Central Mare.

Central Mare Inc. endeavours to earn the confidence of the ship-owners, charterers, seafarers and the marine industry and be recognized as a high quality, trustworthy international ship manager. This can only be achieved by providing flawless services that satisfy all relevant requirements. The Company shall always provide professional ship management services to owners and charterers, protect their interests and assets under its care, and fulfil all their expectations.

The Company is committed to always comply with all applicable legal and other requirements that relate to the pertinent hazards and to continually improve the effectiveness of its IMS.

The Company adopts a proactive approach concerning the needs of its clients and is responsive to their requests, suggestions or complaints, always trying to improve the value of its services.

The Company encourages employee teamwork, personal improvement, cooperation, innovative thinking, initiative, leadership, decisiveness and focus on client’s needs and satisfaction.

The Company sets measurable and meaningful HSSQEEn objectives and targets and reviews them when appropriate. In order to objectively assess its performance, the Company:

• Establishes criteria for the quality of its services;
• Monitors, measures and analyses its objectives and targets for continual suitability to verify that processes are effectively implemented.

The IMS defines the methods used to achieve Company’s Policies and the associated objectives and targets. Its implementation ensures that all applicable requirements related to managing ships will be satisfied, thus providing the necessary confidence between the Company and its customers.

The Company’s management considers its IMS as the basic tool for providing consistent and effective ship management service and improvement, provides sufficient resources and reviews it regularly to ensure its continuous suitability and effectiveness. The management commits itself in active implementation of the IMS and requires all involved personnel to do the same.

Every suggestion for improvement will be given full attention and will be brought to the highest level of the management.

All Company employees, ashore and at sea, are expected to comply with this policy and work towards the Company’s objectives. The Company’s success depends on the commitment and involvement of every employee.

This policy is continuously reviewed for its suitability and is available to the public and the Company’s customers, vendors and suppliers and has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

Central Mare Inc. is committed, through continuous efforts to improve environmental performance in all areas required by the international rules and regulations, as well as Company’s IMS, towards a cleaner environment, and to ensure:

• Pollution prevention that emphasizes source reduction, including necessary funding and human resources to effectively maintain the onboard systems, equipment and components.
• Continuous reduction of environmental risks.
• Minimisation of environmental impact of its operations.
• Sharing information on environmental performance with external stakeholders.
• That the environmental policy is available to the public.

The Company’s goal is to achieve ZERO spills or releases to the environment and reduction in permitted emissions through continuous improvement.

For achieving all the above, the Company:

• Complies with all applicable environmental laws, regulations and requirements and applies responsible standards where laws, regulations and requirements do not exist.
• Responds quickly and effectively to environmental incidents resulting from its operations, in co-operation with industry organizations and authorized government agencies.
• Assesses all identified risks to the environment and establishes appropriate safeguards.
• Shows concern and respect for the environment, emphasizes every employee's responsibility in environmental performance and promotes appropriate operating practices and training.
• Undertakes appropriate reviews and evaluations of its operations to measure progress and to enforce compliance with this Policy.
• Conducts and supports research to improve understanding of the impact of its business on the environment, to improve methods of environmental protection and to enhance its capability to make operations compatible with the environment.
• Manages its business with the goal of preventing environmental incidents and of controlling emissions and wastes to below harmful levels.
• Designs, operates and maintains facilities to this end.
• Shares its experience with others to facilitate improvements in industry performance.

This Policy has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

Central Mare Inc. gives the highest priority to health and hygiene in its operations. Its utmost concern is to ensure that all employees work in safe and hygienic conditions.

The Company’s goal is to achieve the highest standards of health and personal hygiene through continuous improvement.

In order to strive toward its goal, the Company:

• Complies with all applicable legislation and regulations, observes relevant guidelines, and applies responsible standards where laws and regulations do not exist.
• Seeks to identify and evaluate health and hygiene risks related to its operations that potentially affect employees, contractors or the public and establishes appropriate safeguards.
• Communicates knowledge about health and hygiene risks to individuals in potential risk or organizations and the scientific community.
• Determines at the time of employment and thereafter, as appropriate, the medical fitness of employees to perform their work without undue risk to themselves or others.
• Implements programs and appropriate protective measures to control such risks, including appropriate monitoring of employees in potential risk.
• Provides or arranges, as appropriate, for medical services necessary for the treatment of employee occupational illnesses or injuries and for the handling of medical emergencies.
• Provides voluntary health and hygiene promotion programs designed to enhance employees’ well-being and personal safety. These programs should supplement, but not interfere with, the responsibility of employees over their own health care.
• Undertakes appropriate reviews and evaluations of its operations to measure progress and to enforce compliance with this Policy.

