Statoil’s clean sweep on safety - Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

T H E C O R P O R AT E M A G A Z I N E O F D E T N O R S K E V E R I TA S N O . 2 / 2 0 0 2

Statoil’s clean sweepon safety

Petrobras charts new deepwater course

Conoco leads the wayin safety management

Cancer centre adopts environmental package

EU legislative proposals:A view from Brussels…and from OCIMF chairmanJan Kopernicki

Qu

Qual

CONTENTS

DNV Forum is the corporatemagazine of Det Norske Veritas

PUBLISHED BYCorporate CommunicationsN-1322 Høvik, NorwayTel: +47 67 57 99 00Fax:+47 67 57 91 60

HEAD OF CORPORATECOMMUNICATIONSTore Høifødt

EDITORStuart Brewer

EDITORIAL CONSULTANTR.Keith Evans

ADMINISTRATIONGro Huseby

DESIGNDNVE Graphic Communications

PRINTGan Grafisk, Norway

COVER PHOTOCourtesy of Statoil

No responsibility is accepted bythe publishers for statements madeby authors, nor for attributablecomment. Reproduction permittedwith acknowledgement of source.

© Det Norske Veritas 2002

DNV (Det Norske Veritas) isan independent, autonomousFoundation working to safeguardlife, property and the environment.DNV comprises 300 offices in 100countries, with 5,500 employees.

Visit our website www.dnv.com

page 10 page 18 page 30

3 EDITORIAL: Quality and integritymark concern for clients' real needs

4 STATOIL starts with a clean slatein assessing plant and platform safety

8 PROCESS-PLANT integrityis key to Conoco's business success

10 BRAZIL: Petrobras builds onlessons learned from the P-36 …

13 … while subsidiary Transpetroexpands and upgrades the nation’s pipelines

16 MARITIME TENTECHdevelops FPSO design for the Gulf of Mexico

18 ANTI-POLLUTION LAWS toughenedin EU legislative proposals: a view from Brussels …

21 … and from OCIMF chairman Jan Kopernicki

24 BOX-SHIP SUCCESS STORY:continuing the Rickmers family traditions

26 MARENOSTRUM expands ship-management skills and standards

28 NAUTICUS CONSTRUCTION:New software for newbuilding process management

30 CANCER CENTERadopts environmental package

34 LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES gainsDNV ISO 14001 certification for ‘green design’

36 NEWS

38 LAST WORD

39 DNV WORLDWIDE

uality and Integrity Quality and Integrity Quality a

DNV FORUM NO. 2/2002 3

Quality and Integrity Quality and Integrity Qualityity and Integrity Quality and Integrity Quality and

AAs the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer ofDNV, Miklos Konkoly-Thege has clear goals. ‘It is ourvision that by supporting our customers in theirefforts to improve quality, safety and environmentalperformance, we can also enable them to realise theirbusiness objectives in general. In helping our customerssucceed, DNV will also become their preferred supplierand thus an even more accomplished company.’Having spent the past 18 years in DNV, with wideexperience in the industries it serves, Konkoly-Thegerealises ‘this is an ongoing task.’

The way he views DNV’s goals, ‘It’s all about qualityand integrity, and making sure that all our servicesare the best in their scope and application.’ Heexplains, ‘All companies subscribe to the importanceof keeping their customers’ needs in focus. For us inDNV this means that we must strive to understandwhat is important to our customers, and identify howbest DNV can help satisfy their needs.

‘Take for example the offshore industry. In responseto changing market conditions, with the safety ofoffshore installations becoming ever more regulated,DNV is actively developing both new and existingservices. In addition to our traditional class role, weoffer clients a wide range of relevant services: fromlife-cycle risk management and integrity managementto safety, environmental and human-factor consultancy.’

Examples of the diverse services DNV provides to itsclients across the industrial spectrum are included inthis issue of DNV Forum. Says Konkoly-Thege, ‘OurInternational approach, and the respect in which ouroffshore-related services are held, are well illustratedby the work we are undertaking in Brazil, where theoil company Petrobras is advancing even further itscompetence in ultra-deepwater exploration; and inthe Gulf of Mexico, helping develop FPSOs for theunique sea and weather conditions met there.’

Growing international competition throughoutindustry is emphasing the need to integrate safety,environmental and quality-related activities intoproduction processes of all kinds.

‘For DNV’ says Konkoly-Thege, ‘this means thatthe more our activities can be seen as part of thecustomer’s value-adding chain, the greater the impactof our work for safeguarding life, property and theenvironment. This way we can help realise DNV’svision as well as every customer’s business goals.’

[email protected] EDITOR

Qualityand Integrity

Miklos Konkoly-Thege

4 DNV FORUM NO. 2/2002

Statoil gets the


big picture on safety

Says Geir Pettersen Statoil’s safety director, ‘We want-ed to map more than hours of absence and numbersof incidents, we wanted the full picture,’ he explains.‘We needed to know the current status of our entireinventory; but even more importantly we neededto assess the structural and overall safety of eachplatform’s resistance to major hazards and risks.’

Until now, methodologies for overall technical safetyassessment have been hard to come by. The method-ology Statoil used in their assessment was carefullyput together to reflect all the relevant regulations andinternational standards as well as Statoil’s own corpo-rate best practices. Says Pettersen, ‘In the process ofdeveloping this system, the assistance from DNVhelped us tremendously because of its competenceand long experience. Also, using someone from theoutside is valuable for the objectivity of both themethod and the findings.’

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHTHe explains that in 2000 the Board of Directorsdecided to set the record straight in response to anon-going safety debate based more on feelings thanon facts.

The debate was triggered by a number of Norwe-gian railway and shipping accidents, resulting in manyfatalities. Questions arose about the safety levelonboard the many oil and gas installations alongNorway’s coast. Reports about a trend of decreasingsafety levels, combined with the alleged risks of age-ing platforms, needed to be addressed.

The process of gaining experience about ageinginstallations only began once the ageing was happen-ing, and therefore oil companies now want to havesystems in place to learn in detail exactly whathazards/failure mechanisms are directly connectedto the platform ageing process. >>

Rather than drowning in paper-work and incrementally devel-oped regulations and inspectionschemes, Norwegian oil companyStatoil decided on a clean slate.Using a new and comprehensivemethodology co-developed withDNV, Statoil assessed the overalltechnical safety of all its installa-tions, both onshore and offshore.

TEXT: [email protected]: ØYVIND HAGEN, STATOIL

‘Sharing both the methodology andthe findings freely throughout theindustry is the kind of action thatpromotes safety co-operation’

– Geir Pettersen


SAFETY BARRIERSOne of the the most important factor contributing tosafety is the safety systems that function as barriers. Ifanything should go wrong, safety barriers must be inplace and their performance in terms of functionality,integrity and vulnerability is essential to prevent theincident from developing into an accident. This canbe described as a second line of defence.

Statoil has identified risks where ‘sleeping’ safetysystems might be forgotten in day-to-day operationsThis includes equipment for fire fighting that is to beused only in actual fires, meaning it is seldom testedfull scale. Such systems might lose the everyday battlefor attention among all the safety and productionsystems in daily use. Another objective of the projectwas therefore to ensure awareness and competenceof safety-critical elements and safety systems as linesof defence.

Teams comprising technical specialists from bothStatoil and DNV travelled to every single Statoil facility,onshore, offshore and in-between: pipelines, refiner-ies, gas receiving terminals and product depots.

RANKING FROM A TO FThe assessment teams used checklists to rate all thesafety systems on each installation. Each safety systemwas given a grade from A to F, where A represents aperfect system, better than any of the established bestpractices in the industry. The grade E denotes a non-satisfactory system, and grade F a system not passed.

On average, the Statoil facilities received goodgrades by the assessors. 14 per cent of the systems

were given an E, 25 per cent were given grade D,the minimum acceptable standard, while the remainingachieved good grades, C and above.

Using an ageing platform, Statfjord A, as an exampleof a typical old installation, grade E was given to some20% of the safety systems on the platform; some 30%of the systems were acceptable, while the remainingwere graded B or C.

The reason why an old platform like Statfjord Adoes not score higher is because the current accumu-lated knowledge, and hence regulations and standards,have evolved into substantially safer installationdesigns. In particular this reflects the fact that thisgeneration of installations is much more enclosedthan today.

The safety systems that did not pass the evaluationhave been replaced or are in the process of beingupgraded or replaced. However, this is only the begin-ning. From now on, Statoil will continue to carry outassessments according to the established methodology.Every year, one fifth of the technical safety barriers onall Statoil installations will be checked against the per-formance requirements developed in this project.Consequently, Statoil will have constantly updatedinformation on the overall safety picture on all itsinstallations.

THE WAY AHEADStatoil’s proactive approach effects both Statoil andthe rest of the industry. ‘Being as open as we havewith regards to the findings, we put pressure on our-selves to fill the gaps that were discovered in thisproject,’ says Pettersen.

In addition, the awareness of and the use of themethodology are spreading to other players in the oiland gas industry. For example, Norsk Hydro hasrecently initiated an assessment project based on thismethodology, adapted to meet its own needs.

Says Geir Pettersen: ‘DNV will be assisting us also infollow-up work on this project. We want to make themost out of our investments. This means that we haveto make sure that the safety level on our older instal-lations is not only in line with laws and regulations,but as good as possible for platforms of up to 20–30years of age. We will use the methodology and thefindings in a scheme where correction of the non-satisfactory conditions will be integrated into ourdaily work. This will continue the awareness that washeightened during the assessment.’ ◆

IN SUMMARY

• Until now, methodologies for overall technical

safety assessment have been hard to come by.

Using a new and comprehensive methodolo-

gy co-developed with DNV, Statoil has

assessed the overall technical safety of all its

installations, both onshore and offshore.

• The methodology Statoil used in its assess-

ment was carefully put together to reflect all

the relevant regulations and international

standards, as well as Statoil’s own corporate

best practices.

• After having initiated and taken the cost of

such a mammoth task, Statoil invited all

interested parties to take advantage of the

project.

• Both the industry and the regulators have

praised the project, as it enables assessment

of overall technical safety, especially on

ageing platforms.


Says Gunnar Berge, head of the Norwegian PetroleumDirectorate (NPD): ‘Such a safety assessment is exactlythe kind of approach we want the oil companies totake on these issues. The methods used are well suitedto address the need for information about overalltechnical safety. In particular the NPD appreciates theway they provide knowledge about the safety levels onageing platforms.

‘For some time now, we have been looking into howwe can make sure that what is reported are the mostrelevant and important facts. The project that Statoilhas initiated is unique and it meets all NPD require-ments and we have therefore actively supported it.’

