TANKEROperator Focus on seafarer performance - How to approach the human element Enclosed space safety How Columbia and Harren develop a better ...
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TANKEROperator JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2020 www.tankeroperator.com Focus on seafarer performance How to approach the human element Enclosed space safety How Columbia and Harren develop a better working culture Technology you want – and technology you don’t
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Contents
Supporting seafarer performance Focus on seafarers:
and productivity - making better
use of technology 15 n Frank Coles: let’s make it an industry
where we are proud to send people
Report from Tanker Operator Hamburg out to sea
forum
03 n Martin Shaw – what “human element”
means
16 n An integrated wearables safety system
06 n InterManager - reducing enclosed space
deaths
18 n SpaceX’s Starlink - what might it mean for
shipping comms?
08 n Harren & Partner– defining effective
communication
09 n Columbia – finding better approaches to
training
11 n How to find the maritime digital
technology you want - Dimitris Lyras
13 n Scoutbase – better ways to survey seafarers
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator 1
COMMENT
Human element - the next frontier in
improving safety?
This special edition of Tanker is poor at the human element could be how easy to maintain, including good management
Operator magazine focusses on readily it accepts “human error” as a reason of the dangerous ‘enclosed spaces’ and ‘void
the ‘human element’. for something going wrong. People do indeed spaces’. Technology companies will make
The tanker industry has made big steps make mistakes, but they don’t usually intend tools which give seafarers the information
to improving its safety record over past to make them. There are nearly always they need, and not bombard them with
decades, through efforts to improve the elements in the environment which surrounds information they don’t need.
vessels themselves, the machinery, crew them which contribute to the risk. All of this is plausible and can be done
competence, procedures, management systems Companies which are good at the human right now, and the articles in this issue show
and regulation. The safety record, measured element will focus on areas such as getting the how some of the industry experts are moving
in terms of casualties and pollution, shows a right working culture, effective procedures, forward. Although the industry’s slow drift
steady decline over the past decades. But over effectiveness of rules, stress / fatigue, and towards the “gig economy” is not helping.
recent years, the decline has not continued, well-designed equipment and controls. Also in this issue on the subject of
and there are still too many accidents. The working environment they aim to seafarers: Perspectives on improving enclosed
So industry leaders, with the Oil Companies create will be modelled against reality. The space safety, based on a seafarer survey by
International Marine Forum (OCIMF) in procedures and rules will fit work as it is InterManager; Harren and Partner on how we
the middle, are looking for new ‘levers’ to actually done, not how someone in an office can define “effective communication”; How
improve industry safety, and have picked the imagines it is done. Stress, fatigue and level Columbia Shipmanagement is finding better
human element as the area to focus on. of being rushed will be manageable. The approaches to training; How to find digital
Working out the right approach to the software and systems will give people what technology which will actually help you, not
human element can be tricky for those of us they need. what companies want to sell you; how to get a
with a background in engineering and other People will be able to feel part of a bigger better understanding of your seafarers’ actual
technical subjects, as many maritime people organisation, not just delivering their piece working environment.
do. Experts say that it starts with respect for of work and going home. There will be much Frank Coles, managing director of Wallem
people, which makes complete sense, but is better ways for seafarers and office staff to Shipmanagement, on a story on very poor
not something to easily put into a management keep in close contact, inform each other what treatment of crew by the Korean Coastguard
system. But then, revising a management is happening, what may be going wrong, and - and how to make this an industry where we
system to better incorporate ‘human element’ maintain closer relationships. are proud to send people out to sea. Better
is probably not the best place to start. There will be levels of trust between ways to gather and manage data from sensors
Tanker Operator magazine held a forum in ship and shore sufficient that seafarers feel which are worn by crew; and what SpaceX’s
Hamburg last October on the human element, comfortable saying when they feel they have “Starlink” satellite communications might
which we report on in depth in this issue, been asked to do something unsafe. mean for shipping
with speakers from OCIMF, InterManager, Customers and regulators will play their
Columbia, Harren, MOAMS, Ulysses and part. OCIMF, as an organisation of customers, Note: slides and videos from some of the talks
Scoutbase, giving their perspective on the will develop ways to reward shipping at our Hamburg conference are available
issue and how they break it down into ways company which makes a good job of the online at www.bit.ly/TOHam19
which an organisation can tackle in an human element, and regulators will avoid
organised way. burdening people. Karl Jeffery, editor
One indication of an organisation which Ship designers will create ships which are TO
TANKEROperator
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Future Energy Publishing Ltd EVENTS Very Vermilion Ltd.
39-41 North Road Karl Jeffery Tel: +44 (0)1253 812297
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2
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
Martin Shaw – what
“human element” means
Tanker companies which embrace the “human element” are companies which appreciate
people’s role as successful goalkeepers (rather than someone to blame), acknowledge the limits of
procedures, manage onboard complexity, and are careful about how we introduce automation, said
tanker technical expert Martin Shaw
S
“ eafarers need help, not then managing an oil company fleet. He has Types of human error
controlling and punishing,” said been consulting for the past 8-10 years and One of the world experts on human error,
Martin Shaw, managing director becoming “more and more interested in the James Reason, has said that human errors
of consultancy Marine Operations human element”. can be categorized as “skill-based errors,
and Assurance Management Solutions
(MOAMS).
