PROFILE ERICA LUKE
ERICA LUKE:
Committed to success Taking the helm of a traditional family-run business certainly has its challenges – especially one with a long and proud history going back over 50 years. Barbados shipping executive, Erica Luke, talks to Caribbean Maritime about how she has built on the past at Eric Hassell Shipping and made the company relevant in a fast-changing world while retaining its reputation for respect and integrity.
4 Caribbean Maritime | February - May 2021
Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up? A. I was born in beautiful Barbados. My maternal grandfather, Captain Eric Hassell, was from a seafaring family from Saba, a Dutch Territory. My father was born in Sierra Leone where his Barbadian father, an engineer, was working on a project. Growing up in a Barbadian household with these fused cultural backgrounds made for an interesting home life and shaped my openness to persons from different cultures, which is especially important in the global maritime industry where our Agency may represent a yacht sailing from France or a German research vessel. Q. How big an influence were your parents on your early life? A. On reflection, both sides of my family were involved in business which made it natural that I would follow that path. Matters related to business and shipping were often discussed in my family. My grandfather started the Eric Hassell Shipping Agency in 1969, after the vessel he captained sunk in 1963. My grandfather
