1. How would you describe the day- to-day business of a crew manager?

As a crew manager you deal with a variety of tasks. No two days are the same and that is why I like my work so much. I take care of a lot of different things, including the recruitment and selection of new crew, planning of the crew members and crew changes, drawing up the contracts and ensure that the documents are arranged and all in good order. Next to that I make sure that the crew members are safely boarded and disembarked. But it doesn’t stop here. We also arrange the insurance for the crew.  When an accident occurs on board we act immediately and make sure everything will run as smoothly as possible for our crew member. Furthermore, as a crew manager, I also take care of the payroll administration.

2. What is the benefit for a ship owner when using a crew management agency?

The benefit is that we give ship owners a peace of mind, because we take care of all aspects concerning the crew.  We can offer complete crew management, but we can also offer single positions. We recruit and select the crew, we arrange the planning, the crew changes, salary negotiations and we draw up the contracts. We also arrange the insurance and take care of the claims. We offer the full package.

3. What do you like most about your job?

What makes my work so enjoyable is the variety of tasks. No two days are the same and every day brings new challenges and valuable learning experience.

4. Which challenges are you facing due to the Corona virus?

The challenges that all shipping companies and seafarers will recognise are the difficulties with the planning of the work-schedules and the uncertainty that comes with it. As a seafarer you realise that, because of the pandemic, there is a fairly high chance that you will not be relieved on the agreed date. It always depends on several external factors if the seafarer can be relieved as scheduled, but during this pandemic it has been very uncertain and difficult due to all flight, port and immigration restrictions together with border closures. Any day the situation can change for the better or worse, which makes our work even more challenging. Luckily, the KVNR has launched the vaccination programme for seafarers. We hope that things will now become more easy for the seafarers.

5. What are you proud of?

I am proud of all shipping companies and seafarers! Despite this time, we all remain positive. And I will keep on going and will do my utmost for our clients and crew.