Maritime & Commercial procurement company GenPro committed to a completely green supply network by 2025 at its Green Day Sustainability seminar, in Cyprus. This commitment was consolidated the next day with the planting of 250 trees in Limassol in collaboration with the Municipality of Agios Athanasios.

The seminar brought together an impressive roster of speakers kicking off with Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce and Industry, Natasa Pilides, who sent a video message in support of the event, detailing the initiatives being undertaken by the Cypriot government.

Not simply a talking shop, the seminar provided practical advice as to how sustainability can be incorporated into the heart of a company’s business. Representatives from IMPA shared insights on how to achieve Sustainable Development, speakers from Step Up Stop Slavery spoke about how respecting and protecting Human Rights initiatives contribute to a responsible and holistic sustainability strategy approach, while Grow Sustainability Consulting talked about the new  European Commission’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, how it will affect the Supply Chain and what it means for the Maritime ecosystem. The 175 delegates from 20 countries and representing 70 companies, also learnt how GenPro’s contracted Shipchandler, Maas-Riva BV, applies its “Green” Ship Supply practices.

GenPro, whose founding members are Columbia Shipmanagement (CSM) and Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM), has grown to a fleet size of more than 1000 vessels. The company has a commitment to quality and, just as important, to shaping the future of sustainability within the industry and, to that end, it has put into practice a range of initiatives. In order to achieve its goal of a completely green network by 2025, it has implemented a compliance and sustainability dashboard, which operates in conjunction with its sustainability audit tool kit, to ensure that GenPro is able to quantify the impact of each initiative taken by both the company itself and its suppliers.  For the company to be sure everyone in the supply chain is on schedule to meet its 2025 target, it is imperative that it is able to measure results, identify ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ practices, and take action to improve those areas where issues need to be addressed.

In the last 15 months the company has conducted 29 compliance and sustainability audits during which they inspected suppliers in 7 countries, covering over 200,000 square metres of surface, were introduced to 8,500 different provision, technical and bonded store items each of which was not only seen but physically inspected by the audit team. The results were recorded and followed up by the team; suppliers’ performance and scoring will be continually monitored and benchmarked against defined compliance & sustainability requirements.

Compliance & Sustainability Senior Manager at GenPro, Spiros Tsigaridas, said: “Our overall aim was to highlight not only the ‘Best’ practices but the ‘Right’ practices in regards to sustainable procurement and the supply chain. We were delighted to be able to extend the discussion towards the available tools and means by which each company – whether Ship Owner, Ship Manager or Supplier – can contribute and weigh its success. It was also very rewarding to be able to speak directly with other people and companies that share our vision for a sustainable future.”

Commenting on the company’s latest sustainability initiative to offset carbon emissions by planting trees, Acting Managing Director of GenPro, Maria Theodosiou, said: “We are very excited with our first tree planting which is part of our greater Sustainability strategy. Sustainability begins with each of us and together we can make a difference. Every little action counts so let us join forces to plant a little hope.”