In case you suppose that life at sea is just like the film franchise “Pirates of the Caribbean,” suppose once more.

The films, which function ambushes, looting and a drunken captain, are removed from actual life, in keeping with delivery veteran Ralph Juhl.

“That’s, after all, numerous bollocks,” Juhl instructed CNBC by telephone.

For starters, the consumption of alcohol is banned on many ships.

However there’s one similarity with the film, Juhl stated: the code of conduct between seafarers. Within the franchise, the Pirate’s Code was chronicled in a ebook stored by character Captain Teague, and loosely adopted by some.

For many who sail for a residing, there’s a related kind of settlement, Juhl stated.

“Seafarers, regardless of the place they arrive from — India, Ukraine, Denmark, the Philippines — there’s this conduct of the way you behave on a ship … You may really endanger each your self and your whole colleagues in case you are not taking part in that social sport, being on board the ship. So, you’re taking accountability, you observe authority,” Juhl stated.

Juhl, an govt vice-president at oil tanker agency Hafnia, has labored within the trade for a number of many years, beginning as an odd seaman — the bottom rank of sailor — in 1983.

“Whenever you as a seafarer [go] on board … you’re a contribution to the society and you need to slot in … there’s this code of the excessive seas,” he added.

“Pirates of the Caribbean” is a seafaring stereotype acquainted to Hafnia’s DSA Dixon, who has been a captain for 5 years. Dixon — who sails vessels generally known as product tankers, which transport each refined and unrefined petroleum merchandise around the globe — needed to persuade his parents-in-law that his position was nothing just like the film, he instructed CNBC by telephone.

“Lots of people have a really completely different illustration of a seafarer, taking a look at Pirates of the Caribbean,” he stated.

Dixon could be captaining a ship resembling the massive Hafnia Rhine, which is about 230 meters lengthy by 33 meters extensive, with a capability of greater than 76,000 deadweight tons — a measure that features the oil cargo, plus gasoline, meals, water and crew members, however not the load of the ship itself.

The place the ship goes is determined by the place the demand for oil is and Dixon has sailed to each continent bar Antarctica, he stated.

Dixon goals to maintain to a schedule of three months at sea adopted by three months at dwelling in Mumbai, India, he stated, and he began his most up-to-date voyage on the Mississippi River within the U.S., crusing to Brazil and happening to Saudi Arabia through Gibraltar and the Suez Canal, earlier than returning to Brazil.

In comparison with somebody working an workplace job, Dixon stated he spends extra time along with his spouse and six-year-old son, as when he’s at dwelling he is “utterly” there. “I really like this a part of my life, as a result of once I return dwelling, I am Santa Claus,” he stated. “It would not get stagnated at any level – when it is about to get stagnated, I am again at sea.”

Except for navigation, Dixon stated crucial a part of his job is to maintain the crew in good spirits, as they spend months at sea collectively.

“We’ve got at occasions, 20, 25 individuals on board, they’re all completely different nationalities, completely different cultures, completely different languages … our ship is nearly as good because the individuals on it,” Dixon stated.

There isn’t any mounted each day routine, Dixon added. “There isn’t any one solution to describe life on board. It is difficult after all, however the problem retains you motivated on a regular basis,” he stated.

Together with navigation and managing the crew, Dixon could be speaking to officers who come aboard when the ship is docked or arising with methods to rejoice spiritual festivals.

“Regardless of nationality, or faith, individuals rejoice one another’s occasions or festivals,” Dixon stated. “I even invent one thing like a treasure hunt on board. The ship is huge, I divide [crew] into groups … and allow them to discover their very own manner,” Dixon added.

These video games may sound “kiddish,” however they serve an necessary goal, Dixon stated. “These are grown-up males, some could be 50 years-old, they usually’re doing this, nevertheless it’s the best way to bond … we have to socialize and a cheerful ship is all the time a wonderful vessel,” Dixon stated.

Dixon makes certain the crew take Sundays off, spending it as they select: maybe taking part in PlayStation, chatting or sleeping. “I be sure there’s a wonderful lunch,” Dixon added.

