The maritime and offshore industries are one of the most dynamic and challenging industries. Every time a ship sets sail, from sea to shore, it embarks on an incredible journey; a journey that demands professionals with special skills working together in harmony to make it possible.
The team at Zener Maritime Solutions, understands the importance of each activity on a ship and that is why Zener has dedicated years of perfecting their services for its clients.
Read along to know more about Zener Maritime Solutions and their services.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Please brief our audience about your organization, its values, vision, and mission.
Zener Maritime Solutions values are derived from our TEAM and act as our guiding principles.
They include:
- Our TEAM values and treats customers as the lifeblood and centre of our business.
- Our TEAM develops WIN/WIN relationships with our customers, partners, and vendors.
- Our TEAM has standards above and beyond what are legally right.
- Our TEAM believes in a work environment that is team based, innovative and fun.
- Our TEAM works and develops themselves as professionals.
- Our TEAM wants to be successful and have fulfilled from their work.
Our TEAM accepts nothing less than being the best in the maritime industry.
- Vision
To be the Global UTM company of choice for all Owners and Managers. - Mission
To provide shipping companies with a competitive advantage by providing economical competitive, efficient, professional, and comprehensive UTM services achieved by our experienced and well-trained technicians.
Brief us on how you have made an impact in the maritime industry through your expertise in the market?
Twenty-two years ago, when we started, the entire business models of ship inspections used to be different. It is my belief (read confidence) that we changed how this industry carried out its operations in the last fifteen to twenty years. Asia had very limited knowledgebase as well as reach in the global ship industry. Asia today is the leading service provider in the ship inspection business globally. Zener actually took the business global. Zener has six offices and made this business global rather than localised. It used to be a localised industry where local companies worked locally but the team at Zener turned it global.
Brief us about the featured person(s) and their journey in the maritime industry.
One of the hallmarks of Zener has always been the duration our people have been with us and how that has actually helped us excel as a people-oriented company. We have lots of employees who have been with us for ten to twenty years. For example, we had just started off our company and we were working out of a tin shed in an area of Mumbai called Dalkhana. At the end of the evening, I, Jagdeep Bhatia Singh, Managing Director, got on my motorcycle, and I saw these two guys working in what can only be described as a semi- marshland, half inside mud with their gum boots measuring a barge. I stopped my bike as I realised that they had just started doing what they were about to do. I approached them and they were carrying out thickness measurements on a Barge in torn boiler suits, torn gum boots knee deep in mud. They were one of the first few employees of Zener and they are still with us. I was in photocopy shop, and I saw a guy making photocopies of UTM reports which obviously meant that he does this business. So, I approached him and asked him to join our team. He too has been with us for close to twenty years. And there are lots of such examples of people you meet along the way. People make Zener and Zener is what it is today because of the people we have with us.
What are the challenges you and your team come across in your day-to-day operations?
Well, to speak now in terms of the pandemic, everything is tougher, harder to achieve, borders are closed, people are scared, travel is tough, so everyday every attendance can be a potential challenge.
Taking into consideration, the current pandemic, and its impact on global economies, how are you driving your organization to sustain operations and ensuring safety of your employees at the same time?
This is of course a very challenging time for everybody including Zener, especially the service provider which is primarily focused on service travel. Our people used to travel all over the place which does not happen much today. What has helped us is our reach and our in-house offices in several locations. We are trying as much as possible to minimise travel, to minimise sailing, keeping operations local. It also ensures that the risk is mitigated by not having too many people by travelling and mingling even amongst offices.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the maritime sector?
Do not look for shortcuts, do not look at the easy way out. They are not going to work and are never going to last. Hard work is the only way to go about and that can be true for any industry.
Where do you envision your organization to be in the long run and what are your future goals?
Zener has always been the market leader in all its segments of operation. We are hungry enough, insecure enough to ensure that we will always be at the top of our game. There is no room of complacency in Zener. We will keep expanding in terms of geographies. We will keep expanding in terms of the services we provide; we will keep expanding in terms of the client satisfaction index that we hold for ourselves.
According to you, how are contemporary technologies such as AI and Machine Learning shaping the maritime industry?
AI in machine learning are always going to be part and parcel of the Maritime industry. Maritime industry traditionally has been a much more conservative industry in adopting new technologies. It is an old school way of doing a lot of businesses. Having said that, a lot of it is already going into the process of cargo operations, vessel chartering, even vessel management. Where it is lagging behind a little bit is in terms of maintenance and operations, but it is catching up very fast. We are investing a lot in the machine learning process by way of drones and 3D mapping of objects in order to machine learn from software. We are also doing that in terms of real ware inspections, third party inspections, long distance inspections, so this is going to be a part and parcel of growth going forward.
