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For an
employee, a company-sponsored overseas trip could mean
mostly fun, with, of course, some work in between. For a
chief executive of a company, however, it would be the
opposite, and most of the time the fun part takes place in
between working or not at all.
And for
Ole B. Stene, a Norwegian based in Manila, his load during
working trips is even doubled as he represents both his
company and an international organization of ship
management companies.
Since last
year, Stene has hardly had time for fun after he became
the managing director of Aboitiz Jebsen Transport Group (Abojeb)
and president of International Ship Managers’ Association,
also known as InterManager.
As
managing director of Abojeb, one of the most successful
joint ventures of the Jebsen Group, Stene makes sure that
his company owners are happy through higher income.
Abojeb, a
P150-million company that chalked up P29.48-million net
income in 2006, down from P57.58 million in 2005, is
52.5-percent owned by the Aboitiz group and 37.5-percent
owned by Bergen-based Jebsen Management AS.
As
president of InterManager, Stene makes sure that he could
rally the entire international crewing and ship management
industry toward a goal of ensuring that the industry would
have competent officers who will man the ocean-going ships
during the next five years.
Said in
another way, Stene is one of those shipping officials who
have to do some multitasking—doing their day jobs right
and then bombard the international shipping industry with
the message: “We need to move together to solve the
scarcity of ship officers in the future.”
Last
September, Stene, 60, did just that during his trip to
Cyprus for an InterManager executive meeting. In November,
he went to two manning conventions on Manila to make the
almost-the-same pitch to the industry.
“[We
talked] about topics on training and retention of crew
from a ship manager’s point of view. The main concern
worldwide is the scarcity of competent officers
[seafarers],” he said, referring on his trip to Cyprus.
Labor
shortage
Stene’s
becoming a president of InterManager was no surprise. Most
of the executives of the ship owners worldwide come to the
Philippines to ensure that they can exert enough pressure
on the government and the crewing industry to push for the
necessary changes to make sure that a common seafarer, or
ratings, would study more to become a ship officer or to
be in a management position such as the captain of the
ship, chief officer, chief engineer and second engineer.
According
to estimates, with the rapid-growing fleet, the fastest
that the industry has seen over the last few decades,
there will be a shortage of 10,000 to 27,000 officers
between now and 2015.
The burden
would be on the
Philippines,
where more than a quarter of the world’s maritime
population comes from. Traditional sources of officers
such as those from
India,
China and Eastern Europe have tapered off during the last
few years as a result of growing economy, and the aging
population in the case of the Europeans.
“I believe
that the
Philippines
will continue to be the major supplier of all officers and
crew for the future. But it also requires that we need to
educate more seafarers than we are able to presently in
the Philippines. We need to have more competent naval
academy or seafarers schools to educate more seafarers,”
Stene said.
In between
this advocacy, which his company has been willing to do as
its life depends on it, too, Stene makes sure that he is
doing his day job just as well.
“As a
service provider, we have to make sure that our costs are
in line with what is required. We have to be cost
conscious and cost efficient,” he said.
“To be in
the service industry… we have to have the people that are
highly qualified and are working efficiently as we want to
control the cost. We don’t just throw papers away, and
some other stuff.”
Customer
focus
In the
strictest sense, Abojeb mainly caters its services to
various ship owners, including the Aboitiz’s fleet of
SuperFerries, CebuFerries and SuperCats, by recruiting
competent Filipinos and then deploying them to where they
are needed across the world.
Since they
are dealing with people, they make sure that these are
dealt with in the most respectful way as possible.
For
instance, at the entrance of the door leading to the
Abojeb’s various departments, a note says that a client
should be served within 10 minutes or they can call the
attention of an officer. Stene also said that he only
allows his employees to let the phone rings a maximum of
three times.
“So if
[one] notices the telephone ringing three times even if it
is not his, he is supposed to take the call saying ‘Good
morning, this is Aboitiz-Jebsen, how can we help you.’ So
that’s customer focus,” he said.
They need
to have such focus since the company deals with 40
different ship owners and clients worldwide, from the
United States to the Middle East, from Europe to Asia.
Most of
their clients are picky and want the same crew to come
onboard every contract period, which normally should be
renewed every nine months.
This means
striking a balance between clients—by offering the most
competent workforce from the
Philippines—and
the Filipino seafarers—by making sure that they don’t
transfer companies.
Such
balance is not so difficult to achieve, especially when
everyone in the company knows what they should be doing,
Stene said.
“We’re
working in teams. We focus on teamwork. Everybody has
their responsibility. I’m sort of a team leader. I have my
functions to make sure that… the company keeps on
expanding,” he said.
“I’m
involved in business development, to make sure that we
have the right staff. [I see to it] that everybody is
doing their job properly.”
Second
tour
This is
the second time that Stene has become managing director of
Abojeb, the first time around was from 1986 to 1992.
Stene was
with the Jebsen Group in various positions from 1977 until
1997, when he left the group to work with Wilson Ship
Management as managing director during 1997 to 1999. He
then briefly joined Fjordline between 1999 and 2000, after
which he jumped to become president of Barber
International USA during 2000 to 2003 and then as managing
director of Barber Marine Team until August 2004.
Stene
rejoined the Jebsen Group as the chief operating officer
of Jebsen Management, the corporate company of the Jebsen
Group between 2004 and 2006 before being reassigned to
Manila.
When asked
if there was any difference between managing Abojeb now
than during the late ’80s to the early ’90s, he replied:
“It is much more difficult to find competent seafarers now
than it was 15 years ago.”
With Stene
around, both as Abojeb managing director and as president
of InterManager, he would make sure that they can overcome
that industry-wide challenge. |
