sector and, of course, the bulk shipping business. Michael King
reports.
companies looked to trim costs. Like all service suppliers to the
exception.
efficiency, cost being one of the components. “As vessel
the quality of service must remain high,” said a spokesman. “We
requirements to one vendor.
most to price pressure at the port-ship interface. “To our
irrespective of the freight levels they attain,” he explained. The
providing related services.
DCI. “However, in many locations the agency fee represents less
than 1% of the total port expenses. For this reason, it is
option. GAC maintains the highest standards for all its services
saw agents maintain a close watch on remittances and fund flows
in a bid to reduce overall exposure.
Wilhelmsen Ship Services said it was now putting more
emphasis on credit-checking new customers and
ensuring 100% pre-funding. “This is to avoid the
situation where we as agents are left with the bill
for the entire port call if customers go bankrupt,”
said a spokesman.
Kakaris said port disbursements were regulated
by local authorities, so GAC expects its principals
to remit funds in good time to avoid any problems
or delays. “For example, at various locations the
port authority may refuse a vessel permission to
depart unless it has proof that funds due have
been received,” he said. “Port expenses can
escalate beyond the costs indicated in the initial
proforma for various reasons, which is why we
give principals regular updates, giving explanations
for increases and warn them of the possibility of
having to remit supplementary funds in good
time.”
Agents can close clients in both good times and
bad due to price-sensitivity, but in 2009 GAC still
managed to handle a total of approximately 49,500
port calls worldwide, a modest increase on the
previous year’s figure.
Kakaris said it was encouraging that during
2009 GAC had attracted a number of new clients
because of “our preferred way of doing business
which stresses trust, confidence and mutual
respect”.
The resilience of the bulk markets did, however,
vary by market. While Pacific Basin and intra-
Asian business remained strong last year, Chuck
Carmichael, Vice President US North Atlantic &
Eastern Canada for Inchcape Shipping Services
(ISS), said the Atlantic market had been poor. “The
Atlantic Basin market has been severely depressed
since the end of 2008. Bulk coal shipments from the US and
South America are stagnant at best,” he said. “The US has always
been a swing supplier but we look for an eventual recovery of
the South American export business.”
For ISS, the strength of its African business helped offset
disappointment in markets more affected by the
global downturn.
“From the coal perspective our main driver
in South Africa has been India with the Indian
coal buyers tending to favour South Africa
during the second half of 2009,” said Allan
Vermaak, ISS Senior Vice President — Africa.
“Indications are that this will continue in
2010 with demand for our coal expected to
remain quite high.”
Vermaak said that from an iron ore
perspective there was a dip early in 2009 but
this was quickly absorbed into China and the
terminal in Saldanha Bay had been running at
normal capacity. “The thing to bear in mind is
that South Africa makes up such a small
percentage of world iron ore production that it
is of little indication of trends,” he added.
Agents with a strong presence in Australia
and Indonesia benefited from the huge surge in
demand from China from April last year onwards as power
generation and steel production rapidly expanded.
ISS claims it is Australia's largest port agency provider, with
particular strength in the buoyant export business
to China. “The surge in Chinese demand has
replaced the lower demands from Australian's
more traditional markets where the recovery
from the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC)
has yet to see volumes return in these markets to
pre GFC levels, and as such Australian operations
are unaffected by this surge in demand,” said
Royce Brain, ISS Senior Vice President —
Australasia.
GAC reported that its teams in Australian
exporting ports saw an increase in vessel calls
loading for China, although this was partially offset
by a decline in exports to traditional markets like
Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
“Australia’s total coal exports in 2009 is said to
be around 270mt (million tonnes), up from 250mt
in 2008,” said Kakaris.
The country’s three largest coal terminals —
Dalrymple Bay, Gladstone and Newcastle — have
been upgraded in recent years and further
expansions at a number of coal terminals are
planned or underway. But he said problems
sometimes persisted in getting coal to port.
“Investment is being made to upgrade rolling
stock and expand the rail network, but it is not
equal to expansion at the terminals,” he explained.
“As a result, most large coal terminals are not
working at full capacity.”
“However, recent contracts have been signed
under a “take or pay” basis, giving rail companies
security of revenue for the coming years, which
should enable them to invest further in their
infrastructure.”
