Leading ship manager Synergy Group committed to the use of technology to boost vessel and fleet efficiency, says CEO & Founder Captain Rajesh Unni

Headquartered in Singapore, Synergy Group is one of the world's leading ship managers with offices in all global maritime centres including Dalian and, in the near future, Shanghai also.

 

Synergy employs over 14,000 seafarers including a growing number of Chinese crew whose professionalism and expertise are well respected and admired both at Synergy Group and across the world of ship management.

 

Synergy currently manages a fleet of over 340 vessels for some of the world's leading owners. It includes the most complex LNG vessels, LNG-FSU conversions, LNG-to-power solutions, LPG carriers and sophisticated 20,000+ TEU container ships, as well as Chemical tankers, Oil tankers (VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax, LR2, LR1 and MR), Car Carriers and every size of bulk carrier.

 

Xinde Marine News: How many Chinese shipowners' vessels in our fleet and how important do we see China as a market and future expansion plans.

 

Captain Unni:Asia-based owners have always been significant clients and we see China market as a critical part of our business as we move forward in 2021.

 

Xinde Marine News:  Will Synergy employ more Chinese seafarer also details about Dalian office?

Captain Unni: Synergy views China as one of the strongest and fastest-growing shipping markets in the world in terms of manning and managing assets for Chinese ship owners. With a view to partnering with Chinese owners and fully buying into the culture of Chinese shipping, we started investing in Chinese seafarer recruitment around late 2016 and we have been hugely impressed by the dedication and excellent seamanship of our Chinese crews.

 

In 2020 our Chinese pool of seafarers surpassed 500. This journey brought us closer to China and its people and this has helped us further expand. We opened our Dalian office last year. We have eight Marine and Technical Superintendents working out of this office taking care of our day-to-day ship management and crewing operations.
 

We also currently have 14 ships fully manned with PRC crew. Synergy is committed to increasing the Chinese crew pool in the coming months. With already confirmed business for Chinese seafarers, we intend to double the number of Chinese manned vessels in another six months' time.
 

Xinde Marine News: From a captain to BOSS，How did this happen？and why you name your company as "Synergy"？

Captain Unni: I try to stay faithful to my roots and be as humble as I can, whether with employees or owners. We are all collaborators and partners. That is where the name 'Synergy' originates from.

 

Our business has always been about the team, not the individual, much as seafaring is about the crew and not the sailor. This is what I learnt from my time at sea, that the sum of the parts is always greater than individuals working independently.
 

Synergy was an apt name for a company that believes in collective efforts and building a knowledge and skills pool. This has been our business strategy and ethos. We looked at the ship management market and concluded that if we invested in human capital, we could offer owners better productivity and services with the aim of being their technical and thought partner, helping them navigate both the short and long-term challenges of shipping. This approach has fuelled our growth ever since.

 

Xinde Marine News: To what extent has the crew repatriation issue affected your operations. How have you resolved the situation, and what lessons learned? Why and what should be done to resolve the situation?
 

Captain Unni: The crew change crisis has affected everyone in shipping and continues to do so. It's a humanitarian crisis that could have been prevented. Hundreds of thousands of seafarers remain stuck at sea. At Synergy we do our best every day to use safe corridors to enact crew changes. But this is an ever changing landscape with rules and restrictions subject to constant change.
 

From the outset, we have been working with owners and other stakeholders to form alliances to help fight for the rights of seafarers but also to try and improve this situation.
 

To this end, Synergy Group is a founding member of the Global Maritime Forum’s taskforce that led to the Neptune Declaration. The Declaration on 26 January brought together global industry, shipping, commodities and human rights leaders in a bid to end the unprecedented crew change crisis. We issued this because in early 2021, the situation is getting worse and the impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of seafarers is dreadful.
 

It's clear that we need wider, global recognition that seafarers are key workers. Seafarers should be given vaccines as a priority – and this has to be done around the world, it can't simply be the responsibility of the crew source country.
 

And in future we need to put in place mechanisms that prevent this crisis at sea from ever happening again.
 

I think it’s now clear this pandemic is not a black swan event. We should plan for the next one now. Learning from our mistakes is the best positive we can take from the last year.

