Courtmacsherry man Mark Maguire brings 190,000 TikTok followers inside the shipping industry, one video at a time.
FOR those of us who find negotiating the traffic at the Kinsale Road roundabout stressful, spare a thought for Courtmacsherry man Mark Maguire.
Captain Mark, as he’s known to his near 190,000 TikTok followers, regularly navigates his ship the Maersk Hidalgo, which is 353m long and 54m wide, into the world’s biggest port in Singapore.
Captain Mark standing in front of the massive Hidalgo.
The Hidalgo is one of the 500 biggest container ships in the world and when fully loaded with 15,500, 20ft containers it weighs an impressive 220,000 tonnes.
‘Singapore can be a little tricky,’ said Mark.
‘It’s a bit like the Kinsale Road roundabout, just without traffic lights, and 100 times the volume! Thousands of ships are moving in and out of the port at the same time, so it’s one of those crazy places where things can be fine one minute, and a bit ropey the next. It’s exciting and busy at the same time.’
It’s all in a day’s work for the vastly experienced mariner who has been working at sea for more than 20 years, and has been a captain for the past six.
At the helm of the Danish-owned Hidalgo, he travels a route from the Far East to Europe, working three months on and three months off.
‘I might fly out to the ship and join at Singapore and take it on to China, Korea, Morocco, Egypt, Spain, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia,’ he said.
On board could be just about anything – raw materials, finished products, luxury goods, cars, ceramics and furniture.
‘About 90% of what you see in your home has come from a container ship so it’s really varied. We generally just know the weight of the container and where it’s going. The only time we know what the cargo is, is when it’s dangerous such as explosive or if it needs to be temperature-controlled in the case of meat or vegetables,’ he said.
Mark leads a team of 24 on board comprising navigators, cooks, deck hands, engineers and engineer hands.
As the overall person in command, his day starts at 7am with the first meeting on the bridge, and usually ends around 12 hours later.
‘But I’m on call 24/7 and depending on the time zone I’m in, I work in the evenings doing emails and administration,’ he said.
Working at sea brings its own unique challenges, including the weather.
Fortunately Mark hasn’t encountered serious conditions in a few years.
‘We had 10m waves a while back which meant there was no sleep for a few days, but thankfully I’ve never felt in severe danger. There’s always a lot of pre-planning involved and you learn to trust your equipment,’ he said.
Being vulnerable to attack by pirates is another threat, that Mark knows too well.
‘A few years back when I was a junior officer we were in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen when were chased by three vessels, and we could see that they were armed.
‘That was a scary enough situation. We’re a merchant ship and not armed and we had to wait it out in a safe room until we lost them. It hasn’t happened since but we have heard pirates attacking other ships in the distance, on the radio.’
Mark has also been called on to help with migrant rescues in the Mediterranean.
‘That was around two years ago. There were 80 people missing. We were in the area so got involved but unfortunately we didn’t find anyone,’ he said.
As a captain he takes his climate responsibility very seriously and technological advancements are helping to reduce the C02 impact of shipping.
‘We are getting more and more efficient with our fuel use, and as captain I have to make sure we get the most out of every ounce of fuel given that we’d use 150 tonnes a day,’ he said.
Sea-faring runs in his family. His brother is a captain of a cruise ship, his niece works as a third officer on a cruise ship and his nephew is studying to be a marine engineer in the National Maritime College of Ireland in Cork. ‘It’s a career I would definitely recommend. There are many parts to the industry, and many options to suit all sorts of people.’
He showcases a lot of what’s involved in his career on his TikTok page, which he started about three years ago.
‘I had never really looked at the app before and would have thought it was for kids doing dances. I had shared things from the sea on Instagram for friends and family, but with a bit of time on my hands in the evening I had a look at TikTok, and saw there were a lot of creators there, but very little for shipping so I said I’d give it a go,’ he said.
Lots of people have asked him to consider writing a book, but Mark thinks TikTok is as good a way as any to chronicle his life at sea.
‘It’s really just about demystifying the industry and helping to educate people about what we do. It’s not something I make any money from and it’s really just for fun.’
Mark, who will turn 43 next month, is currently home in Courtmacsherry and making the most of his time off.
‘I’m not long home from a holiday in the Canaries with my wife Donna, who runs Gild Eco Hair Salon in Innishannon, and I’m going on a ski holiday with friends shortly. So the time off is a definite bonus. But of course you do miss out on family occasions, weddings, funerals, Christmas, but you get used to it. It’s like having two lives that are interconnected. It works well with a little effort from everyone,’ he said.
Outside of his family, Donna and their 18-year-old son, he misses simple things like taking his dogs Cooper and Ted for walks in Courtmacsherry woods.
‘Or things like watching a match with friends, or the long summer evenings during the festival. I missed Christmas this year and only got back for New Year because the ship was delayed. But you learn to roll with the punches and it means you don’t take things for granted,’ he said.
The Hidalgo carries 15,500 containers at a time.
Is there anything from home he always has to take back him?
‘Barry’s Tea! I always make sure I’m well stocked up!’ said Mark.
Follow Mark on Tiktok @_captain_mark
