He now holds the position of Senior Ferry Master. “When I decided to become a ferry master, I had to complete a five week Master course. I took annual leave to study and, when I got the qualification, Transdev re-credited my holidays. The recognition served as a turning point and I knew this was where I wanted to work.”
As a show of the organisation’s commitment to professional and personal development, Transdev also sponsored Chris to take his Master IV Traineeship – which he has since completed. He is also a proud member of the Safety Committee.
Transdev places a strong emphasis on people skills. “We’re well trained to use emotional intelligence. We must be aware of a crew’s moods and behaviours so we can pick up on problems and solve them as smoothly as possible. Commuters depend on me and my crew, so everyone at work has to be in a good headspace.”
Chris says, “I love the community spirit at Transdev. It’s a genuinely supportive and collaborative environment. I remember one time there was an incident involving a vessel that from the shore appeared to be on fire. Although in the end it was only an engine component that had failed, we went through the usual emergency procedures we would do in case of fire on board. Even crew who were on their lunch in a nearby office headed over on a second vessel to lend a hand – it sums up the commitment to go above and beyond.”
“The CEO was so impressed he took us all out for dinner. I mean, he’d only been with the company a few weeks but, he felt it was important. We really appreciated it, but more important for us was that all passengers were evacuated safely and could carry on with their journeys on the day.”
No day is the same for Chris and his team, who are expected to be able to deal with a variety of different encounters. “With those challenges, comes the reward of getting people from all walks of life and from all over the world from A-B.”
Chris loves interacting and mingling with customers and ‘showing my personality’. He says with a laugh, “When the ferry speeds, I announce over the loud speaker to everyone, ‘Hold on to your hats!’ I know Transdev is the place for me.”