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Plans Well Advanced for IMCA Annual Seminar

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

July 24, 2013

‘Addressing the Challenges of New Frontiers’ is the topical theme for the International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA) Annual Seminar being held in Singapore November 6-7, 2013. The program for the 18th seminar in the annual series is now online at imca-int.com/events/imca-annual-seminar.aspx, and registration is open.

Open to members and non-members alike, the seminar features keynote addresses, presentations, workshops and discussions on diving including key developments and advances in diving equipment and operations; marine and subsea operations including DP operations; marine operations, technology and equipment; offshore surveying in remote and harsh environments; ROV and AUV resources and developments in technology. There will also be an exhibition with over 30 exhibiting organizations; and three social networking events – one the evening prior to the seminar, and one on each of the two event days, including the gala dinner on Sentosa Island.

“We have a really exciting and highly relevant and topical program, and as this is my first annual seminar in pos. I am very much looking forward to it and meeting key players from all over the world, particularly from amongst our 900+ member companies from over 60 countries,” said Chris Charman, Chief Executive of IMCA. “I’ve heard much about this annual event and know what an important role it plays in providing a forum for discussion for the whole of our dynamic industry, and industry in which our members collectively turn over in excess of $150 billion annually, and employ more than 250,000 staff.”

Day One
Following a welcoming address from Steve MacMillan of McDermott International, and Chairman of IMCA’s Asia-Pacific Section, the seminar gets off to a flying start with a keynote address and panel discussion involving senior industry speakers led by Massimo Fontolan of Saipem, IMCA’s current President. Then ‘Networking – capturing value by removing randomness’ will be led by keynote speaker and networking innovator Ed Meaney in a session sponsored by CAN. He will be providing networking insights and tips that will accelerate ‘value capture’ for delegates and their organizations. “No doubt we will see the techniques put to the test at our networking social events,” Charman said.

The plenary session continues with three presentations: ‘Mutual aid in large-scale offshore incidents - a framework for the offshore oil and gas industry’ (Tore Ulleberg, ConocoPhillips Norge); ‘When things go wrong in offshore construction disputes – litigation, arbitration and mediation’ (William Cecil, Curtis Davis Gerrard LLP) and ‘Risk assessment of malaria offshore – anopheles bite exposure estimated by a new biomarker’ (Patrick Besnard Subsea 7).

Following the lunch break, taken in the exhibition area, the seminar then splits into three parallel sessions Marine, Diving, ROV/Offshore Survey; with workshops following on ‘The provision of armed guards on offshore vessels’; ‘Dive system assurance’; ‘Use of IMCA marine and other organisations’ guidance’; ‘Pipeline inspection - advanced AUV vs fast ROV’ and ‘Local content – how to make it work?’. After summaries of the workshops delegates will be transported to Sentosa Island for the Gala Dinner.

Day Two
The morning plenary session on 7 November covers ‘In deep water: the challenges of performing environmental surveys at great depth’ (Kevin O’Connell, Fugro EMU Ltd); ‘Deepwater lowering – a contractor weighing wires and winches’ (Kees van Zandwijk, Heerema Marine Contractors) and ‘The Maritime Labour Convention and its impact on marine contracting’ (Pierre Deletaille, Swire Pacific Offshore) after which the seminar splits once again into its three parallel sessions, reconvening for a second plenary session after lunch.

This second session features two presentations: ‘DP in ocean basing operations’ (Bill Toohey, Noble Drilling); and ‘New frontiers – marine contracting in changing environments’ (Bionda van Roosendal, Heerema Marine Contractors); and then the seminar once again splits into workshops, this time looking at ‘DP incident reporting’, ‘Hyperbaric evacuation in remote locations’, ‘Technical competence of ROV & offshore personnel’, ‘Learning from incidents - case study?’ and ‘Maritime Labor Convention – MLC’. Following summaries on these workshops and on the seminar as a whole, the event closes with the Apres Seminar Soiree.

IMCA’s Annual Seminar is endorsed by ADC International; the Australasian Hydrographic Society; the Dynamic Positioning Committee MTS, the International Association of Drilling Contractors, IOSH, National University of Singapore Marine Institute, OCIMF, OGP and the Society for Underwater Technology, Subsea Energy Australia, and Petromin, the offshore support journal. The social events are sponsored by Forum Energy Technologies, Griffin Global Group and Etihad Airways, and the National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC).

More than 440 offshore and onshore management and operational staff, equipment suppliers, consultants, representatives from oil companies and regulators from 20 countries attended the 2012 IMCA Annual Seminar which was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in late November. Keynote speakers included Jan Peter Balkenende, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands; Massimo Fontolan of Saipem and then IMCA’s Vice-President; Ronnie Bonnar, Managing Director of Repsol Nuevas Energias; Cato Hordnes, Advisor Subsea and Diving Intervention of Statoil; and Ruud Zoon, Managing Director GDF Suez.
 

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