Touring throughout oceans means attending to expertise among the world’s pure spectacles, with Dixon seeing the sunshine phenomenon aurora borealis — also called the northern lights — whereas crusing close to Norway.

“The one remorse I’ve is what I see I am not in a position to share it, I need my household to see [things] at that very level, at that very second, {a photograph} will not seize it,” Dixon stated. How did he really feel seeing the lights? “You’re feeling full, I’ll say. You’re feeling ample,” he stated.

“The best a part of my job is I’ve seen issues that a mean human being won’t,” he added.

Alongside having fun with scenes of surprise, life as a seafarer will be robust.

Hafnia Chief Engineer Dmytro Lifarenko is from Ukraine and was at dwelling when Russia invaded the nation in February 2022, fleeing along with his spouse and kids throughout Europe to Valencia in Spain.

“I do not understand how I’d deal with … understanding that the bombs have been there and I am on board,” he instructed CNBC by telephone, speculating about how he would have felt if he had been at sea when struggle broke out.

Whereas his most up-to-date voyage was 5 months lengthy — crusing from Singapore to France after which Australia — he has not too long ago taken prolonged depart to settle his household of their new dwelling.

“I miss my household loads in the course of the voyage,” Lifarenko stated — he and his spouse have three youngsters: a daughter of six months, six-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter.

“Being two mother and father for 3 children, that is positive. Being [effectively] a single mother for our youngsters, that is very tough … to be sincere, that is the worst a part of the job.”

That is one thing Juhl is sympathetic to: “That is an enormous ‘uncomfort’ for a lot of seafarers, that they’re now so concerned of their household [while at sea], though they can not do something about it,” he stated.

In the course of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Lifarenko spent about six months onboard, which is longer than his regular voyage. He stated guided meditations despatched to him by Hafnia have been helpful to cope with an unsure scenario.

“You retain enthusiastic about the issues that you just really can’t change, and that is fairly near melancholy, however this [was] like a useful hand,” he stated.

However, regardless of some downsides, Lifarenko stated he loves his job due to its selection. “You can not say what’s your routine, as a result of the routine half is kind of small. More often than not, you’re fixing some scenario, which requires you to make use of your mind, and also you’re considering, how one can repair this … or how can we preserve this in a greater manner,” he stated.

He has additionally loved seeing the pure world whereas onboard, together with recognizing whales and crusing near the volcanic Canary Islands.

Juhl spent greater than a decade as a seafarer, beginning at age 16 and crusing to locations resembling Honduras and South Korea, and changing into a navigator on chemical provider ships earlier than captaining ferries. He got here onshore in 1997 and is now chargeable for Hafnia’s technical operations. He described these onboard as “working their butts off.”

“They by no means go ashore anymore, there are terminals distant from cities and so forth. So, this romantic life and impression of seafarers, it’s just about gone. It is onerous work,” he stated.

This implies attracting the subsequent era of crew is doubtlessly harder. “It is a lonely life occasionally. And right this moment you can’t supply younger individuals loneliness,” he stated.

Juhl desires to encourage extra girls to develop into seafarers and Hafnia is engaged on a pilot program to function two ships the place half the crew are feminine, to know how the tradition onboard may change, each positively and negatively, and how one can remedy that.

Nevertheless, points stay: Authorities in international locations the place girls are discriminated towards won’t cope with feminine captains, for instance, so Hafnia has needed to briefly assign a male captain for port stays in such locations, Juhl stated.

There was web entry on board tankers for simply a few years, Juhl added, and he desires to get artistic about what could be doable as know-how entails. 

He is particularly eager for sailors to have the ability to talk with their households at dwelling, he stated.

“Hopefully we are able to quickly make holograms the place the captain can go to his cabin along with his supper, after which he can open his hologram and he can sit and eat along with his spouse … now we have to suppose that manner,” Juhl stated. And new know-how will imply seafarers want completely different abilities. “The boiler swimsuit dressed man with an enormous spanner — it is not the sailor that we’ll want sooner or later,” he stated.