On the import side in China, GAC plays a dual
role from its headquarters in Shanghai doubling as both a
general agent managing port calls and as a cargo logistics and
forwarding agent covering the entire country. “There is still
potential for expansion in this very important market,” said
Kakaris.
What is a good bulk agent?
A good bulk agent is dedicated to providing real value to its
principals. This is accomplished in many ways; reducing time in
port, reducing costs, being preemptive in minimizing the impact
of new regulations, and providing many other services that fall
outside of basic husbandry duties. Today’s ships’ agents must be
far more than just a reporting service: they have to apply their
experience and infrastructure to provide their principals with
real solutions that will save them money.
An effective ships’ agent can reduce vessel port costs. In fact,
very few services provided to a vessel while in port can save the
principal as much as those provided by an experienced ships’
agent. While other port service providers perform their duties
within the limits of a contract or an established protocol, an
agent is called upon to provide and arrange a multitude of
functions and services that all must be carried out in the most
efficient and economical manner possible for the benefit of all
parties. The agent has the opportunity to be involved in all
phases of a vessels port call and if they are diligent, can provide
solutions that reduce costs.
Every year the shipping industry is faced with new regulations
that have both positive and negative effects but always add a
layer of complexity. A good agent can provide value by providing
information and cost effective solutions on how to comply with
new regulations and anticipate their impact. An agent has to be
prepared to expand its range of services to provide for these
new regulations and their associated risk. Further, an agent must
be very aware of the timeliness and accuracy of documentation
and disbursements particularly in the bulk trades. A good agent
will provide both these services accurately and as quickly as
possible.
The licensing of agents is currently under review in the
United States, although it is doubtful that the current
administration will give it the support that it deserves, it would
be a positive move for the industry. With the barriers of entry
being as low as they are, there have been a number of well
publicized cases of agents encountering financial difficulty and
leaving a long list of creditors behind. The Associations of
Brokers and Shipping Agents is dedicated to setting the service
and financial standards that a member agent must meet in the
USA and Canada. ABSA works closely with the Federation of
National Associations of Ship Brokers and Agents, which sets
similar standards at the international level.
ACGI Shipping Inc. is an agency dedicated to providing value
to its customers. Specializing in bulk cargoes, ACGI was formed
in 2009 through the amalgamation of three historic agencies,
Anglo Canadian Shipping, Greer Shipping and International
Shipping, all with a long history of agency service on the West
Coast of North America. Operating at all US and Canadian west
coast ports, ACGI Shipping specializes in providing agency
services to vessels loading and discharging bulk cargoes on the
west coast and is dedicated to providing value to its principals.
In addition to agency staff, ACGI also has dedicated
supercargoes and port captains experienced with the
complexities of west coast ports and their wide variety of bulk
cargoes. Raw logs from the forests of British Columbia and
Washington State, wheat and grain products from the mid west
of North America, coal from the mines of British Columbia and
Montana, petroleum products from Alberta, and rice from the
fertile valleys of Northern California are just a few of the bulk
cargoes that ACGI handles routinely. ACGI also operates a
Cargo Logistics and Freight Forwarding division that can provide
transportation both domestically and internationally.
ACGI is preemptive, with experienced and dedicated
personnel, a tested and adaptable infrastructure, and an
impeccable financial position. It is supported by an equally
strong communications and computer network able to provide
the level of service that today’s market place demands. Events
like Hurricane Katrina crystallized the need for system
redundancy to ensure uninterrupted communications and ACGI
has such a system in place to ensure just that.
It is the people within an organization and their relationship
with the customer that allows a service business to prosper and
in the agency shipping business this cannot be truer. At ACGI
Shipping, it is company culture to develop a close relationship
with customers, identify their needs and then deliver more,
consistently to maintain long-standing associations to the benefit
of all.
Ships’ agency – what will the future bring?
Despite the dramatic changes that have taken place in the way the
world’s dry bulk trade has been handled over the last 40 years,
with the introduction of faster bulk handling methods and
sophisticated IT communication systems, there have been no
significant changes in the way ships agents operate. Most
shipping companies still deal with local agents on a ‘spot’ basis, using
a different agent in each port.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service believes that the shipping world
will see big changes in this pattern over the next few years. Dealing
with a different agent at each port — defining the tasks to be
done, following up to ensure requirements are met, receiving
operational and disbursement account reports in different formats for each port — has
become an increasingly burdensome task. With increasing use of
efficient software programmes, and better international
communication, there are big savings to be made by using the
same agent for multiple port calls.