There is still too much misuse of the term
“human error”. It is used after nearly any
incident, and there are many debates about ProVen Cargo tank lining for
the percentage of incidents that are due to
human error, Mr Shaw said.
In fact, virtually all incidents are born
ChemiCal & ProduCt tankers
of “human error”, but an error made at
some point in the regulation, design, build,
operate, maintain cycle, he said. But the
culture of shipping only considers errors by
seafarers.
This focus on the seafarer means the main
“tool in the toolbox” to improve safety is
changing procedures to prevent the incident
from re-occurring, he said.
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Martin Shaw’s background is in tanker
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Martin Shaw, managing director, MOAMS
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator 3
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
mistakes and violations.” ‘work as imagined,’” Mr Shaw said. accidents, measured by casualties and
A violation is defined as someone But in the real world, management pollution incidents. The introduction of
deliberately doing something wrong. But systems are not perfect, things go wrong all double hull tankers during the same period
seafarers’ mistakes might be viewed too the time. also helps.
often as “violations”. Normally people don’t “The only reason things don’t go wrong is But in the past decade, the accident trend
deliberately set out to make mistakes, Mr that seafarers make them operate. They are goes up slightly, partly due to the increased
Shaw said. This view links to the increased the glue that make things keep running.” number of tankers following the Chinese
criminalization of seafarers. Normally “What would happen if you focus on the boom, and partly because of some things
someone would need to have deliberately other 99 per cent of the operation and the going wrong, including more groundings
done something wrong for it to be things that went right?” which may have been caused by problems
considered a crime. After a major incident, introducing ECDIS, Mr Shaw said.
often “the first thing that happens is that Seafarers as goalkeepers So it may be fair to argue that a limit was
seafarers are locked up.” Mr Shaw sees seafarers like goalkeepers, reached of what could be achieved with
It would be better if there was more the people who prevent problems from procedures and what can be achieved with
willingness to accept that seafarers might becoming big problems. simpler accident investigation models which
make unintended mistakes – and look at “If you are manager of a [football] team, stop at what happened aboard ship
whether the environment they work in can the team loses five nil, do you sack the Ultimately, if people are given more to do
be changed to make them less likely. goalkeeper? Maybe you should. But what with more complex systems the potential for
In a 1991 book “Human Error”, James if he saved 50 goals? That means 55 times error rises, he said.
Reason differentiated two different the ball is kicked to the net. What about the Procedures are an important part of how
drivers for unsafe acts – local workplace other 10 people – what were they doing? you run ships – you can’t not have them. But
factors (including technical factors), and How do you stop the ball getting close to they need to be useful, not a stick to beat
organizational factors. the net? You need to do a lot more work on people with.
Mr Shaw presented this quote from that one. At present the seafarer may feel “In many cases the last people who read
the book. “Rather than being the main alone on the pitch with an angry opposition procedures are the lawyers, to see if there’s
instigators of an accident, operators tend to bearing down on them.” any liability in there, not to see how easy
be the inheritors of system defects created In 2008 James Reason wrote ‘the Human they are to follow,” he said.
by poor design, incorrect installation and bad Contribution, where instead of focusing
management decisions. Their part is usually on human error, he wanted to focus on the Complexity onboard
that of adding the final garnish to a lethal human contribution, the good things people Today’s seafarers have security and
brew whose ingredients have been long in have done. environmental requirements in addition
the cooking.” So if you tell the story of the Titanic, you to safety requirements. There can be 5 or
But in the shipping industry, the attitude could focus on the Carpathia, the ship which 6 things they need to assimilate in their
too often is still, “it’s the seafarer’s fault, rescued the survivors, including preparing heads and connect to make decisions, and
how did he make that stupid mistake.” for them to come onboard, recording their sometimes people need to decide what gets
The seafarers should be supported by names, and informing their relatives. priority.
their shore-based management, regulators, “You reach this horrible phase called
and other recognized organisations. Other The limits of procedures? complexity,” he said.
relevant parties are the equipment designers, Efforts to improve safety have been through To understand where the complexity
system designers, programmers, port a number of waves. The first stage was comes from, we can break down what work
operators, terminal operators, charterers, improving the hardware, the machinery is like on a ship.
vetting organisations, industry bodies. itself. The second stage was to focus heavily The core of the work is “relatively
As a seafarer, Mr Shaw recalls making on competence. straightforward” tasks, like navigating,
some mistakes at sea which caused The third stage, starting about 1990, loading and discharging cargo. You have
shipboard electricity supply to trip. As a was to focus on improving procedures and engineering systems to support you. Behind
fleet manager, “I made some quite huge management systems. In the tanker business that, you have a lot of processes to assist,
mistakes”. the owner and flag took responsibility including procedures, checklists and forms.
“We’re all prone to human error. We get for compliance with these. Vetting Then there is a large amount of
ourselves hung up that the only person who organisations provided a further layer which communications which need to be done
makes errors in the shipping business is the could be described as ‘enforcement’ as well during port calls. “Someone comes onboard
seafarer, because we view the seafarer as a as generating best practice. asking for the captain’s time. They’ve got
hazard.” Shipowners developed continuous statutory powers behind them. ‘We are here,
“We make the assumption that all ships improvement systems, identifying what they and you’ll do what we tell you to do.’”
are correctly designed, all the procedures thought they could improve, and then doing This is where it starts to get complex.
around that are fine, the only thing that’s it. “They improved things dramatically.” “The captain gets tied up. The terminal is
wrong is those damn fool seafarers who keep They basically removed all the systemic desperate to get you in and out as quickly
making mistakes. We make the assumption problems from the system. as possible. You may well have port
that if you focus on those mistakes you This focus was successful at improving state inspections, charterers inspections,
prevent accidents – monitor them more and the safety record. Data of tanker industry maintenance.”
pushing them more. That’s what’s called casualties shows a steady decline in There are people who can help you with
4
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
maintenance, such as “riding squads” (crews
which stay on the vessel for a short time for
a certain task). But operations generally rely
only on those onboard.
