Although safety has very much become part and parcel of today’s ‘quality and standard fashion’, its purpose is as old as the shipping industry itself.

A ship’s seaworthiness or fitness to be put to sea safely has always been of paramount importance in any ship operation aimed at achieving long-term profitability. Moreover, despite the publicity given to bad accidents, ships have become progressively safer, thanks to both technical and human improvements.

Indeed, DNV’s scheme for targeting potentially sub-standard ships, dubbed the Five-Point Plan (see page 12), has over the past few years been instrumental in the deletion of close to 100 vessels due to violations of rules and regulations, with nine ships currently under special surveillance.

Despite the fact that we now follow ships up much more closely, the number deleted from DNV class has not increased noticeably. On the contrary, over time the quality of the ships has improved. That said, we still need to have a high priority on sub-standard ships as there are probably more ships out there that ought to have been on the scheme.

DNV is now in the process of employing an additional 40 ships-in-operation surveyors as part of its quality drive. Extraordinary investments of USD 10 million in quality measures show that DNV is seriously stepping up its efforts to fight sub-standard shipping. However, we believe that the responsibility for safety at sea is shared by many different organisations; class alone cannot maintain safety.

We must all work together – owners, underwriters, charterers, shipbuilders, port states, flag states and classification societies. We are all links in the safety chain. None of us can do it all.

Together we can provide a robust, pragmatic system that enhances safety and in turn protects life, property and the environment.

Olav Nortun,
Technical director of DNV Maritime

Date: 2005-06-06