Since its founding in 1955, Naseeb Maritime Company has stood as one of Kuwait’s most trusted maritime players, building a legacy defined by quality, resilience, and innovation. With more than 70 years of experience, the company has weathered global disruptions, earned international certifications, and consistently invested in both human capital and cutting-edge technologies.
Today, Naseeb Maritime is not only strengthening its footprint in Kuwait but also expanding regionally and internationally, aligning its vision with Kuwait Vision 2035 and the evolving needs of the global maritime industry. In this interview, Mr. Manaf Ahmed Naseeb, Deputy CEO of Naseeb Maritime, shares insights into its long-term strategies, workforce development, expansion plans, and future role in shaping the region’s maritime sector.
How does Naseeb Maritime Company ensure building long-term relationships with its clients and partners while maintaining the highest service standards in a competitive regional market?
Since its establishment in 1955, Naseeb Maritime Company has devoted its full efforts to setting the highest standards of quality and excellence in the services it provides across various sectors. This commitment has become a defining feature embedded in the company’s management and employees across all areas of operation. In recognition of its quality practices, the company obtained the ISO 9001 Quality Management certification in 2007. The company’s determination to face challenges while consistently adhering to these standards has earned it a trusted reputation among its clients in Kuwait and across the region. These very principles have defined its advanced and sustainable position in a highly competitive regional market, ensuring lasting relationships with its distinguished clients through gaining their loyalty and trust.
What strategies does Naseeb Maritime Company adopt to maintain resilience in the face of global disruptions?
With more than 70 years of accumulated experience and successive leadership teams, supported by a distinguished workforce that embraces a holistic perspective in shaping the company’s strategic decisions, Naseeb Maritime has successfully navigated many crises and disruptions over the decades, ensuring its continuity and success to this day.
Key pillars of these strategies include:
- Flexible financial management through building cash reserves to confront unforeseen circumstances, diversifying financial resources, and controlling expenses without compromising operational efficiency.
- Human capital development, by training employees to respond and adapt swiftly to change (Management of Change), adopting flexible remote work policies, and fostering a culture of innovation (Creativity Management Empowerment).
- Risk management systems, enabling the company to anticipate potential risks and scenarios and prepare well-studied, actionable contingency plans to address them.
Beyond Kuwait, does Naseeb Maritime Company have plans to expand operations or services into other Gulf or international markets?
Based on strategies developed over recent years, the company has already taken practical steps toward expansion in two main directions:
- Local expansion by working and investing across different maritime sectors, successfully achieving notable progress and continuing to explore more diverse and sustainable opportunities.
- Regional expansion through partnerships with several Arab and international companies to support the management’s vision of growth, beginning with Gulf countries and extending toward international markets.
With the maritime sector increasingly shifting towards technology, does Naseeb Maritime Company incorporate simulation-based training, digital platforms, or international certifications to enhance the skills of its workforce?
The company is strongly committed to creating a modern working environment where investment in human capital is considered just as critical as investment in equipment. To keep pace with global developments and ensure operational excellence, several initiatives are being pursued:
- Simulation Training: Planning to establish an advanced simulation center that replicates real maritime conditions (weather, breakdowns, congested ports) to train crews on rare or hazardous scenarios that are difficult to practice in reality.
- Digital Platforms & E-Learning:
Implementing an annual training plan that covers diverse programs for all employees across their specialties.
Sharing expertise and global best practices through digital collaboration hubs.
International Certifications & Accreditation:
- Holding ISO certifications for more than a decade, including ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Management), and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety Management).
- Commitment to International Maritime Organization (IMO) standards such as the STCW Convention for the training and certification of seafarers.
- Encouraging employees to pursue advanced certifications in safety, technical competence, and maritime risk management, & linking training directly to career development.
- Building a Culture of Continuous Learning:
- Transforming training into an ongoing process rather than a certification requirement.
- Promoting cross-generational collaboration (traditional expertise × modern digital skills).
Where does Naseeb Maritime Company see itself in the next five years in terms of growth, leadership, and contribution to the maritime sector locally and regionally?
Aligned with Kuwait Vision 2035, the coming years will witness major developments in the maritime sector, where Naseeb Maritime aims to be one of the primary national pillars driving this vision. Among the key projects like the development of islands and waterfronts, as well as the construction of new offshore refineries, work has already commenced on the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project—one of the largest ports in the Middle East, where Naseeb Maritime proudly became one of the first Kuwaiti companies to participate in its operations.
Furthermore, the company seeks to play a leading role in ongoing and future mega-projects across the Gulf region by maintaining a strong presence and strategic partnerships with major organizations in these markets.
Through these efforts, Naseeb Maritime is poised to strengthen its growth and leadership, fully leveraging its resources and expertise to become a distinguished hallmark in the progress of the maritime sector both locally and regionally.
:To read the full content, click on the following link Robban Assafina, Issue 99, Sep/Oct 2025, Maritime Host, pg. 70 |