 

Xinde Marine News:  What other operational challenges have COVID thrown up, and where do you see growth and challenges?
 

Key points by subject:

Collaboration

Captain Unni:  Covid has highlighted that collaboration – with customers and competitors – produces results. For example, the alliance which we formed with an array of shipping companies to push for crew change solutions last year showcased  that collaboration between CEOs can yield immediate benefits.  This was the forebear of the Global Maritime Forum's Neptune Declaration task force we are a key member of.
 

So in 2021 Synergy will pursue more collaboration with those that share our progressive core values not only in relation to the crew change crisis, but also in addressing other emerging issues in ways that unlock multi-stakeholder benefits.
 

Wellness

Captain Unni:  Covid has also shown that we as an industry really need to focus on the 'wellness' of all our personnel – and especially our crew. We have a mental wellness counselling service available 24x7 in ten languages which we launched in 2018 called iCALL for Seafarers which has been in heavy use throughout the pandemic. From the outset our idea was to provide a free service, open to all and offering the best available counselling. We urge all seafarers to make use of this service at this time of need.

Leadership

Captain Unni:  We will be placing a lot of emphasis on leadership throughout the organisation in 2021 to ensure our operational resilience is shock proof and our staff have everything they need to ensure their physical and mental wellbeing.
 

Digitisation of shipping

Captain Unni:  Covid has most definitely accelerated digital adoption. We plan that more of our fleet will be fitted with our SMARTShip Internet of Things platform which reduces GHG emissions in accordance with IMO targets by saving fuel and generating many other operational and transparency benefits. SMARTShip was developed by Alpha Ori Technologies which is based in Singapore. I’m the Co-CEO.
 

We have installed SMARTShip on 100 ships already with another 150 in the pipeline. A lot of this interest has come during lockdowns when people have been inspired to look at the world in new ways.
 

Business takeaways from 2020

Captain Unni: The major business strategy takeaway from 2020 is that, more than ever, it's clear successful business must have a coherent long-term business strategy but remain flexible enough that they can adapt to short-term challenges. Predicting events such as pandemics is impossible, but you can strategize in a way that minimises risk and maximises resilience.”

 

Xinde Marine News: There’s a new Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) for all ships put forward in IMO MEPC 75, which set up A-E rates. How will you manage your fleet under such "stricter" GHG reduction rule?
 

Captain Unni: I think it is clear that we all need to play our part in meeting the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). That will be a major focus for Synergy this year and incorporates our EEXI efforts. The SDGs provide a blueprint for a more sustainable planet. The IMO has been very clear about how we as an industry can play our part in reducing emissions and we fully agree with those aims and will be pursuing them with vigour.
 

More efficient ship management is something we specialise in, so the stricter rules will not be problematic.
 

We are already digitalizing to make vessel and fleet operational efficiency and fuel-saving gains through SMARTShip. We are also studying and implementing a range of ship design and operational steps to save energy, because saving energy is the first step to cutting emissions. This is the concept of the NegaWatt. Not using energy is the easiest means of cutting emissions. 
 

We can also use carbon capture technology to make short-term emissions cuts. These and other measures will help shipping cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050 compared to 2008 levels, in accordance with International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets. 
 

We see ourselves as a technical thought partner to our customers and we see decarbonization and EEXI as a huge opportunity. We’re investing a lot of resources to ensure we can help lead this inevitable transformation.
 

Xinde Marine News: We have seen lots of cooperation，Mergers and Acquisitions in the third party ship management sector this year，what do you think of this trend？ and What is the future of ship management you think?
 

Captain Unni:  As mentioned earlier, there has been a lot of cooperation between managers and owners on many issues around Covid and I think this has shown that some challenges are best tackled through collaboration. I expect this to continue this year even as managers compete against each other as they have always done.
 

I also think that we, as an industry, need to be able to influence decision makers outside of shipping more effectively - this ties in with doing our part on sustainable development goals.
 

Challenges such as seafarer rights and decarbonisation need united action and solutions and we need to be able to galvanise support for our efforts and interests. So I hope shipping’s stakeholders take the lessons – and failures – of 2020 onboard and start to collaborate more effectively. I think we are already seeing evidence of this through the Neptune Declaration taskforce and statement.

 

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