The event was attended by 30 management level officers from Marlow’s full management fleet, including both deck and engine departments, as well as management and senior staff from full management offices in Cyprus and Marlow Ship Management Deutschland (MSD).
The seminar was conducted by Operations Manager, Marlow Navigation, Captain Graham Cowling, Managing Director, MSD, Frank Homann, together with Fleet Manager, Alexander Borisenko, Marine Superintendent, Capt Christian Schnicke and Crew Superintendent, Gregoris Zorsis, and supported by Marlow Ukraine’s senior management teams.
On the first day, a number of guest speakers presented interesting topics relevant to technical management. Business Development Manager, ERMA First, Nikos Kyritsis, covered their Ballast Water treatment system, installation and design, general operational and maintenance issues and practical experience.
Marine Surveyor, Captain Robert Kirk McGregor from Charles Taylor & Co. Ltd. who are also managers of The Standard Club UK Ltd, spoke about the role of the P&I Club and then went on to look at the human element on board. He explained why mistakes are made and the possible consequences. Captain McGregor also presented the ‘Bad for Business’ problems of oily water illegal discharges in the United States and the possible consequences including huge fines and imprisonment, noting that the P&I Club will not normally provide cover for MARPOL violations, which are criminal offences.
Finally, Engine Specialist (Performance and optimisation), MAN Energy Solutions, Klaus Petersen together with Alexander Borisenko, discussed common effects and problems of low sulphur fuels and troubleshooting fuel/engine problems during a number of engine workshops. Meanwhile, Technical Service Engineer, Castrol, Olaf Neumeier spoke about the use of low sulphur fuels and the 2020 Sulphur Cap. This is going to have dramatic implications for shipboard operations for fuel changeover, fuel handling and engine maintenance and Neumeier was able to give us very interesting insights on the new types of fuel and their advantages and disadvantages.
Additional deck and engine workshops were conducted on the second day of the seminar, including a look at recent safety incidents in full management, with case studies.
Captain Schnicke presented the findings of the navigation audits of the fleet and key issues to address. Graham Cowling spoke about the Monitoring – Reporting – Verification (MRV) regulations for the CO2 emissions from ship’s funnels and the reporting requirements with plenty of discussion on how to complete the on board forms correctly. There were a lot of discussions on how to use the CAPE computer software for MRV reports correctly.
Gregoris Zorzis gave a very interesting presentation on the Crewing systems and appraisal process, as well as on-board leadership and why this is so important for the career development of officers and the entire crew.
Captain Yurii Kondrat’yev, serving Master on full management vessel Warnow Moon, presented a paper on ‘A message from Ship to Shore’ with a discussion on how communication on ship board issues can be improved and how on board issues can be understood correctly by the both the crew and shore-based teams. He also looked into the role of the Master and the main challenges in operating a ship.
Last but certainly not least, Frank Homann provided an overview of the current shipping market and explained the challenges facing ship owners on time charter earnings, daily opex costs and the profit/loss of the ship’s commercial operation.
Following the seminar, a dinner was held for all participants to relax, socialise and enjoy the evening, entertained by a very clever magician and a great local band who had everyone up and dancing!
