Addressing the Industry's Crewing Challenge During the Covid-19 Era and Beyond

Eric Martin is news editor at TradeWinds, the shipping business news organization where he has worked since 2007 in various capacities, including US bureau chief and editor of the LNG Unlimited spinoff publication. A native of California who learned that a “face for radio” is not enough for a career in radio, he has worked at newspapers in the US Midwest and Santiago, Chile. He has won a variety of journalism awards, including the Society of Business Editors and Writers’ award for investigative journalism.

Andreas Hadjipetrou is the Managing Director of Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd in Cyprus and Chief Commercial Officer of the group. He has held various positions within the organization as well as spending 7 years in Columbia’s Hamburg office as Finance and Commercial Director. He represents the company in various partnerships on a group level including Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement (TCM) in Athens and Asia Marine Philippines. He is also a director in various industry organizations such Vice president of the Cyprus Shipping Chamber (CSC), BIMCO director, Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association (CYMEPA), Cyprus Maritime Academy, and DNVGL National committee. Mr. Hadjipetrou is UK educated holding a BSc in Economics from the University College London and an MBA in Total Quality Management. 

Stamatis Bourboulis (1957) has been General Manager of Euronav Ship Management (Hellas) Ltd. since its inception in November 2005. He was appointed to the Euronav Executive Committee on 1st of January 2019.

Following his employment in a chemical factory, ship building and ship repair shipyards in Greece, he joined Ceres Hellenic Shipping Enterprises Ltd in October 1990 as Superintendent Engineer and dealt with various types of vessels.

In 1997 he became Ship Manager for the Crude Oil Tankers and OBOs. In 2000 Stamatis Bourboulis undertook the position of Technical Manager for the Ceres fleet of Dry Bulk, Crude Oil, Chemical and LNG Carriers. He is a member of Intertanko Safety and Technical Committee (ISTEC), DNVGL and RINA Greek Technical Committee.

He graduated from the National Technical University of Athens as a Naval Architect and Marine Engineer in 1981.

Mr. Kenney currently serves as the Director of Legal and External Affairs at the International Maritime Organization, London. In this capacity, he is responsible for advising the Secretary-General on all legal issues associated with the functioning of the Organization, with special emphasis on matters of treaty law and the law of the sea. He provides legal counsel to the Secretariat staff supporting IMO's committees and sub-committees and has particular responsibility as Secretary for the Organization's Legal Committee. He oversees the Organization's role as depositary for the 53 multilateral conventions adopted under the aegis of IMO. He also oversees the operation of IMO's Public Information Service, its Maritime Knowledge Centre and External Relations Office.

Guy was appointed Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) in August 2018. The ICS membership comprises national shipowners' associations in Asia, Europe and the Americas whose member shipping companies operate over 80% of the world's merchant tonnage. The ICS represents and promotes the views and interests of its member at a variety of fora including the International Maritime Organisation, International labour Organisation and many others.

Guy has extensive experience in the maritime industry both at sea and ashore and is a qualified Master Mariner. He has held a number of senior positions including Chief Executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping, Chief Executive of Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (a ferry and port owning company providing lifeline ferry services to communities in Scotland) and Director of Marine Operations for the Northern Lighthouse Board which is responsible for lighthouses, buoys, beacons and Aids to Navigation throughout Scotland and the Isle of Man.

His career at sea began in 1982 with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service. He joined the RNLI in 1993 as an Inspector of Lifeboats, latterly as Inspector for Scotland training and overseeing lifeboat crews around the coast and following this he served with the MOD as a Salvage Officer and led or contributed to a number of projects including the removal of oil from a sunken World War 2 battleship, recovery of ditched aircraft and the refloating of a grounded warship.

Stuart I. Ostrow, CPA, is the Founder and President of ShipMoney.

With more than 25 years in business development, financial and operational management across numerous industries, Mr. Ostrow pioneered the development and introduction of OceanPay, the payroll card program that transformed how crew members were paid in the cruise line industry. After growing the business--including introducing the Program to the first major cruise line and thereby setting the industry standard for the adoption of payroll card programs--Mr. Ostrow sold OceanPay to Brightwell Payments in 2012. Subsequently, Mr. Ostrow started a second generation of that endeavor with ShipMoney, an operating subsidiary of Global Technology Partners, LLC -- one of the largest international prepaid payment processors in the world.

Under Mr. Ostrow’s direction, ShipMoney has surged as an industry leading provider of payment solutions for maritime companies throughout the globe. ShipMoney leverages a proprietary digital platform that facilitates solutions for crew wages and corporate payments and will soon be introducing a revolutionary new solution for port payments. Clients include both cruise and commercial companies including MSC, V.Group, Tsakos-Columbia, Bernhard Schulte, Scorpio and many others throughout the world.

Mr. Ostrow started his career as a manager at Deloitte & Touche, an international accounting and consulting firm. He earned an undergraduate degree in accounting from Tulane University and a graduate degree in business management and taxation from Florida International University.

Drawn to all things maritime in his personal as well as his professional pursuits, Mr. Ostrow lives in South Florida and is an avid scuba diver.

Served at sea as a navigating officer with Ellerman City Liners of London, and holds BSc (Hons) degree in Nautical Studies, University of Southampton. Joined Steamship Mutual as an admiralty claims handler in 1979 and appointed partner of the Club’s management company in 1988. Currently Managing Director of Steamship Insurance Management Services Limited, and Head of Loss Prevention and the European Syndicate. Director of Steamship Mutual, London and Bermuda.

Fellow of the Nautical Institute
Younger Brother of Trinity House
Member of the Royal Institute of Navigation
Court Assistant and Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights
Trustee of The Nautical Institute Foundation