Interview: Deeply nurturing Asia market, CSM is on the way

Demetris Chrysostomou, who is appointed as Managing Director of CSM's Asia Region, talks about COLUMBIA SHIPMANAGEMENT's (CSM) fleet scale, the situation of its Singapore office, the plan for cooperation with Chinese market, how they deal with Covid-19 and the development of their digitalization and intelligence during his interview by Xinde Marine News. 

 

Xinde Marine News:  What is the current size of the fleet that CSM manages? And what types of ships account for the largest proportion? What's the proportion of ships from Asian customers?

Demetris Chrysostomou: Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) is currently managing more than 370 vessels through its management offices in Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Italy, Singapore, China and Saudi Arabia. More than half of the vessels under full management are tankers (stainless steel chemical tankers, product/ chemical carriers, and crude oil carriers). On the dry fleet CSM currently has containerships, bulker carriers, heavy lift multipurpose vessels and reefer vessels under management. CSM also manages offshore vessels via our Group Company, CSM Energy, as well as passenger vessels managed via, our Group Company, Columbia Cruise Services and mega yachts in partnership with Swiss Ocean. Today, about 25% of the CSM managed fleet comes from Asian clients.

 

Xinde Marine News:  When did your Singapore office establish? And is the service same with CSM headquarters? What will be main focus of your new position?

Demetris Chrysostomou: To serve the vast and growing Asian market, and the requirement of Asian Clients to be served by ship managers on similar time zones and geographical location, CSM opened its Singapore office in 2000 and saw a significant fleet growth throughout the years. Later Columbia has opened a Management Office in Shanghai, followed by representative offices in South Korea and Japan. Columbia's Safety Management System (SMS), which is harmonized and consistent throughout all CSM offices, ensures that the quality of our service is the same irrespective from which office the vessels are managed. 
 

My new role, Managing Director Asia Region, entails overseeing and being responsible as Managing Director of our Singapore and Shanghai ship management offices as well as covering the all Columbia group activities in the Asia Region encompassing all existing and future business and projects. Added to this is of course to ensure the continued high level satisfaction of our Asia based clients as well as to elevate the profile and brand of Columbia in Asia, always seeking to be at the forefront of the ship management industry.

 

Xinde Marine News:  What's the Scale of the CSM's Asia Region (Such as how many vessels and seafarers?)

Demetris Chrysostomou: Columbia offices in Asia region currently have about 50 vessels under full and crew management. 
 

At the same time, the largest percentage of our crew are coming from Columbia owned Manning agencies in Asian such as Philippines, China and Vietnam and contribute to about 10,000 crew to the Columbia crew pool of about 15,000. Columbia operates 15 owned Manning agencies across Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia, including Japan and South Korea representative offices. 

 

Xinde Marine News:  What plan or aim do you have after taking office as new Managing Director of Asia Region? How will you face the challenge and competition in the market?

Demetris Chrysostomou: Together with the existing Singapore Top Management, we have a compelling and extremely effective team in the region and this places us in the best position possible to capitalise on the opportunities which now present themselves in the region.
 

Columbia Shipmanagement has been growing its position globally in 2020, opening offices in Saudi Arabia, Greece and Italy through a variety of joint venture activities. We are keen to focus even more of our efforts on maximizing the exciting opportunities the Asian market is presenting and possibly explore similar joint ventures also in the greater Asia Region with well selected strategic partners.
 

The Asian market is a strong and important market to Columbia and boosting our presence here means we will be able to quickly meet the needs and demands of this vibrant marketplace.
 

The shipping industry is changing its demands on those who provide services. While the safe and efficient management of the fleet and cargo remains paramount, digitalization and the use of smart technologies are enabling Columbia to offer ship owners the competitive advantage to optimize the performance of their vessels, and, at the same time enables Columbia the ability to enhance seafarer welfare, seafarer management, quality, and optimally trained seafarers which give rise to great opportunities for CSM and its Clients. We want to build on our strengthened role in the in Asia Region just as we are doing in US, Europe and the Middle East. Ultimately my objective in the Asia Region is to follow our group global strategy and to ensure that Columbia is the ship management partner of choice for shipowners in the Asia Region.

