17 / 20
INTRODUCING …
Hamburg, 1 September 2015
Justin Archard and Sebastian Westphal
join our management team – we asked
them a few questions to get to know our
new management members better:
Capt. Sebastian Westphal,
Corporate Director Ship Management
What are your plans and expectations
within your new position?
I’d like to be part of and contribute to a
team consisting of vessels’ crew and of-
fice staff working together cooperatively
to reach a shared aim. This was the “SAL
attitude” in the past, and most of it still
remains even though SAL and its number
of employees grew tremendously in the
past years.
There have been a lot of changes in
the past, let it be of ship management
nature due to new rules and legislation or
changes that have been driven by chang-
ing markets and work scope. In my new
position, being one of few seafarers in the
office I expect to be a kind of mediator
where necessary, helping to find solutions
which are workable and most convenient
for both vessels and office.
What do you have in your wallet right
now?
A lot of common things that are usually in
wallets and some items that are special or
important to me like:
INSIDE SAL
• A VIP card for the textile dry-cleaner’s
service which is winning importance for
my new job.
• My driver’s license. I expect the time
will come that it will be taken away from
me by the highway cops because of
misbehavior in dense traffic during daily
commuting.
• Some useful business cards of res-
taurants and good places around the
world like, for example, the address of
the well-known Licky Tomato Bar in
Kobe. A reputable bar that each new
generation of SAL crew gets introduced
to by the older guys on board.
• A picture of my (almost) wife that she
gave me before signing on as a Cadet
on MV Grietje. On the back of the
foto she pasted a dropped eyelash. In
German saying
you can use a
dropped eyelash
to make a wish
that will come
true. I never had
to use the spare
dropped eyelash
onboard, so you
can imagine that
I enjoyed most
of the time that I
was sailing with
SAL.
D
Justin Archard,
Corporate Director Commercial
What are your plans and expectations
within your new position?
I expect to enjoy it. If I can’t enjoy it, then I
can’t do it well.
My plan – or at least part of it – is
to help build long term sustainability,
continuous world class delivery across
the various segments we service and try
to identify markets where we can unlock
new or additional value. I want to play my
part building on a company where good
people want to work and where there is
pride in the service and achievements.
With these there is motivation and from
that comes innovation – and innovation
is a really important part of long-term
sustainability.
What do you have in your wallet right
now?
I have a travel wallet which I keep at
home that I use to rotate credit cards and
currency for all the travelling I do. It has
also become home to a number of other
sentimental objects as well:
• My youngest son’s first tooth
• Some of my used passports
• The receipt for my wife’s wedding ring
(we married in 2005)
What was the craziest story you expe-
rienced in your time with SAL so far?
Only two weeks after joining SAL I was
asked to make a presentation at a confer-
ence in Kuala Lumpur. I didn’t know much
about the ships, the company, the work –
anything really. It was a surreal moment as
the conference was awful and my work-
ing knowledge of Jumbo was still very
fresh. But it did turn out to be a learning
moment as I discovered new things about
SAL while I was delivering the conference
paper.
D
Sebastian Westphal (left), Justin Archard
17