Behind that, are a number of maintenance
processes and planned maintenance systems,
class requirements, and stores and spares to
manage.
You have a shipowner making sure
everything works correctly, and a regulator
making sure the shipowner is making sure.
Regulators ‘not in touch’
The problems arise because these people
making regulations are not in touch with
how people currently work onboard ships.
They believe that ships work the way they
did when they were seafarers themselves, 30
years earlier, he said.
The way the industry is meant to work
is with a ship interacting with ports, a
shipowner interacting with the ship, the
shipowner being in charge of how ships but no opportunity to practice running You have charterers who expect “utmost
are designed, operated and maintained, and without it, he said. dispatch” and owners who want to maximise
national regulatory bodies – and the IMO – “In my days [at sea] automation was nice their earnings.
making regulations. to have – but when automation went wrong, Usually, there will be enough people in
But there are now about 170 different flag you knew roughly what to do. the management structure who are aware
state regulatory bodies, over 30 classification “If the main interface is the computer of the dangers of putting crew under time
societies, and thousands of owners and systems, then you need to understand the pressure. But there are also situations where
ships, all working in different ways. logic of the control system as well as that of commercial management is handled by
In the 1990s, there were a number of the system it is controlling.” brokers, manning is handled by manning
tanker incidents leading to oil on people’s Today, we hear stories about systems managers, ship management is handled by
shorelines, leading to a call for a new sort of affecting each other which should not have technical managers, and the captain sits in
locally controlled regulatory body, known any connection, such as an alarm system the middle.
as port state control. “Coastal states wanted which would somehow cause the ship to turn Time pressure is not something which
to have some sort of leverage on the ships to starboard when it was tested, he said. can be removed completely, the question is
coming in and out of ports.” making sure people are able to say when it
The port states influence flag states and Enclosed space deaths is too much. “That to me is the difficult bit.
class by creating black lists of bad flags, Investigation into accidents such as enclosed You’ve got to create armour for the captain.
so vessels with these flags were subject to space deaths, the second largest killer The shipowner has got to make it explicitly
more port state inspection. “Nobody wanted on ships, often ends up saying that the clear, If the captain feels under pressure, he
to have a flag that meant they would be individual did not follow procedures. “It has a right to say no.”
targeted by port states, and so the black doesn’t look at what is behind that” Another way to reduce enclosed deaths
listed flags had to improve and quickly. For example, time pressure might be an could be to try to reduce the problem. While
Then you have the vetting organisations, indirect cause. Time pressure can be explicit we can’t prevent seafarers from having to
working on behalf of oil companies – the – if you are asked to do something quickly. enter enclosed spaces at all, we can try to
charterers – whose big concern was that But can also be implicit, when someone does reduce the number of times they have to
they would be the ‘deep pockets’ for a major something because they feel under pressure. do it. There can be better arrangements for
pollution incident. If someone senior believes they are under ventilation. A current method is to use a
So there are multiple organisations with time pressure, that is pushed onto everyone thick pipe to pump air into the space, which
slightly different goals and requirements. beneath them. also blocks the same hole which is needed
“There are all sorts of systems that There can be systemic pressures – where for someone to exit.
people have got to understand, all sorts of a system is designed to function quickly, for The industry takes a bias towards trying to
communications that people are having to example a system designed for fast loading solve problems with administrative methods,
deal with. They are all sitting on top of the of car carriers. and “that’s where we get into problems”.
poor chap in the middle as he tries to make In the tanker sector, a terminal operator It shouldn’t be necessary for someone to
sense of it.” may need to make a choice between building enter a tank with breathing apparatus, except
a new jetty, so there is ample space, or just in an extreme emergency to rescue someone
Increasing automation trying to increase the throughput to get more else.
We also have increasing use of automation, tankers in and out more quickly. TO
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator 5
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
InterManager -
reducing enclosed
space deaths
One of the biggest causes of death onboard vessels today is enclosed spaces - people collapse
due to the atmosphere or other reasons, and cannot be rescued. Captain Kuba Szymanski,
O
secretary general of InterManager, suggested some better ways we can try to reduce the risk
ne of the biggest causes of death “A typical attitude from shipping company The IMO has developed a central database of
onboard vessels is now enclosed management and regulators is to say, we have safety data called Global Integrated Shipping
spaces, where people collapse due given seafarers a lot of training into enclosed Information System (GISIS). But not all states
to a non-breathable atmosphere spaces, we have put up posters about the risks, submit data to it, including Denmark and
or other reasons, and cannot be rescued, said so if they have accidents, it must be their fault.” Germany, he said. “So it is empty. There are no
Captain Kuba Szymanski, secretary general of Chapter 15 of the UK Maritime and statistics.”
