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November 2013

Media release: ALL Academy offers Maritime Resource Management licences to combat maritime accidents

By Accidents and investigations, Maritime Resource Management (MRM), Media releases, P&I Clubs and marine insurers No Comments

An initiative to increase Maritime Resource Management (MRM) training in the maritime industry has been taken by ALL Academy International AB who now offers MRM training licences. “Lack of MRM continues to be a key factor in maritime accidents and there is an urgent need to do something about it. More shipping companies need to implement MRM”, says Martin Hernqvist, managing director of ALL Academy International AB, or ALL Academy for short.

Hernqvist, who parallel to his job at ALL Academy is the managing director of The Swedish Club Academy, continued: “The main promoter of resource management training in the maritime industry in the past has been the hull and P&I insurer The Swedish Club and MRM training licences have so far only been available through The Swedish Club Academy. A challenge has been to reach out to the shipping companies who have their insurances placed with other P&I clubs and insurance providers.”

Protection and indemnity insurance claims exceeding US$ 9 million are shared between the clubs in the International Group of P&I Clubs, Hernqvist explains. Any claim exceeding US$ 9 million will therefore have an impact on all clubs. Hernqvist said that major P&I claims may involve loss of lives and may have severe environmental consequences. The costs of these claims are escalating and many of these claims are also MRM-related, according to Hernqvist. “From a financial perspective, the grounding of the Costa Concordia stands out. It is by far the most expensive P&I claim ever. When the costs exceed the level ‘for own account’, all P&I clubs get involved and eventually all their respective members will have to contribute to cover the losses,” he added.

Martin Hernqvist said: “It is of the interest to all P&I clubs – and to their members – that everyone do whatever possible to reduce the likelihood of incidents. We are firm believers since 20 years now that MRM is the most effective tool available to increase safety and efficiency in our industry. However, it may have been difficult for other P&I clubs and insurers to promote a concept that has only been available through The Swedish Club Academy. The clubs are close colleagues in the international insurance market but at the same time competitors,” he said. “For this reason MRM licenses will now be made available also through ALL Academy. ALL Academy is the development company behind the MRM training programme and completely independent.”

Hernqvist hopes that many parties in the industry, not least other P&I clubs and insurers, through this initiative shall push forward for a greater use of MRM.  “We are excited about the new possibilities and we hope that MRM shall reach out to a wider audience. The industry needs it,” he concluded.

-ENDS-

Further information 

Martin Hernqvist, managing director, ALL Academy International AB
Tel: +46 (0)706 313 299
Email: martin.hernqvist@allacademy.com
Website: http://allacademy.com
For photos and logotype, click here.

Notes to Editors

ALL Academy International AB is an independent training development company primarily involved in human factors and resource management training programmes. ALL Academy is the company behind the Maritime Resource Management (MRM) training programme that has become the industry standard for resource management training. Primary users are maritime universities and training centres, ship owners, ship managers, manning agencies, pilot associations, marine insurers and P&I clubs. The MRM network is the maritime industry’s largest network in the human factors area and MRM training is today available in 35 countries worldwide.

Martin Hernqvist is the managing director of ALL Academy International AB and The Swedish Club Academy AB. Hernqvist was 20 years ago involved in the development of the maritime industry’s first ever resource management training programme, at that time called Bridge Resource Management (BRM). Maritime Resource Management (MRM) is a further development of BRM. MRM aims at involving the whole organisation, including shore-side management. In order to establish an effective safety culture within the organisation, a deep understanding and a commitment from the top is of utmost importance.

Master/Pilot relationship in focus at Nautical Institute seminar

By Accidents and investigations, Maritime Resource Management (MRM), Master/Pilot, Seminars/Conferences 3 Comments
The Cyprus Branch of the Nautical Institue ran a half-day seminar on the topic of “Master + Pilot = Zero Accidents?” on Friday 8 November 2013. The well-attended seminar was held at the Odyssia (Kapetanios) Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus. The event was followed by a gala dinner in the evening to celebrate the Branch’s 20 year anniversary.
Graham Cowling, Chairman of the Nautical Institute’s Cyprus Branch, made an excellent summary of the challenges in the Master/Pilot relationship in his welcome address at the seminar. (See bottom of this post.)
Martin Hernqvist of ALL Academy addressing the Master/Pilot relationship

Martin Hernqvist of ALL Academy talking about “The Master/Pilot relationship and soft skills”.