With this in mind, Wilhelmsen Ships Service has concentrated
on streamlining its ships’ agency services in order to be able to
make a uniform global offer to international customers. The aim
is to be able to offer the same standard agency facilities in all
2,200 ports in the world where Wilhelmsen Ships Service has a
presence, and at the same time simplify customers’
administrative work. International operators will have one point
of contact, with a single worldwide co-ordinator responsible for
ensuring that all port calls are handled in the same way,
regardless of where in the world their vessels happen to call.
Charterers and operators are able to define their needs just
once, and not have to issue new instructions for every port call.
All documentation, including operational reports and
disbursement accounts, is in a uniform format. Although local
agents have a good understanding of local conditions, their focus
is generally short term, with a window of operations that usually
just covers one and not multiple port call operations.
In addition to its global coverage, Wilhelmsen Ships Service
has expanded the traditional ships’ agent work for bulk carriers
outside pure port operations, to include cargo protection
services and cargo coordination (see diagram below).
This is of particular benefit to some of the company’s large
chartering clients, as it helps to streamline the documentation
through the whole value chain.
In addition, in the present uncertain financial conditions,
international operators are reluctant to trust small local
companies with large pre-payment accounts, if there is a danger
that these companies could go out of business. Larger
companies with a secure international financial reputation are
seen as more trustworthy and reliable in this respect.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDSDealing with one company on a worldwide basis can streamline
operations and bring about economies of scale. However, many
vessel operators want to continue to use local agents with
personal knowledge of the port, fluency in the local language and
contacts with all local service providers.
Wilhelmsen Ships Service provides the best of both worlds.
Because of its wide international spread, Wilhelmsen Ships
Service is able to offer a cost-effective global service to
customers with multiple port calls. However, every stopover is
still treated as a special event by the local officers, who are able
to use their unique knowledge to arrange hassle-free port calls.
Navitrans Shipping Agencies: a foot onshore in North American waters
A clearly accepted principle of economics is specialization. By
concentrating and focusing on core activities and then to align
one’s efforts with strategic partners serving a larger goal,
patterns of excellence can be forged. International trade and
shipping is a process of the broadest scope. By focusing on the
ship to shore interface, as experienced in their own territory,
Navitrans Shipping Agencies empowers its principals abroad with
years of pertinent experience, up-to-date critical information,
and a fully developed network of industry professionals: key
ingredients for offering a streamlined, cost effective and superior
Service.
Firmly established on all Canada’s coastlines, Atlantic, Pacific,
Arctic and Great Lakes, Navitrans has been sharing its knowhow
with the international shipping community since 1985 when
it first opened its doors as a completely independent shipping
agency. By regularly applying conscientious and ethical
professionalism, Navitrans has won the respect of its business
partners and the committed support of its clientele. Growth,
for Navitrans, has been the natural extension of that support.
Initially offering agency services for ports along the St. Lawrence,
Navitrans’ clientele has gradually insisted that the company
service ports throughout the Great Lakes, the East Coast, the
Canadian Arctic and the West Coast. Covering this territory has
encouraged a strategic network of sub-agents that allows
Navitrans to extend its personalized service to US ports as well
as to virtually any Canadian port.
Navitrans Shipping Agencies’ clientele includes charterers and
ship owners alike and are especially active in the dry-bulk
commodities of grains, iron ore and fertilizers. Navitrans is
equally at home handling general and project cargoes and
maintains a broad scope by attending to the tanker and
container trades, as well as by having developed a specialized
niche in cruise ship agencies. Firmly committed to giving the
support required to expedite a ship’s turnaround in port,
Navitrans has the experience and know how to quickly respond
to problems by being aware of available options and by
proposing sound solutions.
Navitrans draws this experience from both ship and shore
operations. With insider knowledge informing its operations, its
advice to masters and to ship operators is timely and pertinent.
Likewise, its stringent accounting policies, and cost
consciousness are born of a solid history in agency
administration.
NAVITRANS’ MISSION STATEMENT“Navitrans Shipping Agencies is committed to providing highquality
professional agency services characterized by personal
attention offered by an informed, conscientious and qualified
staff. Attentive to the increasingly competitive nature of the
international market and focused on continuous improvement,
Navitrans is determined to offer its valued clients a leading edge
by ensuring them a representation thorough in its industry
knowledge of local, regional and international conditions and
issues.”
