As a child my grandmother taught me a game which was played with roasted corn. She would shell some grains into her closed palm and ask "Ship Sail, How Many Men On Board?" The times you guessed the correct amount were few and far between.
It is no guessing game when forty-one year old Deborah Abraham, director and Administrative Manager of United Ship Chandlers, asks the same question of her co-director husband Paul, in their nearly four-year old company which must efficiently cater to the needs of the Captains of the many ships which may berth at any of the ports in this country.
Having worked with Trinre Insurance for 17 years, Deborah acquired the ACII insurance qualification and held the position of Manager General Underwriting when with Paul, a Grade 11 Customs Clerk working in his family's ship chandlery business, the couple who have two young sons Matthew (11) and Jean Paul (6), decided it was time to go out on their own. With help from Debbie's brother ,Anthony Williams, now chairman of the company, they did their homework, bought one small pick-up, and with three staffers started business in a small office at the rear of United Travel on New Street (opposite to Lord Harris Square).
For Debbie, who knew absolutely nothing about the business, it was a challenging and learning experience. She was left to manage the day- to-day operations with help from the chairman who is managing director of the travel company, while Paul dealt with marketing the business, boarding vessels, customs and all that concerned the port. Today, just three and a half years later, the company owns four vehicles and employs seven persons.
"It is a 24 hour by seven days a week operation" says Debbie "whatever time, whatever port a ship comes up, we have to come through for them and our competition is not only in Trinidad, we are competing with the world because what they don't get here they will get in another port so wherever the ship goes we are competing against other efficient and cost-cutting suppliers."
From a desk job, Debbie found herself climbing a gangplank to board a vessel and meet with the Captain in her husband's absence. "Luckily I had on comfortable shoes, I felt out of place as that is definitely a man's place, but once I settled down and started talking business with the Captain I was more comfortable and found it a pleasant experience, but the crew stared so."
She compares her ship chandlery to "like the export business, because whatever the Captain requires we must find, and this brings in foreign currency to the country." In that connection, says Anthony "we operate on a lot of trust, here it is you have probably met the Captain once and he is e-mailing or sending a radio message for a rope costing $20,000, and of course he does not have that money on his ship. So what we do is contact the owners and get the permission. The rope leaves with the ship and we get our money later on."
"I was an expert in one field- insurance" says this very quiet but strong woman "now I have to be an expert in everything from food stores to deck stores, engine parts, chemicals, pipes and hardware. A Captain's request could be two to three pages long. Sometimes we do not expect a certain vessel but must be ready to board on arrival as they expect you to be there whether they have faxed their arrival time, stores requests, or not. Then the ship may be here for a couple of hours so deadlines are tight as the Captain is not concerned about how far San Fernando is, they need their pipes and that is that."
Tony relates the feeling of being stuck with a forty thousand dollar order "you get to the docks late and the vessel is gone, you are stuck with it." But they have learned from early mistakes and now have radio-phones in all the vehicles "so we keep in touch to see how far our vehicles have reached in sourcing the order. Imagine one cruise ship asked for palm leaves and 500 coconuts; another vessel needed 300 kgs of tomatoes on a Sunday. You have to get it, that's why we have our suppliers who will open for us even on a Sunday."
In boarding, Paul gets to know the Captains, and as they become frequent customers the company develops an easier working relationship, as compared to when dealing with a first-timer. Family life is important to the Abrahams so a computer has been installed at home giving Debbie access to the office which helps her to be with the children and yet administer the business after hours and on week-ends.
What was the most outrageous request received by Debbie? "An arrangement of flowers from a Captain to someone in Trinidad" was her prompt response.
For the future, says this woman who has daringly entered what is normally a man's world "I would like to see us expand in the coming two or three years, but more people seem to be getting involved in the market. I wonder if they realise the heavy, heavy finance and basically 24 hours of service. They do not realise the extent it takes as a ship can ask for computers, television, stationery, walk-in freezers, repairs to air-conditions when we just have to get people to go on board that vessel. Recently there was an order for an engine, the Captain was coming back the next week from Surinam, we had to bring it in from abroad and clear it, handling payment of all duties."
How does it compare with the Insurance business. is Debbie happier here? "Because I am on my own there is less stress in a sense. Although there is a lot of business politics, I am on my own and it is definitely less stressful in spite of the challenges to make sure we have business to support us, but it is a different type of concern that keep you on your toes."