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Faces of global trade
Dockside ministry provides port’s seafarers comfort, access to economy
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
With their ship, the 856-foot-long Sealand Value, muscled up against its berth, crewmen clad in orange coveralls were preparing to have its cargo of wine, cheese, chocolates and animal hides off-loaded at the Wando Welch terminal in Mount Pleasant.
“It’s been a very busy morning,” one of the crew told the Rev. Len Williams and his party of volunteers as he stepped from the gangway and onto the vessel’s deck.
Williams, an Episcopal priest, accompanied by Dick Clarke and Bob Anderson, a volunteer and prospective volunteer, respectively, with the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society, had come aboard bearing magazines, religions items and phone cards the visiting sailors could purchase for a modest fee.
After a brief exchange, the captain of the Maersk Sealand ship invited the visitors to return a few hours later, when more of the crew would be on break. Before they left, however, the crewman that had met them on the deck paused to ask a quick question.
“What time is the next bus leaving for Wal-Mart?” he asked.
Told it would be about lunchtime, he nodded and smiled.
“Very good. I’ll see you then,” he said.
Approximately 65,000 seafarers visit the Port of Charleston aboard cargo ships each year, according to ChasPSS. They are the human faces of global trade.
In addition to serving the sailors’ spiritual and human needs, the ecumenical society, which recently opened a small dockside center at the Wando terminal, also provides transportation for the sailors to local shopping destinations.
Offering a conservative estimate, Williams said the sailors spend about $5.2 million annually in the region, aside from what the shipping lines pay local wholesalers for provisions for their ships.
Clarke offered a few examples of where the seafarers ask to go.
“No matter where in the world they come from, they all know Wal-Mart,” he said. “Barnes and Noble is another popular destination, and I’ve taken quite a few to Money Man Pawn in Mount Pleasant in search of musical instruments.”
With that, both men paused and looked at each other.
“They also like to shop at Victoria’s Secret,” Williams said, ending the sheepish silence. “It’s customary to bring your loved one a gift when you return from sea, and evidently, a lot of these fellows’ wives and girlfriends love Victoria’s Secret perfume.”
Tradition of caring
Ministering specifically to seafarers is a long-standing tradition in Charleston, with the first such formal ministry, called the Seaman’s Church, established in 1823.
Central to the effort from the beginning was an acknowledgement that the young men who comprise the bulk of the ships’ crews have gone to sea to make a better life for families back home and often don’t see their loved ones for several months to a year at a time.
Sailors on the Sealand Value said the cargo ship left their native India three months ago and wasn’t due to return until next March.
“Loneliness is probably the most common thing we encounter,” Williams said. “In other cases, it’s boredom. Sometimes there’s an urgent need to wire money home. And of course, many times there are spiritual needs. Although we meet and serve seafarers of all religions, a number of these young men are Roman Catholics who simply ask for a ride to mass on Sunday morning.”
But by far the most popular service of the center, after rides into Mount Pleasant, have been the computers and phones the seafarers society provides for the seamen when they are not working.
“This ship is kind of unusual in that it hasn’t had to leave right away, and the crew will be here, all told, about 23 hours,” Williams said. “Most of the time, given the efficiency of the port, ships are in and out of here in about four hours, with a half-day stay typically considered a luxury.”
Not far from where Williams spoke, three off-duty members of the Sealand Value’s crew sat in three of the four small booths that contain computers and telephones at the center, which is a small white trailer adjacent to the large blue cranes that lift cargo on and off the steamships that arrive daily.
One of the young men, Jason D’Souza, who had watch-keeping duty the night before, was tapping out a series of e-mails to his family back in Bombay.
“My brother and sister are on holiday from school,” he said, referring to the text of one message from back home.
“My father is retired, and my mother works in a fiberglass factory,” D’Souza added, filling out the family history.
“This is quite nice,” he said, referring to the Internet access that was allowing him to converse with his relatives. “And having it here on the dock is a real timesaver, which is critical in our line of work. Had it been located elsewhere, I might not have had the time to sit and talk to people back home.”
Enhancing sailors’ idea of America
Although attending to spiritual needs is the focal point of the mission, Williams sees the center and the others he dreams of opening at the port’s other terminals, as having a secular mission as well.
