As a ship management company we must first ensure compliance with international regulatory standards of the International Safety Management code to operate this fleet of Post- Panamax vessels, for safe operations and prevention from pollution. The company and its staff both shore based and ship board is guided by the Safety of Life at Sea convention (SOLAS) in understanding safety should never be undermine and be in cognizance of pollution. The company must implement a well document Safety Management System (SMS) which the vessel’s operations both on-board and shore- base are guided by, according to SOLAS chapter XI the company should be issued a Document of Compliance (DOC) from the flag state government and the fleet of vessels a Safety Management Certificate (SMC). These two documents are authenticated through auditing and revision of the company Safety Management System which is operated in accordance with the International Safety Management code (ISM) (international Maritime Organization in 1985 and 1986*, 1988).
(Willingale and Spruyt 1998) Fleet management consist of a wide variety of services conducted by the ship management company on behalf of the vessel owner. Our obligational contract to ship owners are, the overseeing of the functions of technical management, health, quality and safety management, manning of crew, procurement and financial management. To manage a fleet of post-panamax container vessel operating worldwide, the manager is faced with an important element of how competent we can use our resources, which is, our people, process and technology in providing quality service to meet our customer requirements. In meeting our customer requirements we must understand that ship management is an important part of the value chain in shipping. (Alvarez, 2009) In performing our role as a ship manager and in essence is the absolute accountability for the results of the ship’s operation, also is the accomplishment of international safety and quality standard that our customer require of us. The ship management company acknowledges that safety, pollution prevention and efficiency are very important sectors of good ship management, this is the outcome of a blend of the right skills, knowledge and experience. The prior combination along with commitment, competence, motivation and attitudes of all individuals on all levels are essential in the achievement of a quality service, which the company seek to sustain at the highest level. The company is also focused on the policies for cost effectiveness and high quality management of vessels. The company aim is targeted on ensuring the customer a safe economical and environmentally sound service. To achieve this goal the company ensure there is technical staff on-shore and the operational crew on-board with the necessary qualification and expertise to attain the required objectives. The company policies will also adopt the International Maritime Organization International Safety Management code into their manuals (Meng, Wang and Wand, 2013).
(Stewart and Inaba, 2003) Organizational structure is compulsory by law for every company to function efficiently and has a legal commitment to accountability. The organizational structure assist to elucidate the accountability and responsibility within the company and guide the organization on how the finances, people and international investors are managed. The company should ensure the initial structure is align with its strategy to best serve their customers, while there may be trade- offs with structures it must remain in support of their strategy. Organizational structure is of paramount importance in obtaining business solution. Organizational structure is an essential system a company uses to determine the power of authority, roles and responsibility and the method in which the information circulates across the organization. Organizational structures are accomplished through strategic evaluation, re- evaluation of task and employee category in amalgamation in fully perceiving the organization objectives.
(Anon, 2016)The most effective structure for operating vessels safely, efficiently and economically would be a matrix structure as a decentralization form of management. The matrix structure is the type of organizational structure in which persons are grouped by two separate operational perspective at the same time to accomplish a common goal. Such an organizational structure will enhance integration of work among departments both on-shore and ship board, encouraging effective team work and greater communication between the Ship’s Master and Officers, based on the common factor for the greater solution to the technical and operational elements. In the operation of ship management the on-shore and on-board departmental structures is heavily reliant on the human factor which is a radical resource in this cycle. Whether these persons are located in the shore base office or on board the ship their skill, knowledge and experience comprises the human capital of the ship management company. In controlling the direction information is distributed, this a successful way to ensure organizational goals, visions and missions are achieved. In terms of ship management this procedure can be implemented to create value effectively by increasing the knowledge course throughout the global operational web covering knowledge feedback from shore base and ship board personnel. (Guest, 1991) In the administration of these procedures the company management put strategy and authorize the placement of important infrastructure to encourage knowledge flow and to generate a knowledge sharing culture and an educational environment in the organization. Knowledge vary and is of a wide range for example: operational experience, incident reports assessment, technical skills and customer requirement. A structured action is important to maintain the knowledge flow and support inputs to the system. Effective implementation produce innovative services, growth of best practices and policies, to accomplish greater quality and safety standards, prevention of loss, individual improvement and business growth .