In letters to operators in the North Sea as well as atinternational conferences, the NPD has pointed outthat this is a good method that can be introduced todemonstrate to the authorities that action is taken toensure safety of ageing platforms.

According to Gunnar Berge, there is an increasingneed for such assessments: ‘In general, we have seentrends indicating a decrease in the overall safety level,and now we want proof of the opposite from theoperators before we can say that we are back on track.Also, we have had incidents in the North Sea wheresubsequent investigation has shown that the technicalsafety has not been up to the standards and not asgood as at start-up, when the installations were initiallyapproved.

‘The openness about the findings indicates a com-mitment from Statoil. For companies that are secre-tive about their safety status, the price to pay is lack oftrust in their operations,’ warns Gunnar Berge. ◆

‘Such a safety assessment is exactlythe kind of approach we want the oilcompanies to take on these issues.’emphasises Gunnar Berge

SETTING THE BENCHMARK FOR INDUSTRY

Photo: Scanpix


Conoco has topped the American Petroleum Institute (API)annual safety survey for the fifth year in a row. The company’splant and personnel safety record comes from high leader-ship expectations, clear responsibilities and good tools.Conoco management recognise that being world-class inprocess safety is also essential for successful business.

TEXT: [email protected]

SSays Mark T. Korsmo, Manager Mechanical Integrity,Downstream Technology at Conoco Inc., ‘It is possi-ble to become over-confident in our work processes,after having earned the API’s top safety distinction for17 of the past 23 years.

‘Being the best can be a real barrier to change. Inour industry continuous improvements are a matterof business survival. Despite our good safety record,opportunities for improvement were discovered inthe safety management system, which prompted usto demand even greater attention to process safetyperformance. This has resulted in a comprehensiveassessment of mechanical integrity for all operatingfacilities worldwide.’

The improvement process started with an assess-ment of the mechanical integrity programme at 60Conoco facilities, covering upstream and downstreamactivities during the past year. In this context, themain objective of mechanical integrity is to ensurethat facilities, equipment and pipelines are designed,

constructed and operated throughout their lifeaccording to the original intent, with maintenanceand inspection programmes matching both the riskand equipment criticality.

UNDERSTANDING THE TOTALITY‘Our attention to mechanical integrity is directedtowards preventing serious process-related incidentsthat might injure people or the environment, or dam-age property,’ says Korsmo. ‘Previously, Conoco hasfocused very much on personal injury prevention.Now we are raising our focus on process safety to thesame level we have on personal safety.

‘To address these gaps after a thorough review, weemployed DNV to assess our mechanical integrity sys-tems and processes. The scope of work was deliberatelybroad to include the assessment of a number of keyelements, including leadership and managementcommitment, culture, management of change andrisk assessment as well as more conventional asset

The Humber refineryon the East Coast of Englandis a major site to have had amechanical Integrity assessmentby DNV.

A matter ofintegrity at Conoco

management, maintenance, and inspection pro-grammes. Our approach is not something new anddifferent, but we are taking advantage of new andmore unified ways of using better tools and expandingour risk-based approach. To be able to make the bestdecisions we must understand the total risk picture ofour operations – not only financial and personal safetymatters, but also mechanical, operational and man-agement issues.’

Ian McCulloch, the Conoco Upstream Lead, alsoclearly recognised the advantages of a risk profilingapproach to plan the most effective and efficientMechanical Integrity programme. This was a majorfinding of the DNV assessment.

LEARNING FROM MISSED OPPORTUNITIESThe same concept has been used on all 60 sitesassessed worldwide. According to Korsmo this hasbeen a good opportunity to create improvementsacross the upstream and downstream business units.‘The process has proved that, although the businessunits have perceived themselves as being different, inreality their strengths and weaknesses are similar. Therisk-profiling approach recommended by DNV hasprovided a single way forward that covers both ourupstream and downstream business. The new drivehas reinforced the synergy between our two majoractivities and has provided valuable learning for allinvolved. We have not fully capitalised on opportun-ities in the past by doing things separately. In thisassessment process, we have tried to collaborate moreeffectively between upstream and downstream, whichwe believe will make a better working process and abetter total product.’

Led from the top, Conoco is now beginning toimplement changes to deliver world-class mechanicalintegrity performance. In the downstream business,for example, this has involved working with each site

to translate all findings from DNV into meaningfulaction plans. ‘Regarding the assessment effort, it isnow that the important work for Conoco starts,’ saysKorsmo. ‘Each site has established its local implemen-tation team. The implementation plans are beingdeveloped and will be in place by the end of 2002.The whole process is expected to take 2–3 years tocomplete. These improvements will also be consistentwith, and advance Conoco’s policy of, sustainabledevelopment by which the company conducts busi-ness to meet the needs of the present, without com-promising the ability of future generations to meettheir own needs.’

According to DNV’s upstream and downstreamproject managers involved, this is one of the mostrewarding consultancy projects DNV has beeninvolved with. ‘The success of this customised processhas built upon Conoco’s existing exceptional safetyculture,’ says downstream project manager RobinPitblado. ‘By extending this culture instead of tryingto change it, Conoco knows it is deploying a provenstrategy and one most likely to maximise success andspeed of achievement. The potential prize is enormous,both in terms of future losses avoided and in enhancedproduction. It will be an important competitive advan-tage in the future, as well as reinforcing Conoco’s coresafety and environmental values.’

30 DNV employees have been involved in the project,with staff from the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Indonesiaand Finland. It has been a cross-business operationbetween DNV’s Consultancy, Technology, Certificationand Classification Units. ◆


‘To be able to make the best decisions we must understand the total risk picture’

– Mark Korsmo

CONOCO

• Founded in 1875

• Operating in 40 countries – primarily in North America,

northern South America, Western Europe and Southeast Asia

• 20,000 employees

• Net income in 2001: $1,589million

I


In his Rio de Janeiro office, Exploration and Produc-tion Manager, South-Southeast, Carlos Tadeu deCosta Fraga is seated in the midst of change.

Says Tadeu, ‘First of all our challenge is to continuegoing deeper, developing and applying new techno-logy. Second, it is to develop in total compliance withour safety, health and environmental policy at alltimes.’ His words are already being put to the test.In the next three years, Petrobras will install six newfloating production units.

To explain Petrobras’ safety philosophy, Tadeuquotes a song familiar to all Brazilians, ‘E qualquerdesatenção, faça não, pode ser a gota dágua,’ – notknowing which drop is the last one that will make acup spill over, one should always be attentive. Lackof attention – even for a brief moment – might causeone to miss that crucial last drop.

LEARNING FROM P-36Sometimes several drops combine to create a ripple,as was the case with semisubmersible P-36. In March2001, an accident onboard the platform in the Ron-cador Field offshore Brazil caused it to sink. The

Last autumn Petrobras established its OperationalExcellence Programme (PEO) to address offshoreoperational and safety performance. Movingforcefully on comprehensive safety measures, theBrazilian oil major is improving current operationswhile preparing for deeper waters.

TEXT: [email protected]: GERALDO FALCÃO

Petrobras charts newdeepwater course


final Report concluded that not one single action ormistake caused the accident, and the avoidance ofany of the main causes would have modified or com-pletely prevented the accident. Says Tadeu, ‘We neededto stop, reflect and behave differently. We discussedwhat we had learned with experts, what future inci-dents could occur, and created a programme to pre-vent such incidents. The PEO programme was initiatedlast November to improve the health, safety and envi-ronmental aspects of Petrobras’ offshore operations.’

Strengthening the Class concept, guidelines anddirectives for the design of offshore productioninstallations were also quickly approved and adopted.

Explains Tadeu, ‘Improving safety is like everythingwe do. The lessons learned are an important part ofthe continuing process. It is all about culturalchange. We are recognised experts on deepwaterexploration. For us the P-36 accident was a shock.Petrobras had to restore a level of confidence: tobring back the morale of the entire company.’

Petrobras dedicated more than 80 senior expertsto the investigation. About 20 worked full time. Theirengineering skills were crucial in tests and simula-tions to determine the accident causes. Union repre-sentatives, and university and DNV experts supportedthe investigation committee.

Says Tadeu, ‘To conduct an accurate investigation,DNV’s experience of other major industrial accidentswas invaluable. Since the platform was a total loss,the accident was much more difficult to reconstruct.DNV’s expertise was critical in building the rightmethodology.’

The PEO programme covers health,safety and environmental aspects ofall Petrobras’ offshore operations.

DEEPWATER EXPERTISE

• Concentrating efforts offshore south-

eastern Brazil in the 1970s has left

Petrobras with deepwater exploration

know-how equalled by few.

• The huge Campos Basin hydrocarbon

reserves have challenged Petrobras

to a record depth of 1,853 m in the

Roncador field.

• In 1997, the Brazilian Petroleum Act

ended 45 years of monopoly for

Petrobras. The company then

realigned its organisation into four

business units: Exploration and Pro-

duction, International, Gas and Energy,

and Supplies.

• Petrobras produces 1.6 million barrels

of oil pr. day and aims to increase this

to 1.9 million bbd by 2005. The Cam-

pos Basin is responsible for some 80%

of Petrobras’ production.

>>


IMPROVING SAFETYAt year’s end, the PEO programme will have imple-mented changes to engineering design, safety, ballastand stability, maintenance, operations and humanresources.

Says Tadeu, ‘The investigation analysis revealedimportant areas of improvement, in addition to somenot related to the accident. We put together theseaspects in the PEO programme, addressing all opera-tional areas: design guidelines, operational proce-dures, organisation, training and an EmergencyResponse Plan.

‘Common to all areas is that they are supportedby attention to the human element. The right peoplewith the right skills are what make a successful busi-ness. They are the ones who make the procedureshappen.’

The programme affects more than 3,000 staff.Organisation has been pivotal. With fourteen maintasks to be implemented across business units, involv-ing all Petrobras’ platforms in Brazil and abroad,responsibility needed to be divided clearly and dele-gated to each unit.

The central committee, of which Tadeu is a member,oversees project organisation and monitors the units’implementation. Periodic audits are being performedaccording to a specific checklist protocol. Says Tadeu,‘What is crucial during these audits is to look atimplementation. Feedback is sent to senior manage-ment to allow for any changes to the implementationprocess.’

VALUABLE TRANSPARENCYPetrobras has been extremely open with the P-36investigation findings. Tadeu explains, ‘We adoptedthe attitude to be totally transparent from the start. Inthe aftermath, we have shared the report throughoutthe industry and conducted workshops in the U.K.,

Norway and at this year’s Offshore Technology Con-ference in the U.S.A.’

