Safety Service

WSS Earns Global ABS Approval for Safety Services

Wilhelmsen Ships Services (WSS) late last month obtained global approval for its safety services from ABS (American Bureau of Shipping). The approval comes after a two year process involving the entire safety services team and covers all safety services worldwide. “Along with Radio Holland, we are now the only maritime service provider in the world with global approval from ABS, and indeed, the only service provider within the safety sector. We are immensely proud of this,” said John Sanford, Technical Sales Manager Safety for the Americas. According to Mats Hestman, International Service Manager Safety, the approval presented several interesting challenges related to documenting WSS qualifications and systemization. “The ABS project has strengthened our organisation as it required us to establish a central record for competence mapping and training needs which would be accessible worldwide for both our own safety and training managers and class society contacts. This new system will now benefit us in our efforts to continuously improve our safety education and technical expertise.” WSS runs 98 safety service offices globally and carries out 21,000 safety services annually. It also operates 42 Liferaft Exchange (LRE) stations supporting over 1,000 key ports. In addition to ABS, WSS holds global approvals from IACS, DNV, Lloyds, RMRS, RINA, Korean Register, ABS GL and Z17

Safety Training Organizations Unite

Falck Alford announced it has completed the acquisition of Occupational Safety Training, Inc., a player in safety services within the gulf coast region. Falck Alford, a company focused on continuously building diversified safety solutions, offers safety training, personnel services and compliance solutions on a global scale. The acquisition of OST complements and expands Falck Alford’s footprint to reach new market opportunities and allow an even greater safety solution by

Wilhelmsen Modern Safety Service Center in Poland

 Wilhelmsen Ships Service has recently opened a new Fire, Rescue and Safety (FRS) service station in Gdansk, Poland, to serve vessels in the Baltic Sea.    The service station is located in Gdansk and has the capacity to serve all ships in the Gdansk and Gdynia ports and repair yards.   Roger Gundermann, WSS Technical Manager for Europe, commented, “A large new workshop has been purpose-built and includes impressive modern equipment

President Proposes FY 2000 Budgets with More User Fees

President Clinton's FY 2000 budget proposes new user fees to offset programs administered by the USACE, the USCG and NOAA. The $3.9 billion budget request for the USACE provides a 21 percent increase over its FY 99 request, but is still below the $3.96 billion appropriated by Congress for USACE programs last year. Most of the increased spending is earmarked for deep-draft ports and channels and environmental programs

Thirty Years on, Mabel Alice is Still Going Strong

Offshore Marine Support’s marine survey vessel, the Mabel Alice, has a long and distinguished track record spanning more than 30 years which, as skipper, Andy Iannetta explains, has been made possible thanks to the durability and performance of its original Cat 3408 engines, supplied by Finning Power Systems (Finning). "Mabel Alice was built as an RNLI vessel and served as the replacement for the ill-fated Solomon Browne

NSRP Approves $1.4m in Shipbuilding Program Funds

As part of the National Shipbuilding Research Program’s (NSRP) core mission to reduce the costs associated with Navy shipbuilding and repair, the NSRP Executive Control Board has selected 15 new research and development projects for award, totaling approximately $1.4M. These projects will be executed under the 10 NSRP communities of practice referred to as panels: The NSRP Executive Control Board allocates funds on an approximately annual basis to fund a portfolio of relatively

Inmarsat: F77 Extends Offerings

Inmarsat, the original mobile satcom provider for the maritime industry, has been riding the crest of a wave recently, with users at an all-time high, overall 99.9 per cent satellite reliability and the launch of its Fleet F77, Mobile ISDN and Mobile Packet Data services for the maritime community. Ruth Ling reports on what's new and what lies on the horizon. Twenty years ago, a revolution hit the maritime industry. Satellite communications became available to ships at sea.

Ocean Safety appoints Aberdeen representative

The UK’s largest independent marine safety equipment supplier, Ocean Safety, has made a key new appointment on the east coast of Scotland to support the company’s commercial safety equipment supply in the region.   Aidan Morrissey will join Ocean Safety on 1st February and be based in Aberdeen working with the company’s Scottish office to further develop the offshore markets in the North and East coast areas

RBG Safety Performance Improves

RBG, the leading provider of assess, inspect and repair (AIR) services to the global energy industry that was acquired by Stork Technical Services (Stork), has delivered an outstanding safety performance by significantly reducing its lost time incident frequency rate (LTIFR) for the second year running.   Since launching its award-winning REACH initiative in December 2009, RBG has demonstrated continual improvement in its safety performance by:  

Crowley Receives Safety Award

Crowley Maritime Corporation was recognized recently when Signal Mutual presented Crowley with their Gerald H. Halpin Safety Excellence Award at Signal's board of directors meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz. The award honors companies, insured by Signal, that demonstrate initiative and outstanding safety performance. Joe Roach, Signal's administration president, who presented the award to Crowley Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Bill Pennella