(Salas, Rhodenizer and Bowers, 2000)Human resource management is the recruitment of the human element within an organization to achieving its goals and objectives. These objectives are achieved through the aligning of human policies with organizational objectives. The role of Human resource management is to professionally communicate, negotiate and create team growth. Human resource management is the selection of the necessary amount of crew who has the knowledge, ability and skills to ensure the organizational goals and objectives are accomplished. Another responsibility of the Human Resource Manager is to make certain the working conditions are of the recommended standard in accordance with International Labor laws. (Anon, 2016) Prior to the selection of crew the manager also have the responsibility of fulfilling the legal requirements, ship’s requirements, ship owner’s requirements and crew requirements. In fulfilling these aspect the right type of qualification and the number of crew needed to operate each vessel is regulated by the flag state through the provision of a manning certificate. Also some nationals are restricted by flag state or vessel owner’s country of residence, another concern are specific ports have different regulations for visa, health and vaccination certificates. The vessel owner is authorize to choose what nationality of crew are employed on his vessels, this will determine the bracket of salary he is willing to pay. The ship owner’s rarely have any concerns in regard to crew experience, rank and the time frame for changeover of officers onboard the vessel. The requirements of the container vessel are met through the selection of crew who are properly certified. Also crew must have experience in the area of the vessel engine and specialized equipment on board. The most important is the crew requirement and choice. The expectation of the crew is their salary and the length of his contract, this will determine when the crew contract commence. With having the knowledge of the vessel pool the crew can decide whether he or she will join vessel or refuse the offer. It is very important that safe manning of the vessels are complied with, by fulfilling every position with competent, qualified, suitable crew.
As a manager the manning scales and the nationality of crew recruitment policy require careful planning and organization, through guidance of the international legal frame work to obtain the necessary training levels connected to the position which is filled by a crew. Certification of crew is in accordance with the Safety Training and Hours of Watch Keeping (STCW) convention. Contractual agreement must be drawn up by the manager aligning with labor regulations under the International Labor Organization and Maritime Labor Convention, this would be agreed upon by the crew prior to boarding the vessel. An additional valuable element is to obtain the integration of the different nationality of crew in constructing a team and the interface of multiple cultures (Bielic, Ivanisevic and Gundic, 2014). Crew must have the proper certification and training to carry out their task under the most favorable working conditions while keeping them highly motivated. The effectiveness of the crew is an essential aspect in the vessel operation, efficiency and profitability. The challenges faced in the operation of the vessel is the short time frame in which crew are contracted to a vessel, this rely on the nationality, rank and individual choice. To employ crew for vessels is an important task and sometimes companies either outsource this function through a crew management company or place this responsibility with a crew manager. To manage the crew you are required to handle all the arrangements for the crew which include travel arrangements, insurance coverage, salaries and disbursements. For crew travelling to join a vessel the most suitable flights are booked in a timely manner with consideration to cost and convenience to the crew. The manager also, obtain the necessary travel documents needed and act as a liaison between the families of the crew while they are on duty out at sea. Crew must be covered for insurance because being employed on vessels include some risk factors as accident, illness and other medical expenses may incur. Crew wages are also a critical issue this is dealing with the calculation, complaint and questions (Heo, Kim and Shin, 2014).
(Nguyen et al., 2014)Crew retention is beneficial to all parties involved with the operation of a vessel, the ship Management Company, vessel owner and ship manager. The goal of the company is to retain crew for the longest period possible. The retention of crew is the complex area in the fleet management business because we are dealing with the human entity and their needs vary. To assist with retention there are several factors to consider such as the enhancement of wellbeing, knowledge and increasing of skills and proper working environment, also plans for extension of working contracts. Being the manager to increase the efforts for crew retention some strategies that will be considered to be vital in respect to the direction to enhancing crew retention are for the most part salary, which is constantly a standout amongst the best criteria mirroring the competency and the commitment of crew to organization production in accomplishing the general organizational goals. To achieve these efforts, the manager should ensure that the crew salary is at a sensible and aggressive rate contrasted with other contending ship management companies and the yearly pay increment must be more than the expansion rate to ensure crew expectation for everyday comfort is gradually improved. Other than salary, there are other monetary related advantages ought to be created. This could incorporate therapeutic protection for the entire family and repayment for crew’s amplified instruction. A compelling acknowledgment and motivation program will help crew feel accepted and delighted for what they have contributed toward the improvement of company. The reasonable execution reward that the manager is actualizing is entirely viable. Other than budgetary salary, the manager ought to