Involving its contractors is another Petrobras initia-tive. Says Tadeu, ‘We have initiated a programmeinviting our contractors to participate in our environ-mental efforts. From an environmental, health andsafety perspective, we are pushing them to adopt asafety management process. We provide them withsupport and allow them to improve. The supplierswho participate and do improve are termed “pre-ferred suppliers”.

‘All our business units provide workshops for thesuppliers to help them improve. If they don’t, theyno longer do business with us.’

MANAGING IN DEEPER WATERSPetrobras is moving now to greater depths witha broad base of technological know-how and safetyprogrammes. In 2005, a semi-submersible to be calledP-52 will begin production in the Roncador field,replacing the P-36 now resting on the ocean floor;its construction and future operations build on afoundation of hard-learned lessons.

And above all, the activities to improve Petrobrasoperations offshore have had a pivotal role in improv-ing its ability to best manage future changes andchallenges. ◆

‘The right people with the right skillsare what make a successful business,’

– Carlos Tadeu


Transpetro primes

As Brazil tries to overcome power shortages, pressureis being placed on the country’s gas pipeline grid.Transpetro is preparing for imminent change in theenergy supply picture.

TEXT: [email protected]: COURTESY OF TRANSPETRO

Brazil’s gas pump

T


That Pão de Açucar is left in the dark at night –spotlights no longer illuminating the sugar loaf land-mark in Rio de Janeiro – is a visible sign of Brazil’spower challenge.Recognising the need to reduce its reliance onhydropower, the government has turned to thermo-electric power plants fuelled by natural gas. Predic-tions foresee an increase in the natural gas share ofthe energy matrix from the current 3% to 12% by2010. To the major oil and gas logistic company inBrazil, this is a major challenge.

Says Victor Celso Ferreira Ielo, Transpetro’s generalmanager of gas pipelines, ‘We are aiming to rapidlydouble the gas we transport. Today we handle 20 mil-lion cubic metres a day. In the next two years, we arepreparing to handle 30 million cubic metres a day,and more than 40 million per day in 2005.’

Improvements are being made to Transpetro’spresent 3,000 km gas network. Expansion of the gridincludes a new line between Sao Paulo and Rio deJaneiro, a new grid in the Northeast, and an intercon-nection between the two. New compression stationsare also to be installed in the existing pipeline net-works.

ENERGY TURNROUNDInternationally, the big oil companies are transform-ing into energy companies. For Ielo this is a positivemove. ‘You must move away from the old rules; themajor oil companies are becoming energy companies.They have to look at alternative sources of energy. ForTranspetro this is the best thing that could happen.Gas was normally considered secondary. Oil alwayscame first. When Petrobras made the decision tobecome an energy company, gas was lifted to an equalfirst place with other energy sources.’

SERVICE PROVIDERTranspetro is the direct result of the 1997 BrazilianPetroleum Act that opened the market to foreigncompanies. Complying with the deregulation laws,Petrobras established the subsidiary Petrobras Trans-porte S.A (Transpetro) in 1998. The logistics companytook over Petrobras’ Fronape ship management inJanuary 2000, and the pipelines and terminals laterthe same year. It handles the transport and storageof bulk, crude, by-products and gas through pipelines,terminals and vessels of its own and third parties, plusconstruction and administration of new pipelines,ships and terminals.

Says Ielo, ‘We have changed from a product-sellingcompany to a service provider. A change in mindsethas been important. Transpetro was born as a Petro-bras company, but we are not restricted to work forPetrobras. When competitors are ready to transporttheir products, they can purchase capacity onTranspetro’s infrastructure.’

ENSURING EXCELLENCEIelo manages Transpetro’s gas pipeline grid. Togetherwith the oil pipelines, Transpetro operates a 12,075km network. Spread across 8.5 million square miles,a centralised safety approach makes perfect sense.

Petrobras as a whole has established a US$1 billionsafety programme called PEGASO, ensuring excel-lence in health, safety and the environment. PEGASOhas a three-pronged approach, addressing hardware,procedures and human factors.

Transpetro is spending millions of dollars detectingpossible leakages, weaknesses in the systems and otherhazards. Says Ielo, ‘We have made a major change inour supervisory system. Information from all the

‘A good balance of technology,processes and people is crucial,’says Victor Ielo.


pipelines is fed to a central system, giving us anoverview of all pipelines in Brazil.’

Ielo is referring to the newly inaugurated Opera-tional Control Centre (COO) that centralisesTranspetro’s domestic network for oil and gas trans-port. The COO, whose basic concept was createdentirely by Transpetro engineering, has two inde-pendent systems: the oil pipelines (petroleum andderivatives) and gas pipelines (natural gas). Tocheck up on the gas flow – the quantity, quality ordelivery – Ielo gets on the elevator in the Transpetroheadquarters located in downtown Rio de Janeiro,stepping off at the 8th floor.

Here in the COO, operators at large computerconsoles monitor all Transpetro-operated oil and gaspipelines, with the exception of supply lines belongingto third parties and ship loading and unloading linesat port terminals.

Explains Ielo, ‘The system enables operators toopen and close the valves controlling the flow of gas,adjust the quality and content of the gas, and conductsales at the other end – all by the click of a button. Inaddition to optimising the planning and transporta-tion of products, real-time monitoring of the networkprovides greater operational safety.’

The natural gas transported over Transpetro’spipelines comes from Brazilian and Bolivian reserves.‘We are looking to extend pipelines in other SouthAmerican countries, and with this system, we will beable to control them from Rio as well,’ says Ielo.

INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKINGTo identify current conditions, Transpetro relies onDNV in cooperation with Jardine. Says Ielo, ‘We arenow performing a reliability analysis of all ourprocesses. This is a complete analysis, not just of theequipment but of all our processes from equipment

to profit. We are trying to find out how reliable ourassets and processes are.’

The aim is to benchmark the services Transpetroprovides to clients. In addition, DNV is performinga Risk Based Inspection study of certain gas pipelines.

Says Ielo, ‘Currently DNV is involved in the reliabil-ity studies of the gas pipeline networks. If this goeswell, the plan is to expand to the oil pipelines.Preparing our company to go international, we arelooking for global partners such as DNV. We arepreparing our services for international benchmarking.’

As Transpetro prepares for future challenge, it isinvesting in a third dimension: people. Ielo emphasisesthat, ‘Through the PEGASO programme, we have abroad focus on safety. A good balance of technology,processes and people is crucial. If you don’t involvethe staff, you don’t have anything. They must betrained and aware of what we expect of them: to havea concept of safety instilled within them. You needmore than just procedures on paper.’ ◆

NEW ENERGY SOURCES VITAL

Diversification of the Brazilian energy matrix is progressing

quickly. The vast river basins that currently provide 95 percent

of the country’s electricity yield limited possibilities for further

development. An unusually dry summer in 2001 caused major

power shortages all over the country throughout the year.

A rigorous electricity rationing programme was established by

the Brazilian Government, requiring a general cutback of 20%

in power consumption by all users. Currently more than 40 gas-

fired power plants are under construction.

In the Operational ControlCentre, the flow of gas isat the operators’ fingertips.

TThe continuing search for oil is taking the offshoreindustry farther out and deeper down. The increasingdepths, inhospitable working environments and focuson cutting costs push the technological envelope foralmost every new project. The FPSO is the perfecttool for the job. It’s mobile since it has the hull of aship, far-reaching because of its flexible mooring andriser systems, and cost-efficient in production.

HIGH STANDARDSMaritime Tentech is a long-time user of DNV Soft-ware’s FPSO design tools. The company, which is theFPSO product responsible within the Aker KvaernerTechnology division, specialises in structural design ofvessel and turret, hydrodynamic analysis, naval archi-tecture, marine operations, installation and offshoremodifications, and more.

Says manager Børre Knudsen, ‘Half of the purpose-built FPSOs in the North Sea are of Maritime Tentechdesign. Currently we have seven FPSOs in productionin the U.K. and Norway. FPSO operators in thesewaters have high demands for quality due to thetough weather conditions, and our North Sea FPSOdesign is of the highest standard in the business.It may cost more, but it saves the operators moneythroughout production.’

Maritime Tentech has used DNV Software’s FPSOpackage for code checking, advanced strength assess-ments, hydrodynamic analysis and mooring simula-tions. Says Knudsen, ‘DNV Software’s tools are ofinvaluable help in our work, and they have played anespecially important role in the development of ournew FPSO design for the Gulf of Mexico.’

EMERGING MARKETThe Gulf of Mexico was only recently opened up foroil production using FPSOs. Maritime Tentech hasused the experience garnered from work on its state-of-the-art North Sea FPSO design to make a cutting-edge design specifically for this emerging market.

Knudsen explains: ‘The work has taken 18 monthsand considerable investment. As part of the processwe approached ten U.S. oil companies and askedthem what they were looking for in a design for theGulf of Mexico. This input, coupled with our experi-ence from the North Sea and the authorities’ regula-tions, has given us enough information to create ageneric design for the Gulf.’

For example, the U.S. operators requested thatthe vessel could be abandoned in case of hurricanes,which means it must handle well in response to wavesand wind. The design therefore specifies no thrustersfor heading control and an internal turret that ismoved forward to improve weathervaning capabilities.


Finding right form

Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels are indemand. They are cost-efficient, movable and can operate in allconditions. Aker Kvaerner’s Maritime Tentech is ready with anFPSO design for the emerging market in the Gulf of Mexico.

TEXT & PHOTO: [email protected]

DNV SOFTWARE

is a commercial software house within Det Norske Veritas (DNV)

which has done software development for shipping, offshore and

process industries for over 40 years. DNV Software was estab-

lished as an independent unit 1.1.2001 in order to concentrate

DNV’s software recourses in one business unit. DNV Software has

150 employees and more than 3000 clients in over 55 countries.

For further information: www.dnv.com/software

DNV Software's advancedstrength analysis tool visualisesa 3D model of the FPSO hull.


ula for US Gulf FPSO

PRODUCTION FRIENDLYA partner in this design process has been giant Koreanshipbuilder Hyundai. Says Bård Leite, a MaritimeTentech designer, ‘Together with Hyundai we havesimplified the design as much as possible, focusingon the most cost-efficient solutions. The design is pro-duction friendly. It ensures a vessel with good sea-keeping, flexible solutions for top weights and amplestorage capacity. It can readily be adapted to customerspecifications.’

The design was concept-approved by DNV early thisyear, and Knudsen already has several parties interested.The U.S. Coast Guard, however, is waiting for the firsttest case, as the industry bides its time.