 

Delegates at Nautical Institute's seminar on the Master/Pilot relationship

Nautical Institute’s seminar on the Master/Pilot relationship attracted a large number of people and discussions were lively.

 

Captain Sivaraman Krishnamurthi, President of the Nautical Institute

Captain Sivaraman Krishnamurthi, President of the Nautical Institute, responding to questions from the audience.

 

The speakers at the seminar, from left to right: Graham Cowling, Operations Manager at Marlow Navigation, Sivaraman Krishnamurthi, President of the Nautical Institute, Martin Hernqvist, Managing Director of ALL Academy and The Swedish Club Academy, Valentin Mavrinac, Marine Superintendent with Columbia Shipmanagement and Nick Cutmore, Secretary General of International Maritime Pilots' Association (IMPA)

The speakers at the seminar, from left to right: Graham Cowling, Operations Manager at Marlow Navigation, Sivaraman Krishnamurthi, President of the Nautical Institute, Martin Hernqvist, Managing Director of ALL Academy and The Swedish Club Academy, Valentin Mavrinac, Marine Superintendent with Columbia Shipmanagement and Nick Cutmore, Secretary General of International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA).

 

BRANCH CHAIRMAN’S WELCOME ADDRESS

The Master-Pilot relationship is a complex one. This ‘specialist’ navigator must be quickly integrated into the Bridge team as soon as he arrives onboard and needs its full support. On the other hand, ‘To Master’s orders and Pilot’s advice’ still holds good and the consequences of any navigational mishap always stay with the ship. So how do we make sure the Pilot is fit for the task, gets the full support he needs and brings the ship in and out of port with ‘zero accidents’? This seminar will focus on the main issues from the Pilot and Master’s points of view and then provide some answers.

When our Branch Committee first met earlier this year to discuss the topic for a half-day seminar, we wanted to raise an important topic for our 20th year anniversary. By some estimates, the shipping industry is paying US$ 50 million a year on navigational accidents in pilotage waters. Pilots are expected to take care of the interests of the local port, waterway and infrastructure as well as report on navigational deficiencies noted on board so the traditional role as ‘advisor to the Master’ is becoming increasingly unclear. For example, a ship may manoeuvre into a new port every day but the tug masters may not speak English and traffic flow in the port is in the hands of the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) – how much control on their port manoeuvres do the Bridge Team really have?

Pilots are an invaluable addition to the Bridge for their local knowledge and for their coordination with tugs / linesmen etc. The accidents during harbour manoeuvring may not necessarily be due to faults in the Master-Pilot relationship itself (which is but one component of the Pilotage operation). There are other factors to consider, such as inadequate planning, poor attitude, multi-tasking / multiple demands on the individuals, inadequate infrastructure / planning in ports, actual or imagined time constraints, role of the VTS, technical-failure and lack of contingency plans.

The topic has been the subject of several articles but has yet to be extensively debated in the Nautical Institute forums. Is radical reorganization of Master-Pilot responsibilities possible? While the competency standards of Masters are regulated by IMO STCW, Pilots and Tugs usually operate under national competency requirements and perhaps international ‘recommendations’, which might not be binding. In some countries, the Pilot is obligated to remove himself from the Bridge after an incident in order not to prejudice possible liability. These are issues requiring careful consideration.

It is noteworthy that there are several ports of the world where fewer accidents occur than in other places. There are obviously best-practices to be shared. There is enormous potential for ship-shore interchange of passage planning in ports. Two very experienced navigators – the Master and the Pilot on the Bridge should ideally result in ‘Zero Accidents’ – but we are all painfully aware that this is currently not the case.

Does the industry require a quantum leap in managing navigation with the Pilot onboard?

Graham Cowling, FNI, Chairman, Nautical Institute, Cyprus Branch