Vessel visits improve ship to shore engagement

Ensuring the health of our client’s vessels takes a lot of different people doing different roles – from traditional seafaring roles to shore based support roles. It’s therefore important we create understanding of the whole business and one way we do this at V.Group is arranging vessel visits for employees who aren’t required to go on board as part of their role.

A group of employees from our Glasgow, UK-based office recently took the opportunity to visit the offshore vessel – Ceona Amazon, which is currently in dry dock in Greenock awaiting sale.

Jamie Grant, deputy general manager of our offshore business in Aberdeen arranged the visit and highlights their importance: “These types of visits are critical in helping people understand how all the different roles within the Group come together in service of the client’s vessel. While we know the shore based team gets a lot of value out of the experience, our crew equally get a lot from the visit.”

For Gillian Campbell, trainee management accountant it was her first visit to a vessel: “Getting a glimpse into what life would be like living and working on board will definitely bring a whole new meaning to my spreadsheets. The sheer scale of these vessels really hit home and the work that goes into their every day running. It provided me with a real understanding and respect for what is involved.”

Elaine Turnbull, business development administrator said: “Visiting a vessel like this gave me a real insight into how the crews live on board for long periods of the time and the magnitude of the job they do within a confined space. Having previously created operating budgets, it gave me an understanding of what some of the costs of running a vessel are used on.”

James Muir, group business development director added: “The benefits were the face to face engagement between ship and shore teams. We need to understand and respect each other’s roles and this is enhanced when we meet together.”