Meet Nikolina E. Pahljina, Vetting Superintendent and Clearance Team Leader at Northern Marine Management Limited. 

The Northern Marine Group is a global family of companies dedicated to providing quality ship management and marine services solutions. With a mission to provide reliable and efficient management, combined with optimum operational safety, Northern Marine Group has a sizable and diverse fleet of managed vessels and a considerable international pool of marine and offshore personnel with extensive experience in technical management and the management of multinational crews. Established in 1983, they adhere to the highest safety, environmental, energy and quality standards while delivering a wide scope of ship management and marine services. 

Interviewer: Tor-Arne Berger, Q88 Product Manager 

Tor-Arne: Hi Nikolina. I appreciate you taking the time to participate in our series. Can you begin by telling us more about your role and how often you use the Q88 system?   
 
Nikolina E. Pahljina: I am a Vetting Superintendent and Clearance Team Leader at Northern Marine, and my team uses Q88 on a daily basis. For clearance and vetting, the Q88 questionnaire is of the utmost importance, but the database also has various questionnaires that we use in the screening processes for our vessels on a frequent basis. In addition to that, our crewing department frequently uses the crew metrics feature. My team also uses the certificate management feature, which the commercial team can directly access as well, making it useful for keeping everyone on the same page. Also, Q88 is very valuable for our screening business that we do for other Company, both tanker and dry bulk version.

Tor-Arne: It sounds like you are using a majority of the features Q88 offers. Are there any particular parts of the system you find to be the most valuable?  

Nikolina: I find that all of the modules in Q88 have been equally valuable, since we use a majority of the functions on a daily basis and are able to extract relevant data from each one. The inspection module is one that is especially useful for me, because it makes it easy to pull pertinent observations about our ships at key points in time, like at the end of the month or when a new project comes in. The fact that so many oil companies are using Q88 also makes it more compelling for us. We have multiple fleet groups under our management, so we’re using Q88’s analytics to compare them to one another, as well as to compare them to different vessels in the same class and industry benchmarks.                

Tor-Arne: Since more people have begun going back into the office, how have Q88’s cloud-based solutions helped you balance remote and in-office work? 
 
Nikolina: Because we can access Q88 solutions with just an internet connection, it has been extremely useful for both remote and in-office work. We are currently on a hybrid model, and we have been able to use the solution on all of our connected devices, including work laptops and work phones. Everyone can easily access the information they need, when they need it—whether they are in the office or not.   

Tor-Arne: What, if anything, would be an additional feature that you’d like to see added to Q88? 

Nikolina: Q88 is really strong in integration, but one area that would be particularly beneficial is stronger integration with our classification societies. For instance, if a classification society issues a certificate, it would be really useful to more seamlessly bring that data into Q88, and vice versa, without added manual effort. Having stronger integration with the CDI would be great as well, since we are seeing that aspect of the inspections towards other vessel types beyond chemical and LPG increase.  

Tor-Arne: As we near the end of Women’s History Month, can you talk more about what this means to you?  

Nikolina: Since I started sailing quite some time ago, there were far fewer women on the ships, and in the industry as a whole, compared to today. Over the course of ten years, I remember being onboard with two female cadets on one vessel, and that was the most I had ever encountered. Since that time, there has definitely been an increase in women working onboard and shoreside. That makes me really happy because I remember how hard it was for me in the beginning to get my own cadetship and take up a role on a vessel. I’m really glad that we’re seeing greater representation and equality in the industry today.   

Tor-Arne: What advice would you give to young women who are interested in pursuing a career in maritime?  

Nikolina: For me, the decision to join the industry was very personal, as I loved the sea and shipping was close to my heart.  I had a lot of friends and family who were captains on ships, which really sparked my interest. I also really enjoyed my time sailing, and it helped to set me up for success in my role today. However, the maritime industry includes much more than working on a vessel. There are so many different career opportunities that give young women the chance to grow professionally and personally. There is a lot of room for career development and growth, and you also get the chance to work with people from a broad variety of different backgrounds, which makes it quite exciting. 

Tor-Arne: Thank you, Nikolina. We really appreciate it. Thank you so much for speaking with us! 

The post Meet The User: Nikolina E. Pahljina appeared first on Q88.

Meet Jon Cosio, Database Coordinator at Odfjell.

Odfjell is one of the world leaders in the global market for seaborne transportation and storage of chemicals and other specialty bulk liquids. Established in 1914, it pioneered the development of the chemical tanker trade in the 1950s and the tank storage business in the late 1960s.

Interviewer: Tor-Arne Berger, Q88 Product Manager

Tor-Arne: Hi Jun, thank you again for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in our series. To start off, how often in your daily work would you say that you’re using Q88?

