember of the Sally Maersk died
tragically due to problems of communication
onboard.
especially to an authority such as a pilot.
Since the pilot was not able to understand
the communication in Chinese between
the engine room and the bridge, he was
left unaware of the engine problems and
could take no preventive action to miti-
gate the accident.
It is no doubt difficult for seafarers that
communicate in their native languages
and perhaps simplified English in their
day-to-day commu-
nication to suddenly
muster a good com-
mand of a standard
marine vocabulary
according to the
STCW convention,
when an emergency
situation occurs.
Erik Hemming.
What you can do is decide,
if you want to be limiting
or non-limiting in your
communication, listening
or non-listening.
Pyne and Koester believe improved crew
communication through training and edu-
cation can reduce the risk of accidents as
long as it is based on fundamental knowl-
edge of the dynamics of crew interaction
and communication.
Leadership onboard necessitates cross-
cultural competency to revoke cultural
differences in order to get the best out of
a multicultural team. Less than ten per
cent of our communication is verbal, the
rest is non-verbal like in the quality of our
voice, gestures, facial expressions and body
language. It is the non-verbal communica-
tion that reflects a person’s thoughts and
wishes.
– We are mentally unaware of a large
part of our communication and control
may be two per cent. The rest is done with-
out us thinking of it, says Erik Hemming
and continues:
– But what you can do is decide, if you
want to be limiting or non-limiting in
your communication, listening or non-
listening. You have the choice to open up
professional communication.
cecilia österman