Boyd Steamship celebrates its 100th anniversary at the Panama Canal
In 1909, the Panama Canal was still five years from completion.
Nevertheless, in that year, William Young Boyd founded W.Y. Boyd
& Co. and Boyd Steamship Corporation in Panama with the
object of operating small coasters from Colon on the Atlantic
side of Panama to Colombia, Venezuela and the islands of the
Caribbean. The vessels carried items not needed by the Panama
Canal outbound and products such as rice, coffee, and sugar on
their return voyages. It was a good business, but, when the canal
opened, it became very competitive, although Boyd’s ships
continued to operate for a few more years. In the meantime the
company started to pick up the agencies for larger shipping
companies. This became a better business since it required less
overhead, less investment, and the returns, although not large,
made the enterprise attractive enough to stay the course.
Upon his graduation from college, William Boyd’s brother,
Robert J. Boyd, joined the firm, and they founded Boyd Brothers,
Incorporated. However, the First World War intruded and both
brothers joined the American military. After the war, the Boyd
companies continued to diversify throughout the 1920s, going
into banking, importing, insurance, and merchandising as well as
continuing the steamship agency business. Then, the stock
market crash of 1929 precipitated the Great Depression. And in
1932 William Y. Boyd died suddenly at the age of 48, and Robert
was left alone to manage the company’s future, which looked
bleak. But the Boyd companies survived with the help of their
bankers and returned to normalcy by the end of the 1930s.
The Second World War brought extremely busy times to the
steamship agency business. Boyd acted as agents for the US War
Shipping Administration as well as operating a fleet of oil tankers
out of Balboa. The first years of the war were harrowing as
American vessels were shot out of the water by submarines
operating quite close to Panama.
However, at the end of the war, the shipping lines that Boyd
had represented started to disappear. By 1950, when William Y.
Boyd II, the son of Robert J. Boyd, entered the firm upon his
graduation from Yale University, the shipping company was
handling very few ships. Robert told his son to build the agency
up until it was the largest and best steamship agency at the
canal. This was a tall order, but William was up to the job. He
made sure he had the most experienced and capable personnel
available. He then began to travel to meet his clients. Starting
with an average of about seven ships per month, William built
the company up to 65 per month in 1963 and to 240 by the
early 1970s. He travelled constantly, opening new markets for
the firm. Mainly he built the firm by providing the best, most
reliable service available and keeping the agency fees fair and
reasonable. He made many friends, especially in Japan, but also
in Europe and the United States. He became a very good friend
of Malcolm McLean, the father of container shipping and formed
a company to handle McLean’s Sea-Land vessels at the Canal and
Panama’s ports.
Another son of Robert J. Boyd’s, R.J. Boyd, Jr. came into the
business but built up the insurance company, making it one of the
foremost in Panama. Castro was active at that time, the mid-1950s,
and Robert brilliantly put the company’s legal reserves into low-cost
housing. Suffering from a heart problem, Robert, Jr. died at the age
of 42. In 2006, after being the chairman of the board for over 40
years, William II turned the company over to his nephew, Robert J.
Boyd III, the son of Robert, Jr. Thus, as the Boyd Steamship
Corporation completes its first century, the fourth generation of
the company has taken over, and we can be assured that the first
100 years was but a prelude to the next century of its progress.
GAC holds its own in the bulk ships’ agents market
GAC, a leading provider of shipping, logistics and marine
services and solutions, is a major presence in shipping
agency work.
GAC is a truly global operator serving the shipping,
logistics, marine and related industries on all continents,
says Kostas Kakaris, Dry Bulk Development Manager of
GAC shipping services GAC delivers on its
promises with day-to-day activities that represent value
for money, quality, continuity, innovation and global reach,
offering services that seamlessly combine its
expertise and experience in the shipping, logistics, marine
and related fields.
The GAC Group has recently restructured its
organization to streamline its operations and further develop
synergies between the variousservices it offers to ensure a truly customer-centric
business approach and maintain its global reputation as a ‘can do’
organization.
