Ambassadors

Anto George Antony

Anto George Antony is an Enthusiastic Health, safety, environmental Advisor, Maritime journalist, Peace Ambassador of United nations NGO and Volunteers co-ordinator of Heal the World charity organisation.

Nikos Aslanis

Nikos is an experienced tanker Captain with broad experience in ship management, and safety systems, ISM Lead Auditor, Maritime Security Auditor, ISO 9001/14001/18001/50001 Auditor.

He has broad experience in operation of different types of ship. Also, ship management experience, operating different ship types within budget and assuring vessels being compliant with national and international rules and regulations. Variety of ships from Chemical tankers/Product tankers/ Crude oil tankers/Cement Carriers /Bulk carriers.

Joshua Attipoe

Joshua has over eleven years work experience in the Maritime Industry, specifically in port operation, stevedoring and cargo handling.

He is Managing Director of Woshua Marine Services; providing manpower services and support for engineering and construction, bunkering supply, vessel fumigation, handling dangerous goods, port agency.

Joshua has a Lloyds Maritime Academy diploma in Port Management.

Daniele Badalucco

Daniele is a Certified Master Mariner, qualified ISM Lead Auditor, marine surveyor and maritime instructor.

He served at sea for 11 years reaching the rank of Chief Officer on oil tankers.  Since 1999 he has worked ashore for a few ship management and consulting companies as Superintendent first and later as DPA & HSEQ Manager.  Presently, Daniele is working for a Singapore based offshore company covering the position of DPA & HSEQ Manager.

Over the last sixteen years, he has been involved in several ISM and ISPS audits, marine surveys, casualty investigations and implementation of Management Systems. 

Bill Bahle

Bill is based in the Gulf of Mexico, US and is a skilled finance, strategic HR and EHS executive with 25 years’ experience in various construction and maritime arenas. He is a member of the OSHA Education Centre Association, the Pascagoula Port Advisor Group and a NOAA weather-ready nation ambassador.

Yrhen Balinis

Yrhen Balinis is an aspiring deck officer and maritime journalist. He is an advisory board member for Human Rights at Sea, a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), the international and maritime representative for the Younger Members’ Group at RIN, an associate Member of The Nautical Institute, and a member advocate of the 2030 Youth Force in the Philippines.

Alexandre Batista

Alexandre is a distinguished research professor and director of engineering who lectures in maritime studies including survey, inspections and technical appraisals.

Adriano Bezzera

Adriano has more than 21 years experience as a marine engineer in the Brazilian Navy, Marine and Oil & Gas industry with maintenance and repair, dry docking commissioning and preparation for Surveys. Experienced in diversity of ship types as AHTS, Seismic, OSRV, PSV.

Artem Bobyr

Artem has over 15 years of experience in maritime industry. He is a certified ISM/ISPS auditor and maritime/safety instructor.

Artem started his career in 2001 as a cadet on sail training ship, participating in the Cutty Sark Tall Ships Races. He graduated from Odessa National Maritime Academy in 2004 as BSc and in 2006 acquired MSc. In 2004, Artem commenced working on various types of tankers and later switched to offshore fleet (seismic research, AHTS, PSV etc.) He has worked onshore mostly in the Middle East (KSA, UAE, Azerbaijan, Qatar) since 2010.

Artem is currently based in Qatar overlooking various vessels as Superintendent and DPA/CSO, conducting investigations, inspections/audits, and coaching.

Simon Bradshaw

A sailor since childhood, Simon has raced and cruised extensively. From Mirror dingys to his present 30-ton Schooner, having been an owner and having to sea onboard many different vessels over the years he has a good understanding of the needs of mariners both leisure and commercial.

He began teaching sailing and navigation in Cowes moving on from there to become a freelance instructor with many schools around the Solent/South coast.

In 2013 he was appointed one of the RYA’s Yachtmaster Examiners for sail, power and Yachtmaster Ocean.