NEW CHALLENGES IN THE GULFThere are several problems connected with produc-tion in the Gulf, explains Knudsen, ‘The ocean flooris very undulating and quite deep, reaching depths of3,000 metres. The area experiences extreme seasonalwinds and a strong “loop” current. In addition theauthorities do not allow gas flaring nor re-injectioninto the ground, which leaves few options.’

He is certain, however, thatall of these problems can beovercome through planningand by using the right tech-nology, such as a well-designed FPSO.

LIFECYCLE APPROACHTO FPSO OPERATIONEarlier this year DNV Soft-ware initiated co-operationwith Industrial & FinancialSystems Norway (IFS). Thetwo partners combine mar-itime know-how and market-leading technology to develop

a unique IT solution for proactive asset managementfor FPSO operations. The software solution combinesDNV Software’s tools for structural re-assessment andplanned maintenance, with IFS’s business applicationsfor planned maintenance, logistics and equipmentpurchase.

Says Øystein Goksøyr, Head of DNV Software Busi-ness Development, ‘The solution covers all phases inthe life cycle of a floating oil production vessel. Theknowledge gained from the design and constructionof the vessel is stored in a database that providespowerful decision support and knowledge manage-ment for FPSO operators. This will offer them a higherlevel of maintenance that will minimise downtime inoil production without compromising safetyonboard.’

This development will help progress FPSO designeven faster. ◆

Børre Knudsen (right), MaritimeTentech’s manager, and ØysteinGoksøyr, DNV Software’s head ofBusiness Development, share anoptimistic view of the developmentof the FPSO market.

In our forum discussing important issues facingthe maritime industry, Fotis Karamitsos, directorof Maritime Transport in the EU Commission, andJan Kopernicki, Vice President of Shell Shipping,give their views on the driving forces and effectsof some of the legislative proposals drawn up bythe EC – proposals that vitally concern a widecross-section of the maritime industry.

After Erika…



D

... a new era for maritime safety

Says Fotis Karamitsos, Director of Maritime Transportand Intermodality in the EU Commission, ‘We wantto make seas safer and cleaner. At the same time wewill make the shipping industry safer and cleaner.’

The principle of ‘polluter pays’ is reflected in the regulatoryframework now developed or under development. How doyou look upon the reality of this principle and to what extentdo you think it can be enforced? Can it be enforced in themaritime industry if not in other modes of transportation?

‘Sustainable development is a priority for the EU,and the environmental performance of modes oftransportation is clearly of major importance to theenvironmental aspects of this. So, in the future, theEU will do what it takes to facilitate sustainable trans-portation and as such promote transport on rail andby sea. Railways are fine, but due to capacity problems,there are limits for development. Short sea trading,on the other hand, has potential, but suffers fromadministrative problems, inadequate port services andhigh port costs. These problems must be solved andat the same time we must establish other incentives,making short sea trading a more competitive modeof transport.

‘Naturally, this will be part of a greater schemewhere all modes of transportation will be priced in

accordance with their marginal cost to the environ-ment. For example, SO2 emissions from congestedroad traffic will be more expensive than for sea trade,which uses the free seas.’

Will this not have a negative impact on the shipping industry?‘The package that will come from EU proposing“charging” for the use of infrastructure will not bedisadvantageous for shipping. On the contrary, it willbenefit shipping, especially short sea trade. Com-pared to any other mode of transportation, shippingis the most environmentally friendly. The problem isthe risk of pollution caused by grounding and spills ofchemicals and oil. Therefore, we will take specialaction on this. Already our proposal for a supplemen-tary fund for oil pollution, following the Erika acci-dent, addresses this problem. We hope that an inter-national solution will be agreed early next year.’

DRIVING FORCESSince the Erika accident, through initiatives launchedby the Commission, the EU has spearheaded new leg-islation that will improve safety at sea and preventmaritime pollution.

Do the European Commission proposals bring any goodnews for the shipping industry? Or is this a package of add-ons to a maritime safety regime that is better at establishingmore procedures, paperwork and governing bodies thantargeting the increasing problem of sub-standard shipping?

‘You cannot even drive a moped without beinginsured for third party liability in any countryI know of, but operating a passenger ship with-out insurance is apparently OK!’


What is the driving force behind these initiatives? Is it areaction to the public demand for the politicians and theCommission to act? Or are these steps launched by the Com-mission as part of a strategy to meet the objectives of the EUto harmonise and unify legislation within the EU?

‘The driving forces of the new legislation are basedon both a reaction to the Erika disaster with the needto improve maritime safety – as the old system hadfailed – and a strategy to meet the Union’s objectivesto harmonise and unify legislation. The one does notexclude the other. The strategy also includes actionaimed at improving the competitiveness of qualityshipping. This in turn, is part of an overall strategythat eventually will make shipping a preferred modeof transportation within the EU.’

According to Karamitsos, maritime safety legislationin many areas is already in place, but its implementa-tion and enforcement must be stronger and moreeffective. He thinks that the IMO to some extent istoo slow, but he emphasises the importance of unifiedinternational legislation when addressing global prob-lems. Nevertheless, the EU can and must act on itsown in some cases.

How do the EU and the Commission intend to take this intoconsideration when formulating new legislation which willaffect not only European shipping interests, but also theglobal shipping community?

‘I believe it is good that if the EU introduces newlegislation to protect the environment, this affectsshipping globally. This means that the EU can havea positive effect worldwide by raising standards in theEU area. Ships from other areas of the world will haveto comply with EU regulations when they come intoEU waters. This way we also avoid creating disadvan-tages for European shipping, as the indirect effect willbe the same for the entire international shippingindustry.

‘We will try to go through IMO to update legisla-tion and bring it up to modern requirements, as wedid after the Erika sinking. This has been a positiveexperience and we have a preference for this model;however if it will not work we will have to considerwhat the EU’s interests are and proceed accordingly.’

EU SPEAKS WITH ONE VOICEOne objective of the EU is to promote an ever-closer unionamong its member states. The Commission’s recent initiativefor the EU in its own right to become a member of IMO is astep in that direction. If so, how do you see the future regimefor international maritime safety regulations?

‘With our forthcoming enlargement there will bemore than 25% of global tonnage under EU flags.So we must be able to influence international legisla-tion. We must protect EU interests and use to themaximum international processes to do so. We knowthat our accession to IMO will take some years to hap-pen, with the current set-up of the IMO organisation.

‘As to the voting argument, our member states willcontinue to have the votes they already have – nothingwill change, as we are not asking for an extra vote forthe EU. But it will be – whenever there is a communitycompetence – a coherent position. Please note thatdecisions are taken by consensus in IMO and there isalmost never any real voting taking place. This is oneof the reasons why it takes time for IMO to decide oninternational standards and regulations. However, it isimportant for us that the EU member states speakwith one voice in international forums. This way theEU can use its voting power in accordance with thepower of its current 15 and later 25 or more memberstates.

‘As to the future of international maritime safetyregulations, I can say that there are areas needing fur-ther development. These will be addressed as a resultof the EU’s organisational presence in internationalorganisations.’ ◆

IN SUMMARY

• The sinking of the tanker Erika off the French coast in

December 1999, with the loss of her cargo of heavy

fuel, resulted in an environmental catastrophe in one

of the most sensitive areas of the European continent.

It raised searching questions affecting everyone in the

industry

• At the core of the call for change lie the European

Commission proposals for a post-Erika safety package

which, if fully adopted, will have a far-reaching effect

on all players in the maritime sector

A few examples of what can be expected:

• Control and inspection of ships in port will be extend-

ed and considerably tightened, particularly for older

tankers

• Companies chartering substandard ships that are

detained will be listed and exposed

• There will be faster phasing out of single-hull tankers

• In the longer term, financial liabilities might be sub-

stantially increased.

• The EC is also pushing to establish a European Mar-

itime Safety Agency, primarily to ensure implementa-

tion of legislation by its member states through port

state control and class societies.

As shipping vice president of Shell Tradingand chairman of the Oil CompaniesInternational Marine Forum (OCIMF),Jan Kopernicki is well qualified to assessthe EU Commission’s legislative proposals.He insists that ‘It is not a simple black andwhite case between the good guys andthe bad guys – far from it. What we haveis a successful intervention by the EC

which has resulted in the international discussion moving on far morequickly.’ Holder of one of the most influential posts in shipping,Jan Kopernicki put his views to DNV Forum in London in mid-July.

I


A catalyst for progress

TEXT: [email protected]: NINA RANGØY

‘I would first clarify the misunderstanding thatEurope was in some way interfering with the normalshipping “jungle”. In fact this has been a successfulintervention by the EC which has helped to acceler-ate the international discussion. It is not right to criti-cise the European structure for causing a problem –this is far from true. Just look at what the EC hasachieved in a very short space of time – it hasaddressed the issue of ship age fairly constructively,and caused IMO to re-think the phase-out timing ofsingle hulls under Marpol 13. We in OCIMF are inter-ested in achieving international solutions, because ifyou pass purely European regulations you’ll quicklyfind that there are ships on passage that don’t belongto any European country but which could have anaccident in European waters. Any legislation restrict-ed to Europe alone will not address those ships. Aninternational solution is essential.

Hence I believe that the urgency that the Euro-peans have brought to this, sadly in part caused bythe Erika incident, has been very helpful on the inter-national stage. The EC has a timely opportunity toplay a strong catalyst role in the international arena.It can get everything it needs and more for Europeusing international mechanisms. It already has somevaluable achievements behind it: the issue of the

retirement age of tankers has been resolved – it couldbe argued that this would have happened at somestage, but now it has been done. There are issuesabout better sharing of information; we have the clas-sification discussion coming up. So much has beenaccomplished.

SHIPOWNERS MUST TAKE RESPONSIBILITYOCIMF takes the view that we have to changeshipowner behaviour if we are to significantly reducethe likelihood of oil pollution: one must recognisethat OCIMF members charter only some 30–40 percent of oil-tanker tonnage. The bureaucrats say thatthe IOPC Conventions are about compensation to thevictims of spills – about funding but not about safety.They say SOLAS is about safety and the IOPC aboutcompensation. These are separate issues in the eyesof the bureaucrats. My view is that you don’t have topay compensation if you don’t have any accidents, sowe have to stop the accidents happening in the firstplace. What we’re trying to do, in the discussionabout compensation levels and methodology, is tocreate a situation where the behaviour of individualshipowners is predisposed to safety, so that accidentsdon’t happen. >>


Though insured at the moment, the owner of aship can just say, I’ve reached my level of responsibilityunder the international conventions. I’ve paid every-thing I have to pay. We have inherited a systemdesigned more than 30 years ago. Now the sumsinvolved are becoming quite large, but the mainproblem is that companies must pay compensationfor spills that they had nothing at all to do with. Inthe case of Erika, for example, Shell is paying betweenUSD 15–20 million as our contribution under theIOPC Fund Convention for something we were clearlynot involved in.

