* GMS LAUNCHES NEW WEBSITE
19th May 2015 Phil Page
The world’s largest buyer of ships, GMS, has launched a new and improved website to provide a better user experience for visitors to its web pages.
Enhancements include links to the GMS twitter and Facebook accounts plus a regular blog that includes articles, events and news affecting the ship recycling industry.
An ‘In the News’ section lists press releases and editorial regarding GMS and current news stories about the recycling industry. Visitors to the site will also be able to subscribe to the ‘GMS Weekly, ‘ the longest and one of the most quoted newsletters in the ship recycling industry.
Navigation around the site has been improved and the overall design has been updated to reflect modern trends. The site also features an easy to complete online form for ship owners who want a quote for selling a vessel.
Details on how the new GMS app can be downloaded are detailed upon entering the site and all the GMS locations are itemized in the ‘Contact Us’ section including a list of public holidays for each area.
Founder and CEO Dr Anil Sharma said: “Updating our website was important to ensure all our clients and prospects have access to the most up to date information about our services and global reach. We have also improved the overall look and feel of the site making it quick and easy for visitors to access the specific information they want within a couple of clicks.”
* GMS Announces New Source for Market Intelligence in the Ship Recycling Industry
March 17, 2015Debra Massey
In a first for the industry, Global Marketing Systems (GMS), the world’s largest cash buyer of ships, has launched a unique source for market intelligence in the vessel recycling industry, in the form of a new, easy to use, mobile application.
This new application delivers instant information on vessel prices at key recycling destinations; gives shipowners access to an unrivaled and confidential service that will value a vessel; and delivers GMS Weekly – the subscription-only inside track on recycling industry news. It also highlights delivery tides, and provides useful information for when trading across continents.
“We are delighted to launch this brand new concept into the marketplace,” says Dr Anil Sharma, Founder and CEO of GMS. “Since establishing GMS, we have worked to modernize and promote the ship recycling industry, challenging old customs and looking for new ways to do business. With exclusive local representation in all five of the major recycling markets of the world we have remained close to shipowners, to brokers and to ship recyclers; ensure a continuing and unique insight into both the needs of our customers and into developments within their markets.
“This new resource has been developed as a result of that insight, providing industry information and confidential access to our expertise – all at the touch of a button,” adds Dr Sharma.
Targeted at shipowners, brokers and the ship recycling industry as a whole, the application is available to both Apple and Android users, and can be obtained from the respective app stores, or downloaded via:
Google Play Store – https://play.google.com/store/search?q=gms&hl=en
Apple App Store – https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/gms-jlt/id953939405
Please note: the application is available on a registration only basis, and journalists are invited to contact Debra Massey ([email protected]) on 01296 682356, to obtain press access.
* SHARMA MAKES LLOYD’S LIST TOP 100 FIFTH YEAR IN A ROW
19th January 2015 Phil Page
Dr Anil Sharma, Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Marketing Systems (GMS) Inc, is listed at number 40 in the annual Lloyd's List top 100 of the most influential people in shipping 2014.
Lloyd's List is a well-respected maritime publication and is one of the world's oldest continuously running journals, having provided weekly shipping news in London as early as 1734.
GMS is the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling and was founded by Dr Sharma in 1992 after it began acquiring naval vessels for scrap from the US Maritime Administration in Washington DC. Since then the company has grown rapidly with a sizable presence in Germany, Singapore, China, Japan, Romania, India, Pakistan, USA, Bangladesh and Turkey.
Born in Bhavnagar (Gujarat), Dr Sharma later moved to Ahmedabad and graduated from HL College of Commerce with an undergraduate degree in Commerce. He continued his education in the US where he obtained his Masters and Doctorate degree.
GMS has succeeded in helping to modernize the ship recycling industry and, through its efforts, has done much to strengthen the credibility and transparency of the global demolition sector.
The company has also provided technical assistance to a handful of yards in India and Bangladesh so they can meet their own international standards, and show compliance with international convention guidelines. Nearly half of India's yards are already compliant.
Dr Sharma resides in Dubai with his wife and has two children.
He has previously been featured in the Top 100 in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
* GMS INVITES SHIPPING REGULATORS TO INDIA TO WITNESS IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIP RECYLCING FIRST HAND
5th November 2014 Lisa Jacobs
Global Marketing Systems, Inc (GMS), the world's largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, has challenged the European Commission's intention to ban ship recycling by beaching, by inviting the Commission and a major representative group of top level shipping industry stakeholders to India to witness the recycling process first hand at one of the country's best yards.
Addressing a high-level industry conference in London, Dr Nikos Mikelis, non-executive Director of GMS, said ship recycling yards were improving in South East Asia and the best way to see this was to visit the yards in person.
GMS also used the conference to call on Panama and the Marshall Islands to accede to the Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships in order to satisfy calls by the International Chamber of Shipping and the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) for a level playing field in global recycling. Rating by these two large flags will speed up entry into force of the Convention.
GMS said it would be willing to invite officials from EU Member States; experts on hazardous materials; Representatives of ship owners or ship owner associations; the IMO Secretariat and the European Commission to see the improvements that have taken place in Indian recycling yards.
The observers would then be requested to compile a report of their findings.
Dr Mikelis said that while progress was being made in Indian yards, it could “come to an abrupt end through the ill-advised efforts to ban ship recycling by beaching through the Unit of Waste Management of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment.