Scott Campbell

Scott Campbell is a Marine Surveyor, DPO and Workboat Master. With almost a decade of experience as marine advisor and technical author, working on projects for major industry bodies, he now runs his own surveying and consulting firm. Independent Marine Ltd. specialises in navigation, renewable energy, offshore and port operational guidance. Scott has developed human element, safety and navigation training courses for various clients, with an emphasis on effective and safe management culture.

Brian Candaza

After gaining a degree in in Marine Transportation, Brian became a Deck Cadet on bulk and container ships in the Philippines. He has a passion for maritime safety.

Ignacio Chofre Cifuentes

Ignacio started as a pilot boat deckhand in 1991 in Valencia port, Spain and spent 20 years as a pilot boat coxswain.

After being closely involved in a fatal accident of a pilot in 1992, he developed a deep concern about safety.  Ignacio has been very active on Social Media since 2013 trying to promote common safety and in 2017 he moved ashore to be in charge of Health & Safety for Valencia Pilots.

Captain Cristian Ciortan

Cristian is an experienced Master Mariner who works in Romania. He is a qualified STCW trainer and assessor and has a background in shipping, oil and gas offshore installations and has expertise in loss prevention and accident investigation.

Rodrigo Cintra

Rodrigo Cintra is a Marine Engineer, high skilled in Marine Management and Corporative Education, with more than 20 years’ experience in different types of vessels, working both aboard and onshore as superintendent and manager.  

Starting in 2001 as a cadet, when he joined CIAGA (Brazilian Merchant Marine Academy), he worked in several big companies, private and state owned, dealing with vessels / oil platforms operations and shore management and he is a certified ISM Code, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 auditor.

He has worked for the Rio de Janeiro Government in top positions related to Naval Industry and Compliance. 

Rodrigo is the current president of The Brazilian Merchant Marine Society, member of The Maritime League of Brazil and advisor for Marine Management, Corporative Education and Operations.

Captain Gary Clay AFNI

Gary began his maritime career in 1989 with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary providing afloat support services for the Royal Navy. In 2001 he became a pilot on the Humber where he continues to serve as a senior pilot. Additionally, Gary works as a maritime consultant and is also a Director of Fathom Safety a company aiming to eradicate the prevalence of pilot transfer accidents.

Eddy Coenen

Eddy is an experienced RYA Yacht master and instructor who holds a <500GT commercial yachting certificate gained at the Belgian Naval Academy. He now works as a freelance RYA instructor and is the founder and CEO of Nautinstruct at Neiupoort.

Andrew Corrie RMar Tech

Andrew has over twelve years of experience of working in the maritime industry (post training) in diverse range of roles on working on board AHTS, PSV and seismic survey vessels, crude oil tankers, product tankers, hydrographic Survey, bulk cargo and an INF cargo vessel.

He is currently managing operations on board the Pacific Osprey/Orca the largest wind farm installation vessel in the world. Andrew has a commitment to completing quality work taking in all aspects of Health and Safety alongside careful adherence to procedure.  He is qualified as UK MCA Master Mariner Unlimited Certificate of Competency, Nautical Institute Offshore Dynamic Positioning certificate (unlimited), Registered Marine Technologist and member of IMarEST (RMarTech), Nautical Institute member (MNI), Careers at Sea Ambassador and Associate Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (AFRIN), Nautilus International Council member.

Alexander Damaskinos

Alexander has over a decade of experience in high profile projects that span the shipping and yachting sectors. He holds an MCA Master 200/OOW 500 (STCW II/2) Certificate of Competence and has been the Secretary General of the Cyprus Naval Architects and Marine Engineers Association (CyNAMEA) since 2020.

Paul Drouin AFNI

Paul spent twenty years as officer and Master with the Canadian Coast Guard, over a decade as a marine accident investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. Having attended IMO and published in several industry journals he is a contributing author for Lloyd’s Maritime Academy Diploma program in “Marine Investigation” and the Certificate course on “Marine Safety Management”.

In 2012, Paul returned to sea as Master on various ships including cable ships and ASD trailing suction dredgers. Paul is a member of the NI IMO Steering Committee and Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute.