Jun Cosio: Every day. There are particular modules like the Officer Matrix that are especially important to our business, and I monitor for changes and use HVPQ almost every day.

Q88 is also used frequently by our commercial operators when booking cargoes. Since it must be updated so frequently—with changes to certificates, surveys, equipment tests, and more—it is very popular and useful for my team. It is important for us to ensure we keep it up-to-date at all times with the latest inspection information and other changes.

Tor-Arne: What are the key benefits or features of Q88 for your role?

Jun: I would definitely have to say data. Data is key to decision making, and you never know when you may need certain pieces of historical data—it often proves really valuable to have accurate, standardized data on hand. Q88 allows me to capture data straight from the vessel and use it for future decisions.

Tor-Arne: Since you’ve been working from home, how have Q88’s cloud-based solutions helped you navigate remote work?

Jun: They’ve helped tremendously. During the pandemic, as many people did, I worked entirely from home for two years. Now, I occasionally go into the office when important things come up, but remote work is still very prevalent within our organization. Q88 definitely made the work-from-home transition quite seamless, as we had no disruption in access when we shifted to remote work.

Tor-Arne: For many of us,the pandemic definitely changed how we work. Would you say there have been any permanent changes to the way you work post-COVID?

Jun: I have actually found that working from home, especially with the Q88 tools, has had a lot of advantages. I’m tasked with answering a lot of questionnaires and updating other databases, and I found that I am able to maximize my working time and productivity by being at home. I update information for around 50% of the ships at Odfjell, which currently has around 100 ships, including time-chartered and externally managed vessels. We also have seven or eight different types of tankers, and information can vary significantly ship-to-ship.

I am also responsible for inputting initial vetting data that Superintendents then take to close and confirm findings. It can be quite tedious, and having the flexibility to work from home while maintaining easy access to Q88 has helped in many ways.

Tor-Arne: What, if anything, would be an additional feature that you’d like to see added to Q88?

Jun: That’s a great question. Q88 already has many important features that are integral to our work. The last one that really stands out is the vetting module, which has been extremely useful.

The one thing I can think of would be helping to streamline the data entry process. While it is usually seamless, and there are features to save one entry to every vessel, any additional shortcuts that can be added to assist in quicker data entry would be great.

Tor-Arne: Thanks, Jun. That’s interesting input, and we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for taking the time!

The post Meet the User: Jun Cosio appeared first on Q88.

Meet Josh Ervasti, Operations Manager at Stena Bulk in Houston, Texas. Josh has a degree from the United States Merchant Marine Academy, and prior to Stena Bulk he sailed as second mate, coming ashore a while after becoming chief mate.

Stena Bulk is one of the world’s leading tanker shipping companies, providing safe and cost-effective transport of crude oil and petroleum products at sea. They operate a fleet of about 100 vessels and have offices in six countries. Stena Bulk is part of the Stena Sphere, which has around 20,000 employees in Sweden and around the world.

Interviewer: Tor-Arne Berger, Q88 Product Manager
Topic: Q88.com

Tor-Arne: Hi Josh, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to participate in our series! How often would you say you are using Q88?

Josh: I use Q88 multiple times every day. Without a doubt, it is a very important tool in our everyday business.

Tor-Arne: What’s the key value of the system for you in your role at Stena Bulk?

Josh: The questionnaires, the documents, and the crew matrix, followed by the deadweight calculator and the vetting functionality are by far what I use the most frequently. The beauty of the system for us is time. Everything we do takes time and there is a finite supply, so if we can gather twelve documents at the push of a button, it is extremely valuable as a time saver.

Tor-Arne: Is the fact that the Q88 solutions are all cloud-based important to you?

Josh: Of course, anything that makes it more easily accessible wherever you are, including on my phone. We no longer have the luxury of saying ‘I’ll get back to you tomorrow’, so being able to share information without having to bust out the computer is a huge benefit. It’s all about saving time and ease of use, and your system checks both of those boxes.

Tor-Arne: Which other parts of the Q88 product family do you use on a regular basis?

Josh: The Q88 Voyage Management System (VMS) is where we live throughout the day, it is where we manage every financial aspect of our voyages. Milbros is the best cargo database out there that I have ever seen. We use it for SDS’s and Marpol safe carriage information, and this is very valuable to us. With the carriage of Annex II cargoes, you need a tool like Milbros. You were way ahead of the game showing the IBC code 2021 changes, so we had ample time to review and plan.

Another feature we use of the officer matrix compliance functionality, which is a very powerful tool.

Tor-Arne: How has the pandemic changed how you work?

Josh: The pandemic has touched pretty much every aspect of the business. COVID has been difficult to manage, especially with the severe impacts with respect to quarantines, even when going between ports in the same country. As an owner, we’ve been able to add clauses to charter parties to share some of the burdens.

