Seafarers employed on Tsakos-owned vessels operated under its management arrangement with Columbia Shipmanagement will now be paid electronically as opposed to by ‘Cash-by-Master’.
Under an agreement, signed with global maritime payments provider ShipMoney, the crewmembers will have complete control and access to their wages while onboard ship, including the timing and currency of remittances sent home.
The contract with the Greece-based ship management company will see ShipMoney’s products being rolled out to its fleet of 90 vessels consisting of tanker, container and dry cargo ships, following a successful trial.
“By introducing ShipMoney, we’ve been able to streamline the onboard crew payment process across the fleet by enhancing the safety in money transfer, reducing costs, saving time and providing a new benefit to our valued crewmembers and their families,” Harry Katsipoulakis, CFO of Tsakos Columbia Shipmanagement, said.
“One of the important benefits to the deal relates to foreign exchange, which is often a hidden cost for crew. The majority of today’s crew are contracted and paid in US dollars and most employers remit individual US dollar wire payments to individual seafarer bank accounts. If the seafarer’s home bank account is not denominated in dollars, then the receiving bank has complete control over the conversion from US dollars to the currency of the crew member’s account,” Stuart Ostrow, President of ShipMoney, said.