The Master Marine completes five years of activities this month as a ship supplier, but its history spans decades. To celebrate this moment, we went for a walk through the past with Eugênio Pierotti, its CEO and also president of Soamar – Santos. In an interview with journalist Sandra Perruci, he tells about his more than 60 years of experience in the segment and the strong legacy of his father's work at the head of the company MANSUETO PIEROTTI.
In 1949, you were five years old. It was at that time that his father founded Mansueto, of which Master Marine is the successor. What did Mansueto do?
My father founded the Mansueto at the back of a company on Rua João Pessoa, in Santos (SP), an old hardware store. There he kept parts and food to supply the ships. The trade name was Suppliera Santista de Navios, later it adopted the name Mansueto Pierotti, which represented the company in the state registration.
The first time I went there was in 1957. I was 13 years old. My father at the time had cardboard labels with the company's emblem. The labels had the description Chamber, Deck and Machines. This was to facilitate the identification of the boxes that went on board the ships with material and I had to keep cutting strings to fix the labels. I started to learn to separate the material, to type, and at the age of 14 I was already able to enter the port, with a customs pass. The pier worked from warehouse 25 to saboó, where the oil tankers docked. The fort of the ships was where Codesp is today, from warehouses 12, 13 to the saboó. There was a lot of movement and we saw a lot of merchandise on the floor, even outside the warehouse. I started going on board because I had no problem being smaller at that time. I would go with my father's employees as an apprentice, carry material and do a little bit of everything. At the age of 16, I already had more autonomy, I represented the company and I started to learn a lot from Argentine and Uruguayan ships. They were companies that my father had managed to work on his own. I was a bit of an outgoing kid in the commercial area and I got along well with the people on board. I carried goods, mainly fruit, and I learned to understand Spanish well.
From then on, did you grow with the company?
When you own the business, even with the help of your employees, you start to see it in a different way and always seek to project your company. He usually doesn't care about sleeping, lunch, resting, because he's looking for improvement. My life in this area has always been like this, with a lot of involvement and little time. And my father also delegated many powers so that he could decide. I remember that, when I was young, my father started to dedicate himself to serving entities in the city of Santos. And he was often too absorbed by them. As I was learning, I started trying to overcome the difficulties he had in the operational part. I went from an apprentice to being in charge and that made me take on new challenges, even driving a truck. I still do that today. Even though my children scolded me, I have already taken the truck in some situations to attend to a ship in São Sebastião, where our branch is located.
It is clear that you are moved by these memories. How did working at Mansueto contribute to the construction of values and to the formation of the human being Eugênio?
My father had a lot of financial difficulties to settle in the sector and that became a challenge for me: I had to help my father. Even though I was very young, I started going to banks and personally went to negotiate with some companies that sold to us and wanted to become competitors. I dealt with accounting, learned the company's bureaucracy and these experiences gave me a great vision of the business. This helped a lot in my maturation because life presents you with challenges and you have to accept them. I was always a terrible student in school. Repeat three times. I always studied on the eve of a test and prayed to pass. But the moment I started working with my father, even in the operational part, I always applied my strength in the sense of learning the job and studying my client, knowing everything about the company, who is the commander, chief engineer , representative in the city. And when I got on board, and had a little chat, they realized that I really knew the people and the company they worked for.
And where did the love for the Navy come from?
In 1972, the Friends of the Navy Society – Soamar and my father ended up getting closer to the entity that even, some time later, he presided over here in Santos. As he did in everything, my father also tried to bring the children closer together and so I started to participate in events that became more and more frequent and to have contact with many Navy officers. Today I am president of Soamar-Santos. There are already 37 years of activities.
Working with ships you have contact with a lot of people, especially the crew. Friendships emerge. The ships arrive and you are there. They leave and when they return you are there again. Many times the crew is away from family life for months and you are the one who ends up listening to stories, sharing life.
This is stronger in the Merchant Marine…
And yes. I think that these professionals who work in the Merchant Marine suffer a great shortage because they are farther away from their family. Today, the dynamics have changed a lot, but in the past the trips were long and there was no communication like today. There was no cell phone, whatsapp, internet. Officers were not always able to go ashore easily. The people they saw were customs, port health, agency and, in my case, ship supplier. So they had contact with few people. And you were the one who listened to the stories about the storm they caught at sea, the son who was born and still hasn't seen it, the father who died and couldn't go to say goodbye. I got to cry a few times on board.
Your whole life was marked by this segment, but today you are seeing the new generation taking over the business, having also gone through a period of great learning. What is the message left?
It is very good to see the children taking over our work. Today we have new challenges and we are facing changes, but I believe it is always important to look at past experiences. Help in decision making. The old lessons still apply. Few know, but the Master Marine was born more than 40 years ago as a partner of the Mansueto Pierotti. It was inspired by my father and the name is a tribute to the friends we conquered in this segment. It was created in 1965 and since 2013, when Mansueto ceased to exist, it has taken over all service provision as a ship supplier. Therefore, we completed five years of activity, but our history goes beyond decades.
And it's already an award-winning company...
This awards thing came in 2015, when we received the Longevity Award from ISSA. ISSA is an international association representing approximately 2,000 ship suppliers worldwide. Three years ago she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee and a big event in Singapore. We were among large companies with more than 25 years that stand out in the segment. My children Flávio and Fernanda went there to receive the trophy, which is a source of pride for us.
fonte: Ascom – Master Marine
