2017-06-26

Firmly towards Singapore

The Polish Ship Managers Association (PZZS) summed up its activity in 2016 and at the beginning of 2017, the strategic goal of which is to create Pomeranian Shipmanagement Center in Tricity, thanks to which we are to become the “Baltic Singapore” in the management of world fleet. With regard to this, the representatives of the Association took part in the meeting of the parliamentary Maritime Economy and Inland Navigation Committee, on which the following issues were discussed: taxes and social insurance for seamen, panel regarding ship management as part of Maritime Economy Forum Gdynia 2017 and the participation in the next, second edition of Mare Forum conference in Poland.

The Polish Ship Managers Association also began active operations in the scope of ship management promotion among the graduates of Maritime Academy in Gdynia. It was decided to finance an award for the best student and encourage academy graduates to start their professional career in fleet management. Postgraduate studies in Modern Ship Management at the Maritime Academy in Gdynia are also supported by the Polish Ship Managers Association.

It is estimated that 73% of ships falling under international conventions are managed by ship managers. In Poland, the number of companies pursuing this type of business activity has been systematically growing, as evidenced by the establishment of the Polish Ship Managers Association. Instead of moving people where there’s work and incurring high operating costs, ship owners often prefer to move where there is highly trained staff and costs are significantly lower.

This is why the direction that needs to be followed in the future is the implementation of the concept concerning the creation of Pomerania Shipping Center in Tricity. It is extremely important to demonstrate the capabilities of Polish companies in this area. If the biggest management companies, among which one handles 400-600 ships, at least opened branches here, we could have more than ten such institutions and a significant fleet controlled from Poland in short time. And then our Baltic Singapore would be easy to achieve.

According to the International Maritime Organisation data, 1 job position at sea generates 4 of them on land. Jobs are also created by the entire business related to fleet management or seamen service (transport, issuing visas and health certificates) and industries necessary to ensure the effective operation of the entire company.

At present, the Polish Ship Managers Association associates 17 members and 7 partners, who manage a fleet of 204 ships with a total carrying capacity of 2.4 million tonnes.

One of the panels at the Maritime Economy Forum Gdynia 2017 shall be dedicated to ship management.

Article developed in cooperation with  "Namiary na Morze i Handel" magazine.

phot. Tadeusz Urbaniak/ZMPG-a S.A