The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) held its first two-day DP Conference for some years in May 2022 in Amsterdam and has now made the 34-page conference report available to all. This includes concise summaries of all sessions and presentations along with relevant graphs, charts, and most importantly some of the findings that emerged With attendees from around the world the conference was aimed at those involved in offshore renewable energy and offshore oil and gas DP operations. Engagement was excellent throughout the conference and attendee feedback was extremely positive. This will now become an annual event with the 2023
The International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA’s) ‘Guidelines for lifting operations’ (IMCA LR 006) has been reviewed and updated to ensure that it properly covers all elements of lifting operations in renewable energy sector contracting activities.Mark Ford, IMCA’s Marine & Quality Manager explained: Offshore wind involves an ever-increasing number of our members; and so, our expert work group has thoroughly reviewed IMCA LR 006 and made a number of additions and amendments to ensure it provides an invaluable resource enabling work in the rapidly expanding global market to be undertaken safely and efficiently.” IMCA Contact Mark Ford Marine & Quality Manager
At 0001 UTC on 1 January 2023 the Indian Ocean High Risk Area (HRA) for piracy will be removed.The removal of the HRA reflects a significantly improved piracy situation in the region, but voyage preparation, threat and risk assessment is essential when following Best Management Practice 5 (BMP5). 22 August 2022. London, UK. After more than a decade of effective threat-reducing counter-piracy operations the shipping industry has removed the ‘Indian Ocean High Risk Area’ (HRA). Notification of the removal of the HRA from 0001 UTC on 1 January 2023 by industry bodies was forwarded in a submission today, 22 August,
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) is playing an active role in the International Diving Industry Forum’s (IDIF’s) Underwater Ships Husbandry Port Authority Seminar, led by International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), being held for the first time in the MENA region in Dubai on 12 September. Bryan McGlinchy, IMCA’s Diving Manager, Peter Sieniewicz IMCA’s Diving Consultant and Phil Newsum from ADCI will be amongst the leading voices from the diving industry who, under the chairmanship of Tony Greenwood of ExxonMobil, will speak about suitable measures and the best operational practices adopted across the world to safeguard divers
The International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA’s) latest guidance ‘Guidelines for the Measurement of Depth of Burial’ (IMCA S 029) aimed at both the offshore renewables and offshore oil and gas industries, looks at the different methods of measuring the depth of burial of subsea cables and pipelines together with factors influencing the depth of burial. It also includes measuring the thickness of an embankment of crushed rock on top of a pipeline or cable; and provides guidance on measurement of depth of lowering – including explanation of the difference between lowering and burial or cover. Subsea pipelines and cables are
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has issued Safety Flashes for many years. Not only do they provide a fast and vital communication channel for the industry, but they help prevent recurrence of situations by highlighting potential workplace incidents. Now the system has received the accolade of being short-listed for a key industry award. As Stephen Peet, IMCA’s Technical Director explained: “IMCA’s Safety Flashes have been short-listed for the Safety4Sea Initiative Award. Our Safety Flash System has been in place for more than 20 years, but we constantly work on new ways of ensuring the flashes reach the widest possible
The International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA’s) Lifting & Rigging Seminar makes a welcome return to the events calendar on 27 October in its traditional venue, the Novotel Amsterdam at Schiphol Airport. The day-long packed programme focuses on the technical side of offshore lifting and on the challenges created in the renewable energy market. As Mark Ford, IMCA’s Marine & Quality Manager explained: “We are delighted to be back to holding a face-to-face event that will be of interest to all involved in any aspect of offshore lifting and rigging in the offshore renewable energy industry.“We have an exciting line-up of
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) published its Code of Practice for Environmental Sustainability in May 2021. Following research amongst members, focused working groups are being established to speedily drive forward preparation of guidance on key elements such as the circular economy, supply chain engagement, life below water, and environmental performance factors to enable members to move forward with their organisation’s Environmental Sustainability Performance. The Code, created by the global experts on IMCA’s Environmental Sustainability Committee, sets expectations for the marine contracting industry in managing key environmental and climate topics. Following a successful launch and engagement process the Code was
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published new versions of its eCMID and eMISW vessel inspection templates. Over 1,400 vessels world-wide are currently covered by a live inspection report, providing a safety management system health check for both operators and clients. The inspection templates are reviewed and updated at least annually to reflect technological progress and regulatory developments, plus feedback received from the active community of vessel operators, inspectors, and other stakeholders. New supplements for battery and hybrid propulsion systems Two new optional supplements have been introduced to each template for selection by the inspector for relevant vessel types.