Information about employees is confidential and should not be disclosed to non-medical personnel except at the request of the employee concerned, when required by law, when overriding public health considerations dictate, or when necessary under the Company’s Drug and Alcohol Policy.

This policy is continuously reviewed for its suitability and is available to the public and the Company’s customers, vendors and suppliers and has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

It is the Company’s Policy that no seafarer, whatever rank, will navigate the vessel or will operate its equipment while impaired by drugs or alcohol or where there is any risk of such impairment.

In following this Policy, Central Mare Inc.:

• Has banned all alcoholic beverages from its managed vessels.
• Has banned any form of drug, with the exception of prescribed drugs, as well as the misuse of legitimate drugs. If a crewmember is found in possession of drugs then the Local Authorities will be contacted immediately.
• Has implemented random testing of all crew for banned substances and alcohol.
• Controls the use of all medical supplies on board the managed vessels.
• Will dismiss and impose penalty, as per National and International regulations, to anybody:

–         using alcohol or banned substances on board the vessel;

–         caught in possession of alcohol or banned substances;

–         found to have been instrumental in bringing alcohol or banned substances on board;

–         found to have a positive trace in any random testing sample, unless prior notice with authorisation for use, had been given to the Master.

• On no account shall a person under the influence of drugs or alcohol, be allowed to stand watch or perform any other duty, involving the safety of the vessel, her crew or cargo, and the public.
• Will take all disciplinary action, including dismissal, against anybody consuming alcohol, while ashore, for at least 4 hrs prior scheduled watch-keeping duties or work period.
• Any crewmember suspected for being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, while on duty, shall be immediately relieved from his duty and placed under observation until the influence of drugs or alcohol subsides.
• All crewmembers understand that it is their duty and benefit, to report immediately to the appropriate Officer or the Master, if they suspect or have evidence that one of their fellow crewmembers is intoxicated.
• The use of alcohol on the part of the pilot while performing his duties is strictly prohibited; if a pilot is noticed to be under the influence of substances resulting to the incapability of performing his duties, he will not be allowed to be part of the bridge team.
• Requires all new recruits, prior their embarkation, to undergo a Drug and Alcohol test.

All employees must be adequately informed on the provisions of this Policy and must comply with their intent. This Policy has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all employees ashore and onboard.

The Company, having established and implementing an Environmental Management System in accordance with ISO 14001, believes that although shipping is by far the most fuel-efficient mode of transport, nevertheless additional action has to be taken to further improve the energy efficiency of ship related operations. The increased energy efficiency eventually results in increased environmental protection by reducing air emissions as well as in improved operational performance by reducing energy cost.

Energy efficiency is controlled primarily through well-planned and properly managed ship operations and needs the personal commitment of everyone involved in the above tasks. To be successful, energy efficiency and conservation must become a way of life than just a mere compliance with rules and regulations.

In our efforts to enhance the energy efficiency on the shipboard operations, the Company is committed to:

• Establish, document, implement, and maintain an Energy Management System in accordance with the requirements of ISO 50001, with the objective of continually increasing energy efficiency and minimizing energy waste. A set of objectives and time-specific, measurable – whenever practicable and possible – and attainable targets should be established and maintained, which should relate to a combination of design optimization, in-service performance monitoring and best-practice operational management processes.
• Establish and maintain a Company Energy Efficiency Management Plan (CEEMP) which should be regularly reviewed by the senior management. This Plan, which applies to all fleet vessels, provides standard procedures and practice on best energy management under the various operational modes of each vessel.
• Ensure the availability of information and of necessary resources to achieve the set objectives and targets.
• Promote energy efficiency awareness through training to the shore and sea-going personnel and implement energy related campaigns and other relevant personnel incentive/motivating programs.
• Promote co-operation within the shipping industry with the aim of facilitating energy efficient operations.
• Monitor and comply with all applicable legal and other requirements related to ship energy management.
• Support the purchase of energy-efficient products and services, and design for energy performance improvement.

This Policy shall be reviewed periodically to keep it up to date and promote continual improvement in energy performance. It is available to the public and to the Company’s customers, vendors and suppliers. It has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

This policy sets out the principles that social media users shall observe, the circumstances in which internet activity will be monitored, and the action to be taken if the policy is breached. The Company expects everyone to comply with this policy at all times and to protect its brand and reputation. It covers the use and misuse of social media platforms and other websites, including but not limited to:

• Social networking websites such as Facebook, CrewToo, MySpace, LinkedIn, Yahoo! Groups, QQ.com.
• Micromedia / Microblogging websites such as Twitter.
• Multimedia websites such as YouTube and Instagram. 
• Wikis such as Wikipedia.
• Blogs, News sites where content and comments can be posted.
• Any other website where user-generated content can be posted for wider sharing.