The role of the ships’ agent is, Kakaris says, quite simply, to
do whatever it takes to expedite the port call. That means
ensuring the vessel gets into port, berths successfully and works
its cargo as quickly and safely as possible. Of course, that is an
oversimplification. It takes considerable local knowledge,
innovation, resources and many other qualities to make sure that
port calls are completed smoothly. Communication and a
constant exchange of accurate information with the vessel, her
master and owners are essential.
GAC’s wide range of services gives it a major advantage in
serving vessels in port. The fact that it also provides professional
logistics and freight forwarding services — such as storage,
distribution(by barge/road/rail), documentation, customs
formalities, etc. — means that it can extend its role to managing
a vessel’s cargo as well as her port call.
The GAC network of owned offices and agency partners is
worldwide – wherever you go, you can find a GAC office,
partner or agent. For dry bulk cargo, key locations include:
Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, USA, Brazil, Netherlands, the
UK, China and India
HEALTHY COMPETITIONGAC faces competition at global, regional and local level, from
larger companies such as ISS, Wilhelmsen Ship Services, LBH
Group and others, down to very local companies which may
focus on just a few customers and only a single commodity.
They all challenge GAC in their own way — and Kakaris hopes
that they also see GAC as healthy competition.
DRY BULK BUSINESSSince its establishment in the Middle East in the 1950s, GAC has
handled all manner of dry bulk cargoes, providing specialized
shipping and logistics services, in addition to all other kinds of
shipping. Since that time, the GAC network has expanded and it
now covers the globe with its own offices, key alliances and
sub-agents.
Today, dry bulk represents a significant proportion of GAC’s
overall business. By combining the port agency, logistics and
ocean freight capabilities of the group, it aims to develop dry
bulk further by getting involved more deeply in its customers’
supply chains. It’s not just about the port call.
GAC sees its main challenges as reaching the right people,
understanding commodities, combining transport modes and
services, allocating the right resources, selecting the best people
(employees as well as contractors), and keeping ahead of its
competition — who, no doubt, face the very same issues.
Venezuela’s Agemar celebrates 40th anniversary
VENEZUELA-based Agemar (Agencia Marítima de
Representaciones, C.A.) has celebrated its 40th anniversary.
The company was founded in 1969 as a port agency in
Maracaibo, Estado Zulia, where Venezuela’s main petroleum
deposits are located. Agemar is amongst the first companies
to provide international shipping agency services in the
country.
During its 40 years, Agemar has built an excellent record
of operations, developing a very close and long-lasting
relationship with PDVSA, PdvMarina, PdvCaribe and Deltaven,
as well as with world class companies in the dry bulk cargoes
market and oil & gas industry. Other industries and local
clients served include Pequiven and Fertinitro in the
petrochemical/fertilizer sector; Ferrominera, Orinoco Iron and
Sidor in the iron sector; and Carbones del Guasare in the
coal sector.
Although the petroleum sector dominates the country’s
economy, other important sectors for the Venezuelan
economy include iron ore, steel, aluminium, coal, petcoke,
sulphur and construction materials.
Today, Agemar is the leading port agency in Venezuela.
serving world class companies around the world; attending oil
tankers, product tankers, dry bulk carriers, chemical carriers,
project cargoes, cruise ships, offshore platforms, crew
attendance and bunker deliveries; and complying with the
most demanding and diverse standards of oil majors, traders
and first class owners/operators as Agemar’s principals.
Agemar has been certified a ISO 9001:2000 port agents by
Bureau Veritas since 2006.
Agemar moved its Head Office from Maracaibo to
Caracas, from where the agency’s general operations are now
conducted, and has established nine branch offices located at
the waterfront near to each of the Pdvsa Terminals, and near
to the main public ports around the country, including:
Maracaibo, Punto Fijo, Puerto Cabello, Puerto La Cruz, Puerto
Ordaz, Guiria — Pedernales, La Guaira & Carenero.
The company is now diversifying to new territories,
establishing in new markets with a new office in Trinidad and
Tobago since 2006. Agemar also serves clients in other
markets via joint ventures with others agencies in Aruba,
Curazao, Bonaire and the Bahamas.
This wide experience, local knowledge and developed skills
have supported Agemar’s success during these 40 years;
leading the shipping agency business in Venezuela since 1969.
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (República
Bolivariana de Venezuela), is located in the upper
Northeast corner of South America in the Northern
Hemisphere, bordering the Caribbean Sea and the North
Atlantic Ocean, between Colombia, Guyana and Brazil, and
has a territorial extension of 916.445 square kilometres and a
population of approximately 23,700,000 according to a census
taken in 1999.