The International Marine Contractors Association has published a ‘Marine Explosive Ordnance (MEO) Operations Logbook’ (Logbook 018) for use by all MEO operatives, including divers, diving supervisors, MEO supervisors and other personnel who wish to record their involvement in MEO subsea activities. The logbook is designed to be used by MEO operatives to log, in detail, the exact work they carry out, such as survey, identification, and disposal activities. Instructions on how to use the logbook are set out in explanatory notes. There are separate sections for recording details of examinations and certifications held; training courses attended; and individual MEO field
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has appointed Dustin Varnell to its Business Development team. Based in Rhode Island, Dustin will focus on the U.S. offshore wind energy market, complementing the work of Bruce Gresham, IMCA’s Director of Client Engagement in the U.S. Allen Leatt, IMCA CEO stated: “As a Master Mariner on dynamic positioned (DP) vessels Dustin is very familiar with IMCA’s work in the field, which is very beneficial in representing the association to existing and new member companies in the U.S. wind industry. We look forward to closely engaging with industry in the Northeast U.S. and helping
This award was for IMCA’s offshore renewables safety standards and recognising the organisation for its development of safety standards for offshore renewables. Most recently IMCA expanded its ‘Guidelines for Walk to Work (W2W) Operations’ (IMCA M254). These guidelines were produced to help standardise the way in which vessels give personnel safe access to offshore structures, both in the wind and oil & gas industries. IMCA’s Richard Purser and Maarten de Wit of Amplemann were there to receive the award on the night. Well done to everyone in the working group who contributed to the document and to Kerrie Forster for
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) was recently announced the winner of the 2022 OSJ Safety Award which recognised the association’s “outstanding work” in standardising the use of offshore Walk to Work (W2W) systems. This technology has become the norm for use in the offshore wind energy market and is of growing importance in the oil and gas market. IMCA’s Technical Adviser – Marine, Richard Purser and Maarten de Wit of Amplemann, a member of IMCA’s Marien Renewable Energy Committee, received the award at OSJ’s gala dinner in London. As Mark Ford, IMCA’s Marine and Quality Manager, noted: “Guidelines for
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) welcomes Rhys Jones as Technical Adviser, Marine Renewable Energy. Rhys brings a wealth of offshore wind energy experience to IMCA, having worked for RenewableUK for 11 years as Head of Technical Affairs. This involved a strong focus on health, safety, and regulatory compliance in the offshore wind sector. Rhys has managed numerous industry committees in developing various best-practice guidance documents in the offshore wind industry in much the same way as IMCA’s operating model. Mark Ford, IMCA’ s Marine & Quality Manager stated: “Following the retirement this year of Captain Andy Goldsmith, we welcome
IMCA published a detailed Information Note on 14 March 2022 on Congressionally proposed manning constraints applicable to vessels operating in support of U.S. offshore energy projects. The proposal was passed by the House of Representatives on 29 March 2022 – the American Offshore Worker Fairness Act, Section 518 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2022 (H.R 6865). This measure is now pending before the U.S. Senate. “There remains much more to comprehend regarding the potential of this proposed legislation and there are many inaccuracies related to the purported rationale for the need for enactment of this legislation,” explained IMCA’s
Two recent publications from the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) make useful discussion tools for key dynamic positioning (DP) personnel. IMCA M 258 ‘Dynamic Positioning Station Keeping Review – Incidents and Events Reported for 2021’ assesses events reported during last year; and the first ‘DP Event Bulletin’ for 2022 looks in detail at three anonymised DP case studies, the importance of being soliton-aware; and provides a template for DP emergency drill scenarios. IMCA M258 reports that during 2021 150 DP station keeping reports were received from 122 different DP vessels giving an average of 1.2 reports per vessel. The main
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has launched a new analytics hub within its eCMID System for vessel inspections, available at www.ecmid.com. The system provides real-time reports based on anonymised aggregate data from over 1100 inspections of offshore vessels and workboats undertaken using the latest eCMID and eMISW templates since May 2021 – a number which will only increase, as the system will track use across future versions of the templates. The default report, which can be filtered by date and vessel type, identifies the questions and sections resulting in the highest proportion of findings during inspections. This will allow
On March 29, 2022 the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation – H.R. 6728 – that included a provision in Section 518 (as we have previously reported) that would impose burdensome new citizenship-based restrictions on crews of foreign flag vessels that work on offshore energy projects on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). This provision would require mariners on foreign flagged vessels operating on the OCS be either U.S. citizens, permanent residents (green card holders), or citizens of the nation of the flag state of the vessel, in contravention of longstanding international principles that regulation and credentialing of crews are
Oceanology International technical conference is set to run from 15 March to 17 March 2022. OI is a high-level marine science and ocean technology conference situated at the ExCel convention centre in London. The technical conference brings together 500+ exhibitors, with over 8,000 attendees targeted for 2022. The must-attend event ties in three key parts of the industry: business, academics and government. The Society for Underwater Technology (SUT) will be running an Oceans Careers Panel on 17 March (1240-1440hrs), Chaired by Sue John, Chair, SUT. Here IMCA’s Andre Rose, Technical Adviser, will detail his roots into the offshore industry along
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) provides the following update to its Information Note (1606) published on March 1, 2022 on H.R. 6728, a proposed amendment to the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (“OCSLA”) that would impose burdensome new citizenship-based restrictions on crews of foreign flag vessels that work on offshore energy projects on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”). This legislation remains under active consideration by the U.S. Congress. In order to better understand the adverse impacts of this legislation IMCA explains, from a practical perspective, how this proposed legislation would result in unnecessary and severe administrative burdens without
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