Shan Ming has 15 years of diverse industry experience in Business Development, latterly responsible for the business strategy at Keppel Offshore and Marine.

A Singaporean, Shan Ming is known for his capacity in building collaborative stakeholder relationships and in-depth knowledge of shipyard project management.

Shan Ming kindly participated in a Question-and-Answer session regarding his new role and industry experience.

Why did you join Austen Maritime Services?

I feel very excited about Austen’s growth ambitions, and it offers a great platform for me to test and showcase my expertise to repeat past career track records. At Austen, my contribution can create a larger and more significant impact to the overall performance of the Company.

Tell us about your new role.

This is a newly created role within Austen, and I’m thrilled to start this role on a clean slate. In line with Austen’s ambitions, I will work closely with the Austen management team on commercial strategy to expand business opportunities. My primary focus will be new customer acquisitions while enhancing the current relations with existing clients. What I also plan to do concurrently is help increase Austen’s brand awareness to facilitate and extend our customer outreach.

Tell us about your experience in the industry

I spent the last 15 years in the maritime industry focusing on offshore and marine capital projects. My experience is very diverse ranging from operations management, marketing/sales, project management as well as business development. The oil and gas industry has faced strong headwind in the past years, and I spent considerable time formulating and executing growth strategies which successfully developed diverse and sustainable revenue streams. I plan to leverage on my network in the industry to propel Austen’s growth.

In your first impressions, what has surprised you about the Company?

Having spent the few first days/weeks in the Company, I’m really impressed by the camaraderie among the team. Covid has made co-location challenging due to the safe management regulations in Singapore. I wouldn’t have known that the team just started to return to office as they are really closely knitted, and office spirit is very high. I’m looking forward to work closely with this highly motivated team. Having previously known Austen as a credible and experienced provider in the industry I always presumed I would be joining a Company with great capability, but what has been surprising is the sheer breadth of services that exist within the wider Stena Group of Companies. 

What makes Austen Maritime Services a first-choice service provider?

The tagline ‘Small enough to care; Big enough to cope’ says it all. Austen has the integrated both personal and professional touch as part of its high service quality. With a customer focused and dedicated support team, we seek to provide personalised service to our clients who put their trust in us. This virtuous cycle of care and trust forms the backbone of a strong and lasting business relationship with our clients.

What are the service priorities for Austen in 2022?

Austen shall stick to what we do best while keeping an eye of potential areas to expand our services. Ship agency services like husbandry services, bunker calls, cargo operations and docking services remains as our mainstay. What we will focus on is to extend marine projects services like in-country support for newbuilding, drydocking projects as well as performing tow management – to new and existing clients.