IMCA reaches major milestone
Posted: 12 April 2006
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News that membership has passed 300 marks a major milestone for IMCA – the International Marine Contractors Association – the trade association, which represents offshore marine and underwater engineering companies based in over 35 countries.
“Passing the 300 members-mark is certainly a major milestone for us, but it was not entirely unexpected as during the course of the past year alone we have seen a 15% increase in membership, and in ten years our membership has grown three-fold,” explains Hugh Williams, IMCA’s chief executive.
“Strength in membership in terms of numbers and standing brings benefits to all our members around the world. Increasingly we see IMCA guidelines used on a global basis, with some clients making compliance with them a requirement for pre-qu alification, and it is this ‘upward spiral’, coupled with our hard work at championing and challenging the issues that are really affecting the industry, that has led to our dramatic growth.
“Our growth pattern makes interesting reading – we’ve added some 200 members since September 1995, we had 101 members then. By February 2000 we had 150 that figure rose to 200 in August 2002 and to 250 in mid-2004. Now we’ve broken through the 300-mark. The more members we have, the larger share of the industry we represent and this means our voice grows stronger still and our common goals are easier to achieve. With our four strong geographic regional sections this voice is heard more and more worldwide and our members’ clients – the oil and gas exploration and production companies - increasingly adopt and endorse IMCA guidance and, where it becomes a contractual requirement, ensure that it is delivered. This certainly gives strength to our members and to IMCA itself.”
Successes and challenges
Frits Janmaat of the Allseas Group, President & Chairman of IMCA takes up the success story of IMCA and the industry it serves, and looks forward to some of the challenges it faces: “Helped by the present market situation we have seen major steps towards achieving better terms in offshore contracts. We also see an improved balance between the risks taken and the rewards received inmost of our contracts, although there are still improvements to be made especially in the large EPIC contracts typical for the West African market.
“Looking ahead, the sector must deal with a major shortage in skilled personnel, which is hurting all parties at present and is being addressed through various initiatives. IMCA is actively involved in these discussions and has recently performed a skills survey to identify the shortfalls. The challenge now is to improve the way we ‘sell’ the industry to available skilled personnel and to students so we can start filling vacancies.”
Increasing importance of self-regulation
In the current climate in the industry, with safety – as-ever – of prime importance, it is essential that there is a full understanding of the need for self-regulation as a vital tool and its implementation by those who understand its challenges and proper solutions. IMCA has therefore issued a fact sheet on self-regulation. “It’s a ‘hot’ subject at the moment with the general jump in activity levels,” explains Frits Janmaat
Self-regulation has always been an IMCA goal. Trade associations do not regulate in the way that legislators do. They provide guidance to members and work to update and introduce new guidelines wherever there appears to be a need. Members working to those guidelines is a way of ‘self-regulating’, rather than looking to clients or government for regulation. Self-regulation is the logical result of action by industry participants to address a number of concerns.
If an industry does not self-regulate then some other body will impose its own rules or regulations, either in the form of governments or through client requirements. If this happens, contractors face the prospect of each client and each government stipulating its own, varying requirements. This causes considerable strain to each contractor and extra, unnecessary costs. The strain includes finding out the different requirements, tendering with allowance for them and then complying with them for each project and for contractors who often work for different clients all around the world it is a potentially repetitive, expensive and avoidable burden. As it is, contractors working off Sakh alin Island can use the same IMCA Guidelines as those working in the Gulf of Mexico or in the North Sea.
“Our industry can only be healthy, high qu ality, safe and efficient with a resulting reduction in wasted time and money if authorities, contractors and operators all take responsibility,” says Hugh Williams. “Self regulation can only be sustained when:
- Contractors continue to create industry-wide good practice guidelines, strive to comply with them and use them with their own sub-contractors
- Clients adopt and endorse the guidance and, where it becomes a contractual requirement, ensure that it is delivered
- Authorities do the same from their perspective
“An additional benefit of self-regulation is that it provides vital benchmarking tools for our members.”
Posted by Editor Offshore Arabia Magazine
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