Inchcape weathers the economic storm
At a recent press conference, Inchcape Shipping Services’ CEO, Capt. Claus
Hyldager, spelt out some key facts and figures that underscore the company’s
approach and the reasons it has successfully weathered the storms of
the last 18 months.
The headline numbers he pointed to
were:
- 162 years since the business was founded in Calcutta in 1847;
- 66,071 port calls in 2008. The total for 2009 is still to be announced;
- 23,426 users — the number of customers in 2,141 companies across 162 countries using ISS software applications;
- 245 proprietary offices in over 60 territories on six continents; and
- 3,822 dedicated employees worldwide.
“Underpinning our value proposition
across our range of products and
services,” said Hyldager, “is the value of
outsourcing non-core processes, and
the direct and indirect cost savings to
customers attached to this process
optimization.
“The current climate in world shipping is driving a lively
interest in this across all sectors resulting in a number of key
wins for our strategic partnership approach
where ISS is truly adding value to the
principal’s own business.”
The company’s business is spread across
all sectors of the shipping market enabling it
to avoid the worst consequences of the
downturn in the dry-bulk sector. And ISS
continues to plan for expansion with a
number of acquisitions currently being
negotiated. “We are looking to expand into
the Baltic and Black Seas as well as further
increase our activities in West Africa and
Latin America,” Hyldager said . This follows
recent start-ups in Switzerland, Nigeria,
Ghana, South Africa, Indonesia and Libya.
MORE THAN JUST AN AGENTISS sees itself as more than just an agent nowadays. Over the
past five years the company has made groundbreaking changes
to the way essential services are provided to its customers. This
visionary approach has led it into other areas of business where
its existing expertise has enabled it to provide total solutions. In
the fields of operations, technology and information, ISS has been
able to improve its customers’ as well as its own performance.
A good example in the dry bulk sector is ISS Marindo, ISS’s
joint venture in Indonesia, which has been working with
customers to optimize the handling efficiency of their coal
transshipments. This has meant developing barging and floating
crane services, stevedoring and documentation services that
work more efficiently than in the past.
A key measure in ensuring high service levels is through
setting and monitoring of KPIs. ISS benchmarks response times
to enquiries, estimates, D/A turnaround times, customer feedback
and other information requested by its clients enabling them to make accurate
decisions pertaining to their own operations.
Other services that ISS offers across its network include crew and
spares logistics; the provision of vessel line-up data; bunkering arrangements;
Port Captain services; hold cleaning and lightering.
A further upside to the difficult market conditions has been a
surge in demand for lay-up assistance as owners demobilize their
vessels. ISS offers a range of services from the removal of stores and
equipment to crew repatriation and the provision of security guards.
ISS Marindo’s MD, Jonas Wilfrid, explains: “In the current climate
charterers and operators are seeking a lean operation and prefer to work
with just one handling agent for efficiency and cost effectiveness. Of
course they want to maintain high standards of quality assured service
and we can deliver this across the spectrum of cargo services, as well as in
our traditional port agency provision.
As an endorsement of this commitment ISS Marindo has recently opened an
operations office in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, and will be opening another
office in Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan in the near future. “These are the two biggest
coal-producing locations in Indonesia and underscore our commitment to this sector,”
says Wilfrid.
A cornerstone of the ISS business philosophy is its ISS Marine Academy (IMA)
which provides employees across the world with learning and development
opportunities enabling them to perform ,their work to the highest standard and
realize their fullpotential. “We provide training programmes that are
strategically aligned with the goals of the company and that will
support its growth and prosperity,” says Learning and
Development Manager, Nicole Claase. “We ensure that our
learning and development programmes are of the highest quality
and promote strong ethical values and good practice through
the development of an excellent workforce.”
ISS is also committed to playing a positive role in the
communities where it does business. To this end it runs an active
Corporate Social Responsibility programme helping to educate
and train orphans in Africa, supporting indigenous arts and crafts
people in Australia and Panama, and many other initiatives. The
company has recently assisted in the purchasing and running of a
crew minibus for the Sailors Society. Such projects form part of
a holistic approach to the industry of which the company has
been such a committed player since the middle of the nineteenth
century.