This week I wanted to change things
up a bit and instead of talking about some arbitrary topic I wanted to
give sneak peek at what I am going to be
writing my paper on for this semester. I think this is a great time to do it as
it will have forced me to look at where I want to go with it and get some
things down on paper.
Ever since freshman year I have set
my path towards a future in Maritime work. Boats and ships and just being out
on a lake has always been a passion and a hobby for me and that’s where I
intended to shape my future from. Every year I gain a little more knowledge and
seek to have as many experiences as possible. I have been lucky enough to have
been able to observe a wide range of vessel testing at Stevens in the past
year. I feel like I have been able to learn more just from those experiences
than in any class. It came to my attention that there is a lot more to the
maritime industry than meets the eye. A huge portion of world trading happens
over the ocean via cargo ships. Oil, merchandise, food, resources, you name it
and it probably get shipped somewhere by sea. In the trade business, everything
is about making money. It seems as shipping over water is the cheapest and most
economical way to do it. However, when it’s all about money, there is bound to
be someone pushing the limits. Stacking another row of cargo boxes or adding
just a little bit more product onto the ship; it all adds up until the day that
little extra causes a disaster. I will be looking into the shipping industry
and how the standards of shipping vessels affect the trade world. I also
recently read an article about the increasing amount of shipping traffic in the
oceans is causing the whales to physically change their communication
frequencies to be heard over the noise of the ships. I will be briefly touching
on that, and the standards we need to look at to protect our natural wildlife.
The other portion to my paper is
going to look at the leisure side of the maritime community. Everyone loves to
go on cruises! However, I think we have all seen the news lately on the
multiple incidences on cruise lines. Between sickness breaking out twice in the
past six months and the one running aground overseas, there are certainly some
things that don’t seem up to standards. In speaking about these areas in class,
a professor of mine has expressed his concern that there will be a significant
disaster sometime due to some of the same principles the commercial shipping
industry drives off of; money making business, more people per trip etc. This
should be an interesting topic to dive more into, to see where the future of
cruise lines are heading, hopefully towards higher standards for better
experiences.
I think this topic links a lot to
the topics we have covered in our standards class in terms of the auto and food
industry. During the development of auto standards the manufacturers were
resistant to the changes towards a safer vehicle because the profit margin
would not be as great; much like both portions of maritime in seeking to put
the most people or product in the fewest amount of loads/trips. Also, we relate
to the food industry as health standards started to rise in the 1900s, we need
to make sure we have to top standards in handling the food on cruises. When you
are hundreds of miles pout at sea, no matter how you look at it, you won’t have
an immediate response for food borne illnesses. I look forward to researching this
topic and conveying the findings.
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