Well for a start travel was easy – no long drag out a shipyard in Tuas (or flight overseas) with the seemingly inevitable getting lost. Simply sit down at my laptop, in the same place I do all my work these days – it would look familiar to readers who have seen me on webinars – and login into the Zoom link.
As it turned out the naming ceremony was even more virtual than I expected with the Guest of Honour and sponsor - Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for Transport and Foreign Affairs, and his wife Sharon Chee - in Singapore at Keppel Offshore and Marine’s offices, while the vessel itself was at Keppel’s yard in Nantong, China.
With 350 attending virtually from some 20 countries clearly there was a huge saving in terms of the event’s carbon footprint with no travel involved, and it probably allowed some to attend who would not have been able to otherwise.
In many senses the ceremony – speeches, even the virtual naming itself and gift exchanges – were pretty normal, as in that you sit and watch them. Hats off to Keppel for the quality of the production. I even took some “photos”, albeit screen grabs rather than with my trusty Nikon.
The virtual ship tour certainly didn’t require the effort of climbing around a vessel, but also lacks a sense of scale that you get when visiting a ship, or ability to ask questions about what you are seeing.
It was the interaction with others with other people that was really missing. Ship naming’s are very much social events, but I spoke to no-one, and the only people I saw were on a computer screen.
Food, an essential part of any celebration in this part of the world was sorely lacking. I guess I could have gone and raided the fridge for snacks and had some San Pellegrino for bubbles, but it’s hardly the same. And, again the social aspect of sharing food with other people was lacking.
So after about 35 minutes it was all over. I left the “meeting” on Zoom and was straight back to working on Seatrade Maritime News having not moved an inch.
It was all very convenient, also environmentally friendly, and I was pleased to able to attend. But that being said I am looking forward to when we can attend such events in person again and enjoy being fully part of the event rather than a distant observer.
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