IMCA Marine Division

Publication Details - Seminar Proceedings

IMCA Annual Seminar 2007 - New Frontiers in Marine Contracting

The 2007 IMCA annual seminar took place at the Paris Rive Gauche Hotel & Conference Centre on 6-7 November. This, the fifteenth annual seminar, was the biggest and best yet, with over 350 delegates taking part - a clear record. Participants included offshore and onshore management and operational staff, together with a range of specialist consultants, oil company representatives and regulators. Sixteen supplier members of IMCA participated in the associated exhibition, also a record, where delegates were able to learn about their latest products and services.

This year's theme was New frontiers in marine contracting. Presentations and workshops covered a wide range of subjects, from new technological developments and operational achievements through to the challenges raised by the current skills shortage and other more technical issues.

The keynote session on day one included four very well received presentations by IMCA President Knut Boe and three senior oil company representatives on the challenges and opportunities faced by the marine contracting industry as it moves through the new frontiers of deeper waters, use of new technologies and working in new parts of the globe.

Separate sessions on marine and diving topics enabled delegates to focus on aspects most relevant to their own work. Highlights of the marine sessions included presentations on rock dumping in deep waters and the technical challenges of decommissioning, while diving sessions included developments in personal diving equipment, and on modern saturation dive systems.

The afternoons featured workshops where delegates could express their views on issues such as the use of the Common Marine Inspection Document, wire rope discard criteria, diver competence, and medical support needs for divers. Discussion in the workshops helped identify a number of issues and suggestions for future work on behalf of the industry that will be taken forward through IMCA committees and workgroups.

The seminar's social programme provided further opportunities for networking, meeting friends and colleagues both old and new. Delegates enjoyed a buffet reception, a cruise and dinner on the river Seine and a closing drinks reception on the 56th floor of the Tour Montparnasse - 200 metres above the boulevards and enjoying spectacular views of the French capital.

The seminar was very well received, combining interesting presentations, constructive debate and wide-ranging discussions with social events where delegates and speakers could network and discuss issues further in relaxed surroundings and was considered a great success.

Joint plenary sessions

• Introduction and welcoming address - Ian Stevenson, Technip
• Keynote addresses: New frontiers in marine contracting - challenges and opportunities
  - Knut Boe, Technip - IMCA President
  - Tim Bass, BP
  - Subhash Varma, Reliance Industries Ltd
  - Antoine Serceau, Total
• Visual asset management solution: lessons learnt from the Bibby Sapphire (case study) - Julie Grant and Evan Watson, R2S
• Advances in ROV intervention system design - Colin Mackay, Acergy
• The importance of communications in lifting operations - Caspar Berends, Heerema Marine Contractors
• Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) for survey: nice technology, but what's the benefit for marine contractors? - Mike Liddell, Fugro
• Security assessment: working in West Africa - Anthony Degres, Acergy, and Nigel Hope, Technip

Marine sessions

• Toplogy of thruster and propeller systems: the trials and tribulations arising from selection and use of propulsion units - Steve Cargill and Paul Marshall, PML
• The effects of failures within thruster control systems - Ian Bacon, Noble Denton
• High IQ consequence analysis: improving performance and reducing risks by programming consequence analysis to understand FMEA, standby equipment and bias - Lew Weingarth, Transocean
• Pipelay from the Arctic to Africa - Sylvain Denniel, Technip
• Thruster losses in DP operatinos: DP Model test of an Aframax shuttle tanker - methods, results and observations - Reinert Nordtveit, Teekay, and Bjørn Nygård, Kongsberg Maritime
• Fault-tolerant power systems - Edward Bourgeau, Transocean
• Technical challenges in platform removal - Jan Groot, Heerema Marine Contractors
• HiLoad DP: the DP challenges - Paul Shotton, Grenland Group
• Subsea rock installation in deep water (>1000m) - Ron Simons, Van Oord Offshore

Diving sessions

• Chain lever hoists: their use and abuse - Sandy Gowing, Grampian Test & Certification
• Recent developments and the use of telemedicine - Euan Thompson, Abermed, and John Greensmyth, Technip
• Hyperbaric evacuation system recovery - Geir Knag, Acergy
• Diving incidents: lessons learnt - Steve Short, Technip
• The dynamics of hyperbaric evacuation systems (HESs) - Darren Brunton and Brendan Kearns, KB Associates
• Is diving personnel training on track: assumption or fact? - Steve Sheppard and David Smith, National Hyperbaric Centre
• US diving systems safety certification - Rob Warren, US Navy
• Developments in personal diving equipment - Mikal Sjur Lothe, Technip
• Saturation dive systems for the 21st century - Pete Somner, Technip, on behalf of Divex

Workshops

Nine workshops were held, building on and extending the discussion on topics presented during the event:

Joint workshops:

• Security issues: Supply chain management and security planning in reality
• Skills shortages: The challenges of bringing new personnel into the industry

Marine workshops:

• Failure modes of thruster systems
• Use of the Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID)
• Wire rope discard criteria
• DP incident reporting

Diving workshops:

• Medical support needs
• Diver competence assessments
• Improvements in the working environment of the diver

Proceedings

The full proceedings, including the presentations listed above together with reports on the discussions, have been produced on CD and issued to delegates and other IMCA members. Additional copies are available for purchase.