Tying ropes was born within a research project on multicultural awareness carried out by a teacher and her student from the Higher Technical College of Nautical Science and Marine Engineering of University of A Coruña, a Nautical school established in A Coruña, Spain. 

Our aim is to create a free, handy and didactic guide focused on the maritime field, from maritime people to maritime people.

The 80% of all accidents at sea can be classified under the heading `human factors’ (Storgard, Berg&Brumila, 2013). 

Human factors are in fact, the most important root causes in maritime accidents, which means that we should take action on this matter.

Many of these events are communication problems related, where crew and shore staff are involved.

Vessel managing style could be easily compared with a medium-size company, with the added problem of the impossibility of go home when the "working time" is finished. 

Besides, around 50% of success in international business is due to "soft skills" , these skills are also avowed in several IMO Codes and Conventions, such as ISM, STCW, SOLAS, OPA, ISPS... 

Some of them are:

- Leadership

- Interpersonal abilities

- Conflict resolution and negotiation techniques

- Appreciating and being interested in other cultures

Our training guide aims to explain the main inherent problems with multicultural communication as well as to show how to develop interpersonal skills to deal with such situations.

 The goals of this guide are

- To understand cultural behaviour through basic social theories

- To think over about your own culture

- To learn by means of practical examples with a maritime background

- To learn essential communication tips in multicultural environment

- To help you to draw your own conclusions