Modern corporate social responsibility should include measures to care for crew as well as the environment, says InterManager Secretary General Captain Kuba Szymanski.

Discussing corporate social responsibility (CSR) at this year’s InterManager Annual General Meeting, Capt. Szymanski said: “People talk of ‘hugging trees’, I say let’s hug seafarers first!”

Urging ship managers to embrace crew concerns when implementing a CSR programme, Capt. Szymanski asked: “Why do we care more about birds and whales than we do about seafarers?”

Demonstrating the effects of increasing amounts of legislation, former ship’s Master Capt. Szymanski stripped off an item of clothing for each official law that audience members’ could call out – stopping after tearing off his jacket and tie to the relief of amused delegates attending InterManager’s AGM in Manila, Philippines this week.

“Educate do not regulate,” Capt. Szymanski urged international organisations like the IMO and EU, vowing to ensure InterManager members will work to self-regulate to ensure mandatory regulation is minimised. He later explained: “I am all in favour of protecting wildlife and the environment of course but I want to make sure that it is achievable and manageable. I am a great believer in empowering ships’ crew and Masters to make sensible and correct operational decisions onboard without fear of unfair criminalisation.”

InterManager members, who already sign up to a Code of Conduct, are actively involved in discussions about industry-wide initiatives such as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and corporate social responsibility. Capt. Szymanski told them: “In my opinion CSR goes hand in hand with the KPI project.”
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The “horrors” of piracy have dominated the first year of Meridian Marine Management Managing Director Alastair Evitt’s first year in his role as President of InterManager, the international trade association for the shipmanagement industry.

Summing up his first year representing the world’s third-party and in-house ship managers, Mr Evitt told the InterManager Annual General Meeting today (November 15th) that the fight against global piracy is a priority for his presidency and praised the way the shipping industry has united to fight it.

“With 273 seafarers held hostage at this time, I feel it is appropriate to acknowledge the horrors of international piracy,” Mr Evitt said. “This issue has brought the shipping industry together.” He praised industry initiatives, particularly the Save Our Seafarers campaign and the work of the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme, and highlighted InterManager’s campaign urging Flag States to allow ship owners and managers the “freedom to choose” whether they wish to deploy armed guards onboard during transits through piracy zones like the Indian Ocean.

Mr Evitt, who has completed the first year of his two-year term of office, said: “Our sea staff are the backbone of our industry and their safety and well being are a primary concern for InterManager.” He also described the process of releasing pirates captured by naval forces as “appalling” and stressed the importance of “reducing the effectiveness of motherships” and of the international community putting in place credible measures to trace and criminalise the financiers of international piracy.

InterManager members have gathered in Manila, Philippines, for today’s AGM. Members will discuss key shipmanagement issues including piracy, the growth of maritime security providers, corporate social responsibility, crew manning and training, in addition to hearing updates on the industry-wide Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Project.