This policy applies to all individuals working at all levels in the Company, either in the office or on board the vessels and covers the use of social media (as outlined above) during work and non-work hours, on personal and Company supplied equipment such as laptop computers and cellular / smart phones. The COO, Heads of Department and ships’ Masters are responsible for ensuring that the standards set forth by this policy are communicated to their teams and that their own conduct sets a good example in this respect.

The Company recognizes the value of social media and expects all staff to use these tools responsibly, protecting Company reputation, as they would in traditional media. The following basic principles to be observed:

• Be responsible. As an employee, any user-generated content could have an impact on the Company reputation, so give careful thought before sharing photographs or video of the Company assets, particularly our ships, facilities or people in uniform. For example, images taken during an incident could potentially be detrimental to an investigation.
• Be accurate and honest. In any circumstance in which you are in doubt, or you are uncertain about how to respond to a post, contact the Company for guidance.
• Do not make posts or comments that may be considered defamatory, obscene, libellous, threatening, harassing or embarrassing to others.
• Before you post photographs of other people, get their permission first.
• Never use someone else’s copyrights, copyrighted material, trademarks, service marks or other intellectual property.
• If you see comments relating to the Company, that you think should be addressed, contact the Company for guidance.
• Do not use the Company’s logo (in any form) on any personal social media platform. Use of any Company logo must be approved by the Company.
• Respect others in any online social interaction. Do not use social media or any similar form of communication to attack or insult the Company, fellow employees, customers, vendors, contractors, suppliers, competitors or others.
• Do not disclose any confidential, proprietary or sensitive information about the Company as well as names of our employees, customers, vendors, contractors, suppliers, competitors or others. Employees are reminded of Company’s policy on public statements / media response.
• Do not comment on the Company – related legal matters, financial performance, competitors, strategy or rumours, unless you are specifically authorized to do so by the Company.
• If any member of the media (social or traditional) contacts you about your user-generated content (i.e., blog post, comment, video), a colleague’s or another party’s, do not engage in a dialogue, rather refer them to contact the Company.

Please be aware that violation of this policy may be grounds for disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment. It has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

It is the Company’s policy to provide a secure working environment, by establishing and maintaining the required security measures to prevent unlawful acts against ships, which endanger the safety and security of persons and property on board Company ships.

Company objectives are to:

• Provide security procedures and practices for ship operations to protect the security of ports and the wider community;
• Establish safeguards to reduce the risk to the ship its passengers, crew and Port personnel on board Company ships;
• Improve the security skills and awareness of Company personnel ashore and onboard ship;
• Prepare contingency measures for emergencies relating to possible security incidents.

These objectives will be achieved by:

• Carrying out a Ship Security Assessment and preparing a Ship Security Plan specific to each individual ship;
• Comprehensive training for Company personnel;
• Actively promoting security awareness amongst Company personnel, regular documented reviews and internal audits of security procedures and plans, in order to allow for constant update and improvement to the plan.

All employees are expected to comply with the required procedures within the ship security plan and should be familiar with the relevant security duties required of them and the measures required in order to protect the ship from any unlawful act.

The Company ensures that the CSO, the Master and the SSO are given the necessary support to fulfill their duties and responsibilities in accordance with XI-2 of the 1974 SOLAS Convention.

The Management of Central Mare Inc. is committed to taking all reasonable precautions and measures to eliminate harassment and bullying, on board and ashore.

The Company’s goal is to have a working environment in which there is respect for the dignity and well-being of all seafarers and shore personnel.

To fulfil these objectives, the management is committed to the following approach:

• Treat all complaints of harassment and bullying seriously and in strict confidence.
• Consider any complaint of cyber bullying to be a serious issue.
• If someone does not feel comfortable raising a complaint himself/herself, he/she may ask a friend or colleague to do so on his/her behalf. He/She will not be penalised by the company for making a complaint, provided it is not vexatious or made maliciously.
• Person onboard the ship who can, on a confidential basis, provide seafarers with impartial advise on their complaint and assist them in following the complaint procedures (e.g. attending meetings or hearings, etc.), where so desired by the complainant seafarer:

Chief Officer for Deck crew / 2^nd Engineer for Engine crew.

• Company contacts:
  • Mr. Evangelos Ikonomou, COO

–       Tel. (Office):       +30 210 8128260

–       Tel. (AOH):         +30 697 9986805

–       E-mail:                 ops@centralmare.com

• Additionally, a concern can also be raised through the following channels:

E-mail: opendoor@centralmare.com

Tel.: +30 6955 660 388 (Whistleblowing Hotline)

Reports can be made without fear of retaliation and be even anonymous. Upon receipt of a report, same will be assessed by the Company’s Top Management and an investigation may commence, if deemed necessary. Any victimization of a member of staff who makes such a complaint, or any attempt to deter him from reporting, will be regarded as a serious disciplinary offense and will result in action under the Disciplinary Procedures.

