Singapore-based ship management firm Thome Group has opened a crew recruitment and placement services agency in Myanmar in a bit to support its burgeoning Southeast Asian shipping cluster, the company said.
Thome Myanmar is seen as an important step in the company’s expansion into the growing economies of Southeast Asia and positions it well to offer its full range of ship management services to the country, the company said.
It will immediately enable Thome to tap into the vast wealth of seafarer potential that Myanmar has with its 60 million strong population, it added.
Thome group chairman Olav Eek Thorstensen said: “The oil and gas sectors are also very important in this part of the world and the opening up of an office here places the Thome Group in a good position to service the future needs of this and other growth areas.”
He said establishing a manning operation in Myanmar underlines the group’s “commitment to this fast-moving and highly important seafarer recruitment market.”
The Myanmar/India/Sri Lanka region is seen as an area of massive potential growth for Thome, not only as far as crew recruitment and training is concerned but also in the supply of general shipmanagement services, the company said.
Thome already employs close to 1,000 crew from the region and it says it sees significant opportunities for expansion through the new office.
Michael Elwert, director of group HR, strategy and support at Thome Group, said seafarers from Myanmar are “extremely qualified as they are educated to a very high level.”
Thome Myanmar has received its manning agency and MLC licences and a programme of cadet recruitment has already started with 30 cadets already taken on.
“Training is important to us and we have appointed a regional training manager who will oversee the training of such cadets and others from the Myanmar/India/Sri Lanka region,” Elwert said.
Thome was one of the first ship management companies to visit as part of an earlier Scandinavian fact-finding trip to the country.
Claes Eek Thorstensen, president of Thome Group, said: “Thome brings over 50 years of quality ship management experience to this important market and we look forward to working even more closely with new and existing clients in the months and years ahead.”
The company’s other expansions in Asia involve offshore consultancy LOC. The company registered LOC Seoul and opened its first office in South Korea in April.
Thome Group of Companies provides services ranging from ship management to running offshore vessels, FSOs and FPSOs, port agency, vessel inspection, newbuilding site supervision, and crew training.
As an independent international ship manager, the firm has more than 200 vessels under technical management serviced by 600 shore staff and 10,000 crew members. It also has 120 vessels under pure crew management engagements.