COMPLETE CLARITYUnder the IOPC scheme, claimants are paid promptlyby an international agency to which they have directaccess. No company or individual need go to court;they can go directly to the IOPC Fund and presenttheir claim. The IOPC has a very good record of pay-ing in legitimate claims cases and today’s system hasthe advantage that, under sometimes very differentnational legislations, there is complete clarity aboutwho is responsible and who will pay.

OCIMF took the pragmatic view that we wouldintervene and support a supplementary mechanismthat oil receivers would pay for, but with the quid proquo that there should be a discussion about the over-all structure of international compensation arrange-ments, in particular the CLC Convention, with theaim of increasing the participation of shipowners. Wewere concerned that the Europeans were in favour ofa local version of this supplementary mechanism as aregional fund solution.

INTERNATIONAL SOLUTIONThis would begin to undo the international mecha-nism that already existed – because we would seecountries in the Far East, for example, looking at thisEuropean intervention and asking why they shouldbelong to the existing international scheme. Andthere are some countries which, because of theenlargement of the current scheme, feel they shouldnot pay for spills not of their making.

So, OCIMF intervened to fully support an interna-tional solution which we hoped would address Euro-pean concerns adequately and would provide a sup-plementary compensation fund (provided initially byoil receivers). This we are progressing very quickly.Most importantly, we believe that shipowners need tobe more involved. There are any number of mecha-nisms by which they could take a more realistic shareof the responsibility for funding – for example byrestructuring the CLC Convention – but this shouldnot delay implementation of the SupplementaryFund.

We strongly agree with the EC that this has to beaddressed and we at OCIMF have had high-level talkswith the EC and can sense a common spirit seekingto solve the problem. In order for this InternationalSupplementary Fund to work, it must be a voluntarysystem, so countries opt in. We’re very keen to haveas many countries as possible opt into the supplemen-tary tier. Therefore the entry into force criteriashould not be set too high or few countries will opt in– we’ll end up with one or two countries, probablyEuropean, opting in and other countries refusing.So, this is not solely a European discussion.

EUROPEAN MARITIME SAFETY AGENCYIt is difficult to conceive of the EC without an MSAand there’s certainly scope for co-ordinating activities.One of the things that interests Shell as an oil compa-ny is the issue of the Paris Memorandum (PM) andthe way in which countries use their PM rights toreview ships. Some countries such as Britain and theNetherlands – and there are many others – regularlyand rigorously inspect ships and detain them if theyare of poor quality. I believe that countries such asthese make a tremendous contribution to safetybecause they observe their PM obligations. The onething that governments can do that companies can-not is to detain sub-standard ships and to advertisethe detention publicly.

However, some other countries within the EU havemuch weaker coastguard structures. I believe thisSafety Agency will act as a catalyst for national devel-opments around Europe to achieve a more consistentPM framework. I suspect that this is a better modelthan having an overarching central system.

‘My view is that you don’t


The actual shape of the MSA is important, andto me, it would be better for it to be a catalysing, co-ordinating agency than an attempt to replace thenational systems. It might be helpful in setting guid-ing norms: currently there are issues of co-ordinationregarding standards and ports of refuge to give justtwo examples.

A more difficult question arises from that – whetherthe EU should have its own seat at the IMO. Also,should the EU have a block vote on behalf of Euro-pean countries in its own right at the IMO Assembly?This is a very contentious matter, and the idea is onewhich has little support amongst many Europeangovernments. So we are a little way off a “UnitedStates of Europe” in the maritime area – for themoment at least.

The European Marine Safety Agency, once estab-lished, should perhaps see its role as a facilitator inaddressing its currently agreed responsibilities. TheCommission should move cautiously and enter discus-sions around added responsibilities with care. Whatwe don’t need is more regulation. The problem todayis that companies fail to obey the current rules. We’vegot plenty of rules: SOLAS, MARPOL, Classification– they’re all in place, and we certainly do not needmore. What we do need is for these processes to deliverwhat the label says on the tin.

MARKET PERSPECTIVEThere has been concern that the EU could end upwith fewer flagged vessels. But I believe there is littleevidence to support this. It was evident after the Erikaincident that a large number of substandard shipsmigrated away from some parts of Europe and went

elsewhere, which is an issue for multinational compa-nies like us. We don’t want to do business with theseships anywhere. But the market today is transparentright across the globe. In any case, most of the oil-market segments are over-supplied with huge shipbuilding programmes. The market is going throughone of its worst periods in over 10 years. So, in asense, the discussion is slightly academic.

CABOTAGE RESTRICTIONSA more significant problem is the cabotage rulesin Europe. The Commission has these firmly in itssights, but there are some very unusual cabotagerestrictions which preserve low-quality coastal opera-tions in some European countries. We have seen,from the Erika case and others, that small ships cancause just as much damage as VLCCs, and coastaltraffic falls squarely into this category. These cabotagerestrictions also protect all tonnage not covered byIMO rules. We are very concerned, as are classifica-tion societies, about these cabotage-protected fleets.They’re not good in an economic sense. They don’tpromote safety and there’s always the risk of a sub-standard coastal vessel colliding with an internationalvessel. So again this is a matter for urgent internationaldiscussion.

In essence, though, I feel that the EC proposals area catalyst to positive change, and will certainly helpsmooth the way for maritime nations entering theUnion as part of its proposed expansion. Howeversuccess will be measured by the extent to which inter-national solutions are identified and fostered – theenvironment, after all, does not recognise politicalboundaries.’

have to pay compensation if you don’t have any accidents.’

N


Germans box clever incontainership business

Nordcapital started its activities in 1992 and has sincebecome one of the leading German KG ship financ-ing institutions. In 2001 it became market leader, withapproximately Euro205m equity raised. Erck Rickmersexplains ‘We do not use Nordcapital for raisingfinance for E.R. Schiffahrt alone; we have alsorealised projects with eight different German ship-owners (involving some 48 ships), including BernhardtSchulte and Klaus Oldendorff, though E.R. Schiffahrthas become the main partner of Nordcapital in build-ing up our current fleet of 39 containerships.

‘In 1998 we decided there would be certain benefitsfor our investors if we developed shipping projects forourselves. So we began putting this theory into prac-tice by ordering newbuildings. Since the end of 1998we will, by September 2002, have received a total of15 post-panamax containerships from South Korea’sSamsung Heavy Industries (SHI).’

AN EYE TO EXPANSIONErck Rickmers is unlikely to rest on his laurels. ‘Ourstrategy is to become one of the premier charter ownersof containerships – we want to expand on what wehave already built up. We have established long-term

One of the most notable success stories in the development ofthe containership market has been the role played by ErckRickmers, chairman and chief executive officer of Nordcapital

and of E.R Schiffahrt GmbH & Cie KG(both located in Hamburg) in thecreation of new shipping and shipping-related ventures. He has continued afamily tradition that stretches back fivegenerations.

TEXT: ALAN THORPE

One of the E.R. Shiffahrts fleet under construction at Korea’s Samsung Heavy Industries.


business relationships with some of the largest linercompanies in the world, including Maersk (Denmark),which has ten of our ships on long-term charter,OOCL (Hong Kong), which has six 5,700 teu vessels,and P&O Nedlloyd (three 5,700 teu). All our shipsare on long-term time-charters; we have a shore staffof 47 here in Hamburg to operate the fleet.’

As a containership owner, with no diversificationinto other shipping markets, Rickmers is well-placedto forecast what future developments lie in the box-ship trade. ‘We feel that the percentage of charteredships in the large carrier fleets will increase, and wewant to benefit from this. So we try to identify the car-riers’ needs and then agree the charter before order-ing the ship.

CAPITAL-INTENSIVE‘This increase in chartered-in tonnage is because seatransportation is only a relatively small part of thelogistic chain (door-to-door) the charterer offers to itscustomers. It is capital-intensive and can be easily out-sourced, in co-operation with quality partners such asourselves. Many liner operators are now looking care-fully as to where to invest, often not in capital-inten-sive sea transportation but in other areas of the logis-tic chain.

‘I believe that container transportation is a growthmarket. We will have growth rates in the range of6–8% per annum over the next ten years. I also feelthere will be a demand for even bigger ships than wesee today. I see the largest design as a single-propeller,suezmax vessel, with a speed of around 26 knots, ofaround the 12,000 teu mark. Larger, twin-enginedships would not be economical. Faster ships wouldbe a possibility on short-haul dedicated routes, butthis will not be a major market.

‘Another development in the future may be that,while the market is growing, the carriers are lookingfor more direct calls. The problem with large ships isthat they can only be economic if they spend a largeproportion of the voyage at sea and avoid unproduc-tive in-harbour periods. Carriers are now concernedabout the costs involved in trans-shipments, so manyare taking one step back and thinking more of pana-max-sized (between 4–5,000 teu) ships, and directcalls. So, though the larger ships have been increasingin number, there is likely to be a future increase inthe smaller (panamax) ships involving less trans-ship-ments and shorter transit periods.’

OVER-CAPACITY A PROBLEMRickmers believes that there are too many shipyardsin the world, with even more coming on stream inChina. Cheaper ships, caused by over-capacity, cancause problems to residual values of existing fleets.However, if there is a demand for certain ship types,these can be built quickly, so there is unlikely to bea repeat of past fleet scarcity.

Hitherto, most of E.R. Schiffahrt’s fleet of contain-erships have been classed with Germanische Lloyd(GL), however the latest four post-panamax shipsfrom Samsung, all of which are on charter to NOL/APL, are classed with DNV. Rickmers explains ‘DNV isthe one of the largest and most reputable Classifica-tion Societies in the world, and although we have pre-viously utilised GL on an exclusive basis, we believedit was important to establish a relationship with DNVas an alternative Society.’

The Rickmers family has been in the shippingindustry for a long time. There are now two differentsides of the family. Erck Rickmers’ brother, BertramRickmers, operates Rickmers Reederei and RickmersLinie, Erck Rickmers has built up Nordcapital andE.R. Schiffahrt. There is a glint in his eye when hetalks about the growth of his two companies ‘Thehighlight is definitely the series of 15 post-panamaxships. When I was a boy in Bremerhaven, where Igrew up, my family owned Rickmers Werft. My fatherwas in charge of the yard, and I spent much of myholiday time there. I thought the 580 teu ships beingbuilt then were truly impressive, and even ten yearsago I never believed I would be involved in the build-ing of 5,700 teu ships, and to have 15 such ships inour fleet. This is a great achievement and somethingwe want to build on in the future.’ ◆

Erck Richmers (left) at the handing overceremony for the ER Denmark at Korea’s SHI.

