OSM Thome has been a world-leading ship and crew management company since 1989. Ship Management Group was founded in January 2023, to focus on boutique passenger ship management services for ocean and river cruise vessels. “SMG's strength lies not in its longevity, but in its innovation, fresh perspective and the extensive experience of its personnel, making it the ideal partner for OSM Thome.” Hannah Barnett learnt this, and more, from SMG Founder & CEO Jim Barreiro de León, OSM Thome Deputy COO Stig Morten Helland and OSM Thome Chief Marine Services Officer Tommy Olofsen.
The partnership between OSM Thome and Ship Management Group, formalised in July 2024, will focus on the cruise and river management sectors.
Leveraging SMG’s niche expertise and OSM Thome’s robust infrastructure, it is a perfect match.
“We are the ones with the cruise ship connections,” said Jim Barreiro de León, CEO of SMG. “We are five executives, with over 30 years’ experience each, committed to providing cruise management services to the ocean and the river segments. There is not one other cruise management company that I know of that provides services to both oceans and rivers. With OSM Thome’s infrastructure and being the world’s leading crew manager, we can tap into
each other’s expertise and resources to address market challenges.”
Ultimately, the collaboration aims to enhance efficiency and sustainability in the cruise industry. Collaborative opportunities will be explored across various domains, including technical management, crewing, travel, insurance, project management and procurement services. Comprehensive and innovative solutions will be tailored to the unique needs of each customer.
Back to basics
SMG was founded by veterans of the cruise industry last year, with the concept to
return to the basics of ship management by offering services to niche operators. he company was soon approached by OSM Thome.
“We found this joint venture attractive because it allowed us to enter into a new segment where we currently have very limited experience, and to do so with some real cruise experts makes a lot of sense,” Stig Morten Helland, Deputy COO of OSM Thome, said. “There are mutual benefits. Where one side comes with expertise and the segment knowledge, the other comes with muscle, capacity, network and infrastructure.”
Indeed, the cruise sector is a unique segment with its own demands, criteria and requirements. So, OSM Thome was keen to find the right partner to help it to move successfully into the sector.
“There are many ship managers that have tried to become cruise and river cruise managers with limited success,” said Mr Helland. “This partnership comes with something different. The experts, the ones with the core knowledge, are
the ones that engage with the owners. We will work through SMG to provide our support and services. So, from our point of view, this is a very elegant way for us to get involved in a market where there is a high barrier of entry. Many have failed; we want to do this right.”
One of the key elements of the collaboration is that SMG will contract cruise ship owners and manage the ships, while OSM will operate in the background, to provide support, services and capacity.
“This is SMG, powered by OSM Thome,” as Mr Helland put it.
Cruise and crews
SMG has a head office in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and three major clients. OSM Thome is based in Norway and currently manages more than 900 ships globally, with 31,000 employees, 29,000 of them seafarers.
“The benefit to SMG is that we come with scale,” explained Tommy Olofsen, OSM Thome Chief Marine Services Officer.
“Scale is relevant in terms of delivering cost efficient, effective solutions, but