“We can only hope that the administrations of right-thinking European States will avert the tragic mistake that has been brewing in Brussels through the regulator’s lack of understanding on international shipping and ship recycling.”
He added: “Progress could also slowly come to a halt if yard owners who are investing in improvements do not realize any financial gain through the custom of responsible ship owners seeking safe and clean recycling in the period prior to the entry into force of international requirements . As entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention is practically subject to accession by India, we have a classic ‘chicken and egg’ situation if there is no financial motivation to the yards.”
Dr Mikelis said the CSR policy of a responsible ship owner who cares that ship recycling standards are sustainable across the industry and not only within his company “must encourage, through his custom, yards which have invested in safety and environmental protection, regardless of whether these yards are located in South Asia or elsewhere”.
* Global Marketing Systems Applauds Early Moves Towards Responsible Recycling Around the World
August 14, 2014Debra Massey
Global Marketing Systems, Inc (GMS), the world’s largest cash buyer of ships for recycling, has welcomed the announcement that German owner, Hapag-Lloyd, will no longer sell vessels to recycling yards that do not comply with strict environmental regulations and guidelines.
Dr Anil Sharma, President and CEO of GMS, applauds a company of this stature taking the lead with its ship recycling policy and says: “It will be good to see, well ahead of proposed regulations entering in force, many more companies follow this example by providing their ships with Inventories of Hazardous Materials and by ensuring that their ships are recycled in line with the guidelines of the IMO's Hong Kong Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009.”
“This will ease the entry into force of the Hong Kong Convention because recycling yards around the world will realize the need to be prepared and to invest in safety and environmental protection improvements.”
Dr Sharma advises caution, however, in managing what is effectively a whole new way for the industry to do business. “At this early stage, shipowners must target their custom towards recycling yards in all areas of the world, including India, China and Turkey. While there are yards in, for example, China, that now comply with many regulations, we feel it important for the industry to recognize that there are many more recycling yards around the world, and in particular India, that are making moves to implement meaningful and incremental improvements in processes, and thus driving a groundswell of support for the Convention.”
An ardent proponent of green ship recycling, GMS formed part of the deliberations leading to formulation of the Hong Kong Convention. Through its Responsible Recycling initiative, and its in-depth experience on the ground, GMS has seen first-hand that yards cannot make the necessary improvements alone and that they need to work in partnership with shipowners to develop environmentally sustainable solutions that the industry can be proud of.
At the forefront of this commitment, GMS appointed Dr Nikos Mikelis to the role of Non Executive Director, with the remit of assisting GMS in developing synergies with ship recycling facilities and ship owners that are committed towards green and responsible ship recycling. Dr Mikelis has pursued a long and distinguished career in shipping including most recently he was the Head, Marine Pollution Prevention & Ship Recycling Section for the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
Dr Mikelis explains: “We work with recycling yards in India, for example, that are currently implementing improvements to safety, to environmental protection, and to social welfare.”
“The owners of these yards need – and deserve – to be supported by the custom of quality shipowners, so that their businesses can prosper and so that they can become examples to be imitated by the rest of the recycling industry in their country. If, on the other hand, these yards are not positively favored by the socially responsible shipowners, then how will safety, environmental and welfare improvements be fueled in the countries that need them most?”
Concluding, Dr Mikelis stresses: “The only way that international standards for ship recycling will make sense in the future is for the standards to be implemented and enforced globally, so that a single international standard applies to ship recycling, in the same way that there is one MARPOL standard for pollution prevention for all ships, regardless of flag or area of operation. The same must happen to ship recycling and for this reason, all socially responsible recycling yards – wherever in the world they are located – deserve the industry’s support.”
Notes to Editors
• Global Marketing Systems, Inc (GMS) was founded in the USA in 1992 after it began acquiring naval vessels for scrap from the US Maritime Administration in Washington DC and has since grown into becoming the world’s largest Cash Buyer of ships for recycling.
• Over the years it has succeeded in helping to modernize the ship recycling industry and, through its efforts, has done much to strengthen the credibility and transparency of the global demolition sector.
• GMS is the world’s FIRST ISO 9001 certified Cash Buyer with a proven track record spanning over two decades. And with more than 2,500 deals under its belt, it has grown to become the leader of the ship recycling industry.
• Many of the world's largest ship owners sell their vessels exclusively to GMS. In 2012 alone the company recycled over 16.5 million DWT (ie roughly 300 ships) or nearly one third of the world’s fleet sold for recycling
• GMS has invested considerable resources into green recycling and continues to support ship recycling yards around the world in both an advisory and financial capacity. Recently, with technical assistance of GMS, four ship recycling yards in Bangladesh were able to obtain Certification for ISO 9001, 14001, 18001 and 30,000.
• GMS is also the FIRST and ONLY Cash Buyer to develop a Green Ship Recycling Program (GSRP) together with Germanishcer LLoyd (GL) to meet the highest standards of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the ship recycling industry. GMS continues to lead the ship recycling industry with innovative and practical solutions. Over the years, it has become the acknowledged ‘voice’ of the recycling industry in international fora.
• GMS has offices in the USA, Germany, Dubai, China, Singapore, and Japan as well as exclusive representatives in all five of the major recycling markets including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China and Turkey