Henk Eijkenaar

Henk started in 1979 as a deck boy and worked his way up to the rank of Ship’s Master, which he has now been for 20 years. 

Since 2020, he has worked as a deep-sea pilot (for the North Sea area including English Channel and Dover Strait) and as a Ship’s Master for Redwise in Huizen, Netherlands.

He is also a council member and delegate of Nautilus Internationals and Chair of the Dutch Oversea pilot association (Vereniging Overzeese loodsen, VOL)

Georgios Gatos

Georgios has a diploma in structural engineering and a degree in Engineering and Nautical Science. He began his maritime career an ordinary seaman on tugboats before graduating from the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Bulgaria as a Navigator. He has subsequently achieved his COC and has seagoing experience in crude oil, LNG and LPG carriers. He has recently moved to the offshore industry and works on cable-laying and trenching vessels.

Captain Hemant Gupta

Captain Hemant is a master mariner, MBA and a Fellow of the Nautical Institute (FNI). He has sailed for 16 years and was in port operations for 12 years, of which 8 years were in Singapore. For the last 4 years, he has been in the shipping and port consultancy at Drewry (a 50 years old UK-based company).

Hemant has been a regular contributor to MARS reports and is also the technical editor of the upcoming 3rd edition of the Bulk Carriers Operations Book by the Nautical Institute, which is considered as the bible in the industry for dry bulk.

Amanda Hastings

Jonathan Heesch

Jonathan Heesch is a diverse maritime professional and people-focused leader with extensive maritime, leadership and command-at-sea experience. With a background in safety management as an ISM Auditor and DPA, he is wholly committed to the concept that the most important aspect of safety is the people involved. He is currently a Commander in the United States Department of Commerce,  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps, a Chartered Master Mariner and Associate Fellow of The Nautical Institute. 

Eric Holliday AFNI

Originally a Marine Engineer by trade – Eric is the Chief Executive of the FISH Safety Foundation – www.fishsafety.org.  He has 25 years’ experience as a safety professional, assisting clients with training and consulting services across a broad spectrum of industry – ranging from Off-shore Diamond Mining and Nuclear Power to Rail and Commercial Fishing – in many parts of the world, including New Zealand, Australia, the United States and Canada, as well as in South Africa and Namibia.

He is recognised as a pragmatic Human Factors specialist, in particular, focusing on accident investigation, safety culture promotion, risk-taking behaviour, and the risk/human interface.

Aware of the urgent need for safety improvements within the Fishing Industry, Eric established the FISH Safety Foundation as an international non-profit organisation, dedicated to improving Health & Safety outcomes in Commercial Fishing – an industry recognised as the worlds’ most hazardous.

Mustafa Kanafani

Located in London, Mustafa is a master mariner with 6 years on board ships and 12 years as a marine compliance and regulatory ship inspector. He was a former accredited representative to IMO for 10 years for a number of NGO and member states.

Sam Kelly

Sam started his career in the Merchant Navy in 2011 on ferries as a second officer, he has also sailed within the cruise industry. He came shoreside in 2017 as a Marine Operations Manager for Saga Cruises for four years. Sam has since taken the position as Head of Training for the Maritime Skills Academy part of Viking Maritime Group.  The Maritime Skills Academy deliver all STCW safety training courses alongside Bridge simulation to all seafarers. 

Sam has a real passion for driving safety issues in the maritime sector and he is lucky to be able to use his platform to reach out directly to crew,  Senior Officers, and shoreside operations.  He is currently involved with some large companies to deliver beyond-compliance training around firefighting procedures, these are specific to the SMS of that company.  He creates new courses and ensures all the literature taught is up to date and in line with the latest legislation overall governed by the Maritime Coastguard Agency.

Katarina Kokkini

Katarina holds a Master degree Maritime Law and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Maritime Studies from the World Maritime University. Katarina is currently the Deputy CEO of a leading consulting and training services company in Greece, and is skilled in project management, HSQE, negotiation, international shipping, maritime operations, and shipping.