InterManager. Coastguard Agency “Code of Safe Working
The normal techniques shipping companies Practices for Merchant Seafarers”, 545 pages in No independent investigation
use to minimise the risk, procedures, training total, available free online, has comprehensive The inclination to “blame the seafarer” can
and posters, are not solving the problem. So we instructions for working in enclosed spaces. be stronger when the investigation is not
need to look at new ways to reduce the risk, he Shipping company managers often keep it in independent. It is not independent if (for
explained. their office. example) the regulations, created by a body
Examples of enclosed spaces are tanks for But they do not often refer to it, Mr. also doing the investigation, may be part of the
cargo, ballast or fuel, or a ‘void space’ between Szymanski said. It is written in a language cause.
the vessel hull and a tank. where people who do not have English as a first In the US, the US Coastguard was the
About three quarters of the deaths are language would struggle to understand, he said. body responsible for investigating the El Faro
seafarers, a quarter is people visiting a ship And it would be a lot to memorise. Many container ship accident where 29 people died.
while it is in port. seafarers are not confident enough in their “Did they find the US Coastguard made a
It is possible that one day, the family of any relationships with their employers to say, they mistake? Of course not. They said, ‘it must be
deceased seafarer could sue the shipowner, for need to stop work while they go back to check the old man, he was told so many times not to
not having “provided sufficient environment for it, he said. sail’”.
the seafarer to work.” More usually, seafarers are afraid to admit Similarly, the Costa Concordia accident was
“A very good American lawyer will go after they don’t have a comprehensive understanding investigated by Italian authorities. “Are they
the owner.” of it. “He doesn’t know it is OK to not know. going to say anything about themselves? Of
That is the environment we have created,” he course not.”
Didn’t follow procedures said.
When people have accidents, the investigations The P+I Clubs can be held indirectly InterManager survey
will often report that it was due to the person not responsible for some of the problems – by InterManager decided to try a different approach
following procedures. In other words, blaming selling shipping companies insurance against – to start by surveying seafarers to ask about
the person who died. deliberate acts of seafarer negligence. This gives the reasons they were taking risks. The survey
People don’t realise that in a typical marine shipping companies an incentive to say that any only had a single question, “why are you killing
situation, the procedures are hard to follow, and problem is due to deliberate seafarer negligence yourselves in enclosed space”, and collected
seafarers are under pressure to not to follow if they can. nearly 5,000 responses.
them to the letter in order to save time, he said. One of the biggest causes, cited by 30 per
No safety report repository cent of respondents, was procedures and conflict
Not all shipping companies are aware that the within them.
risks of enclosed spaces are so great. There is no For example, OCIMF’s ISGOTT
central repository of safety incident reports in (International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and
the maritime industry. Terminals) says that seafarers “should not enter
Data is collected by bodies such as the enclosed space in breathing apparatus unless it is
International Bulk Terminal Association and an emergency”.
the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Board But typically Wall Wash Tests have to
(MAIB), and these are well known, but not be carried out and many operators requires
InterManager’s Captain Kuba Syzmanski global. seafarers to wear breathing apparatus sets for
6
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
this “operational activity,” he said. see their steady progression up the ranks within
the same company. But today, when people are Never been used
Ship design asked where they think they will be in ten years, When Mr. Szymanski takes a ferry, he will often
Not many seafarers saw it as their role to they typically say, they don’t know, they just present his business card to the administrative
question how the ship has been designed, but hope to be still working at sea. office and ask if he can visit the bridge. He asks
they probably should do, he said. Any new master would be very reluctant to the second officer if they issue enclosed space
There is usually just a single small cover pick up the phone and say, “I’ve got a problem”. certificates, and if they have oxygen meters
which is removed to access the space, big onboard.
enough for one person to squeeze through. Lack of trust The answer is nearly always “now we have
“What if we’ve got someone having a heart When people are working with people they one, until last year we had zero,” he said.
attack, how are you going to get them out of don’t know, there is no trust. “People are very It seems that 99 per cent of ships in the world
there?” concerned that they don’t know who they are which are not tankers have just one, which is the
Also the vents in the tank could be better getting. They it takes months [to gain trust].” minimum.
designed to provide a breathable atmosphere. If people feel comfortable with their fellow And the oxygen meter “is in the chief officer’s
“None of the people who designed enclosed crew members, they don’t see the need to check cabin with a blanket, saying ‘do not touch, it is
space ever thought about humans working what they are doing. But the opposite is true. for inspections.’”
there,” he said. “He will be saying, why are you checking, I am Carrying an oxygen meter is an essential
There is a lot of industry discussion about an experienced chief officer. I say, well I don’t safety precaution, because the concentration of
unmanned ships. An unmanned ship would need know you Henrik. I am just covering myself.” oxygen can vary in different parts of a tank.
to be designed with ballast tanks which never
need inspections to be done on them – just as Training Rescues
they would be designed to never need paper Seafarers are not formally trained how to inspect Then there is the question of how someone is
work to be done on them. But rather than wait the structures of tankers. “We don’t know how rescued if they collapse in an enclosed space.
for fully unmanned ships before we do these to take a hammer and learn where to knock it. The hatch to enter tanks can be a little wider
things, we could do it now. We learn on the job, provided we have a good than one person – so impossible for one person
mentor.” to carry another out. They would also need to
Short term hire Class societies teach their surveyors a special take in rescue equipment, such as a rope, torch
Another issue is the employment relationship structure for writing reports. Seafarers are and resuscitator.
