Safmarine’s first female master sets sail

Louise Angel, boating buff from the Durban Bluff, undertook the most momentous sail of her life last week as master of the newbuild, Safmarine Ngami – the first female master in the carrier’s 62-year history. To paraphrase astronaut Neil Armstrong, this was ‘one giant step for womankind’ as the 29-year-old blonde, smartly turned out in crisp white shirt topped with the traditional master’s black and gold epaulettes, coolly oversaw the 2 500teu containership dropping her mooring at Cape Town Container Terminal and heading for the US on Safmarine’s AMEX service. Only days before, on the leg between Durban and the Mother City port, she was party to a handover of command of the Germanbuilt vessel by Captain Iain Ross. For Angel, who jokingly refers to her childhood at Durban’s Bluff – a suburb nudging the port – as “where they make them rough and tough”, the magnitude of becoming Safmarine’s first woman master has not had time to sink in, tasked as she is with overseeing a vessel worth US$60 million – without cargo or fuel. What she is certain of is the challenges ahead. “Safmarine’s fast-expanding fleet is in constant need of qualified people. Unfortunately there are not enough of them in South Africa and I think I was just in the right place at the right time.” Having developed an attachment to the sea at a tender age and with experience as a small-boat sailor, she decided that was where she wanted to be. So began her maritime career with initial assistance from the then Portnet (forerunner to Transnet’s National Ports Authority) and later from Safmarine, which paid her a salary while studying. Studies are sandwiched in between gaining the necessary sea time, in the case of a chief officer (Class 2) 12 to 18 months. She has certainly paid her dues in both respects, notching up a rare distinction by sitting for and passing both her Class 2 and Class 1 (master’s certificate) exams in a single day. Ironically, her husband of three years, Michael Knoechl, with whom she served aboard SA Helderberg, one of the famous ‘Big Whites’ and who was later to command Safmarine Cameroun, obtained his master’s qualification the very same day. Not negotiable, as far as she is concerned, is that being a woman at sea carries no special privileges, so aspiring seafarers of the feminine gender, be warned. As to her future management style, for lack of a better description, she clearly leans toward that of her predecessor – fair-minded and an open-door policy at all times. The 34 000-ton Safmarine Ngami, with a crew of between 21 and 30, is one of Safmarine’s newest state-of-the-art vessels. Although inclined to roll along with the best of them in the rough (no stabilisers), another plus for Angel is she has never been seasick, therefore remaining hale and hearty when most others are leaning over the gunwales.