Laure Leblanc – Crew Relief Coordinator
- Could you briefly summarize your career path and tell us about your current role?
Before joining LDA, I was a business owner for 17 years, running a staffing and services company. I developed internal training programs to build employees’ skills, managed complex schedules, and expanded the workforce internationally. I eventually sold the company.
Then Covid happened, and I took the opportunity to retrain in a different field. I went to Romania to complete a management training program in the retail sector. More than anything, this experience helped me realize that retail was not for me. I returned to France wanting to move into the services sector, which had always appealed to me.
I joined INTERPORT, a maritime support company, for a few months. To gain a better understanding of the industry, I started STCW training courses and looked for opportunities to go to sea and build up my sea time. After reconnecting with former clients, Daniel Gorrée offered me the opportunity, in May 2023, to join LD Armateurs as a seafarer.
I worked on board the Ville de Bordeaux from June to October 2023. This experience gave me an in-depth understanding of life at sea, the challenges of the job and the day-to-day reality of being a seafarer. On December 4, 2023, I joined the headquarters team as Crew Planning and Recruitment Coordinator, responsible for planning crew rotations and recruiting seafarers across several vessels.
- What does your role involve and what are your main responsibilities?
There are several aspects to my role. The most important is crew rotation management: I plan and prepare each rotation, including visa applications, flight tickets, travel instructions and joining letters, while checking the class, fare and schedules each time. I also supervise crew changes for foreign seafarers with our manning agencies, and when we have an urgent need, I sometimes recruit freelance seafarers.
There is also the overall follow-up of our crew. I anticipate staffing needs, monitor seafarers to better plan their assignments, and conduct professional interviews with French seafarers. Then there is the administrative and regulatory side: certificates, licenses, recognition applications, exemptions and files for foreign officers. I keep our seafarer records up to date in OCS-HR and liaise with the Training Department regarding training needs and evaluation follow-up.
It is a role where everything is interconnected, so you need to be rigorous while maintaining an overall view of the operation.
- What do you particularly enjoy about your job?
It is a very operational role, but one with a strong human dimension. Behind every line in a crew schedule, there are people and families. Having worked at sea myself helps me understand this from the inside, and it gives real meaning to what I do.
I also enjoy the fact that no two days are the same. You have to remain agile, curious and always look for the best possible solution.
- What are the main challenges you face in your day-to-day work?
The first challenge is managing the unexpected: cancellations, last-minute changes, visa or transit issues. It requires you to be responsive while keeping calm.
Then, you have to coordinate with many different people and systems, which means communicating clearly. I also need to make sure that the data remains accurate across all our tools in order to avoid scheduling errors.
There is also a more strategic challenge: maintaining the right balance of skills on board each vessel. It is not simply about filling a position; it is about building cohesive crews, taking into account each person’s experience and complementarity, to ensure the safety and smooth operation of the vessel.
- Can you tell us about a significant challenge you faced during your career and what you learned from it?
I was the business project lead during the deployment of our new crew management and planning software. It was a demanding project: I had to gather feedback and requirements from the field, contribute to structuring processes, and support the teams throughout the transition.
I felt that I was contributing to something that went beyond my individual responsibilities and had an impact across the entire organization.
- What achievement or project are you most proud of at LDA?
Successfully transitioning from being a seafarer to working at headquarters as a Crew Planning Coordinator in such a short period of time is already something I am proud of.
Having experienced life at sea before planning crew rotations from shore gave me a different perspective, complementary to that of the team. It also allowed me to quickly build trust with my colleagues and contacts, both on board and at headquarters. My managers demonstrated this trust by entrusting me with the OCS project, which meant a great deal to me.
But what makes me most proud on a daily basis is being part of the Crew Department and contributing to it, whether by solving everyday issues or working on larger projects.
Above all, it is a team effort: every case handled, every crew change and every unexpected situation resolved is the result of collaboration between colleagues, masters and our partners. We achieve more together.
- What are the three qualities needed to do this job well?
Rigour, responsiveness and organizational skills. I would also add good listening skills, which are essential for understanding the constraints faced by seafarers and masters.
- What is your motto?
There is always a solution; sometimes you just have to look at things differently.
Or: There are no problems, only solutions we have not found yet.
