Synergy Wins Lloyd’s List Excellence In Ship Management Award

The Synergy Group was awarded with the prestigious 2019 Lloyd’s List Excellence in Maritime Services & Ship Management Award to recognize the commitment shown by the company in the sphere of ship management. The 2019 Lloyd’s List Europe Awards was held at the Hilton Park Lane hotel in London last night.

“Our panel felt that in a hugely competitive market it was the relative newcomer that was showing the old guard how to innovate and optimize operations for clients while also putting seafarer wellness, safety and training at the heart of the business,” the judges concluded.

The event was attended by Synergy Director, Capt. HS Swaminathan, Mr. Rune Zeuthen, the head of Synergy’s new Europe office. He extended his warm thanks to the judges and Lloyd’s List for recognizing the efforts put in by Synergy Group during the last year in which Synergy moved up in the world’s top ship managers rank list to secure the sixth place with a mixed fleet of 270+ vessels.

“I would also like to thank our customers for their continued support and appreciation of our approach to ship management metrics,” he added. “We make extensive use of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) so it is clear to everyone within Synergy and to our clients where we are excelling.

“For us, the important part of benchmarking lies in identifying where we can do better. This has been a critical factor in our achievements this year, particularly in Europe where we have been successfully attracting new clients.”

Judges of the 2019 Lloyd’s List Excellence in Maritime Services & Ship Management Award were asked to weigh the efforts and effectiveness of applicants across a range of performance indicators including “the welfare of crew, record of safety, environmental initiatives, support of training, a commitment to ensuring ship security, operational efficiency, innovation in cost control and a proven pattern of client satisfaction”.

A number of clients of Synergy, in their statements to the judges said that not only did it perform excellent KPI on Lost Time Injury Frequency and ‘Unplanned Off-Hire during the last year, but it’s cutting edge ship management amenities also comprised zero security and piracy incidents, and zero MARPOL (International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships) related violations.

The initiatives of Synergy that aims for the betterment of crew welfare, safety and training was also recognized by the award. These included establishing a LARP (Look, Act, Report, Prevent) card system fleet-wide, upgrading and expandion of state-of-the-art training centers in Manila and Chennai and taking steps for gender equality initiatives. This led to a rise in the number of female seafarers in the Synergy fleet in the last year. The first female cadet to a gas chamber was also appointed by the company.

Judges also highlighted the development of the new wellness at sea helpline last year called iCALL by Synergy. It is a service which has nine languages and is designed to bring down the suicides by seafarers and improve the mental health and wellness of maritime personnel. This service is available 24/7, free of cost through phone, email and the chat-based nULTA App.

“Wellness, equality and simply treating people with respect are not add-ons at Synergy, they are core principles,” said Capt. HS Swaminathan. “We could not provide top-end services to our customers without all ‘Synergians’ buying into our vision of ship management excellence. Both at sea and on land they deserve recognition and respect.

“I would especially like to thank Synergy’s 11,000+ seafarers for showing the courage to face the challenges of seafaring day in and day out. This award is testament to their dedication and excellence.”

Various digital and technological advancement have also been made by Synergy. SMARTShip™ developed by Alpha Ori Technologies (AOT) is the patented digital shipping solution that is now enjoying fast development in the maritime industry. The Internet of Things (IoT) platform allows multiple systems to operate on ships that have different degrees of autonomy. It has been installed on over 30 vessels and the setup process is going on another 60 ships.

“AOT has quickly emerged as an industry leader in the field of technology and digital shipping,” said Captain Unni, CEO and Founder of Synergy Group and Co-CEO of AOT.

“AOT’s approach to tackling pain points and enabling rules-based decision-making gives clients added transparency and delivers multiple operational, financial and environmental benefits.”

Captain Unni also paid tribute to Synergy’s seafarers. “They make Synergy tick, I can’t thank them enough for their dedication and hard work all year,” he said.

“As for 2020, I can promise we’ll seek to raise ship management standards again. We will maintain our industry-leading unplanned off-hire and lost injury time rates because we understand what helps our customers most.

“However, it is our world-class seafarer retention rates which facilitate the consistency of service excellence that allows us to perform so well on industry KPIs. Top of the agenda will be keeping our seafarers safe and well.”

Reference: Synergy