The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) is renewing its fleet. DNV is actively involved with pre-planning and specifications and will later provide class services throughout the vessels life time. But Mahmoud Abdullah of KOTC wants more. He wants class to speak up to ensure hard facts dominate the politics of tanker safety regulations.
Mahmoud Abdullah, manager of the fleet engineering & projects group of The Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC) believes class should fight for regulations that, based on facts, really improve safety at sea: "There are so many different bodies dictating rules and regulations for us, and most of these have been established by politicians with little knowledge of shipping and overly influenced by public opinion. Only class has the expertise and decades of experience of the practical implications of rules."
"In a perfect world, class would be the only party we should have to relate to. But, class must fight harder to earn a position where their voice is not only heard, but also acted upon by the ruling bodies."
"Currently there seems to be a belief in rules which is dangerous in itself. Throughout all the different regimes for tanker safety there is a tendency to regulate every single piece of machinery and technology, a process which ignores the fact that 80 percent of all accidents are due to human negligence," says Abdullah.
Shift of focus
He believes that addressing problems relating to human factors demands a re-thinking of the ways rules and regulations are drafted. The process demands reliable facts and comprehensive thinking from trustworthy parties rather than the constant add-ons that dominate today's regulations. "Class could do this, simply because they have the knowledge and the experience. But they don't seem to try," he says.
"One example is the way many politicians believe that double-hulled tankers are the solution to end all oil spills. This is just one solution to one problem, but it is being acted upon as the solution to all tanker spills. We have several double hull tankers in our fleet, built 15 years before the current debate. We have a history of building ships beyond compliance, so we are not looking for shortcuts. Like any serious tanker company, we just want a set of rules and regulations that really address the problematic issues, and does so in a way that makes it easier to manage the real problems," states Abdullah.
High standards pay off
KOTC is going to build 10 new ships in the near future. The national carrier is in a unique position to build on its strengths in a business where weakness can be severely punished. KOTC's strong financial situation is as important as the strength of its vessels' steel and welds. And of course, the two are related.
"We see a direct relation between our quality efforts in repairs and newbuilding and our bottom line," says Abdullah. "We are not like a regular management company. When we decide to build a ship, we know that we will be using the ship throughout its entire life cycle. We are not trading tankers. We make our business by building, owning and maintaining high quality ships that transport Kuwaiti oil. That is our sole purpose."
Kuwait's reputation at stake
Being the national carrier of oil products from Kuwait has many implications. One of them is the responsibility for the reputation of Kuwait. Fully aware that 80 percent of all accidents are caused by human error, KOTC does what it can to address the impact people has on its operations.
"Sound decisions, loyalty and dedication come when good people are hand-picked, well trained and taken good care of. To really ensure consistent high quality, we have a policy of using specialised people in all positions. We use former captains and chief engineers from our own fleet as superintendents when we repair and build ships. We even have a dedicated section headed by a superintendent that only deals with coating."
The best possible ship in mind
"We believe that class is the best organisation to help us. At KOTC, we go beyond compliance, and in these efforts, what organisation is better equipped to keep abreast of new developments of rules and regulations, policies and technology?"
"However, we have recently decided that class will be included in the specifications of every ship we are planning to build. We've experienced periods when the yards decided newbuilding class. Back then, we felt that class reported to the yard and not at all to us. The yards, and indeed the class societies must take their roles and responsibilities more seriously."
Prompt, caring and hard working
Before choosing DNV class on the six biggest ships KOTC are to build, KOTC ran a survey among all their superintendents to find out which class society provided most hands-on support and concrete assistance in KOTC's efforts to build the safest, most robust and highest quality ships. "DNV scored highest, and with a good margin. Words used to describe DNV included 'prompt, caring and hard working.' Such feedback proves we have the right class on these vessels," says Abdullah.
"We feel that DNV people are with us from day one. Currently, DNV Maritime Solutions has assisted our efforts to put together specifications that take into account all the various rules and regulations that will have an impact on the new ships we are to build. In just two months, we have prepared the specifications of six different types of vessels and had these reviewed no less than four times all over before sending them out to yards," Abdullah says.
Up to speed
"DNV seems to take a special interest in the customer relationship. DNV is particularly good at keeping us informed of changes in rules and regulations and presenting it to us in a way that gets through. Most class societies send us lots and lots of emails and papers, but there is only so much mail a man can read in one day. Therefore, we really appreciate the way our contact, DNV's country manager, Gandhi, comes to us and gives us short presentations, answering our questions when necessary, promptly and adequately. We need the right information at the right time, not all the information all the time," Mahmoud Abdullah concludes.