Duvet Claudin Koutsolo

Duvet is based in Dakar, Senegal. During his internship in marine science, he has participated in research projects (2014 – 2018) focused on marine biodiversity and ecology. Duvet’s university experience includes courses in marine engineering, oceanography, and marine conservation. He has also gained hands-on experience working with various marine research equipment and technologies.

Captain Kumar Krishnamurthy

Captain Kumar Krishnamurthy has 17 years of sea-going experience including command, followed by 13 years as a Marine Surveyor cum Loss Assessor, 4 years as Container Terminal Superintendent and currently in his 15th year as Associate Professor in AMET University, Chennai – having been Dean and Chairperson in the School of Nautical Studies.

His sailing experience was mostly on Bulk Carriers, Multi- purpose Vessels including Heavy Lifts, Container carriers and General Cargo vessels. His experience as a Marine Surveyor involved P&I Club Surveys and investigations into Major Fires, collisions, groundings and Cargo Loss assessments. He is a former fellow of the Institute of Chartered Ship brokers and a CMMI member.

Captain Herbert Magney

Born Californian, Herb has been a “Waterman” from the start. Solid dedication to the maritime community over the past four decades. 

Herb is a maritime operations consultant based in Florida, US who possesses a comprehensive background in commercial yachts and superyachts, offshore and diving support vessels. He has extensive experience afloat as master, mate and port captain. Ashore, he is a surveyor, DPA,  inspector and trainer.

 A private pilot, “Hard Hat” diver, industrial mechanic and industrial salesman since the mid 70’s. His maritime experience covers, yachts private and commercial, high speed passenger vessels, casino ships, oil field supply and seismic vessels. A current member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. He has held captain licenses in 8 countries over a thirty year span of time. An active member of ISS, USSA, IAMSP.

Alexander McDonald

Alexander is currently working as a Roving Master / Safety Training Officer for an international company with more than 90 vessels including tankers, bulk & ro-ro. He provides safety and operational training for all ranks.

Scott Moffat

Scott Moffat is an established leader in the global energy sector, particularly noted for his unwavering commitment to a “Safety in Reality” approach within maritime. Holding key roles across renowned organizations like Excelerate Energy, Shell, BG Group, and OSG Ship Management, Scott’s career is a testament to operational excellence and strategic foresight.

Starting his journey with Shell, Scott’s hands-on experience sailing on LNG Carriers formed the foundation of his expertise. Upon coming ashore Scott’s tenure with STASCO in London further solidified his reputation, where he played a pivotal role in various LNG Projects across the globe during a time of great explanation.

At BG Group in the US, Scott spearheaded quality and safety assurance within the maritime sector and was at the forefront of streamlining HSSE and operational standards. His move to OSG Ship Management saw him successfully manage the technical transition of in-house LNG Ship Management Services and overhaul safety and business processes for the Offshore and LNG Business Units.

Throughout his tenure at Excelerate Energy, from global HSSEQ roles to operations management in the UAE and Americas Region, Scott’s dedication to real-world safety practices has consistently shone through. His approach goes beyond mere compliance, aiming to instill safety as a core value at every operational level.

With a career spanning continent, Scott Moffat stands out not just for his operational and commercial acumen but for his vision of safety, always challenging the status quo, pushing for standards that reflect the reality on the ground and safeguarding personnel, assets and our environment.”

Giovanni Morabito

Giovanni is a Master Mariner, ISM lead auditor, a Designated Person Ashore (DPA) and certified maritime trainer with 20 years working experience in the maritime industry. He has command experience as the Master of RO-RO and container vessels and has also worked ashore as a Designated Person Ashore (DPA). He also assists maritime students prepare for their nautical examinations and is an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute.

Captain Arie Nygh AM FNI FITA

Arie has 50 years’ experience in the maritime industry of which 42 have been as a master, training master, marine manager or marine consultant.  Most of this was in the towage sector where he has trained over 1500 tug-masters, and he has overseen the establishment of towage operations in 23 ports. He is patron of the International Tugmasters Association and in 2019 he was made a Member of the Order of Australia for services to maritime transport.

