Schoeller-owned Columbia Group is reorganising its crewing operations with new leadership to prioritise seafarer welfare.
The strategic shift sees the creation of the Maritime Human Resources division under the director of crewing and training, Captain Faouzi Fradi.
Fradi will become the managing director of the new unit and has already been hiring worldwide, with more recruits still to join.
“With an extensive maritime background, Captain Fradi’s wealth of experience spans decades in the industry, making him ideally positioned to lead this significant shift,” Columbia said.
Crew members will benefit from enhanced personalised training and a commitment to lifelong learning, the company said.
Fradi explained to TradeWinds that Covid and recent geopolitical disruptions have reshaped the industry.
Columbia has introduced electronic payment for seafarers, as well as entertainment and fitness options on board.
There are also sanctuaries set up to look after crew members’ families.
The group has been expanding with offices in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey, the Philippines and India.
“We have to make a change,” Fradi told TradeWinds.
Disruption ready
“The way the crewing department works is very stressful, where you are looking after almost everything, the whole cycle of care of the seafarer. So we want to have a team which looks after this transformation,” he added.
Another new measure is a 24/7 seafarer support centre.
“We have to be prepared for a world which is more disrupted — be flexible and agile,” Fradi said.
“The other thing we know is that the industry is changing towards more regulation, more compliance, more control, more checks, which is fantastic because ships are much safer now than 20 years or 30 years ago,” he added.
“So those kind of changes bring us to the point where we also need to have more focus on compliance, and one of the new functions of the department is to have independent compliance and quality management within the crewing department,” the managing director told TradeWinds.
Senior managers have already been added, mainly at the headquarters in Cyprus.
There is a new role of well-being officer, as well as a first cadet manager.
“We didn’t have that position before. We just recruited actually a guy who is based in Manila, sailing as a junior officer before,” Fradi said.
“We didn’t plan initially to have that person in Manila. But since we have also an office in Manila, it makes sense. He had that social, pleasant personality, which fits exactly that job,” the executive added.
But Fradi said patience is needed to find the right candidates.