likewise create non money related rewards and appreciation, for example public assurance, career advancement and training. On time fulfilling also, acknowledgment is a significant instrument to persuade crew and make a conserve tolerable working conditions. The manager can re-arrange suitable straightforward advancement and training policies and this should to be generally transmitted to every crew member. Another option can be reviewed other than what is already given by management, crew should be encouraged to enhance their education and training from other maritime learning institutes. All crew require equal opportunity to be elevated to best administrative positions at the shore-based locations. (Caison, 2005) In addition the company need to always enhance working and living conditions onboard vessels in the capacity of both physical and mental aspects. This is required not for a stressful but a much safer working environment. The company can also designate a special area on their vessels, for leisure, satellite television, gym exercise equipment to make living condition available onboard more pleasant. The company can also minimize contract time of crew from eight months to a lesser time being to six months and expand the compensation salary leave period so crew could have longer time with family and decrease exhaustion at work because of long time being spent distant from family. A need to be connected with families and stay aware of the changing world is a real desire of each crew. So the company will seek to build up a compelling communication service for crew to alleviate the crew feeling of confinement while onboard the vessel. This should be possible through the arrangement of moderately less expensive communication service such as internet, satellite telephone, sending and getting emails, etc. In this way company should outfit their vessels with such services. In spite of the fact that it will be an impressive speculation to exhaustively give these services to all vessels and also crew, it is cheaper than the enlistment, preparing and substitution of crew. Moreover, it will assist in crew commitment toward the company. (Kanki, Helmreich and Anca, 2010) between the procedure on enhancing communication provision on board, the manager can provide a week after week bulletin which contains all data and news on what is going on over the organization and in the shipping industry and this will be sent to the vessels so that crew could have for the most part upgraded news of the industry. This pamphlet is pivotal in giving focused information to the crew. Also, the manager should support the stream of data from vessels to the shore base office which will assist the ebb and flow challenges in the recruitment and retention of crew. A meeting among crew of the fleet and conferences between onboard crew and shore base staff is vital and should be further enhanced and held frequently. Supplimentry to, customary interaction amongst vessels and shore base offices should to likewise be supported. Normally, crew tend to leave an association or a vocation when better openings contrasted with their present place of employment shows up. At the point when crew needs are tended to legitimately, there is a lesser possibility they will leave their current position. In this manner the manager should dispatch various activities to make sense of the fundamental issues which make crew leave. Understanding the scope of retention variables that prompt to the leaving of crew will help the company see the need to create viable policies and techniques to enhance retention rates. The organization must seek to put resources into the training of crew furthermore fabricate a legitimate picture of itself through identifiable mechanisms.
(Havold, 2010) It is imperative for everyone within the company, both shore base and ship-board, to have the understanding and interest for the idea of safety culture. For safety culture to actually work, the company must enable and encourage its personnel to make safety and environmental mindfulness their most noteworthy priorities. While the ISM Code expresses that one of its key goals is to set up a 'safety culture' in ship management companies, safety culture cannot be defined. Notwithstanding, a safety culture might be depicted as the qualities and practices that management and work force share to guarantee that dangers are constantly minimized and mitigated to the best degree attainable. As it were, with a compelling safety culture, safety and pollution avoidance are invariably the most important factor. The company and its staff will dependably, and certainly, will not forget the recommendations for safety of each activity, instead of just following safety procedure since they are international regulations. In a viable safety culture, everybody within the company, whether top management level or bottom level staff, really has accepted and comprehends the reason for implementing procedures, and will consider safety, and the method for improving it, as depend of course. The policy for an established safety culture are: commitment from top, measuring performance and behavior and modifying behavior. As recognized by the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, commitment at the upper most level of management of the company is a fundamental guarantee that staff will act safely at all times. Without commitment from the top level management the endeavors of others in support of the Safety Management System will fail. To build up the support of top management it is important that they totally comprehend the full cost of accidents in human, environmental and monetary terms. Safety should to be the main need when compensation for accidents and pollution is frequently met by insurance claims, and numerous safety measures seem at first sight to be costly to implement. Evaluating current performance and behavior the manager will take into account the fundamental degree in accomplishing a viable safety culture, it is important to have the measures to view the organization's present administration with a specific objective to recognize the directions in which safety can be enhanced (Havold and Nesset, 2009).