W


Hoisting the quality sails

Without denying its commercial connections to Por-tugal’s Soponata Group, Marenostrum’s strategy is tobroaden its base by attracting other quality-consciousshipowners.‘Over the years, we have been building up our infra-structure to promote our quality management, phi-losophy and services on an international scale,’ saysArmando Pinto Ferreira, managing director ofMarenostrum.

A solid infrastructure is important to quality shipmanagement, and Armando Ferreira is determinedthat Marenostrum is to be representative of the besttop-line technical ship management available to theindustry.

The company has initiated several measures toachieve this goal. Upon its incorporation in 1992, itbegan working towards obtaining safety and manage-ment class certification with DNV. Accredited toDNV’s SEP management system, Marenostrum nowmeets the safety and environmental requirements ofinternational standards.

Sights set on expanding its business as a technicaloperator, Lisbon-based Marenostrum now man-ages five oil tankers and a chemical carrier. Centralto the company’s expansion plans is its focus onquality systems to satisfy the most stringent flagand port state requirements and class rules andregulations.


Quality-conscious: From left, Soponata’sFernando Metzner Alves, head of ship-building, and managing director ofMarenostrum, Armando Pinto Ferreira.Here with DNV’s district manager JoseN. Oliveira.


‘SEP was the first step in establishing our long-termcommitment to quality,’ says Ferreira. He explains,‘Our approach and commitment to safety and qualitymanagement extend far beyond regulatory compli-ance with the International Safety Management (ISM)Code, as illustrated by the range of certification stan-dards achieved by the company since implementingthe SEP management system in September 1996.

‘Rather than regard the Code as one more pieceof legislation to be complied with, we took advantageof the opportunity provided by adoption of IMOResolution A.748 (18) to develop and improve ourexisting management system to meet measurable,recognised standards.

‘Consequently, we have been awarded ISM, DNVSEP and ISO 9002:1994 certification. The positiveimpact of implementing quality systems has been con-firmed by a fall in the number, type and seriousnessof incidents recorded by both ships and crew.’

STRICT MANNING REQUIREMENTSAs a major tanker operator, Marenostrum complieswith all regulatory tanker operation and safety stan-dards. As part of its service, the company regularlyevaluates the manning, training and qualificationstandards on all its vessels. Its strict manning policymeets high international standards and its objectiveof having qualified and trained personnel bothonboard and ashore.

‘Every year, we monitor the qualifications and expe-rience of officers and crew to ensure that standardrequirements are being fulfilled,’ says Ferreira.

Promoting a corporate philosophy of responsibilityat sea through its quality-assurance procedures,Marenostrum is committed to first-class vessel mainte-nance. The company utilises the AMOS software pack-age to regularly review all individual components ofmachinery, systems and tank areas on board. ‘The ves-sels we operate have been approved by different oilcompanies and it is important to set high mainte-nance standards for each vessel,’ Ferreira.

The fleet’s technical off-hire totalled 110 days lastyear (100 days due to dry-dockings and major repairsplus 10 days due to technical failures and mainte-nance). Excluding the effect of the planned technicalinterventions and major repairs due to non-controll-able causes, only 9% of the off-hire days were due tothe breakdown or maintenance of main engines. Thefleet’s resulting average off-hire of 1.2 days/tanker/year is considered to be excellent and in line withthat achieved the previous year.

NEWBUILDING EXPERTISEIn addition to its comprehensive operational manage-ment services, which include ship technical manage-ment, manning, quality assurance, purchasing, costcontrol and accounting, Marenostrum also undertakesnewbuilding supervision.

‘As a ship manager, we have know-how that is ofvalue during design and construction, and this pro-vides us with experience and contacts which subse-quently benefit the operator of the vessels,’ saysArmando Ferreira.

Two new Aframax tankers are currently being builtat the Sumitomo shipyards in Japan for the SoponataGroup. These vessels will be added to the Marenos-trum fleet later this year and increase the aggregatetonnage under the company’s management to over900,000 dwt.

Soponata recently purchased DNV’s new NauticusConstruction Software, which uses the Nauticus 3Dgraphical model as a basis to support experts duringthe construction phase of a vessel (see article on page28).

‘This tool for newbuilding management and report-ing is highly appreciated by our site team at Sumitomo,’says Fernando Metzner Alves, head of Soponata’sshipbuilding division.

Marenostrum employs a staff of 16 widely experi-enced in the operation of tankers, bulk carriers,general cargo vessels and, more recently, chemicaltankers. The company aims to develop into a medi-um-sized group with substantial in-house expertise.

Concludes Armando Ferreira, ‘We like to give ourprincipals a competitive edge, not only with on-the-spot advice and expertise, but also with quality servicesand solutions that protect them against a growingvariety of risks.’ ◆

The DNV classed Erati

S


Nauticus Constructioncovering all the angles of newbuilding projects

Shipbuilding at modern yards is normally character-ised by a high pace of construction progress. Typically,the complete construction period for a VLCC, fromsteel cutting to delivery, may be as short as ninemonths, with the bulk of hull blocks being producedwithin a span of 2–3 months. Considering that aVLCC may consist of up to some 600 hull blocksdepending on yard standards, each with a numberof scheduled inspections (typically 5–10) throughoutthe production period, a huge amount of informa-tion must be retained by the individual inspectors.In addition, if the project involves the constructionof a number of sisterships such that production workon several ships takes place in parallel, then the callfor overview and control becomes even more urgent.Though advanced yards with high production vol-umes also have good internal systems and routinesfor quality control and project management, mostowners find their interests are best served by main-taining a strong presence on site throughout thebuilding period.

NAUTICUS HULL BLOCK MODELSThe key to Nauticus Construction is a creative useof the Nauticus 3D Graphic Model, through splittingthe model into individual hull blocks as defined inthe newbuilding yard’s block division plan. Each hullblock model thus becomes an accurate representa-tion of the actual hull block awaiting the site inspec-tor’s scrutiny, complete with detailed information onscantlings and steel grade for all essential structuralelements. The block models can be viewed in anydirection and by zooming in it is easy to see essentialinformation on structural details.

DNV’s Nauticus Construction is an IT application which combinesNauticus 3D hull block models of the newbuilding with easy-to-use templates for detailed project control. The hull block modelsenable the site inspection team to be better prepared, and thevarious templates linked to the models represent a single pointfor storing all essential project information.

TEXT AND ILLUSTRATIONS: [email protected]

Generate 3D status overview of any milestone for inclusion instatus reports. Chosen view shows ‘blocks erected in dock’with status ‘completed’.

Direct access from block division plan to 3D view of correspondinghull block. Choose between different view options to obtaindetails of steel grades or scantlings.


For the site inspector this access to 3D modelsof the hull blocks gives an ideal opportunity to famil-iarise himself with the structure prior to inspection.True, the same information can be extracted fromstructural drawings. In practical terms, however, thiswould mean the scrutiny of at least three or fourbulky yard drawings and trying to figure out the exactboundaries of the hull blocks.

SIMPLER USER INTERFACEA central feature of the user interface is the estab-lished link between the yard’s hull block divisiondiagram and the individual 3D hull block models.Identification of the hull block models is based onthe numbering or identification system used by theyard: simply clicking on the hull block in the blockdivision plan takes the surveyor straight to the corre-sponding Nauticus 3D block model.

By spending some time ahead of the busy produc-tion period to copy different views of the 3D blockmodels and other relevant document extracts into(for example) a Word document, the site inspectorwill have at his disposal a 1- or 2-page document con-taining critical and essential information such as:• 3D overview of structural arrangement seen from

different angles• Scantlings and steel grade for all structural

elements• Comments from plan approval stage, focusing on

critical areas• Extracts from scanned structural drawings with

additional comments/highlights if applicable• Information on minor structural details as

described in applicable Yard Standards.It is, however, essential that such inspection plans areprepared well in advance of the actual inspectionperiod. Normally, all relevant timetables for scheduledmilestones and inspections are available from theyards well in advance, so provided the site inspectionteam is in place early enough the preparation of suchinspection documents is straightforward.

ESTABLISH AND MONITOR MILESTONESOne of the first tasks is to enter all relevant projectmilestones into the application. Based on informationin the yard’s production schedule this can be donequite easily and the user can establish as many or asfew milestones/due dates as he wants. The establishedmilestones can later be modified to reflect changes inproduction schedules, or new ones can be added.

An updated overview of milestones will be generat-ed daily, thus highlighting deviations from plannedprogress. An overall project overview report can begenerated at any time.

Essential information can be entered upon comple-tion of each inspection. Typical entries include:• Inspection comments. These can be tagged with

respect to severity, type of comment and status, thusenabling easy sorting/overview.

• Photos. An unlimited number of digital photos canbe stored together with inspection comments foreach hull block.

• Other documents. These might include sketchesor extracts from drawings or any other relevantdocument.

The main focus of Nauticus Construction is on struc-tural items and paint inspections. However, thereporting templates used are of a generic nature andcan be used for any type of activity and stored underseparate folders for outfitting work, NDT results andvarious other types of test activities. The 3D viewmodels, however, are currently restricted to the hullblocks.

PROGRESS OVERVIEWBased on comparison between the progress planreceived from the yard and the updated statusoverview generated by Nauticus Construction it is asimple matter to maintain control and overview ofthe project progress. All relevant information, fromdetailed inspection comment status to overall progress,is stored in one place. For large site inspection teamsthis makes the task of the site team manager moremanageable. By having all relevant information acces-sible in a readily understood format the chance ofmisunderstandings between the various partiesinvolved is also greatly reduced.

STARTING THE SHIP’S LIFE-CYCLE DATABASEFollowing completion, and as the vessel enters service,there may be much information from the newbuildingperiod an owner wishes to keep for later reference.This can be accomplished by assigning the class nota-tion Nauticus Operation to the vessel. By doing thisthe global 3D Graphic Model is updated to reflectpossible modifications to the structure which mayhave taken place in the course of building. At thesame time, a selection of inspection data from thenewbuilding project can be transferred to the updatedmodel, thus forming a baseline for the ship’s life-cycledatabase.

