Inside Opinion: Lip Service for a Global Service

Hollywood does not have a good pedigree when it comes to shipping. Most of the references are oblique, clichéd and have little or no bearing in fact or realism.

In fact we rarely even see shipping in films, except when something dramatic is happening. Like in Life Of Pi, when the Handysize 'tweendecker carrying the zoo (amongst other things we assume) goes down in the sort of horrific typhoon that we really only see in (yes) the movies. Think The Perfect Storm

Then who could forget Karl Stromberg's unfeasibly large submarine-eating supertanker in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me? Or Tom Hanks, immediately post-Wilson, getting picked up by a mid-Pacific box ship?

So it is with a good deal of anticipation that I note the release of the latest Tom Hanks film, Captain Phillips.

Captain Richard Phillips

This is the harrowing but triumphant tale of Captain Richard Phillips, the American skipper of the small Maersk Line boxship Maersk Alabama which got boarded and hijacked by heavily armed Somali pirates in 2009.

This heroic tale of desperation and bravery in the face of aggression and violence, if it is anything like the book, is centred around Captain Phillips' sense of duty as a Master Mariner, about his ship, his crew and his heartfelt responsibility toward them both.

Such things could be regarded cynically by some as dying concepts in these modern moneyed times, where Captains of merchant vessels (and airliners) are said to feel more like admin clerks and lawyers and button pushers than Master Mariners of old.

Maersk Alabama was boarded and hijacked by heavily armed Somali pirates in 2009

I should also point out that the Master Mariners I know have mixed feelings on this, though all welcome the movie and the movie's sentiments. They do not get enough respect for the job they do, on that they (and I hope we) can all agree on.

How heartening then to note that the movie will pay respect not just to the man but also the concept, giving illumination to a worldwide industry sector that literally makes the world go round, but for which the majority have little or no idea about, save for frissons of dramatic impact from Hollywood's creative minds.

Captain Phillips is a film that pays tribute to the men and women who do their job at sea, facing terrible weather and piracy at sea and in some sad cases not being paid by their employers on land.

Shipping is still one of the most dangerous professions anyone can do. The recent MOL Comfort, Bright Royal and Smart casualty events, though miraculously casualty free, should be proof enough of that.

It is great to see Hollywood, and hopefully the world at large, start to give a little bit more respect and regard for shipping.

It is about time media paid more than lip service for the biggest and most global of services and the risks those who make it happen at sea take every day. I am informed Tom Hanks is short odds to be given an Oscar for his portrayal of the indefatigable Captain Phillips, and should he lift the trophy in January, it will be a small and long-overdue thank you to Captain Phillips and his kind.

Richly deserved I say.