Özgür Özdelice

Özgür lives in Istanbul. He graduated from maritime school in 2002 as a deck officer. He has work experience with multinational crews on general cargo vessels, oil and chemical tankers. He came ashore and worked in the crewing department at a management company. After that he returned to sea and is still working on tankers.

His plan is to create a tanker crew committee and discuss knowledge and experiences in every topic. Meanwhile, he is helping to prepare reports about accidents shares lessons learned with a wide audience of people and hopes to later prepare a book for tanker officers.

Arie Palmers

Arie started a career at sea in 1993 in the Royal Dutch Navy as a watch/ops officer.  In 2001 he changed to working with juvenile delinquents on a training vessel (MV Koningin Juliana) for 8 years and in 2008 he started pilot training while working on tugboats and dynamic positioning (DP) vessels.

Arie is an active blogger who regularly publishes articles and short posts on social media and in international magazines and advises shipping companies when they have questions regarding pilot transfer arrangements.

Manoj Paradkar

Manoj is VP Marine and DPA/CSO for Zeaborn Ship Management in Singapore having previously been a vessel and operations manager for 11 years, and 4 years as QHSE manager. He has experience of Cape size slurry carriers, bulk carriers (all sizes from Handy to Cape), heavy lift and RO-RO vessels. He has also sailed as Master on container vessels, open hatch gantry vessels, PCCs, geared bulk carriers, and orange juice tankers

He is a Fellow of the NI UK, committee member of the Singapore chapter since 2020, and has also co-authored ‘A Guide to Bulk Carrier Operations’ published by the NI.

Captain Clive Parton

Clive has been a seafarer for over 45 years during which he has held command of cargo ships, cruise ships, mega-yachts and large sailing vessels.

He is now the director of a professional seafarer training and certification academy in Phuket, Thailand.

Alex Pipchenko

Chair of “Safety of Navigation” department of TCCS NU “Odessa Maritime Academy”. Founder of maritime education project “Learnmarine”.

Graduated from Odessa National Maritime Academy, faculty of “Deep Sea Navigation” as B.Sc. with rewards in 2005. M.Sc. with rewards in 2007, Ph.D. in “Navigation and Motion Control” in 2010, and D.Sc. in “Navigation and Motion Control” in 2021 from the same institution.

Worked for over ten years onboard various merchant and offshore vessels and has similar expertise in maritime education and training. 

During his time onshore worked for a number of educational institutions in Ukraine and abroad, chief editor of NUOMA research journal “Shipping & Navigation”

Joanne Rawley

Joanne usually sails as Chief Officer in the Offshore Industry and recently worked as DPA / QHSE Officer for a fleet of 30 vessels.

Outside of her day-to-day work, Joanne is passionately involved in improving the Human Rights of seafarers, particularly addressing mental health and issues of discrimination and harassment.

To improve safety and dramatically raise standards within the industry, transparency of current practices desperately needs to be shared hence her enthusiasm for joining CHIRP.

Lisa Roberts

Lisa started her seafaring career as a cadet on board container vessels back in 2012. Her fascination with tugs stemmed from her time spent working alongside these specialized and unique vessels in various ports around the world and catalysed Lisa’s latest role as Tug Master. She is an experienced seafarer who’s passionate about safety and ensuring that everyone has a voice and is valued.

Owain Rowlands

Owain has been in the yachting industry since the age of 19.  Coming from a seafaring family, he spent many summer holidays on commercial ships watching how it all worked from the Caribbean to Mediterranean to the good old Irish sea.

He joined the RNLI at 16 back in his home village of Moelfre on Anglesey, this is where he got a good taste for the sea which led him stumbling into the yachting industry.

Owain has sailed on various yachts from 25 meters to 132 meters he is currently working on completing his Master 3000 GT.

Marlies Sanders

Ionut Sandu

Ionut Sandu is a Romanian citizen and resident. He started his career back in 2003 and passed through all ranks and different type of vessels during 20 years of working in the maritime industry. Since 2016, he has been a Master Mariner and since 2023 has held the rank of Fleet Captain.

