IMCA South America Section – all welcome
Published on 22 January 2014
The South America Section of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) will hold one of its regular section meetings in Rio de Janeiro at Novotel Rio de Janeiro Santos Dumont Hotel on Monday 27 January, members and non-members alike are welcome to the afternoon meeting which will include two enlightening presentations. The meeting is preceded by a networking lunch. Registration at [email protected] ahead of the event is essential.
In November 2013 IMCA unveiled its five year vision and strategy, and it is on this that the association’s Technical Director, Jane Bugler, will be speaking and answering questions.
“It is a salutary thought that investigations indicate the collective annual turnover of IMCA members is in excess of $150bn per year and that they directly employ almost 350,000 staff across the planet,” she explains.”Indeed, the fleet of specialist vessels operated by those members account for some 4% of the world’s shipping tonnage. Yes, collectively our members are a big player!
“Set against these facts, IMCA’s Council undertook a strategic review of the association’s direction, and developed ‘over the horizon planning’ which involved taking opinion and inputs from a wide section of the membership to provide feedback on IMCA’s current activities and to look forward to the future.
“It is this vision of the future that I will be sharing at the section meeting. It will see us raising the public profile of IMCA, refining our primary and core purpose to be ‘improving performance in the marine contracting industry’ and looking at four core activities – championing better regulation; enhancing operational integrity; engaging and developing members and stakeholders; and developing our people and organisations. We are proud of all that has been achieved and will continue to build on it, working with our members to set and achieve high level aspirations and goals for the future, while continuing to respond and deliver globally to the current needs of the industry.”
The second presentation is on the all-important topic of ‘International Maritime Rules’ which will see IMCA Technical Adviser for regulatory affairs, Emily Comyn describe IMCA’s role. She spends up a good deal of her time each year at IMO – the International Maritime Organization – on behalf of offshore marine contractors from all over the world, for IMCA is the only association at IMO representing offshore marine contracting interests. IMCA has had consultative (often referred to as ‘observer’) status at IMO since 1999, and this is a status that is given only to truly international organisations with interests in maritime affairs that can make expert contributions to IMO’s work.
A third presentation will be on ROV operations, to be given by Davi Lima, Chief Operating Officer with DOF Subsea Brasil and the IMCA ROV South America Section representative.
In addition to the two presentations the meeting will cover general IMCA updates including publication of recent guidance and other documents; section status – with an update from other organisations including IBP, ABESPetro, ABEAM, IADC and IBAMA; an update on the IMCA work programme, which includes personnel shortages; and Brazilian requirements on transfer baskets.
The South America Section is one of five IMCA sections, the others being Asia-Pacific; Central & North America; Europe & Africa; and Middle East & India.