While the Safety Management System required by the International Safety Management Code contribute such a structure, a promptly conceivable method for observing the adequacy of specific safety execution and arrangements is the Lost Time Incident (LTI) rate, which is regularly utilized crosswise over numerous industries to quantify personnel injuries. A Lost Time Incident is an episode which brings about nonattendance from work past the date or move when it happened. The Lost Time Incident rate is generally figured as the quantity of Lost Time Incident slips, trips and fall that happen amid one million working hours, even though once in a while contrasting varies are utilized. In modifying behavior a key point of a safety culture should to be to alter the behavior, where necessary, of company personnel so that they have confidence in safety, ‘think safety and are focused on safety’. Developing a successful safety culture in light of the idea of consistent change, individual duty and obligation by all, is a long haul prepare and includes much diligent work and exertion. Encounter increased through the best possible execution of a Safety Management System ought to bring about changes in conduct, yet different measures may likewise be required. A few companies may wish to lead 'behavioral appraisal' programs, utilizing outside experts to direct changes to the company's safety culture. For some company, in any case, different methodologies can likewise be appropriate (Glendon and Stanton, 2000).
(Kozinski, 2013) To work productively, the worldwide transportation industry relies on upon the global legal guideline given by IMO and the viable execution of IMO Conventions. One of the amazing elements of IMO directions is that once they go into force they are really relate to ships on a worldwide premise through a blend of flag state investigations and Port State Control. The exceptionally realistic nature of IMO instruments, with their exact specialized measures and particulars, is vital to their effective execution. Major changes in the industry, recent execution are in substantial part because of the effective usage of IMO Conventions. For instance, there are clear linkages between the involvement of the International Safety Management (ISM) Code, the 1995 corrections to the Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers (STCW) and the ensuing decrease in the quantity of significant maritime losses, lives lost at sea and occurrences of pollution. The MLC, 2006, is for the most part thought to be the "fourth pillar" of the worldwide regulatory framework for shipping, supplementing the key instruments of the IMO, to be specific: the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as revised (the "SOLAS Convention"); the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers, 1978, as altered (the "STCW Convention"); and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as changed (the "MARPOL Convention"). While executing the MLC, 2006, notwithstanding the current ILO instruments, all important IMO instruments, (for example, the International Safety Management (ISM) Code11) ought to be considered. Numerous nations and industry associations have likewise created exhaustive organizational health and safety administrative frameworks and specialized direction which consolidate arrangements of the IMO instruments. These give valuable cases to national ways to deal with the administration of work related security and wellbeing on ships.12 15. The MLC, 2006, mirrors the ILO's long-standing duty to one side of all laborers, including seafarers, to respectable, sheltered and solid working and living conditions (Dijxhoorn, 1993). Implementation and consistence prerequisites are set out in both Article V and Title 5 of the Convention. Wellbeing and security and mishap anticipation is one of the review items recorded in Appendix A5-I to the Convention. Ships must be reviewed by flag States, either by their administration government or approved organization. Vessels of 500 gross tonnage or over which are occupied with global voyages, or voyages between, or from, remote ports, are required to convey a Maritime Labor Certificate confirming that the working and living environment of seafarers on the ship, including measures for progressing consistence to be incorporated into a Declaration of Maritime Labor Compliance (DMLC) connected to the certificate, have been assessed and meet the prerequisites of national laws or directions or different measures executing the Convention.18 18. Part I of the DMLC is to be finished by the flag State and contains references to the significant national prerequisites, including national arrangements on wellbeing and security and preventive accident measures for seafarers. Part II of the DMLC records the measures the ship owner has set up to guarantee progressing consistence with flag State necessities, examinations and constant change on the ship. 19. As noticed, the ILO has additionally created rules for banner State reviews and port State control examinations under the MLC, 2006. Ships going to outside ports might be liable to investigation by port State control powers for consistence with the Convention. The relationship between above arrangements of the Law of the Sea Convention with the arrangements of some IMO Conventions is contained in SOLAS (control I/21), LOAD LINES (Article 23), and MARPOL (Article 12). These arrangements set the commitment of the flag State to direct an examination of any casualty occurring to any of its ships (Kundsen and Hassler, 2011). IMO, as the capable worldwide association, received a few traditions which only manage antipollution measures, regardless of whether the presentation of polluted substances into the ocean is the consequence of an accident including a ship or from the operational releases from vessels. When all is said in done, States have acknowledged the unmistakable part of the IMO in an exceptionally taught way. It is fascinating to note that for instance coastal States have made a number of attempts to withdraw from the worldwide administration which is contained in IMO Conventions on pollution prevention. The primary IMO bargain around there is MARPOL. The MARPOL Convention was received in 1973 and is planned to manage all types of international contamination of the ocean from vessels, other than dumping.