by Hanne Hansen, Søfart
Despite the global crisis, there are several good stories to tell about Danish shipping. Tonnage on the Danish International Ship Register (DIS) continues to grow and numbers of detentions are falling, as are the numbers of serious industrial accidents at sea. But there are still challenges. Globalization is promoting outsourcing of work and the question is how to ensure the food chain to the Danish maritime sector when core assignments are outsourced and key maritime skills move abroad.
On the Thursday morning, the 250 delegates at MSSM 2010 gathered for the opening of the conference and to hear the three first speakers - Andreas Nordseth, Director, Danish Maritime Authority; Henrik Sornn-Friese, Associate Professor, Center for Shipping Economics and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and Bent Nielsen, Director and Head of Marine Standards at Maersk Tankers.
Photo: Søren Dam, Larsen & Partners
The three introductory speakers at the MSSM conference were Andreas Nordseth, Director, Danish Maritime Authority; Henrik Sornn-Friese, Associate Professor, Center for Shipping Economics and Innovation at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Bent Nielsen, Director and Head of Marine Standards at Maersk Tankers.
- After two years of crisis, we can see that the Danish International Ship Register is continuing to grow. There are close on 600 ships on the register and we only need just a very few more registered tons to reach 12 million GRT, reported the Director of the Danish Maritime Authority, Andreas Nordseth, in his introductory speech at the MSSM conference.
Skilled seamen and merchants
- The history of Danish shipping is one of success, he concluded and added:
- But success cannot be achieved if there is no group of skilled merchants and seamen to contribute to it. We want to grow and be big and strong, he emphasised. But not at any price.
- We want to compete on high standards for quality shipping, emphasised Andreas Nordseth.
The slides he had with him supported the fact that
- it is not going so badly at all, from the viewpoint of the Danish shipping sector.
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| The main trends are heading the right way. Numbers of accidents are falling, entrants for maritime courses are rising, as is tonnage on the Danish International Ship Register. Illustration: Danish Maritime Authority |
The tonnage trend is heading upwards as is the number of people taking maritime training although it should be added that the increase is first and foremost due to courses for chief engineers. At the same time, the trend for numbers of serious industrial accidents and the numbers of ship detentions is heading downwards.
- How can we get the numbers of accidents even further down? asked Andreas Nordseth.
Culture and safety
The fact that this is a multifaceted challenge was emphasized in the presentation by Bent Nielsen, Director and Head of Marine Standards at Maersk Tankers.
- We operate a high level safety culture. We just will not have accidents, he concluded and continued:
- Safety is a constant theme at our officers’ seminars. We have done what we can to tighten up on safety but there are many challenges there, said Bent Nielsen while continuing:
- I was in New Delhi for an officers’ seminar with 140 of our Indian officers three weeks ago. When I got into a taxi at the airport, the driver was surprised that I put on the safety belt. We then drove off, among the trucks, most with no lights. And so it was that I pondered on how, given their cultural background, the people listening to me would react to my saying that we have the best safety culture in the world at Maersk Tankers, explained Bent Nielsen, who added:
- There are major differences in how people view safety depending on their cultural backgrounds.
Big item in the budget
Safety accounts for a not inconsiderable part of the budget at Maersk Tankers, reported Bent Nielsen. And that includes next year's budget.
- But one of the problems is that it is not measurable. We spend large amounts on training courses but what they save us by way of accidents is not immediately measurable on the bottom line. That makes it difficult, he pointed out.
- But training, training and training. Training is very important, he emphasized.
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| The Danish maritime sector generally depends on recruiting and training those with maritime skills. The table here shows the flow from shipping companies to the Danish shipping sector in 2004. Illustration: Henrik Sornn-Friese |
Outsourcing and challenges
During the morning, Prof. Henrik Sornn-Friese addressed a thorny problem. A book on his research project, ”Offshore Outsourcing in the Shipping Industry. Opportunities and Challenges” is on the way and at the MSSM Conference he shared with delegates the interim results of his research as well as raising relevant questions for the sector.
- The phenomenon has come to stay, was his conclusion about outsourcing maritime operations.
The questions this raises - which remain unanswered - are whether outsourcing by shipping companies is cutting into our own technical expertise and whether in future the Danish maritime sector will be able to recruit properly qualified employees with a maritime background. Figures from 2004 show that 30 percent of the offshore sector’s employees have maritime training. Henrik Sornn-Friese urged those present to regard his presentation as an invitation to debate.
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MSSM Conference 2010 Maritime Health and Safety and the Environment, abbreviated to MSSM in Danish, lies at the heart of the annual conference arranged by the Danish Maritime Authority, Seahealth Denmark and the European Maritime Development Center. This year's conference was held last week and kicked off on the Wednesday evening with a Get2gether event. There were fifteen sessions in all on the Thursday and Friday with 50 speakers in full swing over the three days. Socializing accounts for a not insignificant part of the program, with this year's 250 delegates using the breaks to network, as they say. |
| Connie S. Gehrt, who heads up Seahealth Denmark, seen welcoming delegates on the Thursday in morning. Photo: Søren Dam, Larsen & Partners |
10/09/10