Nauticus Construction and Nauticus Operation areavailable to any type of ship classed by DNV, and thenotation Nauticus Operation can be assigned to thevessel at any time. ◆

Cancer centre takes green lead

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Centerworks to make cancer history. At the hospital, knownfor its holistic approach to cancer care, a newly certi-fied environmental management system is seen asone way to further its mission.

TEXT: [email protected]: COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

M. D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER


SSays Vice President for Operations and FacilitiesManagement William Daigneau, ‘M. D. Anderson isunique in that we have a sole mission: eradicatingcancer. That is the focus of everything we do; every-thing is mobilised around this. There is a saying atM. D. Anderson: From the bench to the bedside. Itmeans we should work to take the fruits of researchand transfer it as quickly and safely as possibly to helppeople.’ This spring M. D. Anderson’s 500,000thpatient received care at the hospital.

M. D. Anderson was founded thanks to the philan-thropic heart of a Houston cotton merchant, MonroeDunaway Anderson. When the Texas Legislature

authorised the University of Texas to establish a hos-pital for cancer research and treatment somewherein the state of Texas in 1941, the M. D. AndersonFoundation agreed to match the appropriated$500,000 if the hospital was built in Houston andnamed after its benefactor.

BEHIND THE SCENESA hospital is not a place that often comes to mindwhen thinking about waste, emissions and pollution.Environmental, Health and Safety Executive Directorand Chief Safety Officer Linda Lee explains, ‘M. D.Anderson, with its 13,000 staff and patients spreadover 7 million square feet, is the size of a small town.Among the environmental, health and safety issuesthey are potentially exposed to here are small quanti-ties of a wide variety of chemicals and radioactivematerials. Likewise, because of M. D. Anderson’sexplosive growth, they are engaged in numerous con-struction activities. For years, the U.S. EnvironmentalProtection Agency has had its focus on big organisa-tions and chemical companies, but now there is ashift in emphasis that began in the late 1990s withthe universities in the New England area.’

Lee is referring to the Federal agency’s crackdownon hospitals and universities, forcing them to imple-ment clean-up programmes. Says Daigneau, ‘Peoplework best not when they are coerced into doingsomething, but when they really wish to.’

M. D. Anderson managers aimed to elevatetheir Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS)programmes from compliance to a leadership level.Beginning with Daigneau’s Facilities ManagementDivision, areas targeted relate to energy and wastemanagement. There are three main recycling pro-grammes. In the chemical solvent recycling pro-gramme xylene, formalin and ethanol are reclaimed


M. D. Anderson is among the first hospitalsin the U.S. to be ISO 14001 certified.

>>

and offered back to the laboratories. The municipalwaste programme segregates, collects and sells forreuse paper, cardboard, aluminium and scrap steel.M. D. Anderson also participates in the MedicalBridges programme, which involves the collectionof medical equipment and supplies for shipment tothird world countries.

A COLLECTIVE MISSIONM. D. Anderson has left a trail of research milestonesbenefiting people everywhere. Today, its scientists areon their way to understanding many of the inheritedor acquired flaws in various genes responsible forcancer. While doctors and researchers in their 900laboratories are at the forefront, the contributionsof all 13,000 employees are deemed important to thecollective mission.

Says Daigneau, ‘At M. D. Anderson we in FacilitiesManagement are dedicated to excellence just asresearchers and doctors are in their fields. The Envi-ronmental, Health and Safety group makes sure thatwe can operate safely for both patients and the com-munity. When we treat patients, we must not createproblems elsewhere. We do not want to create inter-ruptions or cause problems to our mission. The chal-lenge was not only to comply with regulations, butalso to mobilise and implement best practices. Weneeded to create a system, and then validate andrealise best practice in the EHS department.’

Linda Lee and her team decided that a certifiedenvironmental management system (EMS) was thebest way for M. D. Anderson to leave a greener trail.She explains, ‘We wanted to make it more systemoriented. We attended an ISO 14001 overview sessionin March 2001, and decided that this was the next stepin the evolution for us: to go for a more systematicapproach. We felt that we had an effective programme,but we wanted to be as much a leader in environ-ment, health and safety as we are in cancer research.’


Linda Lee (right) and Director of EnvironmentalQuality John Gamble. As the EMS Co-ordinator,Gamble is a central player on the team thatdrives to continually improve the EMS throughsustainability.

William Daigneau, ‘Being a leadermeans one cannot afford to havesomeone who is not performing.’


MANAGING THE ENVIRONMENTWorking with consultants Avery Environmentaland The Solution Foundry, the M. D. AndersonEHS team began conducting risk assessments andregulatory reviews to target areas that had to bedealt with immediately, and identify issues for sub-sequent action.

Using an EMS to facilitate the process hashelped M. D. Anderson organise and prioritise. Says Lee, ‘We designed an EMS programme so wecan grow into it. You must be aware of what youneed to address, and it is easier to put in systemsto detect, to prevent or minimise disasters whenyou have an EMS in place. A hospital is responsiblefor preventing accidents, releases and exposure tothe community. An EMS is crucial here. You needto identify the risks and how to mitigate them.’

As a well-known figure in the University of TexasSystem, M. D. Anderson strives to be a communityleader. Implementing an EMS has also made it easierfor M. D. Anderson to comply with the requirementsof state environmental programmes like Clean Texasand the Environmental Protection Agency’s Perfor-mance Track programme.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOMIn establishing the EMS programme with the 1,000Facilities Management employees, communicationwas key. Informational meetings and an EMS Intranetsite were initiated. Explaines Lee, ‘Communicationhas not just been in the form of training, but moreof a cultural approach saying that we care about theenvironment and people, and protecting their work-ing environment. This also gives these employees apurpose in that they can make a difference in helpingmake cancer history.’

Integrating the environmental management systeminto the daily tasks of the staff was crucial to the suc-cess of the programme and ensuing certification. SaysLee, ‘EMS expedites this, as it incorporates the entireorganisational process. We dedicated resources to thiswork, getting the commitment of senior management:president Dr John Mendelshon, executive vice presi-dent Leon J. Leach, and William Daigneau. Top-levelsupport is crucial, and that coincides with M. D.Anderson’s philosophy. This is not an EHS depart-ment programme; it is the institution’s programme.The workers make it happen.’

Daigneau adds, ‘Anderson is recognised worldwidefor its cancer work. But that also means it is crucialfor all the support services to function. Being a leadermeans that one cannot afford to have someone who isnot performing.’

EXCELLING BEYOND COMPLIANCEM. D. Anderson is among the first hospitals inthe U.S. to be ISO 14001 certified. M. D. Andersonreceived its certificate in December 2001. Certifica-tion was extended to M. D. Anderson’s Science ParkBastrop Campus research centre in July 2002, andpreparation for an OHSAS 18001 certificate hasalready begun.

Says Daigneau, ‘Periodic audits make sure that ourprogrammes are effective. They are a continual intro-spection into what you are doing according to currentlaws, regulations and practices. We do not spendmoney to get a wall plaque but because it helps uscontinue our path uninterrupted. We found a way totest our implementation of best practice. It is goodbusiness, consistent with our mission, and is a way torun the organisation in the best manner.’ ◆

M. D. ANDERSON CANCER CENTER

• Opened in 1944 on the Baker Estate property in down-

town Houston, Texas.

• Devoted exclusively to cancer patient care, research,

education and prevention.

• One of the original three Comprehensive Cancer Centers

in the U.S. designated by the National Cancer Act of

1971, and is one of 40 such centres today.

• Ranked among the top two cancer hospitals in the U.S.

News & World Reports ‘America’s Best Hospitals’ survey

since its inception 12 years ago.

• Spends more than $210 million pr. 1 year in research.

Sidewalk art: Through theChildren’s Art Project, worldwidesales of young cancer patients’ artwork fund programs that benefitpatients and their families.

W


Lucent eco-friendly telephony technology

When out driving, you have probably seen those tallaerial towers with boxes the size of a large refrigeratorunderneath. If you have a mobile phone, you havecertainly used one. These boxes, or base stations,house the equipment needed to set up and completecalls on cellular phones.

A base station contains electronic componentssuch as transmitters and receivers that work with yourhandset to complete a call. Designers must considerfunctionality, cost, government regulations and envi-ronmental parameters. One major manufacturer oftelecom base stations is Lucent Technologies, head-quartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S.A.

AN ECO-FRIENDLY PRODUCTLucent’s Mobility Solutions Group is dedicated todesign anywhere, manufacture anywhere in theworld. Following a global trend, Lucent is movingaway from in-house production. Outsourcing hasmeant that Mobility Solutions designers have lessinfluence over the facility-related environmentalaspects of base-station production. On the otherhand, consumer-driven and legal eco-environmentalrequirements are becoming more stringent, andpublic concern over industry’s environmentalimpacts is increasing.

This led Mobility Solutions to ask, ‘where are ourenvironmental impacts?’ With about 6,000 employeesin 16 countries, the only constants are the design

To minimise environmental impacts from its base sta-tions for mobile phone networks, Lucent TechnologiesMobility Solutions Group has implemented a greenerdesign process with the help of a DNV-certified ISO14001 environmental management system focused onhardware product impacts.

TEXT: [email protected]: COURTESY LUCENT TECHNOLOGIES

Management and Green Team members at LucentMobility Solutions in Whippany, New Jersey.


process and the product. This conclusion led tothe development of an environmental managementsystem (EMS), which is focused on hardware designrather than on manufacturing or facility operations.

Materials and energy consumption are factors thatcould impact the environment during the product’slife cycle. A product-based EMS addresses how hard-ware products affect the environment regardless ofwhere the product is developed. Says Environment,Health and Safety Planning Engineer at Lucent, Kath-leen Donnelly, ‘It allows us to systematically addressthe immediate and long-term eco-environmentalimpacts of our hardware products.

‘Product realisation ranges from concept to end-of-life, that is from the idea stage to when the product istaken out of service. At the drawing-board stage,developers can reduce any environmental impactsbase stations would have after leaving Lucent. Workingclosely with the design and development community,we integrated product-based EMS requirements seam-lessly with other, more traditional product developmentprocesses.’

FORMAL DESIGN FRAMEWORKThrough this ISO 14001 certification, Mobility Solu-tions ensures that hardware design innovations meetstringent legal and customer requirements. The prod-uct-based EMS has provided a business-wide formalisedframework for managing the implementation andintegration of environmental considerations intodesign, planning and business decisions.

Based on analyses of the areas that needed to beaddressed – customer, legal, regulatory, environmentaland other demands – an “eco-roadmap” was devel-oped. This addresses product evolution in terms ofsustainability and environmentally compliant productdesign. It is a supporting tool in the product’s overalltechnology roadmapping process.