 

Xinde Marine News:  Chinese market, as we know, there is an office of CSM in Shanghai, what's the plan of CSM to go further with Chinese ship owners and Chinese seafarers? How is your cooperation with Singhai Marine and does CSM will employ more Chinese seafarers in the future?

Demetris Chrysostomou: Our plan for China and our Shanghai office is to continue our focus to grow the ship management business and Chinese client base, however at the same time we are also looking to capitalize on the strategic location of our Shanghai office. A large percentage of the Columbia Group managed fleet is calling Chinese ports on a monthly basis, the largest percentage of our group's dry-dockings are being conducted in China and finally we see an increasing demand for newbuilding supervision from clients for vessels being build in Chinese shipyards. Taking all these factors into consideration, we also aim to enhance our capabilities for localization of services, in other words ,Columbia group staff/teams station in our Shanghai to provide services to the global Columbia group offices through provision of vessel inspection, dry-docking, newbuild supervision services etcetera. 
 

Crewing activities in China, although important, are being developed at a slower pace due to the recent significant increase in wages as compared to other Asian crewing sources. We are hopeful that after the improvement of the Covid 19 pandemic consequences, we will see some normalization of the ages levels for Chinese crew.   
 

Our cooperation with Singhai and especially Mr Zhao Wei is very good, professionally and personally. With his support, also on various group projects, we look forward to realizing our future objectives for China and the Chinese market. 

 

Xinde Marine News:  What influence did Covid-19 bring for CSM? And what steps or measures did you take? How did you deal with the crew change under such global pandemic?

Demetris Chrysostomou: COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for companies around the globe, not just in the shipping sector but throughout industry. Many companies have needed to take stock about what is truly important, not only to the company's financial wellbeing but also in terms of the humanity of the company. And when we reviewed both our personal and professional lives, everyone in the CSM team came to the same conclusion, people are what matter most, and we must do everything in our power to look after them.
 

Paramount to all of this is the care of our people. Certainly, CSM has always prided itself on being a company that cares for its people and is at the forefront of the industry in terms of corporate social responsibility with its well-established ICare philosophy, but even we were able to pinpoint a few areas for improvement in the overall care we provided for our staff. We believe that ships are safer places when crew are happy, well fed, properly rested and supported when they need it.
 

There has been much talk about the detriment to mental health from the global lockdown and the limits being placed on people's lives, but how much more difficult must it be not to know when you will next see your family, not to be able to get home at short notice if a crisis occurs, not to know if your loved ones are safe? Our seafarers are key workers, keeping the world fed, warm, clothed and supplied with essential medical equipment. And yet these are the very same people who have been neglected by the global community that didn’t seem to understand the stress of being stranded on a ship for months on end with no port willing to accommodate them. 
 

The necessity to repatriate seafarers as soon as feasible once they reach the end of a contract became of paramount importance for us and, indeed, other companies as well, and we have now reached the point where very few of our crew (less than 50) have been onboard for over 12 months although, obviously, we would prefer that number to be zero. One thing to bear in mind is that putting crew ashore in a COVID hotspot is not an option so we are continually assessing the situation around the globe.
 

In fact, the mental health of our seafarers had been on our radar for a couple of years when COVID-19 struck and we had already put in place, back in 2019, a number of initiatives to support our people so we were already up and running when the crisis hit us. One of the key support systems we were running was a mental health hotline, available 24 hours a day and with two psychologists on call to help vulnerable seafarers. Later in that year we partnered up with Mental Health Support Solutions who have professional teams providing support as and when it is needed. This support might be in the form of anything from crisis management to regular phone call to help our staff cope with stress, depression, conflict, anxiety or any other issue which is troubling them. 
 