seafarers have, which strongly discourages also expected to write reports about tanks, but It is possible to buy an oxygen resuscitator,
them from complaining too much. 90 per cent without this knowledge. a device using positive pressure to inflate the
of seafarers are hired for a specific vessel, so “There’s no point in sending a chief engineer lungs of an unconscious person who is not
when they finish one contract, they frequently to the bunker tank, he has never been there with breathing, in order to keep them oxygenated
don’t have the next one lined up, and cannot be a surveyor’s hat,” he said. and alive. “Even the best companies are not
sure there will be an assignment. The other 10 investing in that equipment,” he said.
per cent of seafarers have a contract saying they Stakeholders Sometimes people enter enclosed spaces
have a certain amount of notice. This is usually In the second phase of the InterManager project, without realizing they are enclosed spaces. For
just the master and chief engineer. it identified the different stakeholders for the example, a cargo hold which was previously
“You were working until Friday, and you may enclosed space issue, including class, shipyard full of wood chips. “They don’t know there’s
work on Monday, you don’t know,” he said. and company senior management. no oxygen down there. Within minutes they are
“How do you relax on the weekend? Your wife “A lot of [these people] do not see themselves dead.
says, what are you doing on Monday. You say, as part of the problem,” he said. They believe Safe manning levels is another issue. A tanker
I don’t know, they will call me. What if they that preventing enclosed space accidents is the might have only three crew members on deck,
don’t call you?” responsibility of seafarers themselves. which need to periodically visit 35 tanks. If two
In such a working environment, “are you “But design of the tank is approved by class. people go into the tank, there is only one further
going to rock the boat, when you may not work Why is class not asking themselves the question person available to rescue them if something
again?” what if, how? goes wrong. “How is this going to work?”
30 years ago, 90 per cent of seafarers were And people ashore can be “oblivious to what
employed by owners. Fourth engineers could happens on a ship”. TO
At the forum, InterManager presented its “Enclosed Spaces Campaign Leadership Award” to Frank Lasse, Corporate Director Loss
Prevention Safety and Quality (LPSQ) with Bernard Schulte Shipmanagement, in honour of his contribution co-ordinating the survey
about enclosed space risks around his company’s seafarers.
“Frank Lassi from Bernhard Schulte was one of the very few leaders who said, this is good, let’s go all the way to our seafarers and ask
them questions,” said Kuba Szymanski, secretary general of InterManager. “He did not censor them. The message came back to us. But
Frank doesn’t have to be worried, he doesn’t have a problem.”
“It was vital to us that we understood what the people actually working in these dangerous spaces think in order to formulate proper
proposals.
The award was a glass trophy in the shape of a lighthouse, together with an iPad, sponsored by Ecochlor.
Altogether the survey gathered feedback from 5,000 seafarers onboard 250 vessels.
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator 7
HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
Harren – defining
effective communication
German vessel operator Harren & Partner is making a big effort to improve communications
between crew and the office. Fleet manager Ömer Faruk Bayar explained
G
erman vessel operator Harren & Some of the most useful conversations happen crew manager,
Partner is making a big effort to during the coffee breaks, not during the formal purchaser,
improve the communications it presentations, when a crew member wants to safety manager,
undertakes between the office tell a manager something honestly. “You have and technical
and crew. nowhere to escape.” superintendent.
Ömer Faruk Bayar, marine fleet manager, and The company’s managing director is not a The idea is that
master mariner, explained what is happening, former seafarer, but “he’s happy when he’s (for example) If
with a talk at the Tanker Operator Hamburg gathering together with all these people.” the purchasing
Harren & Partner’s Ömer
conference in October. The crew can learn that the company is serious manager has
Faruk Bayar
The company was founded in 1989 by Peter about safety and doesn’t just care about money – a technical
Harren, and today operates a fleet of 76 units including hearing the message from the company question about the ship, he can ask the technical
including tankers, heavy lifters, bulk carriers, senior management. superintendent in the office, rather than the crew.
offshore construction vessels, tugs and container Harren also runs small sized workshops, with a The same software which is used to track data
feeders. The company’s seafarer retention rate is maximum 5 people, which are closely structured. about the vessel, can be used to track who is
an impressive 98 per cent. responsible for different aspects in the office.
Captain Bayar was working at sea since 1994, Encouraging reporting
joined Harren in 2004 and joined the office in Harren found that in many cases, only the people Getting to know each other
2018 having worked on tankers for 14 years. in the top four roles on the vessel saw it as part Another project is to improve personal
The project started following a realization that of their job role to report anything they see relationships between shipboard and office staff.
seafarer training, procedures and checklists are which might be a safety concern, or otherwise of When people never meet each other
not enough to stop every problem happening interest to company management. personally, the wrong beliefs can take hold,
onboard. And if communication with crew is not One solution developed was to give every for example shipboard staff might believe that
effective, then much of the efforts to improve crew member a small notebook to carry at people in the office don’t do anything but send
safety and operations can be a wasted effort. all times, to report negative and positive e-mails.
