Knowing the ropes

MATRIX SHIP MANAGEMENT I PROFILE

Matrix Ship Management is a close-knit marine powerhouse. Based in the long-standing shipping hub of Cyprus, it offers a bespoke range of services to cater to the needs of its customers. “2021 marked our 10th year of operation. We are very pleased that most of our staff have been around for the majority of those 10 years,” said Commercial Director Mike Dobson.

Commercial Director Mike Dobson

Going strong for a decade, Matrix Ship Management works as a third-party operator, which not only offers the inherent benefits of third-party ship management but also its own excellent in-house style of solutions to clients’ problems. The company initially cut its teeth in the extremely demanding Northwest European ferry sector, before gradually expanding its reach and client base.

“We basically doubled the fleet in the last year, which is fairly impressive,” announced Mike Dobson, Commercial Director of Matrix Ship Management. “From our point of view, we’ve increased our existing business, we’ve taken on three other passenger ferries based out in the Caribbean, and we’ve taken on three extra car carriers across two different clients. We’ve increased our client base and our vessels quite significantly in this last period.”

Based in Limassol, Cyprus, the company is in a large shipping hub with strong community bonds.

“It’s a great place to work, and it’s a great place to live,” said Mr Dobson. “Cyprus has been a ship management, and to some degree a ship owning hub, for a long time. There’s a huge amount of experience here, with a large British community heavily involved in the shipping industry. So, whilst we might all work for different companies, we’re all friends; we like to work together and discuss challenges outside of work.”

The company offers a wide array of services ranging from full vessel management, technical management, crew management, audits and inspections, and new build supervision. Other services include hotel services management, survey and consultancy, with training also playing a big part of the services provided.

Matrix is also a member of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber, a trade association whose mission is to enhance the reputation of the Cyprus Flag while simultaneously promoting the interests of the Cyprus shipping industry. The association was established in 1989 with just 17 founding members, a number that has since grown to over 200.

“The Cyprus Shipping Chamber has helped with seafarer and vaccination issues for

MATRIX SHIP MANAGEMENT I PROFILE

vessels calling in Cyprus ports,” said Mr Dobson. “They have helped quite considerably to coordinate vaccinations for those vessels or for Cypriot based seafarers. The Cyprus Shipping Chamber, is also a helpful organisation for lobbying government for different legislation changes or whatever might benefit the Cypriot ship managers and ship owners.”

Next generation ship management

The company was started in 2011 by Managing Director, Mark Crawford and former Managing Director Peter Jordan. It was set up due to the lack of third-party ship management companies aimed at the ferry sector. Not long after being set-up, the company secured a major ship owner who is still with Matrix today.

Mike Dobson was with Matrix when the company was founded and as such, is in a strong position to comment on why the company has enjoyed such success.

“I was here at the start before leaving for a few years on a different project, during which I still did some consultancy work for Matrix,” he clarified. “Matrix is a great company to work for, our staff retention is excellent – the only people who have left have done so to retire, so we’re certainly doing something right.”

Matrix is at its heart an innovative, new generation of ship management and marine services company, offering bespoke services to its clients. The team has a wealth of knowledge in the maritime sector where demanding safety, quality and environmental factors are ever present.

“We give solutions where people maybe can’t find them elsewhere,” said Mr Dobson. “We are flexible enough, and resilient and dynamic enough to take on a challenge that other ship managers, large and small, might be scared of accepting or unable to generate an acceptable profit margin with.

“We understand that an owner will have built their brand brick by brick and placing it in someone else’s hands is a major commitment and risk. So, we go the extra mile, working closely with the owners, to ensure that through our on-board procedures and customer services, we reflect the brand as the owner would wish.”

Seafarers faring?

The company currently employs over 30 shore-based staff across its offices and approximately 800 crew members under the company’s management. With such a number of seafarers under Matrix’s umbrella, difficulties emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the historic treatment of seafarers into the public eye.

“In our opinion, seafarers are still treated poorly and are still not getting the easy travel and safe access out of their home countries, so for us moving our seafarers to our clients is most important,” said Mr Dobson. “When Covid first hit we, as with every other crew operator, were having significant challenges moving even EU crew members around within the EU because the rules were just changing continuously.

“Now traveling has opened up a lot more within Europe and the UK for the benefit of our European ship owners, so we can move our European seafarers fairly easily currently.”

MATRIX SHIP MANAGEMENT I PROFILE

Matrix predominantly operates on a short-term contract basis; two-month voyages at the most. As a result, the business has been able to manage any short term travel disruptions more easily than those who have longer contracts.

“It’s fairly easy to manage and fairly acceptable to the crew because they haven’t been away for so long. Obviously we really do feel the pain of the seafarers out there who are on long term contracts and haven’t been home in an awfully long time. Then they are told they can’t get home either until rules or regulations change. Thankfully for us, and our seafarers, we’re not in that boat,” said Mr Dobson.

A smaller pool

When speaking about the key challenges facing the sector, Mr Dobson highlighted one of the main areas of concern as being crew shortages.

“There is an ever-decreasing crew pool at the moment in Europe. A lot of people who worked away at sea and haven’t for quite some time now because of Covid find themselves more comfortable to continue working at home or working in their home country.”

This can be attributed to the fact that many crew management companies would historically recruit from the Far East, but due to differing restrictions between countries they would now all have to recruit from the European crew pool. This has seen greater competition between companies, including Matrix, as the pool the company previously had access to is being sourced by additional companies.

Despite the challenges, Mr Dobson was keen to highlight why Matrix remains a standout choice in ship management throughout these difficulties.

“We are keen on training and we do our best in connection with the ship owners to offer the best possible market rates. It’s also about convincing the ship owners to choose the right crew because when you get the right crew and you treat them well, everybody benefits.” n

In our opinion, seafarers are still treated poorly and are still not getting the easy travel and safe access out of their home countries, so for us moving our seafarers to our clients is most important