“On the spiritual side, you couldn’t ask for a better situation because your mission literally comes to your doorstep,” he said. “But at the same time, this is a golden opportunity to enlighten people to what the United States is really all about.
“After all, here at the Port of Charleston, the world is coming to us one ship at a time, and I think until they meet us and experience our hospitality, they’re not really sure of how to take Americans. What they know of us they know from the media back home and the depiction is not always accurate, or good.”
Clarke said he feels the organization is making a difference in changing people’s perception.
“I mean, you’re catering to the individual needs of the crew, and at the same time, you’re talking to them, letting them see what you’re like and what kind of person you are,” he said. “Bottom line, it’s person-to-person contact, and there’s probably no better way to have a real global impact.”
Williams also sees the Seafarers’ Center as having multiple effects on global trade. The first, of course, is transportation into town, which allows the sailors to spend money in Charleston and Mount Pleasant that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise.
The other impact, more difficult to quantify, is that sailors who feel cared for and have their spiritual and secular needs attended to while in port will likely be more efficient on their jobs, Williams said.
“It’s no secret, happy workers are better workers, and that has to have a positive impact aboard ship, which impacts the trade you’re engaged in, which, you’d expect, would positively impact the port and the multitudes of local companies that rely on it for their livelihood,” he said.
Shopping includes big-ticket items
Outside the Mount Pleasant Wal-Mart a few hours later, about 20 crewmembers stepped off the Seafarers’ Center’s white bus and walked briskly into the store. As they proceeded toward various departments, Schubert Jacinto Pires, the Sealand Value’s second officer, effectively picked up where Williams had left off.
“The thing about the attention and aid we received from the Seafarers’ Center is that it makes you feel, ‘OK, somebody cares about us,’” Pires said. “With the phones they provide, the Internet, they recognize that we’re all very concerned about connecting with home.
“At the same time, trips into town like this are an incredible service and afford more of us the opportunity to go shopping than we have at other ports. It’s door-to-door service and such a time savings compared with calling a taxi, then having to wait for it. Today, with port stays getting shorter and shorter, a trip to the store like this might not be possible without (the Seafarers’ Society).”
On this particular day, the Sealand Value’s captain had asked Pires to pick him up a laptop computer while he was in town. Other members of the crew were walking the aisle and picking up foodstuffs and clothing.
“A lot of the things we buy are for our use on the ship, but many things are also bought for people back home, because many of these products just aren’t as readily available in India as they are here.”
Fundraiser on chaplain’s mind
Now that the society has established a center at the Wando Welch terminal, Williams would like to expand operations throughout the port, he said.
“It’s precious real estate, of course, but the (S.C. State) Ports Authority has been very supportive; the real factors holding us back to a degree is a lack of volunteers and a lack of funding,” Williams said.
Currently, the society has 22 volunteers who give of their time seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Williams said he would particularly like to find volunteers for the evening hours and to provide enough coverage so that seafarers visiting all five of the port’s terminals could have the same accesses to services and rides.
Right now, one of activities the society is talking up is its annual Christmas at Sea project. It is asking local businesses and organizations to adopt a ship with an average crew of 25 and give them each a small gift.
“Basically, we’re providing them with boxes and list of items—toiletries and the like—that can be purchased at a store like the Dollar Tree for about $10 a box,” Williams said.
The other activity very much on the minds of society members is the center’s upcoming Taste of the World event, which is being held at Alhambra Hall in Mount Pleasant on Nov. 30, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s our annual fall fundraiser and also a celebration of the international dimension of the Port of Charleston,’ Williams said.
Local restaurants including Sette, The Mustard Seed, Jasmin, El Mercadito, Waters Edge, Hyman’s Seafood and Red Drum will showcase dishes from around the world.
“In a sense, it’s just another form of the outreach we do on a daily basis,” Williams said. “Most days we’re reaching out to people from overseas, but sometimes, just to keep going, you need to reach out here at home and let people know what you’re doing and why it’s important to them.”
For information about the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society, call the Seafarers' Center at 856-4191 or visit the society’s Web site at www.seamenschurchcharleston.org.
Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.
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