There is no need for a formal definition of observations. The notes are dropped into a box, Harren assigns a “project crew” to come
effective communication – you can define it by which are then sent back to the company. and work in the office for a number of months.
whether or not it is successful, he said. From a People can get to know each other as individuals,
seafarer’s perspective, “effective communication Attitude not just the “captain”. This can also help develop
is communication which is effective.” People talk about competence as a combination better understanding between ship and office,
A straightforward answer can be to say that of skills, experience, knowledge and attitude. which can lead to better communications
the best way to achieve effective communication But perhaps it makes more sense to say that the methods.
is to have a lot of respect and understanding for attitude is the multiplier rather than an additional Crew can meet their technical superintendents,
the people you are communicating with. factor, he said. “We strongly believe – and we who otherwise they would only contact via by
You also need to make sure that people are strongly state – that attitude is the key factor for e-mail.
able to receive your message, including crew change.” In comments, Martin Shaw of MOAMS said
who are ashore or on leave, he said. “When your In the resilience training event, the company from his experience with seafarer visits to office,
captain or your chief engineer stays at home 2 has people appointed as “resilience champions”, it is important that you make it mandatory. If you
months, 3 months, and you change something in who moderate the discussion, and encourage let people volunteer to come to the office, you
your system, they are not aware of it.” crew members to talk, so you don’t just hear just end up with the people who would rather
from the captain or chief engineer. “We really work on the office than on ship, which is not
Workshops have a lot of good feedbacks,” he said. necessarily the people you need.
Harren started running company sponsored Mr. Shaw also noted that when seafarers are
seminars and workshops, on topics such as Reducing questions to ships considering what senior managers think, they
“resilience training”. The company has made effort to try to reduce may form their opinion based on aside comments
“The most important part to me is that we the number of questions which get asked of such as “you need to do some work on your
are really trying to push our top management, shipboard staff. budgets”, rather than anything presented as
our managing directors, to participate in all It creates organizational maps which make it part of a formal presentation. When the senior
these events. Not as lecturer or speaker, but as more obvious who is responsible for the vessel manager is gone, they say “he may say he is
participants,” he said. “It is really very good to within the company, including the head of interested in safety , but its money he’s really
have directors there, with crew.” chartering, the operations manager, assistant, interested in”. TO
8
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperatorHAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
Columbia – finding better
approaches to training
Columbia Shipmanagement is improving the ways it encourages seafarers to think about safety,
develops a safety culture, and trains the crew. Capt. Faouzi Fradi, group training director,
Columbia Shipmanagement explained
C
olumbia Shipmanagement, positive side of safety – rather than tell company’s core values, trying to motivate
one of the world’s largest people what not to do, it wants to tell more critical thinking, improving training,
Shipmanagement companies them to “live another day”, he said. encouraging open-reporting, and focussing
with 15,000 employees, is “Safety culture for us is not only about on welfare.
exploring better ways to encourage crew procedures.” The company embarked on one project
to look at safety, build a safety culture, “Human element is what we do when to ask staff from one of the manning
and improve training. Capt. Faouzi no-one is watching. This is how we feel agencies to ask their children – so mainly
Fradi, group training director, Columbia the safety culture, this is how we take it children of seafarers - how they feel about
Shipmanagement explained more. onboard, and this is how we look at each the environment, ships and safety. “The
Captain Fradi formerly worked as a other. When we see people doing the right message was very impressive,” he said.
master on oil tankers, gas carriers and thing and no-one is watching, we feel that
chemical tankers, and has worked as a safety culture is really implemented into “I CARE”
pilot, marine superintendent and crewing the company.” One project focussed on the words “I care”,
manager. Projects include making safety culture telling seafarers “that we care about them,
Columbia is keen to accentuate the part of everyday life, emphasising the they care about us, the office, the ships.”
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Head Office (Tokyo) +81-3-3726-4412 sales@musasino.co.jp
International Sales Office (Singapore) +65-6776-2827 limhl@musasino.com.sg
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperator 9HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
shipowner clients to come and meet them. people can exchange ideas online with
“Working with industry is very other staff members.
important,” he said. “We always have Columbia is open to works closely with
speakers from different areas of industry. its competitor ship management companies
We get oil majors, insurance people. We in developing training courses. As to avoid
want the industry to speak to seafarers, we accidents, people on other ships need to be
want seafarers to hear from the industry.” well trained too, he said.
The training can also include role-play
and teambuilding exercises. “You see the Virtual reality training
engagement and how much fun they have,” Columbia is working with a UK based
he said. virtual reality company to do training.
It can be very interesting to simulate It has software tools where people go
ship operations onshore, where people are through a checklist – inside the VR – of
usually more relaxed than when working. what conditions need to be true before
“We talk about all the possible risks enclosed space work can begin. It has also
which come with such operations,” he said. developed training tools for scrubbers.
Columbia Shipmanagement’s Capt. Faouzi “You see there’s a lot of learning.” The idea here is that people might
Fradi learn better by going through a virtual
I CARE “became our philosophy – Learning management System simulation of what they have to do on a
which is sitting on top of our values”. Colombia has implemented a learning ship (in accordance with the procedures),
The company developed I CARE into management system, which allows people rather than just telling them what the
an acronym, standing for “Commitment, (both seafarers and shore staff) to access procedures are, which sounds very
Appreciation, Responsibility, Evidence.” many different training modules, including theoretical. “The idea is to put people
via their mobile devices. “We want to through real situations.”
