Five questions for Keita Shinohara, Green Awarard
WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR JOB?
I am Keita Shinohara. Born in Japan but living in Europe (UK and the Netherlands) most of my life. Rotterdam has been my home for the past 21 years. I am the Certification Manager at Green Award Foundation, a job that oversees the ship certification program to ensure the quality, coordinating the research projects, and networking with stakeholders all around the world. My educational background is International Business Administration. Operations management is my strength and effective communication skill is what I strive for and learning constantly.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL DAY FOR YOU LOOK LIKE?
My typical day/days at work are quite dynamic. I have many briefings with my team members, as the operations I supervise are quite dynamic. I enjoy it very much as I learn a lot from what’s going on, as we are able to discuss/brainstorm new ideas and improvements our program constantly.
Other days, I am also quite often out of office, in order to meet existing Certificate Holders and Incentive Providers and other potential stakeholders worldwide.
WHAT WAS THE BEST ADVICE (WORKWISE) SOMEONE GAVE YOU?
“Best” might limit it to one but there are several I must say. They are genetic and are “remain humble/modest”, “stay net plus with your time and effort”, “follow your course” and “there are many ways for learning”. These have all equally been inspirational to me. I keep it my own challenge to integrate all of these into my own work on a daily basis.
Among these, “follow your course” is sometimes not easy. There are many things going on around us and it is easy to get distracted, especially in the area of sustainability. We always need to get inspirations but I have learnt that it is important to remain on the course that you have set together with close ones around you.
HOW COULD YOU BE OF HELP TO OTHERS IN THE INDUSTRY OR RMSC?
I work in the area of ship quality certification and incentive program that focuses on safety, environment and quality in shipping. It is a common knowledge that the shipping has a vital role in this world transporting over 90% of the goods we use every day.
As Green Award Foundation, our role is to promote that this shipping is done in a responsible way, in terms of the three key words mentioned above. This foundation, which I work for over 20 years now,
- makes sure that the “sustainability” initiatives that these shipping businesses are doing are recognised;
- facilitates a tool that ports, service providers and product suppliers related to safety and environment to get involved by offering incentives;
- promotes and enables innovation for the shipping sector; 4) both for inland shipping and seagoing shipping.
Green Award Foundation, as a humble team based on Rotterdam, will be able to have a dialogue with you to see if there are ways to work together.
AND LASTLY: WHAT’S IN THE NEWS WHICH RELATES DIRECTLY TO YOUR PROFESSION?
This must be one of the easiest questions. “Air emissions” to address air quality and climate change is what’s in the news that relate very directly. It is very commendable that the entire world is having this as top of their agendas.
What is critical to keep in mind is that there are many other topics that we need to continue addressing, for example doing more on keeping (or making) our seas and rivers cleaner, recognizing the work done by the ship crew and protecting them, further improving safety standards in shipping.
Some can “do more” than the others, but we have our own roles that we can contribute to. Rotterdam, Make It Happen!
