Seatruck Ferries

Seatruck Ferries Ltd (now CLdN Group) is the only dedicated ‘freight-only’ ferry operator on the Irish Sea. Established in 1996 with a single vessel they are now a fleet of 12 modern roll-on roll-off freight ferries operating across the Irish Sea, ranging in capacity from 65-130 unaccompanied trailers and delivering approximately 350,000 freight units per annum.

Having demonstrated significant growth in the last decade they have cemented their name as one of the primary players in the Irish Sea having invested €400m on new vessels during this period. The business currently has seven ships operating in own service with another five operating in the external charter market. Backed by the Danish owned Clipper Group A/S they have enjoyed a return to solid growth of their core unaccompanied freight business. Seatruck now operate 72 departures per week and experienced traffic growth at three times the market level in 2016.

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The Brief

Having previously retained Sherrington Associates in 2015 to recruit an Operations General Manager, and again in 2017 to appoint a Commercial General Manager, in 2022 Seatruck approached Sherrington to help them appoint a Director of Safety & Operations. Replacing the outgoing Operations Director, the role would lead all operational functions across the business, as well as driving a new safety agenda across all departments, both on and off shore, positioning Seatruck as an exemplar in the Ro-Ro freight ferries sector moving forward.

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The Search

Sherrington Associates carried out a highly targeted and research-based headhunting exercise to identify and attract candidates from both the immediate competition in the Irish Sea ferries sector as well as adjacent markets with similar H&S challenges, such as advanced manufacturing, ports and logistics and industrial engineering. Given Seatruck's unique organisational culture it was imperative the successful candidate could assimilate into a high-growth entrepreneurial SME ferries business and was not too institutionalised from working in a large corporate structure. Sherrington employed a robust selection methodology involving both biographical and competency based interviews to ensure candidates demonstrated the right soft-skills and character traits.

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The Result

After an exhaustive search and selection campaign, during which Sherrington evaluated candidates using a range of behavioural assessments, our consultancy team presented a final shortlist of four candidates to the client, all of whom had the right experience to do the job. After organising final interviews between the shortlist and Seatruck's Chief Executive, a successful appointment was made.

Alistair Eagles, CEO of Seatruck Ferries said of this assignment...