The services we cover include: 

- 24/7 Helpline available to all staff both ashore and onboard vessels

- Staff training on mental health and approaches to support

- Individual therapy

- Tailored concepts for guidance and support for coping with stress, depression, working from home, employee conflict, fears, anxieties etc

- Quarterly Management Reports on trends, risks and solutions for Head Office to foresee issues o

- Co-operation with Columbia Shipmanagement’s international catering management and training business partners, MCTC, to offer a 360-degree approach

 

Having addressed the issue of mental health and the support we were able to give, it then became clear that although individuals within our crew would have periods where they felt more vulnerable, it would be valuable to give every one of them the tools that might allow them to take more control over their day to day health. Most people are well aware that nutrition is a large part of overall health and yet it is just as easy for seafarers as for land-based workers to make poor choices when it comes to food. One company that has long promoted nutritional food onboard ships is Marine Catering Training Consultancy (MCTC) and they were an obvious fit as a partner to CSM. Through this partnership, food onboard is well balanced but also tailored to each individual crew, and their cultural preferences, to promote mental and physical wellbeing. Research indicates that ill-health and obesity increase the risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19, so the two companies have been working together to highlight the importance of nutrition and healthy eating. MCTC has held a series of seafarer webinars on the issue, with the wellbeing of the seafarer always uppermost. 
 

 Exercise is another vital component of wellbeing and we have implemented a series of initiatives to encourage and engage seafarers. Adopting a holistic approach to seafarer health and wellbeing, CSM has also launched its ColumbiaFit to assist its crew members. Not only will each crew member be equipped with his/her own fitness equipment, but a free phone app will help crew members record their weight loss and is both interactive and fun. It also gives the crew the option to sign up to fitness classes, yoga, relaxation and meditation techniques. By providing both equipment and the means to monitor how it is used, CSM has given its seafarers ownership of their fitness but, at the same time, is making it clear that it will support each individual as they strive towards improved health.
 

Having taken steps to promote health and well-being amongst the crew, there was one final area that we felt could be improved if we wanted to take a long-term approach to our crew and that was the area of financial security for crew and their families. To support seafarers, CSM has invested in, and is subsidising, ColumbiaCrewCare – a benefits package which offers seafarers life insurance and an investment plan for medical costs, disability provision, pension planning, or house/car purchase – all from a starting cost of €1 per day. The funds are invested for between 10 and 15 years and can be withdrawn at any stage so that they are available when needed. We have made the level of investment as flexible as possible, ranging from €1 per day up to a limit of €600 per month for more senior staff, we wanted everyone from the youngest recruit to the most experienced seafarers to feel that ColumbiaCrewCare is accessible and appropriate. 

 

Xinde Marine News:  Talk something about the digitalization，what kinds of tools or platforms does CSM invest in？ How will digitalization benefit ship owners？

Demetris Chrysostomou: We at Columbia Shipmanagement were one of the first to realise that optimising navigational, operational and commercial performance was the way ahead if we were to deliver that added value back to the customer.
 

Columbia's Performance Optimisation Control Room (POCR) aspires to fully harness the various applications, affording its clients a web and cloud-based system, available on mobile devices, to gain and maintain a competitive edge on their competitors, while always looking to drive proactive and reactive optimisation and efficiency and pushing cutting-edge technology forward for specialised monitoring and data analysis 24/7. 
 

This all provides for an early warning alter based system to optimise navigational operation and commercial performance. At our POCR, we take an incremental rather than a transformative approach with the aim of augmenting instead of substituting the human element. We aim to understand the type of tasks each technology can perform and, based on our business needs, develop the appropriate plans. 
 

The POCR allows clients to have a greater level of transparency and visibility of their operations. As a web-based solution, the POCR functionality can be immediately transferred to clients' offices at zero cost, meaning they can remotely access the services on offer. The set-up is fully customisable and the majority of features require no onboard equipment installation, although camera, sensor and automatic data collection technology can be provided where necessary. 
 

Columbia has also boosted its training and education deliverable through the introduction of its eLearning Management System (LMS), operated in partnership with Adobe Systems.

 

Xinde Marine News:  Anything else you want to tell Chinese shipping industry/owners/seafarers?

Demetris Chrysostomou: The Chinese market is an important market for CSM. We have a large number of group activities in China over and above ship management and look very much forward to working with our Chinese partners, friends and colleagues in bringing quality and value added services to this significant maritime market. We are all hopefully for a return to normality allowing us to meet in person and strengthen our personal and professional relationships. The pandemic has highlighted the importance and value of personal meetings and I hope to see my Chinese friends sooner rather than later.   

 

Wish Demetris all the best for his new journey. 

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