Packed programme at IMCA Asia-Pacific Section meeting in Singapore

Published on 17 April 2015

Sea Asia, being held next week at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore, is providing the ideal venue for an information-packed International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) Asia-Pacific Section meeting to which guests are invited to hear a number of highly relevant presentations. A members-only meeting will be held until 10:00 on Thursday 23 April when the open meeting begins.

“I am looking forward to seeing members from throughout the region; we have much to discuss with them and their guests,” says Jane Bugler, IMCA’s Technical Director.”We will providing a world-wide update on the work of our two core activities and four technical divisions before homing in on the latest news on CMID (Common Marine Inspection Document) – version 9 will be launched soon, and a start date of 1 June has now been announced for the start date of the IIMS accredited vessel inspectors (AVIs) scheme, with registration open from early May for prospective inspectors.

“We will also be providing all our delegates with an international regulatory update, and having an un-minuted discussion on any recent safety-related incidents – learning from each other is important when striving for the ‘holy grail’ of zero incidents.

“We then have five highly topical and relevant presentations – two before lunch, and three, plus a discussion session, afterwards,” she adds.

Highly relevant presentations

The first of the presentations is by David Chin, Singapore Maritime Foundation who will look at ‘The development and the promotion of Maritime Singapore, in an offshore context. He will be followed by an update from LTC Eric Ng, Head of the Singapore Information Fusion Centre on ‘Asia piracy issues’ – a highly pertinent topic bearing in mind the fact that IMCA has recently published ‘Security Measures and Emergency Response Guidance’, which includes a section on terrorism, piracy and violent criminal acts.

Following lunch the topics being presented and discussed are ‘Will the multi-disciplined mechanical engineers please stand up?’ (Ho Sum Lim, Singapore Polytechnic); ‘Outsourcing marine management in the offshore sector’ (Phil Chamberlain, Thome Offshore Management Pte Ltd); and ‘The work of the Singapore Shipowners Association Offshore Committee’ (Neil Glenn, Swire). Finally there will be a general discussion session.

There is no charge for attending the open meeting which runs from 10:00 until 15:00, but all eager to do so must register in advance at [email protected]