We were delighted to welcome ShipMoney to our network of members at the end of 2016. Greg O’Connell, Business Development Manager, spoke to us about the company’s current focus of work and commitment to seafarers’ welfare.

For more information about becoming an ISWAN member, please contact us here.

Can you tell us about ShipMoney’s services and company values?

We are rather unconventional in our business approach. Our culture has been developed to lead with the ‘Why’ are we in business followed by the ‘How’ and ‘What’ rather than the conventional methodology i.e. What, How and Why. At our core is the ‘CAUSE’ challenging the conventional expensive methods of foreign exchange and cash management issues for the seafarer and ship owner providing alternatives delivering consistent time and cost savings and becoming a customer-champion-company.

Which areas of seafarers’ welfare and wellbeing do you think ShipMoney can make a positive impact on?

Seafarers’ welfare and wellbeing in my opinion can be rolled into one large dynamic
as they both impact the logical and emotional aspects for our crew. Our seafarers perform at a very high level and the common denominator is that they provide financially for their families whilst at sea. Their salaries either in full or part are made available to the family and it is our mission to ensure that the seafarer gets as much of their money as they possibly can by removing the large and expensive institutions that hitherto have penalized crew.

What prompted ShipMoney to join ISWAN? What do you hope to gain from ISWAN membership?

I have witnessed personally over the years the great work ISWAN performs for our industry. All too often, again in my opinion, we have the capacity to dilute, usually unintentionally, the effort the seafarers deliver in performing their duties and the emotional burden it takes to be away from their families and friends ashore. For these reasons, ShipMoney wants to be involved with ISWAN not only to continually promote ISWAN to our clients but to also be in the position to give something back, and we look forward to working towards this with ISWAN in the near future.

Are there any current initiatives or projects that are helping to improve the lives of seafarers that you’d like to talk about?

A number of crew mentioned to us that ‘it’s expensive being a seafarer’. They wanted the opportunity to transfer money home or shop online without leaving their vessel/port all within a competitively priced, intuitive and transparent platform. We listened to their requests, provided the right instruments and we are delighted to see thousands of crew monthly optimizing e-commerce sites, transferring money all from their vessel or alongside which ultimately continues to improve their work life balance.