Dear Members,
Since our last edition the oil price has recovered somewhat from the nadir of negative value. But unfortunately as everyone in the industry will know, the damage has been done in terms of the immediate oil company reaction in cancelling or deferring upstream capex projects. The widespread announcements of cost cutting and restructuring will no doubt unfold over the next six months or so.
The one bright spot is the offshore renewable energy sector, which although affected by COVID-19 has been unaffected by the oil price crash. This is most welcome and the project pipeline of future work remains encouraging. IMCA is very active in this space with our Marine Renewable Energy Committee and its great work in helping the industry learn from our fantastic oilfield experience and avoid the unnecessary duplication of costs across a wide range of issues. Our strong relationship with G+ is highly beneficial in this regard.
Our liaison with other offshore and shipping organisations on the critical issue of vessel crew changes continues unabated. We are a key part of various groups of interested parties and we have contacted more than 50 governments with offshore energy industries to encourage their engagement in solving this problem inline with the agreed IMO protocols. Hopefully we will see some unlocking of the situation before too long. We are constantly maintaining a comprehensive log of COVID-19 documentation and relevant links on our website.
In the last four years, IMCA has been steadily investing in our IT infrastructure in order to provide the best level of service to our members and to be the best-in-class in the trade association world. This investment has enabled us to work fully remotely for the last three months with no interruption in service to our members. This would simply not have been possible before.
The upgrading programme is still ongoing and over the next couple of months we will be making changes to our online services. In particular, access to the member-only content within our website will change from a shared company password to an individual login arrangement. The system will automatically accept users within our members’ email domains, which will broaden member access and avoid the inconvenience of lost passwords. The website user experience will also be upgraded and individuals will be able to manage their email subscription preferences for the first time.
IMCA is very much part of the webinar craze that seems to be in every facet of commerce today. We are holding regular webinars in place of our regional meetings and this being extended to our technical seminars. We welcome our members’ ideas and input to these events, just send us an email to [email protected].
As always, let’s all stay safe and healthy.
Allen Leatt, IMCA Chief Executive
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Day of the Seafarer, an ideal opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of seafarers and understand the current issues they face. Many have been away from home for months and are unsure when they will be able to return home due to travel restrictions. 
The world recently celebrated the 46th year of World Environment Day on 5 June. The interconnected nature of environment, economy and society is more apparent than ever as we face the global challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
IMCA recently began using the iAuditor inspection application to conduct audits of training establishments providing IMCA approved Diver Medic, Diving Supervisor and Life Support Technician courses. Ali Macleod, IMCA Technical Adviser – Diving, provides more details.
