The Apostleship of the Sea widens its vision

(Vatican Radio) Seafarer welfare international network, Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), is reaching out in new directions in order to better assist seafarers, many of whom work in difficult or challenging conditions.

Not only do seafarers face challenges at sea due to extreme weather conditions and long periods of time away from their families, many of them face perils posed by piracy, exploitation and abuse, or criminals involved in trafficking.

Also, current global economic shifts mean that there are new shipping routes and the need has arisen to deal with the merging of companies to maximize efficiency and profit.

That’s why AoS recently held a Regional Coordinators Meeting in Rome focusing on how to move forward as a global organization in addressing issues related to seafarer welfare amid existing financial constraints within the industry.

So, while one of the prime concerns for its members is the pastoral care of seafarers and their families, AoS does not neglect to address issues such as education, training, health – all of which are strongly impacted by global trends, developments and what promise to be the main issues for the maritime industry in the coming years.

That’s why one of the speakers invited to attend the AoS conference was V. Ships President Roberto Giorgi, who explains that his Company supplies ship management and related marine services to the global shipping industry.

Giorgi explained to Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni that as an international Ship Management Company, V.Ships has offices around the world, about 30,000 people on board the vessels and over 1.000 on shore. He explained that V.Ships is a virtual ship owner in the sense that it takes on the responsibilities and the work of a ship owner in operating a ship. So, Giorgi explains “We put a crew on board, we take care of the insurance, of the maintenance, of safety, security and so on” shouldering all the costs of the ships on behalf of the owner of the vessel.

Giorgi says he was happy to be invited to the Conference where he expressed his ideas on the future of shipping and illustrated the trends of shipping today.

Listen to the interview…

Shipping – Roberto Giorgi says – “is a very cyclical business, but we are in a changing situation and it is very important for an organization like AoS to understand the future, vis-a-vis the economy of shipping and where there will be more trade in the future. This will help the organization see where they need to upgrade their system and their service, in particular areas of the world, he said.

No doubt – he says – “shipping is moving from West to East so there will be more importance in the ports in Asia. But we must not forget what we are doing today in Europe, Africa, and in North and South America”.

Giorgi says his company’s business is people. “Our assets are the people on board and ashore, so for us, a ship management company, the human element is the most important element of all”. The ship owner owns the asset, but we own the spirit of the people.”

“We need to motivate them on a daily basis, we need to be close to them, and we need to give them prospects for development and a career. And we also need to make sure in the future the skills and the competences that we have in the organization today are not lost” he said.

Of the shift from West to East, Giorgi says “today the biggest movement of commodities is definitely between South America and Australia and South Africa to Asia: mainly China and India. These are the locomotives of the global economy” he said.

“We hope that Asia will continue its growth because if this continues Europe and North America will come out of the recession….”