From a technical management and crewing perspective, the pandemic has been extremely difficult, and the crew has been impacted the most.

Going back to your cloud question; while working from home, Q88 has been great and always available to us.

Tor-Arne: What, if anything, would be an additional feature that you’d like to see on Q88.com?

Josh: An integration with the class societies so certificates can be automatically updated when they are issued or renewed would be very cool and helpful.

Tor-Arne: Josh, thanks very much for your time!

The post Meet the User: Josh Ervasti appeared first on Q88.

Meet Nikolaos Kontos, director of operations at Concord Maritime in Stamford, Connecticut. Nikos is a graduate from SUNY Maritime College and a holder of a Chief Mate license for unlimited tonnage from USCG.

Interviewer: Tor-Arne Berger, Q88 Product Manager
Topic: Q88.com

Tor-Arne: Hi Nikos, thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me. How often would you say you are using Q88?

Nikos: I am using Q88 numerous times throughout my workday, referencing it for various things. We use all the key features of the system: questionnaires, certificates, inspections, officer matrix.

Tor-Arne: What’s the key value of the system for you in your role with Concord Maritime?

Nikos: I frequently search vessel particulars to verify if the vessel meets a certain restriction, like LOA, beam, air draft, etc. This allows me to quickly validate that we may proceed with the intended vessel. Before the vessel goes on subs, during the pre-fixture process, I look at data continuously. I obviously check the SIRE information, date of last inspection, and when heading to a discharge port, I check if it’s time for a new inspection and if the port is suitable for that.

Everyone has their own database or system on the technical side, but on commercial when everyone uses Q88, the single location for updated data and documentation is key. The system is very easy to use, in no time we can have everything uploaded and shared.

Using cargo history integrated with our VMS system also makes that part of the questionnaire near automatic. Anyone in chartering can look quickly on the last cargo history and grade, which can be crucial for fixing the next cargo. For example, they can easily see the last voyage – type of crude or fuel, and if any restrictions and/or requirements for the next cargo, we can then assess the expenses required for the next cargo, knowing what is necessary for the tank prep, whether cleaning, purging, etc.

Tor-Arne: Has the pandemic changed how you work?

Nikos: No, not at all, nothing truly changed on our end. Ships continued to be fixed under the same protocol. When we were working remotely, we had access to everything as our software toolset is all cloud based, making for a seamless transition to WFH. The only difference was the location and communication, using Zoom/ICE/WhatsApp in place of personal interaction with coworkers.

Tor-Arne: What, if anything, would be an additional feature that you’d like to see on Q88.com?

Nikos: The system is pretty complete from a commercial perspective. A way of sharing data and documentation via a link we can email instead of attachments would be a welcome improvement. A system notification, for example via email, when someone updates a certificate date without uploading a new certificate.

Tor-Arne: Nikos, thank you very much for your time!

The post Meet the User: Nikolaos Kontos appeared first on Q88.

This year has been exceptionally hard on people, families, and organizations across the world. The maritime industry, in particular, has faced a unique set of challenges. More than just an economical and financial hardship, the current pandemic has impacted the lives of seafarers around the globe, with so many of them stuck at sea, unable to return safely to any port. This has taken both a physical and mental toll on crews. According to industry experts, while most operators and owners have done their best to make the lives of those trapped at sea bearable, we should not underestimate the psychological strain these recent months have taken on crew members.

Relationshipping is Q88’s belief that no matter how technologically advanced, digital or data-driven our industry gets, it still comes down to human relationships. People. Not just vessels, ports and exports.

And thus, Relationshipping Onboard was born.

The idea came from Q88 employees that have spent time on ships. Having first-hand experience with being part of a crew, several employees wanted to do something that would help their peers in the industry during these difficult times.

“In these challenging times, while we may rely more than ever on digital tools to connect us while we’re apart, Relationshipping means never forgetting what pulls us closer – trust, loyalty and compassion,” said Fritz Heidenreich, President, Q88 LLC. “We know that there are so many seafarers out at sea right now and they need our support.”

As the pandemic continues, Q88 has established its Relationshipping Onboard program by distributing and shipping care packages to vessels to those at the New Haven, Conn. port with plans to expand globally. The care packages are created with great care and uniqueness – often including items from the crews’ hometowns that is sourced through local shops. Additionally, Q88 wanted to provide a way for crew to communicate with their family members, so each ship is provided a router or SIM cards.

These care packages are shipped thanks to a partnership with Moran Shipping Agencies, who help deliver them to the vessels at sea.

“Our goal is to not only support crew members through tough times, but to hopefully inspire others within the maritime industry to do the same,” added Heidenreich. “It is a small gesture, but such an important one to support the crews and seafarers that keep the world moving.”

Follow along with our Relationshipping story on social media by searching for #RelationshippingOnboard.

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