In an exclusive interview to SAFETY4SEA, Mr. John Michael Radziwill, CEO, C Transport Maritime S.A.M. (CTM) highlights that investment of resources into harnessing technology can enhance industry’s safety and green performance.
With regards to crew welfare, Mr. Radziwill says there is room for improvement as there are still several barriers that make seafarers’ lives harder onboard. In order to improve the quality of life onboard, recreational materials and access to the internet are among the first things to provide seafarers with while on duty.
SAFETY4SEA: CTM received this year’s SAFETY4SEA Dry Bulk Operator Award for establishing an innovative strategy based on ‘Going Forward Together’ vision. How has this vision helped CTM to grow and evolve? Why is this important to you and how do you disseminate the message throughout the entire organization?
John Michael Radziwill: Our vision of “Going Forward Together” sums up all that we have done since we first opened our doors. It was created as a guiding principle for the company; a reminder that success is dependent on us working closely together and sharing ideas with everyone we work with every day. Disseminating the message throughout our organisation is easy due to our low turnover and that many of our employees have been with CTM since we first opened our doors. On the crewing front, we have a 99% crew retention rate which is far above the industry average of 50%. On the business front, this vision has materialised in our shipping pools that aim to bring together shipowners to work alongside each other as we seek to reduce fragmentation in the industry, reduce costs and improve the service we offer to our customers. At CTM we have pools in the Capesize, Panamax and Supramax segments, with close to 200 vessels under management (including vessels co-managed with Capesize Limited Chartering Ltd). These pools have an excellent track record and prove that working together has many benefits.
S4S: What are your top priorities in the agenda for the next 5 years?
J.M.R.: Our top priorities are to augment a better, i.e. safer and fairer environment for shipowners. To further align ourselves with global decarbonisation efforts as we move towards net zero and we will continue to invest in and harness the power of technology to improve our services and offerings.
S4S: What do you do to enhance safety performance onboard and ashore?
J.M.R.: We are committed to ensuring the safety of our people, ships and cargo and this has always been our primary goal. We maintain our services to the highest quality standards being certified by both Lloyds and RINA in their ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. We enhance the safety of our people onboard and ashore through constant training and the establishment of safeguards against all identified risks on shore, on board and to the environment. We also leverage our existing relationships in the shipowning and management community to triangulate about best practices. We comply with all the mandatory regulations imposed by the relevant authorities and comply with all additional standards recommended by International Organizations, Administrations, Classification Societies and Maritime Industry Organizations. Through our manning agent, Augustea Ship Manning our crews on our circa 40 managed technical vessels underwent over 127,000 hours of training in 2021 alone.
S4S: Are you satisfied with industry stakeholders’ response on the issue of crew welfare until today? How should industry stakeholders work to improve life onboard and foster seafarers’ resilience?
J.M.R.: The outbreak of COVID-19 brought global attention to the importance and the essential role that seafarers play in the world. We can never forget that seafarers of the world’s merchant fleet were the unsung heroes of the pandemic. Their heroism led to a series of campaigns that called attention to crew welfare and the importance of shore leave, connectivity and fair contracts that need to be upheld. One of the most important initiatives created was The Sustainable Shipping Initiative which in 2021 developed an industry Code of Conduct for Delivering on Seafarers’ Rights with the aim of improving the human rights and welfare for the 2 million active seafarers. Rightship also launched a campaign on the Code of Conduct and a self-assessment questionnaire that was completed last October which we also participated in.
Overall, we cannot say that we are fully satisfied with the industry’s response regarding crew welfare, but we think this is the start of something greater and there is a nascent awareness and response to pressing issues. There is still a long road ahead but little by little, by working together we can and will make the lives of our seafarers better. We think that there are still a lot of barriers that make seafarers’ lives harder than they already are, and we need to work on improving them. These barriers include restrictions on free movement and access to shore facilities. More needs to be done to remove these restrictions and improve the number and quality of shore facilities. There should be recreational materials onboard and access to the internet should almost be considered a basic right as it helps seafarers keep in touch with their loved ones.
S4S: What needs to change to raise the industry’s profile and attract future talents?
J.M.R.: With 90% of global trade being conducted by the shipping industry reminding people of the importance of our industry is paramount. Young people today care more about the environment than past generations did and therefore we have to let the public know all the efforts that have already been made by the shipping industry to reduce emissions. Indeed, over the past ten years, the CO2 emitted by the world shipping fleet dropped by 12%, whilst global CO2 emissions rose by 7% and the world fleet jumped by 42% (on a dwt basis), thus reducing the CO2 emissions per dwt by 58% over the period. Furthermore, we have to let the young generation know that more will be done to curb our emissions and make progress towards a greener planet through initiatives like IMO 2020 and the new regulations going into force in 2023. For shipping companies to attract future talents this can be done through the active promotion of career opportunities that exist in our industry by attending job fairs at schools and universities. We have to inspire & educate the next generation of shipping professionals.
S4S: Do you have any new projects/ plans that you would like to share with industry stakeholders?
J.M.R.: A couple of years ago we created Stone Shipping Ltd, which is a chartering vehicle that aims to give access to the dry bulk charter-in market to both first-time and seasoned investors. Since its inception, Stone Shipping has raised $24 million across four privately-invested funds, and has chartered in 25 vessels out of which the vast majority have been employed on the spot market in our Supramax pool, the Supramax RSA (Revenue Sharing Agreement). The platform has delivered highly satisfying returns to its investors so far and we will start raising money for our next fund starting in Q1 2023. If you wish to learn more about Stone Shipping, visit our website.
S4S: What is your key message to industry stakeholders with regards to a more resilient maritime industry?
J.M.R.: I would say the industry needs to continue its investment of resources into harnessing technology to improve efficiency, safety and crew welfare. The profitability of the industry rests not only on the health of the global economies but also on shipowners’ propensity to order new vessels so I would urge restraint on that front. We would also like to see further consolidation in the dry bulk industry in order to reduce fragmentation. One such way is via pooling, which we are strong supporters of, having managed pools for close to 20 years.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