Sundeep Sequeira

Sundeep Sequeira made Singapore his Port of Registry after a sea career of 15 years. He now specialises in digitalisation enablement, learning technologies, competence management & content solutions for blue water crews and ships. He has delivered “Training Matters” engagement sessions at numerous crew seminars within the region in addition to training simulator instructors on the operational use of navigation, GMDD and vessel traffic simulator systems. He is a member of the Company of Master Mariners of India, Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute (UK) and serves on the NI Singapore branch committee.

James Sherwood

James started his seafaring career in 2011, first in the yachting industry and then progressing through the deck department to the rank of Second Officer and relief Chief Officer.

He has worked through his yachting tickets and achieved an HNC in Nautical Studies at Warsash Maritime College [United Kingdom], and has gained valuable insight into the commercial sector whilst working in the yachting sector. His goal is to make the yachting industry a safer environment for the seafarer and to promote a safety culture onboard.

Winston Singh CMarTech

Prior to becoming a pilot in 2008, Winston spent 23 years at sea which included command experience on a variety of ships.  Apart from active piloting, he is a maritime lecturer and Lead Auditor for ISO 9001 and the ISM Code. Over the years at the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots’ Association, he served on the Board of Directors, chaired the Accident and Incident investigation Committee, was responsible for pilot training and development and the Designated Person responsible for the ISPO Quality Management System.  

He is committed to continual improvement, keeping up to date, developing and maintaining knowledge so he can deliver the highest quality service. A qualified Master Mariner, he is a Chartered Marine Technologist, an Associate Fellow of the Nautical Institute and the Royal Institute of Navigation. He also holds professional memberships at The International Federation of Shipmasters Association, the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, Chartered Management Institute, the American Society for Quality and the Chartered Quality Institute.

Claudia Sordo

Verena Stiller

Verena started her seafaring career as a deck cadet in 2017 and has sailed on various types of vessels, including traditional sailing ships, feeder vessels, cruise ships, and large container carriers. After graduating from the University of Wismar in Nautical Science, she has been working at Hapag-Lloyd AG as a second officer. In 2022, she earned a master’s degree in Operation and Management in Maritime Systems.

Adj. Professor Dr Capt. Manivannan Subramaniam

Adj. Professor. Dr. Capt. Manivannan Subramaniam started his career as a Deck Cadet aboard an LNG carrier and obtained his COC class 1 (unlimited) before going ashore to lecture at ALA (Akademi Laut Malaysia). While in ALAM,  he was conferred with PhD, by UTM and in 2021 American Digital University (ADU), Inc. USA recognised him as their Adjunct Professor.

He is also the Deputy, Chief Executive (Covering) and leading the ALAM’s academics division.

Maximiliano Vaccarezza

Maximiliano Vaccarezza is an Argentinian Deck Officer who is currently serving as a Second Officer onboard a chemical/oil tanker and hoping to expand his career in DP PSV vessels.

Beth Wilkinson

Beth is an Agency OOW who has sailed on many vessel types including cruise vessels, ferries and scientific research ships and many in between in locations all over the world from the hottest of climates and all the way down to the Antarctic.

Dr. Zhiwei Zhao

Zhiwei completed her PhD in 2011, under the aegis of the SIRC-Nippon Foundation Fellowship Program of Cardiff University, UK and worked at Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) before joining Dalian Maritime University in 2012, teaching Maritime Economics and Shipping Management. She was appointed the Director of Seafarers Research Centre in 2015 and has contributed to both the MARTHA project on seafarer fatigue and the BIMCO/ICS Manpower Reports in 2015 and 2021.

Zhiwei has also been a part-time Associate Professor at the Centre of Maritime Health and Society (CMSS) based at the University of Southern Denmark, and she has coordinated several national projects funded by Chinese government and works closely with Chinese shipping industry.

Dr Zhiwei Zhao is a Director of Seafarers Research Centre of Dalian Maritime University.