Remember, it is the victim’s perception of any actions that counts. If YOU feel you have suffered harassment or bullying, the company will look into the issue raised.

This Policy has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

It is the Policy of Central Mare Inc. to conduct all aspects of its business with honesty and integrity, and to provide a working environment that encourages and safeguards high standards of ethical, moral and lawful business conduct.

The Company is confident in the comprehensiveness and effectiveness of its Management System and its role in ensuring the safety of people and the environment, as well as in the effectiveness of its existing reporting channels.

Furthermore, the Company is committed to a workplace characterized by open communication regarding its business practices. As such, this Whistleblowing Policy has been developed to provide a means for employees and seafarers to raise concerns that cannot be, or have not been, adequately addressed via usual reporting channels without fear of retaliation or discrimination over such reports made in good faith.

The Whistleblowing Policy addresses concerns related to issues of public interest, including, but not limited to, the following:

• A criminal offence;
• Non-compliance with legislation and/or Company procedures, particularly in relation to health and safety at work or environmental protection;
• Dishonesty, either verbal or written (including intentionally maintaining official log books or records inaccurately);
• Malpractice or unethical conduct;
• Financial or non-financial misadministration or malpractice or impropriety or fraud;
• A safety and/or security risk or hazardous condition that may impact the life or health of individuals on board the vessel;
• Miscarriages of justice; and
• The deliberate concealment of any of the above.

If an employee has a legitimate concern in (and holds reasonable belief that the information he has relates to) one of the above areas and wishes to raise the concern in good faith, it should be raised with the Master, DPA or other Company’s representative who may be able to agree a way of resolving the concern quickly and effectively.

Although the Company’s Top Management maintains an open-door policy endeavouring to address individuals’ concerns internally, a concern can also be raised through the following channels:

E-mail: opendoor@centralmare.com

Tel.: 0030 695 566 0388 (Whistleblowing Hotline)

Reports can be made without fear of retaliation and be even anonymous. Upon receipt of a report, same will be assessed by the Company’s Top Management and an investigation may commence, if deemed necessary. Any victimization of a member of staff who “whistle-blows”, or any attempt to deter him from reporting, will be regarded as a serious disciplinary offense and will result in action under the Disciplinary Procedures.

This Policy has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

It is the Policy of Central Mare Inc. to protect the company's information assets (note 1) from all threats, whether internal or external, deliberate or accidental, to ensure operations continuity, minimize damage and maximize return on investments and relevant industry opportunities.

To fulfil these objectives, the Company’s management:

1. Ensures that:

All managers are directly responsible for implementing this Policy within their departments.

All Company’s employees (onboard and ashore) shall strictly adhere to the Cyber Security Policy.

NOTES

1. Information takes many forms and includes data printed or written on paper, stored electronically, transmitted by post or by using electronic means, stored on tape or video, or spoken in conversation.
2. Confidentiality: ensuring that information is accessible only to authorized individuals.
3. Integrity: safeguarding the accuracy and completeness of information and processing methods.
4. Availability: ensuring that authorized users have access to relevant information when required.
5. This will ensure that information and vital services are available to users whenever they need them.

This Policy has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.

Central Mare Inc. operates in a socially responsible manner, ensuring the safety of people and the environment, through transparent and ethical behavior, respecting the following principles:

• Accountability for the organization’s impacts on society and the environment;
• Transparency in the organization’s decisions and activities that have impact on society and the environment;
• Ethical behavior at all times;
• Respect, consider and respond to the interests of the Company’s stakeholders and employees;
• Accept that respect for the rule of law is mandatory;
• Respect international norms of behavior, while adhering to the principle of respect for the rule of law; and
• Respect human rights and recognize both their importance and their universality.

The Company addresses the following core subjects in order to identify the issues and priorities that are relevant for the organization: Organizational governance; Human rights; Labor practices; Environment.

Our commitment to this objective is underscored by the daily actions of our employees and their dedication to the numerous programs and practices we have implemented.

We aim to integrate sustainable thinking and corporate social responsibility into all our business processes and business relationships. Employee skills and competencies are developed by continually raising awareness and impartment of training.

We recognize that our operations have a global influence. With this in mind, we work diligently with our employees, local communities and internationally recognized bodies to ensure that social factors are integral to our business principles.

We promote continual improvement as a principal driver by knowledge-sharing practices and the timely review of our management systems while always meeting or exceeding all applicable legislative and regulatory requirements.

It has the full support of Senior Management and applies to all Company employees, ashore and on board.