Open-reporting make training accessible anywhere and
One Policy was to encourage people to anytime,” he said. Training centres
report elements of concern they see, any There is a learning management system, The company is gradually transforming all
non-compliance or misbehaviour, not only which records the courses everybody has of its training centres.
those related the environment. “We try to completed. Managers can monitor the “During our training – all our seafarers
tell people, by reporting things, you are progress of their teams. have free access to mobile phones and
not snitching,” he said. “If we do the right Many courses were developed in-house, laptops. They are asked to question what
thing – but we tolerate someone else doing so they are specific to the company’s the trainer is saying and be very critical to
the wrong thing, we are getting nowhere, requirements, and the equipment it has what they hear.”
and we are not achieving our goals.” onboard specific vessels, such as scrubbers “Sometimes we forget seafarers are
“By reporting, by saying, by telling us and ballast water treatment systems. adults,” he said. “They should have the
things, we have saved a lot of situations.” 10,000 people are currently using the choice of what they do.”
“It is amazing the number of reports we system. The company also provides training for
have received, when you implement such a The system is also used to manage its own instructors, including teaching
Policy of Open Reporting.” classroom training (it does not replace them about decision making and different
“Some people may try to use Open classroom training). leadership styles.
Reporting for different purposes, not what Course certificates are digital, and can
you expect,” he said. “But that doesn’t be accessed via mobile devices. Mental health
matter. What matters is you get to know There can be friendly competition Columbia is developing a “mental health
exactly what is happening on the ships, and between Columbia staff about how far they first aid guide” for ship masters. It is
you come up with solutions to fix them.” have got with the training. “I saw two of being developed in collaboration with a
our directors competing with each other, number of psychologists, based in Greece,
Critical thinking with one saying, ‘I got a Guru badge and Ireland, Scotland and Australia.
Critical thinking is a very important factor you are still behind.’” “It is not our goal for masters to
when we talk about the human element, he The system can be used to send become psychologists, but to have a basic
said. “If seafarers and office employees do messages and share videos. understanding of mental health issues,” he
not have critical thinking, then nobody is Examples of course topics include said.
going to question the procedures,” he said. management system, cyber security, All seafarers and employees of the
“We need to look at things with a critical GDPR, risk assessment, enclosed space Company have access to a free of charge
mind.” entry, and using planned maintenance mental health support via a 24-hour
To encourage this, Columbia launched a software. hotline.
campaign called “think”. Seafarers are asked to provide feedback The company also gathers perspectives
on all the training they receive. Their from seafarers related to mental health and
Meeting clients superiors also get notified about how their welfare via a number of surveys.
Columbia invites its seafarers to attend performance has improved.
meetings in Cyprus – and also invites its There are “social learning” tools where TO
10
January / February 2020 l TANKEROperatorHAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
INDUSTRY – MARKETS
How to find the maritime
Figure 3: VLCC TCE Freight Rate Distribution 2000-2012 (US$/Day) code so putting theory into practice will not
be easy.
digital technology you
-1 Std Dev Average +1 Std Dev For years the evidence has been mounting
US$10.700/Day US$44.400/Day US$78.100/Day that the market was adopting new operating
parameters. This has been bolstered by vetting
and technical requirements combined with
Average TCE required for 10% ROE swollen inventories from past orderbooks.
want - Dimitris Lyras
15-year Life | US$ 48.800/Day
However, even if these elevated deletions
20-year Life | US$ 45.200/Day
occur, further restraint will still be required. If
25-year Life | US$ 43.300/Day
available tonnage is trimmed and rates rise as
forecast, increasing transit speeds will be
tempting. However, speeding up vessels would
Not all digital technology offered to the maritime industry
Normal will helpeliminate
Curve Distribution us - and some of the gains by raising tonnage
the technology which
availability through reduced voyage times.
would help us is often not on offer. Dimitris Lyras, director of Lyras Shipping,
Although and maritime
the 10% solution will result in
software company Ulysses Systems, shared some ideas on how to technology which will actually dearer transportation costs, charterers should
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any software companies are If the information isn’t specifically tailored to
Source: McQuilling Services. save
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like this, and they want a return.
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It means that shipping companies need to -yet
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time with information which you don’t need. computer recognizing
VLCC lifespan assumptions appears to be should occur.
a dog in an image, is Our Training Centre offers you:
quite small. However,
hardly considered “an SPECIALIZED COURSES IN HANDLING OF
The $5,500 per day difference between the McQuilling said that
intelligent thing for a LARGE TANKERS!
required TCE of a VLCC traded for 15 years it was aware that like
human.” • Two fully equipped manned models representing
and one traded for 25 years is immaterial, any business, tanker tankers of capacity 150 000 DWT and 280 000 DWT
“Recognizing a dog
compared to the expected variation that will be owners do not operate are available;
is really hard for a
observed in the marketplace over the life of under an altruistic • STS operations, approaching SBM and FPSO are
“
computer,” he said.
included in the programme;
But in human terms,
• Harbour manoeuvres are supported by manned
“you can tell them models of large ASD and tractor tugs.
