Tanker Operator put together a one day conference at Norshipping, one of the maritime industry's largest trade shows in Oslo in June, about TMSA, the self-assessment program for tanker operators developed by OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum), and to demonstrate how the tanker industry is moving forward with techniques which are in many cases better than used in other industries.

Delegates registered from Port of Marseille Authority, Brostrom, K. C. Lyrintzis, ISMA, Mideast Ship Management, Reederei "NORD" Klaus E. Oldendorff, Neste Oil, Overseas Maritime Carriers S.A., Marine Service Shipping (Gibraltar), STAR Reefers UK, Jo Tankers AS, Eurasia Group, Electronic Shipping Solutions, Cavodoro Shipping Corporation, Total Lubricants, Engineering Srl, Electronic Shipping Solutions, JLMD and Hamworthy Svanehøj.

Attendees learned more about TMSA (the oil companies' Tanker Management Self Assessment Scheme), how it will motivate and reward quality and what the expectations are from oil companies. They learned techniques from leading tanker experts about how to achieve high quality and continuous improvement in tanker operations.

The tanker industry has gone through some significant changes recently: excellent earnings, the realisation of the need to improve the image of the industry, and TMSA, a major step by the oil majors to support that voluntary quality initiatives are the only sustainable quality initiatives.

We invited speakers to suggest what significant changes they foresee with respect to tanker management between now and 2010.



9.30 Chairman’s opening remarks: Dimitris Lyras, managing director, Lyras Shipping

Motivating quality in tanker operations

Dimitris Lyras has a been involved in all aspects of shipping, ship management and ship operations, contracts of marine affreightment, and chartering. He is committed to the principles of initiatives aimed at assisting the shipping industry effectively. In support of these initiatives, he has established collaboration with universities in the development of educational packages, and has a special interest in on-line training schemes for shipboard personnel. In Intertanko he is the vice chairman of the communications and PR committee and a member of the information technology committee, a liveryman of the worshipful company of shipwrights, and a freeman of the city of London. He the advisor to the board of Ulysses Systems, one of the world's largest maritime software companies, headquartered in London (UK).

9.40 Keynote speech - Ian Hunter, director Marine Services, International Marine Transportation (responsible for marine quality assesment of all third party vessels used by ExxonMobil and affiliates)

Oil company vetting the limitations of the current approach
Quality operators --- how would you recognise one
OCIMF TMSA programme; a new paradigm?
How International Marine Transportation will use TMSA and what are our expectations

Ian Hunter is director, marine services, International Marine Transportation Ltd, responsible for marine quality assessment of all third party vessels used by ExxonMobil affiliates. He is one of the principal architects of the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) Tanker Management Self Assessment (TMSA) scheme.

10.10 Peter Swift, managing director, Intertanko

Dr. Peter Swift is the Managing Director of INTERTANKO, the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners which represents more than 245 oil and chemical tanker owners and a further 350 associate members from related companies. Before INTERTANKO he worked for 24 years for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. He graduated as a Naval Architect in the UK and has a doctorate from the University of Michigan.

10.40 Lars Mossberg, chairman, Marinvest, and chairman, Intertanko vetting committee

Lars Mossberg is chairman of Marinvest, a private shipping and investment group with holdings in five product tankers, four new buildings (Ice 1A). The group manages assets with a total value of about USD 300 million. Marinvest Shipping manages existing tanker tonnage totaling about 500.000 deadweight tones. He is also chairman of the Intertanko vetting committee and member of the associations executive committee.

11.10 BREAK

11.40 Rajaish Bajpaee, president and group managing director, Eurasia.

Rajaish Bajpaee is president and group Managing Director of the Eurasia Group of Companies, which is a member of the Hamburg-based Schulte Group, based in Hong Kong. Eurasia manages around 100 ships and is regarded as a groundbreaking company in its support of seafarers. Mr Bajpaee is also President of the International Ship Managers' Association (ISMA) and a member of the Regional Panel (Asia Pacific) of INTERTANKO. He has a chief engineers licence.

12.10 Patrick Slesinger, chief information officer, Wallem Shipmanagement and chairman, Intertanko IT committee

Patrick Slesinger is chief information officer of the Wallem Group, which is headquartered in Hong Kong. Wallem is recognized as one of the leading shipping companies in its use of IT. Wallem Shipmanagement currently manages over 200 vessels, employing over 6,000 seafarers and shore based staff. He is also the past Chairman of Intertanko IT Committee and a keen advocate of intra-industry information technology and software development collaboration.

