Repairing instead of replacing: Working sustainably on board

You worked on board as an electrical engineer for a long time. Today, you recruit engineers and electricians. What makes a good technician?
Electricians and electrical engineers have a lot of responsibility on board. After all, whether it has to do with the engine controls, nautical devices, refrigerated containers or anchoring equipment, technical problems can pop up anywhere. And, if they do, it can present a major risk to safety.

For example, when I was sailing on the "Kyoto Express" many years ago, the lifeboat didn’t work properly. You could start it, but the battery was weak because it had been repeatedly started for testing. Using my electronic diagram, I figured out that this caused a fuse to blow, which prevented the engine from starting. We didn’t have the right spare parts on board, but we had to come up with a solution, as we were worried that there might be an inspection at the next port. I managed to temporarily bypass this fuse with what we had on board. When we were in port two days later, we were able to correct the fault with the right spare parts.

For me, that’s what distinguishes a good electrician: having the will to figure out what the defect is and then, if possible, to work with spare parts. As a result, you can keep the device. That saves money – but, most importantly, it’s sustainable.

How do you determine whether an applicant is suitable for the job?
I built myself a switching box here that is similar to the one I used to always have with me on board for training purposes. After tinkering with it, I present the applicants with practical problems that they then have to solve.

In the process, I always learn something new myself – but, on the other hand, I like to teach my counterparts something, too. That’s how I always did it on board, and anyone who was interested in learning something was welcome to do so. My last cadet went from being able to solve problems in 10 minutes at first to only needing two minutes. Something like that naturally fills me with pride.

What was your approach to dealing with problems in your everyday life at work?
The first thing I did was to take a look at the wiring diagram. For me, this is the starting point for every challenge: It displays the circuitry and how the various wires should be connected to each other. By doing so, I can pinpoint possible sources of the problem.

Once, when I arrived at the port of Kuala Lumpur on board the “Ludwigshafen Express”, I wanted to say hello to the crew of the “Frankfurt Express”, which I had worked on for a long time. There was a periodically recurring alarm on board, and nobody knew how to fix it. So, I had a look at the wiring diagram. It turned out that the only thing wrong was the time setting – a simple solution to a seemingly complex problem that had plagued the team for some time.

It sounds like you’ve already earned a reputation for being a reliable “fixer”?
Well, I guess you could say that. Thanks to stable internet connections on board, I still often receive inquiries about technical problems from former colleagues. That makes me very happy – and, of course, I’m happy to help. If everything is working on board, especially the technical equipment, it also has a positive impact on the quality and safeness of the work. And I’m happy to do my part to make this happen.