Captain Jan-Hinrich Behnke - From high school graduate to captain

“Hapag-Lloyd practically picked me up from school and took me to exactly where I’ve always wanted to be,” is how Jan-Hinrich Behnke sums up his career path from high school graduate to captain. In the following interview, he discusses why he is the first person in his family to go to sea, what you definitely shouldn’t miss if you visit Vancouver, and how he met his future girlfriend while on the Pacific.

“No one from my family has ever been a seafarer and, at the beginning, my mother wasn’t at all excited about the career I had chosen,” says Captain Jan-Hinrich Behnke during an encounter at the German Port Museum in Hamburg. The “Peking”, a historic four-masted barque, has been moored at the quay here for a few weeks now as a new museum attraction. When asked if he could stand behind its wheel and steer it, the 36-year-old says with a laugh, “I would definitely come along for the ride, but I’d probably need another licence to man the helm.” And when asked how someone from a family without seafarers ends up in this particular business, the native of Brunsbüttel says with a grin, “I strongly suspect that the Kiel Canal might have had something to do with that. When I was a kid, my friends and I would often play under the Hochdonn High Bridge there and watch the big ships go by. Somebody in our family had to be the first.”

Application, wire-twisting and casting off

Right after earning his high school diploma, Jan-Hinrich Behnke applied for an apprenticeship at Hapag-Lloyd to become a ship mechanic. “Among the things I had to do during the two-hour interview was explain how the gear hub of a bicycle works and read a text aloud while bending a wire into a specified shape. Then came a few technical questions that I couldn’t answer, so I had a bad feeling about how things would end,” he says. But when the call came, the news was good: Behnke would be allowed to start the apprenticeship. “Thanks to its mix of the traditional and the modern, Hapag-Lloyd was my absolute favourite!”

After the first months at the vocational school, he boarded the “Frankfurt Express” and headed to Singapore. “It was our training vessel, and we sailed on it for almost nine weeks,” he recounts. “Changing cylinder covers, extracting pistons – that was really hard work, but that’s exactly how I learned a lot!”

Studies, PAX services, Vancouver and redwood trees

After his training to become a ship mechanic, Behnke started a university program in the northern German city of Flensburg to become a nautical officer. The three years practically flew by, he says. “And during the breaks between semesters, I went back to sea with Hapag-Lloyd as a ship mechanic. Where else can you earn money and gain experience at the same time?”

After graduating from the program, Behnke went to work as a second officer on the “Kobe Express”. “Then I spend a long time on the PAX services, meaning on the three-continent tour: Bremerhaven, the US East Coast, the Panama Canal, then the US West Coast, across the Pacific to Japan, Hong Kong and back.” Behnke was particularly impressed by the American ports. “Savannah and San Francisco are incredibly fascinating!” he says. But if forced to choose a favourite, it would pick Vancouver. “On the one hand, you have this big, vibrant city with great stores, restaurants and bars; on the other, you have this incredibly magnificent natural landscape,” he continues, adding the following tip: “If the coronavirus pandemic ever ends, I recommend that you take an excursion to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which goes over a river of the same name at a height of 70 metres. While you are there, you can see these giant redwood trees, and you can hike up to Cleveland Dam, which has a fantastic view over the reservoir. It’s really impressive!”

Suddenly a captain – and a bit of a false start

Being promoted to captain at the age of 35 came as a surprise to Behnke. “That was in May of last year,” he recounts. “While I was waiting for the news, I was supposed to go back on the ‘Leverkusen Express’ as chief mate. But I wasn’t hearing anything. Even the email I had written hadn’t been answered. But then I got a phone call from Arnold Lipinski, our head of maritime personnel, and he said: ‘I’m actually calling to promote you, Mr. Behnke!’ I sure wasn’t expecting that!” With a mixture of modesty and pride, he explains his promotion by saying that he must have done something right, adding: “I owe a lot to my bosses for that!”

With a laugh, Behnke shares a story about a little slip-up he made right after being promoted to captain and shortly before departing from Seattle on a new voyage. “We were all ready to set sail. I was still talking to the pilots outside, but I wondered why we weren’t getting underway. And then the onboard telephone rang, and the Chief Engineer dryly said, ‘Hey, Captain! You still have to press the button; otherwise we can’t get moving.’” I’d completely forgotten that I had to press a certain button which the bridge uses to give the start signal to the engine room.”

Except for this tiny faux pas, his first captain’s tour went smoothly. “It was a wonderful summertime voyage heading to South Korea, and the Pacific Ocean really lived up to its name,” he continues. “But I really noticed the difference that having my new rank made. It’s just different when everyone looks at you when a decision has to be made.”

A storm, responsibility, unknown waters and teamwork

On just his second voyage as a captain, Behnke had to demonstrate his skills as a seafarer and a leader. “One of our engineers received some bad news from home,” he recounts. “I immediately relieved him of duty and organised a plane ticket for him. As a result, we had to sail the remaining distance to Seattle without a replacement. On the same voyage, we ran into heavy seas east of Kamchatka – and they turned out much worse than predicted. These huge waves were coming at us head-on, and the entire ship was plunging into the trough! It was intense! When you’re a captain in a situation like that, you feel your responsibility physically, too. Every move, every decision has to be right. I’d never had so much adrenaline in my blood.”
They were lucky, as the storm abated during the night. But storms aren’t the only challenges that a young captain faces. “When I started out on the ‘Callao Express’ this year, I knew practically nothing about the trade,” Captain Behnke says. This prompted him to carefully study nautical charts and books before entering each port. “This trade was fortunately not new to my crew, which showed once again just what teamwork is all about.”

Planned path to career, circuitous path to love

Jan-Hinrich Behnke may have planned out and pursued his career all by himself. But he has his mother to thank for being happily involved with his girlfriend, Karina. “I was sailing in the middle of the Pacific on one of my PAX services when I received an email from an unknown woman,” he recounts. “She wrote that perhaps we could meet up the next time I was back in Hamburg. At the end, she only added: ‘If you want to know how things came to this, you’ll have to ask your mom.’” Once back in Hochdonn, Behnke learned the backstory. “My mom had approached my now-girlfriend when she was at church for Christmas,” he says. “She asked about who she was and whether she had a boyfriend. And then she gave her my email address.”

Jan-Hinrich and Karina have now been a couple for eight years. But, next week, it will be time to say goodbye again. “I’m taking command of the ‘Santos Express’ express in Hamburg and then heading to South America,” Captain Behnke reports on the phone. While the second lockdown is starting in Europe, he will be happy to be back on the high seas.