MAIN HEAD Tanker Operator interview : Alan Gavin DECK HEAD Tanker Operator interviewed Alan Gavin, head of maritime at Lloyds Register, check, to find out where class is heading and what role it will play in the future maritime industry BODY Lloyd's Register is the biggest tanker class society in the world, with ___ tankers on its books out of a total tanker fleet of about 7000. With the ISPS (International Ship and Port Security) code, double hull legislation, permanent means of access (ladders and walkways inside tankers), development on coatings, there is plenty of work going on. A major upcoming development is making legislation for permanent means of access, with requirements that ships need to be fitted with plenty of walkways and ladders. "It could end up being extremely expensive," he says. Mr Gavin believes that one of his biggest achievements as head of IACS, the International Association of Class Societies, was forming better relationships between class and industry associations, in particular Intertanko. "We started talking to the industry associations and saying that we ought to bring together the experience of the industry," he says. "Most of us are interested in the same thing - safety of life at sea and no substandard ships." SUBHEAD Fit for purpose For Mr Gavin, the fundamentals of Lloyds Register's approach could be described as making sure the ship is "fit for purpose," getting the safety levels right. "I could get you to work in a tanker - you'll get there safely, but it will take you ten times longer and there would be plenty of cost involved," he says. "That's not fit for purpose." This is all tricky stuff to get right. It comes down to making ship designs which have the right amount of steel which can ensure that ship can safely hold in its cargo over its lifetime, without wasting money. The right amount of surveying and inspecting to ensure that the ship is safe, without wasting money on too much surveying. Increased inspections and steel thickness lead to additional cost which can only be passed on to shippers, and ultimately the general public. Mr Gavin firmly believes there are market limitations to the amount of money which the general public is prepared to pay for shipping, as expressed through the price of car fuel, before making things unpleasant for their politicians. "In America, when petrol went over $1 a gallon, that was quite an upheaval," he says. SUBHEAD Maintaining standards As the largest tanker class society, LR is not in a position to cherry pick only the highest quality vessels. However Mr Gavin notes that his organisation has no incentive to reduce standards. "If you're whole credibility rests on your reputation, why should you endanger that reputation by approving anything that isn't fit for purpose?" he asks. "It doesn't change the price of your survey." It is an approach which seems to be working well with industry. The major oil companies, which possibly have the most to lose from tanker accidents, decree through their maritime body, OCIMF (Oil Companies Industry Marine Forum), that they will only charter vessels classed with the top 6 class societies. SUBHEAD What class does The remit of class, how far it goes to survey a ship, is a hot debate topic at the moment. Regulatory agencies, particularly the non-maritime ones, would dearly like some organisation to make certificates which declare ships to be seaworthy, taking into account all the possible factors which can cause accidents, such as hull, navigation equipment and the skills of the crew. But practically, providing this service is virtually impossible - declaring a ship seaworthy implies taking a level of responsibility for accidents, which will inevitably include factors out of anybody's control, such as whether it has the right crew and how much training they have. "The majority of accidents are human errors," Mr Gavin says. Even if the role of class is restricted to just covering the hull and equipment, it is still theoretically impossible to do 100 per cent surveys; the class society has to make some kind of judgement about how much would be necessary. "It would take a very long time. Practically its impossible," he says. "You have to look at an assessment of where critical areas are." There are always plenty of people keen to criticise class societies in general, with complaints about class surveys which miss critical corrosion in the interests of a faster inspection. But on the other hand many in the industry see the class system as the best we have, and are quick to ask for the assistance of a class surveyor to explain issues to a port state control inspector. Lloyds Register is happy to address its critics, he says. "We're very happy to address the individual cases, we will address the procedures," he says. "For example if one of our ships is named rustbucket of the month [by Paris MOU port state control]." Lloyds Register builds up lists of its ships which get more port state control detentions than normal, and puts them under extra scrutiny. "It builds up a picture of the ship which indicates low maintenance," he says. "Then we make an unscheduled inspection. That's how you maintain quality." SUBHEAD Liability Class societies are being expected to shoulder increasing weights of financial liability by governments around the world. This is always something that a class society can insure against (apart from criminal liability) but these premiums would then have to be passed onto customers. The European Union is currently pushing directives through which will expect class societies to accept a Eur 5m liability cap on loss of life and Eur 2.5m liability cap on loss of property. "Considering your class fee is 2 to 3,000 euro that's high," Mr Gavin says. "Our operating margins are small," he says. "There's a big misconception that we are a big commercial organisation with vast profits." "When we create regulations for IMO, they don't pay us anything." SUBHEAD Constant change Amid plenty of demands in the industry that the class system is not working and needs to be changed, Mr Gavin answers that the class system has always been under constant change. "I don't see a problem with the class system," he says. "It's a system that moves rapidly with the times and has a vast area of expertise. Mr Gavin cites the society's work with ISM, ISPS and maybe, ILO legislation in future as examples of how it moves with the times. "We're getting a number of flag states interested in us doing ILO" [International Labour Organisation legislation], he says. "The jury is out on us doing ILO matters at the moment." "The workforce we have is surveyors - it's not really there to do this kind of work. It's more of a question of, if we should be doing it. I don't know where that's going." "We've had discussions at IACS, we're being asked to do more and more," he says. "I see no problem with that." However Mr Gavin believes that the role of class is still the one which is tightly defined on the IACS website, focusing on "technical standards in relation to the design, construction and survey of marine related facilities including ships and offshore structures." The additional work it has been getting involved with, covering security and ISM fits in with this definition, i.e. maintaining the integrity of the hull and equipment. SUBHEAD Auditing class The class state audits which the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) is undertaking, he says, will not change much, because it just transfers work which had previously been handled by the European Union onto a different agency. "The main difference is, there will probably be more audits," he says. "Flag states are supposed to audit the different class organisations. All these people have a right to audit us. And we have our own internal audits." "Everyone is looking to make sure we're independent," he says. "We are staying independent." "I think EMSA will be extremely beneficial to the industry," he says. "It will provide common guidance to the commission." SUBHEAD Steel thickness So what is happening to the goal based standards for steel thickness, originally proposed last year by the Bahamas and Greece? Mr Gavin stresses that IMO will set the goals, but the class societies will work out which steel thickness and other design factors are necessary to reach those goals. "When Bahamas and Greece put the paper forward, we said we would like to assist you to create the goal based standards," he says. "It will go to IMO as a draft, to say, the IMO standard should be set by IMO." "We're starting from a position of having years and years of data in ships," he says. "IMO can't do that."