ΣΥΝΕΝΤΕΥΞΕΙΣ

Εκτύπωση

INTERVIEW

22 Απριλίου 2015.

 

        L U C Y  S O F R O N I S

 

“We have over 100 years of experience serving the shipowners and managing their crew”

 

 

 

lucysofronis1Lucy Sofronis is half English and half Italian/Canadian. She grew up in London, UK and completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Media & Communication at the University of Westminster.

After a successful career in London creating and coordinating Pan-European and Global PR campaigns for the following blue chip companies: Phillips, Rolex, Bally, Jacobs, Revlon and Elemis, Lucy moved to Greece almost 9 years ago with her Greek husband Manos Sofronis. Their aim was to open a brand office of a Lloyd brokering  firm in the port of Piraeus. Their office offers several beneficial services to the Greek shipping community: Lucy is the Business Development Officer for Abojeb covering Greece, Turkey and Cyprus. Abojeb sits among  the top 10 crew managers and manning agents in the Philippines providing high qualified Filipino crew for all vessels including bulkers and tankers.

Lucy also represents Future Care who offers medical management and cost containment services for the maritime industry. Manos is one of the main Directors of SSL Insurance Brokers in London. SSL are Lloyds of London brokers and they are one of the leading players in Marine Insurance covering all ship owners’ needs. Manos and his team offer insurance solutions for Greek shipowners.

 

Mrs Sofronis states «Partnering with Abojeb, the common goal is to build more qualified seafarers as the world build more ships».

 

Mrs Sofronis refers to the company’s history «Abojeb has over 30 years of history in the market. The original partnership was between the Aboitiz family of the Philippines and the Jebsen’s family of Norway. These two powerful families formed a mutual cooperation to manage the Aboitiz fleet of ships. Today, we have a second major shareholder in Abojeb: PTC, one of the largest manning agents in the Philippines».

 

Untiring, positive, creative, inspiring, successful, she enjoys working hard and she «feels privileged to be part of the Greek shipping community».

 

Interview to: Georgia Ermidi

 

 

-What are the benefits for the Greek shipowner of working with Filipino crew? Is there a good supply?

 

The Philippines is a seafaring nation, with 40% of the world’s crew of Filipino origin. Filipinos are hard-working and well qualified, their command of the English language is high. Their loyalty to Greek shipowners has been built over many years of successfully working together. Greeks can continue to rely on a steady and continuous supply of quality Filipino seafarers to man their ships with the highest levels of technical experience and safety. Partnering with Abojeb, the common goal is to build more qualified seafarers as the world  build more ships.

 

-How do you recruit and retain qualified and experienced crew?

 

Abojeb operates an intensified recruitment selection process. All applicants must undergo a series of tests even before they get to the technical interviewers level.  This is conducted by our in-house Captains and Engineers who then decide if they are worth presenting to our principals for final interview. While technology is at play here via SKYPE or other communication platforms, there are principals who prefer face to face interviews and would periodically fly to the Philippines to handle this. 

Once the candidate is selected we suggest a selection of optional benefits including training and healthcare that greatly assist in keeping and retaining good crew and we arrange Crew Conferences with our clients so that they can get to know their crew better and to form close and lasting relationships. We treat our crew and their families as part of our own family.

 

-Could you tell me the history of your company from the foundation until now?

 

lucysofronis2Abojeb has over 30 years of history in the market. The original partnership was between the Aboitiz family of the Philippines and the Jebsen’s family of Norway. These two powerful families formed a mutual cooperation to manage the Aboitiz fleet of ships. Today, we have a second major shareholder in Abojeb: PTC, one of the largest manning agents in the Philippines. Although Abojeb and their sister company PTC work independently they have recently combined their training and medical facilities to offer state of the art in-house services so that we can offer a total crew management package to the Greek shipowner.   Together, we have over 100 years of experience  serving the shipowners and managing their crew.

 

-Do you offer a cadet programand  isit beneficial for Greek shipowners to invest in this?

 

Yes Abojeb offer a Cadet program and many of our Greek clients and international invest in this program. We currently have a total of 417 active cadets in the system, out of which 152 (46%) are already licensed as officers. Supporting our Cadet program ensures a steady supply of officers to work on your vessels.

We are very proud to be participating actively in this endeavor.  Today this is a major challenge that the industry faces.  We are building more ships than we are building people.  The Cadet and officers’ training program is our answer to this future need.

 

-What training facilities do you offer? Do you have simulator training and refresher and updating courses? What on-board training do you offer?

 

The entry of PTC as one of the major equity partners of Abojeb has given us easy and direct access to the PTC-owned companies enabling us to serve our principals better.  We have consolidated our resources and expertise with PTC’s training arm, the Philippine Center for Advanced Maritime Simulation and Training Inc. (Philcamsat). Established in 1992, Philcamsat is the country’s first maritime training center thrice certified by DNV. It has also been fully accredited by the Belgian Maritime inspectorate, making the center the first in the Philippines and in Asia to hold such a distinction and quality stature. Philcamsat offer all IMO / STCW mandatory courses and other client-required coursesincludingsoft skills to be developed that will cater to client training needs. We are the only training facility in Asia accredited by MITAGS to conduct the Navigational Skills Assessment Program using bridgesimulators and cases.  Results from the assessment and re-assessment sessions enable us to come up with the right type of courses to strengthen and update theseafarer’s skills. This is a big help in avoiding very disruptive and expensive accidents at sea.

 

-Which Greek shipowners do you currently work with?

 

Abojeb currently provide Filipino crew for the following Greek shipowners: Starbulk, Stealth Gas, Omicron, Brave Maritime, Efploia Shipping and Quintana Shipping.

 

-Are there qualified crew available for the new Eco Ships and other vessels such as LPGs?

 

Yes, but we must admit that it would take twice as much time to recruit the seafarers with this type of competency requirement.  We need the utmost support from the principals in order to build the crew pool through training and effective, creative retention strategies for the crew on these vessels. 

lucysofronis

 

-Mrs Sofronis could you tell me any aspects of life that it has value for you or generally speaking in our lives?

 

I enjoy the challenge every day brings. I believe in integrity and honesty and in leading a healthy and interesting life. I enjoy working hard and I feel privileged to be part of the Greek shipping community.  I also believe it is important to take quality time to spend with family and friends and to enjoy moments together such as travelling and sports. My husband, daughter and I enjoy skiing together in winter and in the summer we make some trips to the Greek islands and enjoy the wonderful Greek sea and water sports.

 

-How does Future Care work and help the Greek shipowner?

 

Future Care offers captains 24 hour medical advise at Sea. Captains immediately contact Future Care from the onset of a crew injury or illness on board and we provide medical opinions and also direct the crew member to one of our chosen facilities at the next port of call.  Future Care has an international network of port hospitals and clinics where we agree the cost of care from the onset and manage all care until fit for duty status or repatriation. This ensures that the Greek shipowner is not over charged for doctor appointments and medical treatments and that the right care is given. We also have a Greek speaking nurse case manager based in Athens to manage repatriations and a full medical team in Manila.