Hong Kong recognises top performing companies

Achievements in port state control, green innovation, creating an environmentally friendly culture, as well as heroism at sea were recognised at a glittering lunch organised recently by the Hong Kong Shipowners Association

Notable among the winners at the recent ‘achievement awards’ lunch in Hong Kong were companies with strong tanker industry ties.

The ‘Best performance in port state control award’ is given annually to the five shipmanagement companies who register the best figures in this respect.

The assessment is made by drawing on more than 6,750 inspection records of Hong Kong registered ships in the Tokyo, Paris, Indian Ocean and Black Sea MOUs for the period from January 2007-December 2009. United States Coast Guard inspection records covering January 2007 through to 31 December 2008 were also analysed.

Those companies with a detention and deficiency score above the flag average pass the first round of assessment. From that point, the top five shipmanagement companies with the most number of port state control (PSC) inspections which returned ‘zero deficiency’ are ranked, and progress to the second round. Ships without any PSC inspection records are not included in the assessment.

The eventual winners were: Orient Overseas Container Line; Fleet Management Ltd; Pacific Basin Shipping; Cosco (HK) Shipping Co; and Anglo-Eastern Ship Management.

In order to recognise the additional efforts of owners and managers, the Hong Kong Shipping Registry introduced three awards: the Green Innovation Award; Green Culture Award and Green Awareness Award. Owners and operators of Hong Kong registered vessels are invited to apply for these awards. The submissions were assessed by an industry panel comprising representatives from the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, academia and government.

Maersk Shipping Hong Kong won the Green Innovation Award. The company “demonstrated that it had introduced initiatives that reduced the discharge of harmful matter into the environment, which went beyond the requirements set out in regulation”.

For the Green Culture Award, the winner, Orient Overseas Container Line, showed that it was implementing a long-term strategy toward environmental protection across its fleet, over and above current and likely future regulation.

There were two joint winners of the Green Awareness Award: Fleet Management Ltd and Pacific Basin Shipping (HK). They were able to show across their operations a pro-active approach to environmental issues.

Fleet Management Ltd was undeniably the biggest winner on the day, also picking up the Bravery Award 2010 alongside North China Shipping Holding Co.

Back in August, the Fleet Management-operated Pacific Condor rescued 21 crew from Sea Star when they were drifting on the high seas without food and power, having been ‘financially abandoned’ by the owner. Not only were the crew rescued, but Fleet Management paid the cost of the crew to return home.

In the North China Shipping case, its vessel, Hebei Courage, rescued five Filipino fishermen who were adrift for 15 days having been caught up in a typhoon in the South China Sea during May. All the crew were taken on board and safely landed ashore.

Speaking to Tanker Shipping & Trade following the awards lunch, Kishore Rajvanshy, managing director of Fleet Management, called again for industry to introduce mandatory experience requirements for officers, and incorporate them in STCW. “More than 90 per cent of accidents are caused by the human element and the bulk of them can be linked to lack of crew experience,” said Mr Rajvanshy.

“A case in point is ecdis. This is a great piece of equipment, once you have it on board and the crew are familiar with it. Problems, however, will arise when it is installed and the crew are not fully conversant with its use. For example, with one click of a button, it is possible to blank out depths less than 10m, with obvious implications for safe navigation.”

Fleet Management has ecdis installed on around 40 of the 215 vessels it has under management. “We do not let crew use it unless we are confident that they have done the training. To that end we have a centre in India where we run training courses.”

Five years ago the company invested more than US$2 million in setting up a training academy. There are now plans in place to more than double the 6,000m² facility to 15,000m², which will require an investment of around US$10 million when complete.

“We want to have integrated bridge and engine simulators because right now they are stand-alone. We want to have a cargo handling simulator separately and we want to have an engine model there and several training units for automation and control systems, as well as Marpol compliance and cargo handling,” says Mr Rajvanshy. “We also want to have more space for classes and student accommodation. The facility is intended purely for Fleet Management use. If there is capacity we would look to rent it out but this is not something we are anticipating.

“The practical answer is that as soon as someone obtains their master’s licence we require that they serve a minimum time in that rank and build up their experience. This should be enshrined in regulation”.

Anglo-Eastern, another of the award winners, has also invested heavily in training and founded its own academy. According to Peter Cremers, chief executive officer of Anglo-Eastern Group: “Training is very much a part of our company culture, which means that when someone joins fresh at the age of 19 they enrol at the university. Similarly, we ensure that masters spend time at the facility when they are on leave, usually a weekend or a couple of days.”

Mr Cremers shares Kishore Rajvanshy’s concerns around crew competence. “Complying with oil majors’ crew matrix requirements is still a major focus. I understand their logic but at the same time I cannot help it if there are twice as many tankers afloat than there were 10 years ago, all of which need to be manned.”

He would like to see continued flexibility from the oil majors, “otherwise as a sector we will reach a point where we have to say to majors that we will not be able to manage the next 50 tankers coming off the production line.”

Anglo-Eastern will continue to use Singapore as its base for tanker management. There are currently 81 ships on the list, a figure that will hit 90 by the end of the year.

“We have also managed to set up as managers in Bombay, with a staff of approximately 25, and are seeing a measure of success. A number of Indian owners are keen to see tankers managed by an experienced international operator, and we are offering this service in a local way.” Eight vessels are currently under management, of which six are tankers.

While Anglo-Eastern famously returned single hulled tankers under its management, preferring to concentrate on newer tonnage, shipmanagement company, Accord, has found what it says is “a rich vein of new business” by focusing on the older tonnage sector.

Sanjay Shesh and Ashok Srivastava took over management of Accord on behalf of Nepa Projects & Investments of Hong Kong in January 2010, as a part of a company restructuring. As managing director, Mr Shesh is based in Hong Kong and Mr Srivastava is chief executive officer of Accord India.

“We have been inundated with enquiries in recent weeks since reputable owners with tonnage older than 15-20 years have found it difficult to secure shipmanagement services,” said Mr Shesh, who is also the executive director of Nepa Projects & Investments in Hong Kong.

“Accord has a very experienced team, strategically located in Hong Kong and India, and has extensive technical knowledge of managing ships, irrespective of their age. We have also found that we have the flexibility to manage vessels that our larger competitors would find a challenge.

“Because of the lower cost base we are able to allocate more resources to vessels under our management, delivering a high level of service to owners. In practical terms, this means that we are able to deploy one superintendent to manage two or three ships, a figure much higher in terms of focus, than the average four or five ships which a superintendent in any other company would manage,” concludes Mr Srivastava. TST