Design for Environment (DFE) principles have longexisted in Lucent, but this is the first time they havebeen fully juxtaposed with other design principles.

Says Paul Mankiewich, Mobility Solutions ChiefTechnical Officer, ‘Under DFE, we apply engineering

concepts to minimise the environmental impacts ofeach product’s life cycle. We also seek product innova-tions that will meet or exceed cost and performanceobjectives while reducing pollution and waste.’Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an important tool inthe product-based EMS. It enables the evaluation ofinputs, outputs, and potential environmental impactsof a base station throughout its life cycle, as well asreducing its cost.

The EMS elements audited include environmentalpolicy, planning, implementation and operation,checking and corrective action, and managementreview. Initially, verification of the product-based EMSwas conducted at five locations: Whippany and MountOlive, New Jersey; Columbus, Ohio; Nurnberg, Ger-many; and Swindon, U.K. After 18 months of work byMobility Solutions’ Green Team, an ISO 14001 certifi-cate from DNV marked the first milestone.

INTERNATIONAL TEAMWORKThe Mobility Solutions Green Team developed,implemented and maintains the product-based EMS.It includes individuals from a variety of disciplines,each of whom brings unique skills to this endeavour.Areas of expertise include product design and devel-opment, product realisation, DFE, ISO 14001, LCA,roadmapping, product conformance, quality and sup-plier management. Based in several countries aroundthe world, the team members co-ordinate throughconference calls and e-mail messages.

The Green Team’s accomplishments were recog-nised as a Team Achieving High Performancethrough Lucent’s internal company-wide team recog-nition process. Each team member received anacknowledgement from Lucent’s CEO, Pat Russo fortheir ‘strong commitment to environmental perform-ance improvement.‘Mobility Solutions continues tosee the value of health, safety and protecting the envi-ronment,’ says Mankiewich. ‘We’ve proved that it’sboth good for the environment and makes soundbusiness sense.’ ◆

‘Engineering concepts helpcut environmental impact’

– Paul Mankiewich,


DNV is helping develop guidelines for bridge

design of offshore supply vessels, in co-opera-

tion with Statoil, Norsk Hydro and five Norwe-

gian operators.

A supply-vessel bridge installation consists of a navi-gating bridge and a control position aft, from whichoperators control the ship when close to rigs or plat-forms, and operate winches and other loadingequipment. The International Convention for Safetyof Life at Sea (SOLAS) does not regulate the layout,so design varies to a large degree, often causing animperfect working environment.

As for other types of ships, more than half the off-shore service vessel accidents at sea are caused bybridge system failures. A majority can be traced backto technical design, and operational errors. Theresearch and development project NAUT-OSV is aresponse to the offshore industry’s safety concerns.Analysis of 24 incidents involving contact or collisionbetween supply vessels and offshore installationsowned or operated by Norwegian companies indicatedthat failures in the bridge system were often thecause.

The operator Farstad Shipping ASA began focus-ing on the man-machine interface when initiating abridge arrangement and design project two years ago.Says Technical Manager Arild Egeness, ‘We arepleased that standardisation of the bridge arrange-ment has evolved into a project for the general off-shore industry. The objective is safety at sea, and withsupply ship owners and charterers, with DNV as teamleader, joining forces, we will be able to reach ourcommon goals better, faster and more cost efficiently.’

The project will shortly be accessible at: http:// projects.dnv.com/NautOsv

Enhancing supplyvessel safety

8 August, DNV Software signed

a multimillion dollar software

licensing and distribution

agreement with the American

software house Intergraph.

DNV Software will exclusively

market and distribute Inter-

graph’s next-generation ship-

building design applications to

the shipbuilding industry.

Elling Rishoff, Managing Directorof DNV Software says that DNVSoftware’s ship classification andstrength analysis software will becombined with Intergraph shipdesign software to provide an inte-grated suite of applications aimedat making dramatic improvementsin shipbuilding design and manu-facturing productivity.

‘This is the first time such ship-building design software has beendeveloped for and by the ship-builders themselves in coopera-tion with a softwarehouse’, saysAnita Krohn Thrane, Director ofGlobal Strategy in DNV Software.

The solution is jointly devel-oped by the Global Research andDevelopment (GRAD) consor-tium, which represents worldwideshipbuilders such as Samsung,Hitatchi and Odense, and Inter-graph Process, Power & Offshore.‘The constellation is unique, andwith DNV Software as the exclu-sive reseller, DNV now has a greatopportunity to differentiate itselffrom the other class societies,’ saysThrane.

The solution will be presentedat ICCAS in Malmø, Sweden, inSeptember.

NEWS

Founded in 1887 in Japan, Yamaha was originally a manufacturer ofpianos. Over the years Yamaha has expanded its business into all types ofmusical instruments, audio equipment, semiconductors, golf clubs, auto-motive components, music and English schools, and sports and leisurevehicles. With 6,700 employees, Yamaha’s net sales annually total aroundUS$4.4 billion.

Now the company has contracted DNV to carry out ISO 9001:2000certification at five of its manufacturing sites – two in Japan, and oneeach in China, Indonesia and Taiwan.

Helping keep tune for Yamaha

New software to speedshipbuilding


Guaranteeing signals from spaceA comprehensive certification scheme will boost confidence in

Galilei, a global navigation satellite system now under development.

As a participant in the Galilei consortium, DNV has been awarded a con-tract to support the European Commission (EC) and the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA) in creating a new environmental certification systemsuitable for Galileo. The ability to offer a guarantee of the availabilityand accuracy of the transmitted signals is important for the swift intro-duction of Galileo’s services. This makes certification paramount, as itdocuments the quality of the signals.

Since no comprehensive certification regime for such a satellite systemexists, the ongoing study led by DNV intends to identify best practiceacross industry sectors and combine them into a new regime. The schemehas to address software, hardware, processes and the human element.

By 2008, the Galileo system of 30 satellites orbiting earth will be able todetermine a receiver’s position to within 1 metre. Potential applicationsare foreseen in road, rail, air and maritime traffic control, synchronisa-tion of data transmission between financial institutions, management andtransport of dangerous goods, emergency response services, and environ-mental management.

The US Coast Guard is using DNV to educate

auditors in advanced International Safety

Management (ISM).

The US Coast Guard (USGC) is a military, multi-mis-sion maritime service. The federal agency is chargedwith a broad scope of regulatory, law-enforcement,humanitarian and emergency-response duties.

The DNV-led course is an integral part of USCG’sthree-week Advanced Marine Inspector Training,and is designed to qualify the officers responsible formarine inspections, including Port State Controland ISM/STCW enforcement. Held at the USCG’sYorktown Training Center, the class covers ISM,Internal Audits and STCW-95 amendments, imple-mentation and enforcement. It also aims to createsynergies with other stakeholders in the maritimeindustry, including shipowners, operators, and Flagand Port State Control Administrations.

USCG officerstrain with DNV

NEWS

Installation of the world’s deepest pipeline is complete. DNV has been

involved in Blue Stream from the drawing board to commissioning.

Installing the two parallel 24-inch pipelines in up to 2,150m water depthhas been extremely challenging. Blue Stream reaches well over 1000mdeeper than any other main trunkline constructed. A novel installationsystem utilising the J-lay technique was developed and installed on boardS 7000, Saipem’s offshore construction vessel.

The pipelines were safely installed between Southern Russia and Turkeywithout significant incidents. They are now undergoing pressure-testing,cleaning, pigging and drying. Within a few months, the first gas is expectedto reach the shores of Turkey, fastest-growing energy consumer in theworld.

The Blue Stream project is a joint venture between Russia’s OAOGazprom and Snam SpA in Italy. DNV is certifying the pipelines and willfollow the project until ‘ready for operation’.

Blue Stream pipelines in place

H


The NPD has begun a project to look into therealities behind the popular term safety culture.This is an effort that will first affect operators in theNorth Sea, but pinpointing exactly what constitutesa safety culture will help operators everywhereimprove their safety work. Companies struggling toachieve such a culture will reap benefits from othersthat show the way.

DOCUMENTED EVIDENCERegulators’ intuitive distaste for those who fail toadopt a safety culture may in future be backed by ademand for documented evidence. Demonstratinga company’s safety culture may well become integralto safety cases.

Today’s complex technology is so advanced andso expensive that not putting equal effort into themost crucial part of any machinery, the human, is amistake that cannot be afforded. Oil companies thattake advantage of the opportunities that lie in aholistic and human-oriented approach to safety workwill be the ones that can maximise the bottom line.

Human factors are vital to safetyWhile systematic work on safe design, efficient production andother hardware issues have long been given the attention theydeserve, human factors and organisational structures have not yetbeen exploited to their full potential. Gunnar Berge, director of theNorwegian Petroleum Directorate now demands that operators inthe Nort Sea demonstrate a safety culture.

‘Norway is the firstcountry to introduce

regulations that requirecompanies to establish

a safety culture’– Gunnar Berge

TEXT: [email protected]: COURTESY OF NPD

LAST WORD

’Human factors have finallybecome recognised as an areawhere vast improvements can bemade,’ says Gunnar Berge, directorof the Norwegian Petroleum Direc-torate.

He is not alone in this prediction.Operators, too, are exploring thepotential for improving safety byfocusing more on human activity.Both Statoil and Petrobras believethat the importance of the humanfactor is so crucial that it mustreceive the priority hithertoaccorded the technical aspects ofsafety work.

Statoil aims to ‘expand theknowledge of interaction betweenman, machine and technology.’Because, the company says, ‘Themisinterpretation of signals fromscreens and control consoles cancause major accidents.’

LEADS THE WAYNorway is the first country thatintroduces in its regulations thatthe companies have to establisha safety culture.


DNV WORLDWIDE

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERSHøvik (Oslo)

N-1322 HøvikNorwayTel: +47 67 57 99 00

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DNV PETROLEUM SERVICES PTE LTD27 Changi South Street 1Singapore 486071Tel: +65 779 2475

DNV INTERNET HOME PAGEwww.dnv.com

PSOFFSHORE INTEGRITYOver three decades, since the first discoveries of

North Sea oil and gas, Norwegian oil company

Statoil has been in the forefront of exploration

and production technology.

Throughout this time, too, Det Norske Veritas has

worked closely with the world’s oil majors in

helping ensure the safety and integrity of hydro-

carbon facilities both land-based and offshore.

Today, as safety and environmental laws grow

tougher and more extensive, DNV works closely

with Statoil – and with the oil, gas and process

industries worldwide – in evaluating, documenting

and certifying the safety of their plant and

operations.

www.dnv.com

Documents

Statoil’s clean sweep on safety - Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com