EXMAR report 2025

3.3 SOCIAL 114 3.3.3 Social projects and actions 3.3.3.1 GENERATING POSITIVE IMPACTS Our initiatives aim for positive impact on our employees, focusing on skills and career development. This starts with our close ties with several maritime institutions to identify high potentials in a very early career stage. Thereby, we can source seafarers and office personnel from the very beginning of their professional path. Examples are the longstanding cooperations between EXMAR and the Antwerp Maritime Academy, the established Caribbean Maritime Training Institute (Jamaica) and the Mapua School and Philcamsat Training Centre (Philippines). Additionally, throughout employment, we keep focusing on career paths by setting up leadership track programs, amongst other initiatives. Lastly, we are creating opportunities for employees through developments and actions related to vessel design and construction. EXMAR is pioneering in the adoption of alternative fuel types, with LPG-fueled assets already in operation and the first ammonia- fueled gas carriers currently under construction. Both office-personnel and seafarers are involved in the design and construction of these vessels, and in the development of operational procedures to ensure safe operations. Personnel involved often receive specific training to enhance their knowledge and expertise in these matters. Moreover, it opens new career opportunities and enforces personal growth. 3.3.3.2 ADDRESSING NEGATIVE IMPACTS As demonstrated in the beginning of this chapter, we operate internationally and within a multicultural environment. Our workforce consists out of people with diverse backgrounds, cultures and religions. Hence, it is very important to us to promote diversity and celebrate differences, based on respect for one another. Furthermore, we always strive to also employ local personnel and engage in local workforce development at the locations where we are active. Second, our recruitment and engagement practices ensure that personnel benefit from fair terms of employment and freedom of association, for example by adopting collective bargaining agreements. This way, they can work in a safe environment, protected by overarching rules and regulations. Thirdly, it makes sense for us to provide adequate housing for our seafarers, as they spend several months abroad. EXMAR follows the standards from the Maritime Labor Convention (MLC) on living conditions on all new build vessels that we design and order. Our commitment thereto exceeds compliance and involves (former) seagoing staff in the design, to ensure that well-being and comfort of crew is prioritized. Moreover, for office personnel relocated abroad, we provide the appropriate financial and material support – such as housing -, complemented with assistance to integrate in the local culture of their new working location. Subsequently, we have developed a training program to enhance the skills and competences of our employees. Training is tailored to the different groups of employees and modified or created depending on needs from the own workforce, sometimes in collaboration with local training institutes. Internally, we are working on specific targets and objectives to track progress, evaluate the effectiveness of our training and develop new programs, if required. 3.3.3.2.1 Taking The Safety Lead (TTSL) Besides all elements mentioned above, we want to highlight our approach on the safety of seafarers and office employees, as our program ‘Taking the Safety Lead’ (TTSL) is one of EXMAR’s cornerstones. This program is developed and managed by the Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) team and promotes safety and well-being of shore-based employees and seafarers. It provides tools to direct people to a high level of safety maturity, while developing leadership skills and unleashing the potential of junior employees. TTSL cultivates and enhances employees’ perception of the EXMAR way of working. Its ultimate objective is to establish a company culture in which people act proactively to improve our safety practices and behavior. The framework focuses on six elements: (1) risk management, (2) safety leadership, (3) health and wellbeing, (4) incident reporting, (5) safety mindset and behaviors, and (6) training. Within TTSL, frequent safety campaigns are organized, and we have sound training programs in place. The training courses contain both standard updates on company and regulatory requirements and ad-hoc sessions based on incidents and their investigations. Examples are training on safety leadership, the hazards of marine fuels, mental health and many other topics related to crew’s wellbeing. All policies, procedures, work instructions and annexes related to TTSL are gathered in an electronic Safety Management System (SMS), which is internally reviewed on an annual basis and externally verified by several regulatory instances. These check our compliance with both local and international regulations on topics covered in our SMS. TTSL and SMS belong to Health, Safety, Environment and Quality (HSEQ) in general, managed by a dedicated HSEQ team. Our approach to HSEQ is evaluated against several regulations and frameworks,