In the marine industry one often sees the results of technical and operational teams being stretched by the requirements of both practicality and regulation. Quite rightly of course, the priority is always to meet safety requirements, ensuring that the safety of vessels, crew and passengers are never compromised. Given that safety always takes priority, technical management teams tend to be scaled to meet the safety requirements and have enough flex to meet the challenges that operating ships will always generate. Drydocking, voyage repairs, refurbishments and critical defects are, or should be, all within the capability of the technical and operational teams. What we do see however is that episodic occurrences of major projects, be they driven by regulation, e.g. Sea Water Scrubbing or Ballast Water Treatment, or driven by market requirements like conversions to meet new cargo requirements, can stretch technical teams to the limit and beyond. It is incredibility difficult to pull personnel away from the day to day management of ships to immerse themselves in major projects, especially as the people you most want running big projects are usually the most capable and as such integral to the everyday operation. Augmentation is an obvious option, but one which shipowners are often reluctant to engage with. This is understandable, anyone who has worked in the industry knows the value of experience and a calm head when dealing with ships and does not want just anyone, however highly academically qualified, messing with their fleet. At Oceanox we have assembled a team which has operated at the highest level in ship operations, both civilian and military as well as within the ship repair industry. It is with a team like this that we can genuinely make a difference in assisting shipowners with major challenges.-
