TRUST: Balancing leadership with adventure
“What we do is critical for the country, and we have to get it right.”
Interview: Sue Wilcock / Martine Silkstone
Pictures: Warren Page
Will Barker talks to Essex Director
As Marine Director for Harwich Haven Authority, William Barker is responsible for ensuring the safe and efficient navigation of not only a strategically important port for the UK, but also one of the busiest trade gateways in Europe.
His job involves overseeing thousands of vessel movements each year, balancing important commercial considerations with vital conservancy and community interests, all while keeping seafarers, the public and the environment safe from harm.
Trust is at the heart of everything he does.
“We are accountable to all our stakeholders, which includes port users, local communities, future generations and, realistically, anyone who buys something from Amazon or in a supermarket,” he explains. “Those people trust us to keep shipping safe and to protect the marine environment. And I need to build that trust daily with mariners, regulators, my team and the local people.”
It is clearly a role requiring a large amount of experience and knowledge, not to mention the confidence and skill needed to keep everything moving and everyone happy.
With all that in mind, you would probably expect him to be somewhat older than his 41 years, and perhaps rather, well…staid; weighed down by the burden of such responsibility.
But no.
Instead, when we meet Will Barker, we find we are interviewing the Ray Mears of the harbour authority world. Yes, the suit is there, and the intelligence and steady authority, but it is all wrapped up in the youthful spirit of an excited adventurer.
He has climbed mountains, raced yachts, sailed to the Arctic, learned to dive and once spent a day on the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth. Indeed, throughout the interview he casually mentions such a wide variety of exploits, it is hard to keep up!
“My parents say it’s like I’m on a permanent gap year,” he grins. “But I’m just an outdoor person and I’ll always have a go at something. I love adventure and I especially enjoy the sea and boats and ships. It doesn’t matter whether I’m in a kayak or on the world’s biggest container ship, I’m just interested in it.”
Then it seems he has found the perfect career.
When we meet, it is in a stunning glass-walled office in Harwich, overlooking a stormy sea with the busy port of Felixstowe just across the water.
During our chat, Will points out a small, moored boat that indicates the direction of the tide at a glance, depending on which way the bow is facing, and explains the regular dredging required to keep the channel clear. Meanwhile, a product tanker is making its way out to sea in choppy waters, with one of the port’s experienced pilots ensuring its safe passage as always.
Just another busy day for Harbour Master Will.
He says: “Our world might be modern in many ways, but we are still dealing with the same challenges as when people went to sea years ago. We’re still relying on weather and tide, we still climb rope ladders on board and we still use buoys which have been about since King Henry VIII set up Trinity House.
“And we always have to go back to those basics; to do things safely and do things right.
“But that’s what drives me – I like the challenge of it.”
Where it all began
William Barker was born in York in 1984.
His father was in the merchant navy (the apple didn’t fall far from the tree) and his mum an ophthalmic nurse.
On a side note, she is the reason this determined daredevil has not completed a bungee jump to date, having pointed out the possibility of retinal damage. And even an adventurer understands that mother knows best – in this case, at least.
The family, including a younger sister, moved south to Chichester when Will was five years old and he grew up on the south coast. At school he loved learning – something that has stayed with him to this day – but he struggled to get things down on paper and found the focus on revision frustrating.
However, while the formal education system was at times a difficult ride, he soon found his happy place at the Southbourne Sea Scouts where he learnt to sail, drive powerboats, canoe and so much more. This, it seems, is where his passion for adventure was truly ignited and the seeds of his future career firmly planted.
“I learnt much more at Sea Scouts than I did at school,” he says with a smile. “Certainly more about teamwork, leadership and problem-solving. I was always out on the water, playing with boats, and I built a friendship network and skills for life.”
On top of all that valuable experience, his dad was still working at sea and Will spent a lot of his early years on ships, witnessing first-hand the professionalism, hierarchy and discipline required from a leader in that environment.
He was considering a job in the military, but during his A levels, he secured a job at Chichester Harbour Conservancy.
It was supposed to be a gap year role before university, but Will quickly realised he had found his true path.
Building a career
He stayed at Chichester for nearly five years, teaching powerboating through the winter and taking time out to travel to Australia and New Zealand, feeding his love of adventure.
Then he saw a job advertised at Littlehampton. He didn’t have the age, experience or qualifications but applied anyway – “you just have to go for it” – and at the age of 22 he got the job, heading up a team of six people and becoming the youngest deputy harbour master in the country. He then trained to pilot ships, becoming the youngest pilot in the country.
Both impressive achievements, but how did the older team respond to such a young leader?
“I quickly gained their respect because I did things properly, made good decisions and would always do the right thing for them.
“And, most importantly, I respected the knowledge and experience they had.
“I don’t have to be an expert on everything; a lot of what I do is about knowing who to ask and building those relationships, so I have the support of a great team.”
During his three years there, he also joined the UK Harbourmaster Association and started to grow his network in the industry. Meanwhile, he connected with the man contracted to take care of the dredging at Littlehampton, Julian Seaman, and impressed him with his abilities.
So, when Julian became Marine Director & Harbour Master at Shoreham and needed a new deputy harbour master, Will was high on his list of potential candidates. In fact, they even moved the interview date to accommodate Will’s climbing trip to the Alps.
By now a seasoned adventurer, Will had been climbing since the age of 18, starting on indoor walls before moving on to the Dorset sea cliffs, then abroad to Europe and even the Himalayas. That was when he wasn’t racing yachts or kayaking or mountain biking or hiking…you get the idea.
So, fresh from his adventures near Mont Blanc, Will landed the job at Shoreham – his first role at a medium-sized and fully functional trust port.
So, what is a trust port?
