We must ensure bulk carriers are fit for their task
Arthur Bowring has often commented on broad yet important issues facing the shipping industry. Here he voices his concerns over the design of bulk carriers, which he feels are not always ‘fit for purpose’ when delivered.
Balancing safety with lifetime costs
Intercargo, the representative body of the international dry-bulk shipping sector, is calling for unity in the shipping industry over the issue of bulk carrier safety.
Class must act impartially
To discover the reason for the general decline in newbuilding standards, just examine the bottom line. Peter Cremers, president of the International Ship Managers’ Association (ISMA) is purposefully blunt in his assessment of the situation: ‘Owners build where they can get the cheapest ships possible.’ New regional loyalties and sentiments have little clout in the discussion of where to build. ‘Most yards deliver good quality, but some are cutting corners,’ laments Cremers, concluding that ‘Class must be prepared to act forcefully when it has identified a clear shortcoming in safety standards.’
Raising safety standards
Although safety has very much become part and parcel of today’s ‘quality and standard fashion’, its pursuit 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..
Crossing the divide
Early next year, the first gas will flow from Russia and under the Black Sea to Turkey. Turkey’s private and industrial consumers using this gas will be unaware of the problems solved in getting it to them.
World-class rail travel by 2003
Virgin Trains aims to be delivering world-class transport services by 2003. ‘Our company will be the best in the world,’ says Chris Green, managing director of Virgin Trains. The train operator is concentrating on five main areas in order to achieve this goal: safety, reliability, customer service, product development, and human resources. ‘Without safety we should just give up. There is no point in being reliable if we cannot guarantee safety. There is no point in developing customer services if we cannot back them up with safety. Britain’s railways have experienced a number of recent high-profile accidents, and public concern for safety has grown.’
Good safety management shows on the bottom line
‘No fads, no trends, no buzzwords – just good management directly improving our business results,’ says group safety manager Peter Drillingcourt about DNV’s safety management system used at Golden Vale Dairies.
Raising the Safety Bar
Kuwait National Petroleum Company is taking SHE management to new heights, establishing as part of its Policy Statement a management programme covering all aspects of its operation. DNV Consulting is actively co-operating in the programme’s development and implementation.
South Korea heads the league
South Korea is today’s leading shipbuilding nation, with 43% of all ships on order. Traditionally strong shipbuilders in Europe and Japan are dropping behind, while the Chinese market is slowly catching up. Three top Korean executives here explain the reasons behind its shipbuilding success.
Royal Australian Navy’s cutting edge
An unusual characteristic of the RAN fleet is its diversity: a challenge to safe and reliable operation. With many new vessels also on the stocks, DNV is a vital partner in the Navy’s future plans.
Crude oil across Alaska - A Safety Challenge
The trans-Alaska pipeline is part of the world’s longest pipeline system, transporting oil from Alaska’s North Slope 800 miles south to the Port of Valdez. The trans-Alaska pipeline system, known as TAPS, also traverses one of the world’s most vulnerable environmental areas, and is under constant surveillance by regulators, interest groups and the public. Alyeska Pipeline Service Company operates TAPS for six owner companies: British Petroleum, ExxonMobil, Phillips, Williams, Unocal and Amerada Hess. Alyeska has operated TAPS since start-up in 1977 and has achieved an overall reliability factor of 99.78%.
BP reaps the benefits of ISO 14001
Oil major BP realises significant benefits from implementing the environmental standard ISO 14001. By committing to a structured approach on a long-term basis, it is already reaping the benefits of this environmental journey. Air emissions from greenhouse gases have been reduced by 5% worldwide, and on one installation performance improvements have resulted in 50% annual waste reduction.
BRC certification helps prawn producer swim with the big fish in quality-driven food market
Health scares caused by outbreaks of BSE and Foot-and-Mouth disease among livestock in Europe – and the accompanying media publicity – have served to sharpen focus on quality control in all links of the food chain.
CLASS: The perception and the reality
It seems fashionable nowadays to criticise Class. As several newspapers have put it, to kick them when they are down. But what is the real issue here, is Class a convenient but innocent victim or is there lacking a redundancy to that particular link in the Intertanko ‘Chain of Responsibility’?