InterManager, the international trade association for third party and in-house ship managers, has today launched a set of General Principles of Conduct and Action for the international ship management sector which it says will drive up quality across the industry sources InterManager.
Raising The Bar
Announcing the new General Principles of Conduct and Action, during London International Shipping Week 2023, InterManager President Mark O’Neil, CEO of the Columbia Group, said: “These new industry-wide Principles reflect the fact that InterManager members are committed to achieving high standards in providing their wide range of services to the global shipping industry. These General Principles will inevitably raise the standard of international ship management and the services of associated suppliers. As professionals we must always aspire to improve and share knowledge.”
InterManager’s General Principles of Conduct and Action sets the collective principles that all InterManager members should follow and is regarded as vital to their success in reaching the highest standards of ship operations. The General Principles represent some 18 months of work by InterManager members sharing their experience and represent the fulfillment of an important mandate for the President, who is in his second term of office. Mr O’Neil advised that the General Principles are dynamic and evolving and predicted they “will get stronger over time.”
Meeting Sustainability Goals
Initially the General Principles will rely on a self-assessment but there will then follow periodic, confidential audits by a third party. The aim of the audit will be to assess and demonstrate how and where improvement can be achieved. In instances of concern, poor practice, or failure to remedy, InterManager’s Executive Committee will determine whether the particular company should remain a member, although Mr O’Neil stressed: “We are really talking about exceptional cases which I hope will be very rare.”
InterManager is proud to be leading the industry by improving standards in this way and at a time when shipping is striving to meet sustainability goals. Championing the General Principles Captain Kuba Szymanski, InterManager Secretary General, commented: “I firmly believe that this process should be inclusive not exclusive, encouraging and aspirational as opposed to penalising, and co-operational as opposed to confrontational. I congratulate my InterManager colleagues on working together to create the new General Principles of Conduct and Action and applaud their commitment to this industry-wide measure.”
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Source: Intermanager
