About Alexander Hadjipateras
Alexander Hadjipateras, Chief Operating Officer at Dorian LPG, has spoken in several industry forums about the challenges and opportunities facing shipping, particularly regarding decarbonization, technology, and human factors. He has described decarbonization as both exciting and daunting, noting that there is no short-term panacea and that collaboration between shipowners and major customers is needed to guide solutions. Hadjipateras has stated that Dorian LPG has invested in a carbon capture company and that he believes carbon capture will be part of a bridge solution for meeting environmental targets. He has also discussed the use of data and automation, saying the company uses a tool that asks crew daily questions about their well-being and that data is increasingly used for human factor assessment)Skip. He has expressed optimism about Greek shipping, citing young talent and a fading brain drain, while also calling for a stronger startup ecosystem in Greece to support maritime innovation.
Hadjipateras has addressed geopolitical and operational challenges, including the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on seafarers. He stated that Dorian LPG has Russians and Ukrainians on the same vessels and has helped relocate Ukrainian families, while working to accommodate Russian seafarers wanting to extend contracts. He described the situation as extremely challenging and said the company has tripled down on communication with vessels. On the topic of safety, he noted that the company joined the Together in Safety platform and focuses on incident prevention through a structured approach. Hadjipateras has also commented on the cyclical nature of shipping, advising that companies should keep leverage low and maintain strong balance sheets to survive downturns.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Alexander Hadjipateras's recent appearances.
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Transcript (6 segments)
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Interviewer0:09
You're actually being part of this 12th annual Capital Link Operational Excellence in Shipping Forum. The topic that we've discussed earlier was about the safety and how you can move towards a zero-incident future. So there are many risks, there are many incidents that you need to avoid, and the question is: how are you gonna manage this when you have to deal with a big shipping fleet?
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Alexander Hadjipateras0:34
It's a great question and I'm very happy to be back here again. I joined this forum a few years ago. One of the things I talked about today is using data as a tool to help us bridge to the future that you're describing. There are more applications available like Shell or the HiLo, which is an output of the Shell company and now it's an independent company that collects statistics and helps you be more predictive in terms of looking at incidents. Also, we were delighted to join together in Safety, which is a free platform that focuses on several key elements, and we're focusing on incident prevention. So we try and have a structured approach with an architecture so that we're not overburdening the crew, but to have a kind of system that speaks to each other in terms of these statistics.
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Interviewer1:23
Technology can be a crucial factor in avoiding these kinds of incidents. But what about the human factor? Can you actually predict how humans may actually react to a certain incident, to certain circumstances?
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Alexander Hadjipateras1:38
That's a very good question. So the human factor, the human element, is at the forefront of how we think. We work very closely on diversity on board because we have multinational crews. So we're focusing on communication, building teamwork, and resilience to kind of gel together as a unit to avoid the possibility of human-related incidents or accidents. But I think that you have to take a soft and a hard approach. So yes, we look at the qualitative, but even data: we're using our new tool that asks the crew different questions every day about how they're feeling in a simple way, and that picks up a little bit more on the well-being side. So we're seeing data kind of make its way into human factor assessment, and then we review that back on the office side.
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Interviewer2:23
Nowadays we also have the war between Russia and Ukraine going on. In the past, the shipping industry used to actually employ people coming from both countries. When you actually have these kinds of employees on board the ship, how can you avoid the possibility of having an incident that may turn out to be risky for the operation of the ship?
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Alexander Hadjipateras2:49
We have, as we speak today, Russians and Ukrainians on the same ship. We have taken Ukrainian families and helped them relocate outside of Ukraine. Today, as of a week ago, with a Russian draft, we're trying to work to accommodate our Russian seafarers who want to extend contracts for relief. It's extremely challenging. We've tripled down on the communication with the vessels. It's very difficult even that seafarers are maybe blamed for foreign policy decisions that they had nothing to do with. So I think you just have to have an extra laser focus, the way we did during COVID, where we were focusing on the crew changes. We're doubling down on how much we communicate with the vessels to alleviate some of this pressure, but there's no simple answer, of course.