“Basically, it means all the operational surplus, or profit as you’d call it in a normal company, is put back into the organisation’s infrastructure and to benefit our stakeholders. Maybe it will be for dredging, maybe for swim-safe training – those kinds of things.
“But equally, they are self-funding, so they still have to run in a commercial way and generate revenue to continue that important innovation and investment.”
Next steps
At Shoreham, Will says he learnt a lot from Julian about being a good leader and doing things properly. Together they rewrote every process and reorganised the whole team, building everything from scratch and ensuring it was done right.
Then Will saw an advert for a harbour master at Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station in Somerset.
“I thought, well, that sounds exciting, might as well apply,” he smiles.
Two interviews later he had landed the job, and from there he set up all the governance needed for the construction process, building a jetty and sea wall while ensuring everything met the strict regulations.
“For me it was one of these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, to work on a mega project with some clever leaders from totally different industries, and to understand contracting in this world of absolutely massive financial numbers,” he explains. “And probably because of the way I am – I literally treat everyone the same, it doesn’t matter who you are, I don’t mind who I email, who I phone up, who I go and speak to – lots of people got to know me.”
A perfect match
By the beginning of 2015, things were going well for Will.
Now settled into his latest role, he was invited to take part in a leadership training event for Hinkley personnel in Somerset and was told it would be a good opportunity to network.
“I’m not sure they meant you’ll meet your future wife,” he grins.
Zoe, a town and country planner by profession, was part of the team securing development consent for the power station and also attending the course.
At one of the first sessions, all the delegates were asked to introduce themselves by drawing a picture of something that best represented them.
Will and Zoe both drew a boat.
It turned out that Zoe was also a keen sailor and had recently sailed from the UK to Antarctica, then on to South America with some friends.
It was, in short, a perfect match – and the rest, as they say, is history.
The couple married at St Paul’s Cathedral on June 1, 2019, followed by a reception at Trinity House (London home of the maritime corporation responsible for all things seaworthy).
The couple now have two children and live in East Bergholt with their family Cockador, Maude.
Tough times
Will was still at Hinkley Point, staying in Somerset during the week, then returning to his own house in Tangmere at the weekends, when the pandemic hit.
And 2020 was to prove a tough year for him.
His mum had rare complications after contracting Covid-19, which caused her health to deteriorate until she needed 24-hour care.. All of this during the lockdowns and at a time when the NHS was overwhelmed and support was hard to come by.
When Will was first able to visit that summer, what he found at home came as a shock.
“I turned up having not seen my parents for a couple of months and mum is evidently in need of help and my dad isn’t very well,” he recalls. “It was really hard, and I was exhausted because it was like being a full-time carer. But I learnt a lot about myself, about being tired and about how these things can affect anybody.”
Fortunately, they all came through it, and during that difficult time Will even managed to apply for and secure a new role as Senior Manager of Marine Operations in Liverpool.
Moving up north with Zoe, Will found himself looking after the Mersey, Manchester Ship Canal and Heysham – probably the most commercially minded port company in the country.
Looking back, he says: “Liverpool is an experience for anybody! I learnt a lot and did some interesting things, like I spent a day on the aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. I also worked with some interesting people and built good relationships with the large pilotage team.
“But there were lots of things that were challenging from a delivery point of view. It was very profit-focused and some of the equipment and infrastructure were very much in need of investment.
“I was there for just about three years but ultimately, culturally the company wasn’t for me. I’m a fan of a trust port model; of doing everything as well as possible and investing in the stakeholders and infrastructure.
“And then I saw this job advertised,” he smiles.
Finding home
Just a few days after their first child was born, Will travelled to Harwich to interview for his current role. And he came away thinking: “What an awesome experience!”
Soon after, the family moved down to Suffolk and Will began his first executive director role as Marine Director at Harwich Haven Authority in April 2023.
Today, he runs a team of 96, bringing his wealth of operational experience to oversee everything from dredging to funding, to the logistics of welcoming a Megamax ship into the port.
This year he has also been elected as the Honorary Treasurer of the UK Harbour Masters Association, and alongside everything else, he is a Younger Brother of Trinity House – an organisation set up by King Henry VIII to promote maritime safety and welfare.
So, what does a normal day look like for Will?
“I get up at 6am and do quite a lot of my thinking while walking the dog.
“I will always check the weather, and I like to have a rough idea what’s going on ship-wise. We’re getting deeper ships coming in and we’re expanding what we do, so there’s always something different and exciting going on. There’s always lots of meetings and I’m a people person, so I’ll be engaging with stakeholders, building influence and making sure government departments and the wider industry understand who we are and what’s important.
“Then, of course, there is any problem-solving – and that has to be done in the right way. The first thing I want to do is identify the actual problem, then work out what the best solution is, then work out how best to deliver that, then work out who’s best to deliver it, and then we work out how we’re going to pay for it!
“I think humility is really important as well. We can’t get everything right all the time but where possible, it’s best to have a no-blame culture so we can all learn from each other’s mistakes.
“At the end of the day, we need to be making sensible, wise decisions that give us the stability, income and resources we need now and for the future.
“What we do is critical for the country and we have to get it right.”
So, what’s next?
“My focus is on consolidating and enhancing Harwich Haven Authority’s position as a leading trust port. That includes continually modernising our marine operations, embracing digital technology and ensuring we remain fit for the future.”
And more personally?
“I’d like to buy a very nice yacht at some point and sail around the world. And I’d also like to drive a Ferrari, ride a Ducati around Silverstone, write a children’s book, go to university…
“And at some point it would be nice to do some lecturing; to teach people about the harbour master world. We struggle to find the right people and the right skills, so I think there’s a role there to bring people forward.
“I don’t know – we’ll see what happens. These things normally turn up and find you, don’t they? But I’ve got quite enough going on for now.”