12.40 Panel discussion: How can quality in tanker operations be motivated and rewarded

1.00 Lunch

Achieiving best practise in tanker operations

2.00 Nikos Mikelis, project coordinator of the European Commission funded project "Pollution Prevention & Control".
EC funded analysis into trends of tanker accidents over the past 25 years and contributory factors

Analysis of all accidents and incidents on aframax tankers between 1978 to 2003 Downward trend of incidents Factors which have led to improvements

Nikos Mikelis is an independent marine consultant, previously director of Lyras Shipping in London, and principal surveyor with Lloyds Register. He has a doctorate in ship hydrodynamics. He chaired Intertanko’s Safety, Technical & Environmental Committee from 2000 to 2004 and is Chairman, London Greek Technical Committee of DNV

2.25 Bjorn Sodahl, Sweden, ex-chairman, Intertanko environment committee and ex-quality and safety manager, Concordia Maritime

How do we define and verify quality performance in tanker operations?
How can quality performance be communicated, encouraged and rewarded?

Björn Södahl is an independent naval architect, previously quality and safety manager with Concordia Maritime / Stena Bulk, where he was involved in the development of the groundbreaking V-MAX tankers. He was part of the team behind Stena´s pioneering high speed catamaran project - later to be named the Stena HSS. He participated in the delegations of Sweden and Intertanko to the IMO following the Erika accident, developing the Condition Assessment Scheme (CAS) for single hull tankers. Until recently he was chairman of the Intertanko Environmental Committee.

2.50 - Peter Kidman, managing director of Liberian Registry, UK
Overcoming regulatory and compliance problems affecting shipowners

Peter Kidman is head of the London office of the Liberian Ship Registry. He was formerly technical manager of Intercargo and prior to that was with the International Chamber of Shipping. He is an experienced master mariner with a master’s degree in maritime law from Cardiff.

3.10 Break

3.40 Fred Venner, product manager tankers, Bureau Veritas
Automating handling of thickness measurements on ships.

Eu-funded project to develop a software tool which can calculate and interprete thickness measurements and handle data
Measurement consistency checks trigger electronic alerts

Fred Venner served as chief engineer on LNG and LPG carriers as well as tankers before becoming a Fleet Superintendent with a major Middle East tanker owner in 1986. He joined Bureau Veritas in 1990. In 2002 he moved to Paris to take up the position of product manager for tankers and liquefied gas carriers as part of the marine marketing team.

4.05 Ulysses Systems - management efficiency and where it is going in other industries

Panteleimon Pantelis is director of maritime software company Ulysses Systems (UK) Ltd, as well as IT manager of shipping company Lyras Shipping. He was previously a superintendent engineer and has firsthand experience in ship repair, maintenance and operations. Also he is an Associate of the City and Guilds Institute.

4.30 Fuel Savings and Reduced Emissions through Optimising Vessel Performance - a Practical Approach

Presenter and Author: Gwynne Lewis (BMT SeaTech)
Co-Author: Bernt Karlsen (Teekay Shipping)
The practical approach adopted by BMT SeaTech and Teekay Shipping to the topic.
Creation of an enhanced vessel reporting system based upon owners and charterers requirements
The development of bespoke routines to nomalise performance data and to exclude variations in draft and weather.
Trend analysis
Initial results from the 6 pilot system vessels
Future opportunities for Teekay and the Industry

Gwynne Lewis is operations director of BMT SeaTech, a leading international provider of maritime products, advanced software systems and related specialist consultancy services to support commercial ship operations. As a wholly owned subsidiary of British Maritime Technology - one of the worlds leading international maritime engineering consultancies. BMT SeaTech was recently contracted by Teekay to undertake a wide ranging study about how they could optimize their tanker operations.

4.55 Panel discussion: What are the most effective ways to improve tanker operations. Nikos Mikelis; Bjorn Sodahl; Peter Kidman, managing director of Liberian Registry, UK; Fred Venner, product manager tankers, Bureau Veritas; Ulysses Systems; Gwynne Lewis (BMT SeaTech)

5.15 Close