Since 2012, the reading of the it’s stupid - just doing
something some other For further information please contact:
VLCC sector has remained dog could have done.” Ship Handling Research and Training Centre,
”
Ilawa, Poland
one of oversupply AI companies are
spending enormous tel./fax: +48 89 648 74 90 or +48 58 341 59 19
amounts of money e-mail: office@portilawa.com
- McQuilling training computers www.ilawashiphandling.com.pl
Lyras Shipping Director, Dimitris Lyras
TANKEROperator
October/ 2013
January February 2020 l TANKEROperator 05
11HAMBURG CONFERENCE REPORT
which Mr Lyras had recently seen at a were made by companies that invest billions A person going to a ship does not have a
conference, was wireless communications in generic features,” he said. way of sharing knowledge from the person
networks which work on a ship. Ships don’t only use generic co-ordination who previously did that role on the ship, just
It is often not possible to use normal wi-fi features. “There’s no company that’s going some files or personal notes.
or cellular communications inside a ship to come out of Silicon Valley which will “If you’re going to involve mariners, you
because the radio communication cannot work out if you are doing tank cleaning, what have to have a system where the mariners’
penetrate the steel walls. But this company is sensitive in the operation, what defects knowledge and corporate knowledge somehow
(Scanreach) had developed a protocol which a component has, what safety issues are mesh together,” he said.
can work on board a ship. prevalent, what knock on effects you might And machinery manuals are usually “not
Knowing mariners’ location on the ship is encounter if you stop the tank cleaning written for the guy who’s about to read it.”
the most important safety and co-ordination momentarily.” Perhaps computer systems could even assist
issue of all. A shipping expert would be aware that with interpersonal skills. “It’s quite obvious
Better networks make it possible “mooring processes can cause injuries and when things go sour on a ship - people have
in the future to have for example data other hazards” he said. Or that “handling an interpersonal skills problem,” he said.
communications in an enclosed space, windlasses can cause overloading of windlass The pathway to improved software systems
communicating data about whether it has a motors”. onboard is to find ways to involve mariners
dangerous atmosphere without spot checks How well are junior mariners informed of in configuring certain aspects of the software,
that a mariner cannot continuously be doing these issues? so it brings them exactly what they need.
while working in the tank. Or to keep track It would be useful to know what machines “You can say, do I want my mariner making
of where the mariner is in the tank You could are doing when you are not standing next to changes to the software? Yes you do. But how
presumably communicate data about the them. is he going to get involved - and which part is
heartbeat of people while they are in the tank. Seafarers don’t spend their time just he going to make changes to?”
“You can have sensors that tell you what watching one machine, they move around
people are doing in there, if they are alright. the ship. It could be useful to have situation Advanced technology
It’s going to be a game changer,” he said. “It awareness tools, different from those of a One audience member asked how virtual
is knowing what is going on, on the ship.” factory. “Nobody is going to help us with it.” reality should fit into the maritime industry
“Networks onboard are important. We don’t - since it potentially offers completely new
talk about it.” Knowledge management ways of doing things, not just a replacement
Mobile devices could also deliver useful for the usual methods. It would make sense
Co-ordinating work knowledge to seafarers. For example, they for the shipping industry to embrace new
“Co-ordination onboard ship is extremely could provide updated information about technologies as soon as possible, since it will
important. hazards, safety issues, current information, come along eventually whether the industry
A lot of co-ordination is required on repairs history of machinery. “Knowledge wants them or not.
and maintenance work, including with safety, management is one of the things you don’t Mr Lyras replied, perhaps the first step is
if one person runs into difficulties, another can hear about,” he said. careful consideration, because VR training is
provide assistance. Previous efforts to build knowledge not something which can be introduced “with
“The co-ordination isn’t quite there because management systems, carried out over the past the snap of a finger,” and vendors are unlikely
technology isn’t there. It’s not because people 2 decades, failed largely because companies to do all the work of creating effective
didn’t try, it’s because technology didn’t exist. were unable to connect the knowledge to the products themselves.
Soon enough it will.” current situation of the practitioner. “We want to enable mariners to do good
Some software companies are promoting Knowledge not linked to the current work - not let machines do good work. It
tools to help co-ordinate work, but not the situation “is just a file store”, he said. “Just is a thinking process It is a domain experts
sort of work co-ordination which is useful because you can put information in there process.”
for shipping people. For example, one ERP doesn’t mean it is knowledge.” Companies can often go too far in thinking
vendor was advertising that its products “Today, because of power of handheld advanced technology solves all problems.
enabled staff to approve a purchase order computing, you can actually solve some of Mr Lyras cited one example he knows of
while at the gym. This is because it’s easy these problems.” a shipping company person who ran into
to show a purchase order. Less easy to show If people don’t have the best possible financial problems and was arranged a
what is going on at any one time on a ship. information, they might start doing work meeting with the bank. Rather than talk
What would be better is if the smart device on machinery which would be better left about the company finances, the bank’s
knew what the ship and its crew are doing. For untouched. “They adjust things that don’t need representative suggested that a data lake might
example some of the crew are undertaking a adjusting, because they don’t have information be the answer.
piping repair, there are people entering closed at the time of need.” “Do you think a data lake is something
space, or cleaning tanks, pressing up a pipe “Information at the time of need is we’re ever going to hear about again? It was a
or a tank for a test. Attention is dispersed in a possible. We have a computer very close to us fad at some point,” he said.
certain way. It tells you what everybody else these days.
is doing.” That computer can be told what’s going on.
We all know how useful handheld devices Nobody is doing it because Silicon Valley
can be, from our experience with smart doesn’t make any money figuring out what
phones. “But remember handheld devices you are doing.” TO
12
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