CMA SHIPPING 2007

ADAPTING TO CHANGE – RIDING THE DRAGON

Defining Leadership: Industry tackles Global Challenges

WALKING THE TALK !

Dr. Peter M Swift, MD, INTERTANKO

All of shipping’s principal representative organisations are no doubt able to rattle off, with minimum effort, the main global challenges the shipping industry faces today:

- the need for international regulation, uniformly applied; and the case for less regulation and more self-regulation;

- the many environmental challenges ranging from eliminating oil pollution and reducing air emissions to ballast water management;

- the problems of manning and the looming supply shortages of properly trained officers and crew;

- concerns over the unfair treatment and unjustified criminalisation of seafarers;

- the importance of maintaining the existing liability regimes;

- the need to clear out the substandard elements of the industry,

- and a few more.

Many of these organisations would be able to provide an impressive list of their large number of papers and speeches calling for action and highlighting what is needed – albeit that this is frequently a list of proposals for action by others.

Most would claim that they have the ear of the regulators, refer to their regular and comprehensive dialogue with politicians and legislators, and where appropriate cite their observer status at the IMO and their involvement with other high-level bodies.

Most of these organisations would count themselves at the forefront in communication on issues of the day and in their effectiveness in their respective capacity as representatives of the shipping industry. For many in the so-called alphabet soup of today’s shipping representative organisations “talking” is part of communicating one's identity and staying on top - and talking comes relatively easily for most.

But for some organisations, simply being at the forefront and having a good line in “talking” is NOT the most important thing. Being a leader is what they aspire to. This is far more difficult and certainly more rare. For them, and for INTERTANKO, it is not so much the talking, but actually “walking the talk” that counts.

For us, the examples are legion:

We can talk about the importance of upholding international law and the downsides of unjustified criminalisation or we can challenge bad laws through the court.

We can talk about the need for the supremacy of Federal Law in the United States or we can act against pre-emption by states, even as far as the Supreme Court.

We can call for the prompt ratification of international conventions in press releases and at conferences or we can get out and campaign, hold workshops and seminars.

We can simply agree with the calls for more robust ships or we can initiate programmes leading to common structural rules and establish a constructive dialogue with shipbuilders and classification societies.

We can call for greater environmental awareness within the shipping industry or we can develop and run environmental awareness courses for ship and shore based personnel.

We can lament the lack of adequate Reception Facilities or we can establish an International Forum and develop joint-industry initiatives and drive the IMO's activity on the issue.

We can wait for an International Recycling Convention or we can develop an Interim Strategy to put in place the key elements on a voluntary basis.

We can talk about ratifying the Antifouling Convention or we can implement the policy without waiting for its formal entry in to force.

We can talk about supporting a reduction in air emissions and plans for the development of long term strategies or we can propose solutions.

We can stress the importance of maintaining existing liability regimes or we can involve ourselves in the international and regional arenas and argue our case.

We can applaud the IMO Flag State Audit programme or we can actively promote it and establish a membership criterion around it.

We can note the IMO recommendations on taking a pilot in international straits or we can establish a joint user group with governments and the pilots, and actively encourage their use.

We can complain about Port State Control procedures or we can propose changes and see them implemented around the world.

We can express our concerns about shortcomings with lifeboats or we can establish feedback procedures and joint programmes with manufacturers.

We can express concern at the shortage of seafarers, or we can encourage the provision of cadet berths and training.

And the list continues. (*)

WE CAN “TALK” OR WE CAN “WALK THE TALK”.

Probably the biggest challenges for the shipping industry today, and for their representative organisations, are our ability:

-  to be dynamic,

-  to respond to change, and

-  to be pro-active.

While being pro-active does not automatically confer legitimacy on the cause, being passive or inactive challenges the legitimacy of that organisation’s being.

Being a passive player is easy. Being a dynamic, pro-active leader is very much harder.

INTERTANKO understands that taking the lead involves understanding the direction of events and then being pro-active in doing what we, the tanker owners as well as we, the tanker industry and the shipping industry, believe is the right course of action for the long term building of a firm base for the future.

Our industry has much to be proud of.

Shipping provides a fantastic, albeit unheralded, service for society and we can demonstrate outstanding performance in terms of safety, reliability, environmental stewardship and cost effectiveness. However, no matter how good we are today, we will be expected to be even better tomorrow. Ship owners, operators and managers are the heart of the industry and have the prime responsibility for the quality of shipping’s service. However they and their associations cannot do it alone and are dependent on the quality of the support they receive from their partners who form the other links in the chain of responsibility.

Thus was borne the Poseidon Challenge – an invitation to like-minded organisations, companies and people to:

·  commit to continuous improvement, and

·  commit to working to together,

with the aim of striving to improve; and in the case of the tanker industry, to achieve our vision of zero fatalities, zero pollution and zero detentions.

The second Poseidon Challenge Day takes place on Wednesday, March 28 at INTERTANKO's Annual Tanker Event in Houston, Texas. Many leaders in the maritime industry will be providing updates on the commitments they made this time last year in Singapore. Many other leaders will be making their own commitments to continuous improvement. We hope all will consider joining us at this important event and consider making their own commitments to the aims and vision of the Poseidon Challenge.

During the First Poseidon Challenge Day in Singapore, keynote speaker Teekay Marine Services President Graham Westgarth said, "Poseidon Challenge is about an obsessive and sustained commitment to best practices, a willingness to embrace change, an openness and desire to learn from our mistakes … ultimately if it is not supported by time, energy, money and passion, it won't work. We have to walk the talk."

Poseidon Challenge is one invitation that we hope is universally accepted and where we hope all will walk the talk !

(*)

We can talk about the need for e-navigation or we can assist in the development of Marine Electronic Highways.

We can note the importance of information sharing and talk about the constraints that inhibit it or we can commit to programmes for Early Warning Systems and Hazardous Incident exchanges.

We can talk about dangerous cargoes and the need for better information for crews or we drive through legislation to ensure it is provided.

We can talk about the issue of cargo emissions of Volatile Organic compounds or we can develop procedures to limit these.

We can talk about inadvertent cargo vapour emissions from cargo tanks or develop best practices to mitigate these.

We can stress the importance of maintenance or talk about the problems of oily water separators or we can develop industry guides and establish cooperation programmes.

We can complain of the multiple and overlapping inspections on our ships, or we can initiate work for developing industry standards for quality inspections and repairs.

We can talk about problems with individual oil company officer matrix requirements or work to produce voluntary viable alternatives

We can echo concerns over the size and timing of Panama Canal/s tariff increases, or we can take the initiative and suggest alternative solutions.

We can complain about the problems with retrofitting full VDR’s or work with manufacturers and IMO to produce a VDR Lite solution.

AND much more !!