Vincent Chia began working in the shipping industry only six months ago. He describes his new career as the best job in the world. Stressed shipping professionals who spend their days being overworked in busy offices might just concur.

Chia is a keeper of Raffles Lighthouse, a well-known beacon on the tiny island of Pulau Satumu, off Singapore. Built in 1854, it guards the narrowest section of the Singapore Strait — and that means that almost every ship trading to Asia will pass by it at one point or another.