When sa国际传媒 Ferries president Mark Collins walks into the engine room of the Spirit of Vancouver Island, his face lights up.
It鈥檚 clear this is where he feels at home.
Born and raised in St. John鈥檚, N.L., Collins has 鈥渟alt water in the veins,鈥� he said.
Collins, 57, jokes that his father 鈥渢aught me to sail around the same time he taught me to walk, because boats were everywhere in our family.鈥�
鈥淪o very early days, we were knocking around in boats.鈥�
His father was a radio officer who served as a merchant mariner in the Second World War. He was twice on ships hit by torpedoes. Collins鈥� father did the聽treacherous Murmansk Run,聽on which Allied ships left North America to deliver war supplies to the northern Soviet Union.
A love of boating remains with Collins, who explores the coast on the family鈥檚 cabin cruiser 鈥� often travelling the same waters as sa国际传媒聽Ferries vessels.
鈥淚t鈥檚 become my kind of passion and hobby. That鈥檚 what I do when I want to disconnect from the job. I grab the family and we head out on the water.鈥�
Collins has been married for 24聽years to Leann, whom he met while earning a master鈥檚 degree in business administration at the centre for transportation studies at the University of British Columbia. Leann Collins is director of projects at the Association of sa国际传媒 Marine Industries. They have three children, ages 17, 15 and 12.
In his late teens, Collins headed to Alberta, where he completed an apprenticeship as an aircraft maintenance technician. Lack of work sent him back to the East Coast, where he earned a bachelor鈥檚 degree in marine geography from Saint Mary鈥檚 University in Halifax and a diploma in mechanical (marine) engineering from Memorial University in Newfoundland.
Collins has worked as a marine engineer officer on oil tankers, bulk carriers, container vessels and fishing boats.
He recalls 鈥渢he worst job I ever had,鈥� spending two weeks at a time in the Labrador Sea fishing for cod in February.
鈥淚f you want to see bad weather, what you鈥檝e got to do is work on a fishing boat,鈥� Collins said.
鈥淲e saw winds of 80 knots, which is hurricane strength, and we kept fishing. Fishermen don鈥檛 stop for anything. That industry is so tough. They鈥檙e tough people, tough ships, tough economics.鈥�
That storm brought huge waves. 鈥淭hey were longer than the ship, and the ship I was on was 150 feet.鈥�
After UBC, Collins headed back to Newfoundland, where he worked in sales with a small marine electrical company. The big prize came when the firm, partnering with another company, won a major contract on the Hibernia oil-field project in the Atlantic Ocean. 鈥淚t was a huge moment for us.鈥�
From there, he moved to sa国际传媒 to work at a firm that was bought by Rolls Royce. He joined in 1995 and served as president of Rolls Royce Marine in Italy and Rolls Royce Marine in Brazil, fulfilling his goal of international experience.
At sa国际传媒 Ferries, he served as vice-president of engineering from 2004 to 2012 and vice-president of strategic planning and community engagement from 2014 to 2017.
Collins has ridden all 24 routes, saying that those trips are reminders of the importance of a dependable service. 鈥淭his is why we do our jobs.鈥�
If something gets in the way of that, 鈥済roceries don鈥檛 get to the island. Kids don鈥檛 get to school, and people don鈥檛 get to see their doctors or their loved ones.鈥�
Collins wants communities to know: 鈥淲e get it. We understand the impact on your lives. And we are working hard to reduce those impacts.鈥�
He praises frontline crew members who serve customers, saying: 鈥淭here are a lot of people revved up all the time on the job.鈥�
鈥淢y job is to break down the barriers to their success.鈥�
Collins is almost poetic when talking about ships, describing a ship as 鈥渁n entity, a living thing.鈥�
鈥淚 get a real kick out of watching the engineers start up the engine room in the morning. Because it goes back to where I聽came from.鈥