Interview – Ege Akcasoy – The importance of ESG for tomorrow's market

What makes Newport Maritime Services (NMS) unique in its area?

NMS addresses the entire value chain in our business as a part of Newport Shipping’s offering. In other words, we are a one-stop shop. Our deep legacy originates from shipowners, operators, shipbuilders and repair as well as a broad set of outsiders, which enables us to develop our approach on a truly holistic basis on providing low carbon solutions.

How will start-up’s enable development in the shipping industry? 

Start-ups are able to approach problems on a blank slate. This enables the much-needed innovation, necessary disruption and fresh competition against the status quo. With the all important mission of transformation to net zero-carbon, we are confident new approaches are needed. These new approaches will also allow the shipping industry to become interesting and exciting to the new generation contrary to its current sleeping giant state. 

How does NMS help with a company's ESG, why is this important?

Our ESG approach is genuine, holistic, consensus-building. These are based on an overarching foundation of safety at every step. On the environmental side, our services provide a truly quantifiable impact at the vessel, owner and global level. On the social side, we are working on projects that aspire to impact the industry on a fundamental basis that will make maritime an exciting and fulfilling option for a much broader set of individuals from all backgrounds. From a governance perspective, our platform brings the much-needed transparency to our customers. We also intend to expand transparency into the entire sector of ship repair and retrofits, Again, these are long-term and multiple step projects we are keen to announce soon. 

How does your background support what NMS is achieving?

Having spent most of my earlier career at investment banking followed by a financial advisory firm I founded, the perspective I bring to NMS is similar to an institutional investor’s with an entrepreneurial dimension. NMS’ solid grounding in the maritime industry and open approach through Newport Shipping allows outsider views to be genuinely considered. These are then translated into innovation with frequent feedback from customers. There are no silly questions to raise at NMS. We strongly believe that it is this diverse background that helps NMS to become the ultimate solution provider, simply because we consider solutions from many different perspectives.

How do you see NMS and Shipping evolving in the future?

We are excited to see shipping as a case study for successful decarbonisation of an entire industry. We are also solidifying efforts to ensure careers in maritime are an exciting option for diverse backgrounds and establishing transparency as a cornerstone of any industry that makes a paradigm-shifting progress. As explained earlier, these are the bigger outcomes we are currently focused on at NMS.