Dry bulk owners’ association Intercargo and RightShip, a privately held online vetting and risk manager, are pooling their efforts on shipmanagement standards.
The pair are working to agree on a single, combined self-assessment standards for the industry.
Representatives of the two entities are to come together in September to develop a joint set of guidelines to help companies monitor their own shipmanagement performance in terms of safety, health and the environment, sources told TradeWinds.
They will be joined by officials by Bimco and the International Chamber of Shipping, who back an alignment.
A jointly developed standard would be similar, but not identical, to the one adopted by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF), which manages benchmarks for the tanker and offshore industry.
Intercargo and RightShip have been so far worked separately, and often in opposition to each other. RightShip in April announced its own Dry Bulk Management Standard (DBMS) project, which is inspired to some extent by the OCIMF.
RightShip’s initiative met with criticism from Intercargo, which publicly announced it would not endorse the DBMS standard and that it would stick to its own Dry Self Assessment Scheme (DRY-SAS), which it has been developing since last year.
Agreement reached
The two organisations have come to the conclusion that separate projects would just duplicate work and create confusion in the industry, TradeWinds is told.
In view of their joint technical committee meeting next month, they have agreed to cease separate, parallel work on the DBMS and DRY-SAS standards.
Officials and managers at Intercargo and RightShip declined to comment on the information.
Both are aiming to improve standards for managers and crews — from training and machinery maintenance to mooring, anchoring, bridge procedures, cyber security and incident reporting.
A compromise and alignment between the two entities offers benefits to both.
Intercargo is a non-profit organisation representing owners who control 214m dwt of capacity, or about a quarter of the worldwide dry bulk fleet. However, the association saw some of its members break ranks and participate in the RightShip scheme.
RightShip, on the other hand, lacks Intercargo's broad base and institutional character. It is a private entity owned by heavyweight charterers Rio Tinto, Cargill and BHP, and some shipowners are critical of its ratings.
Intercargo said in a statement in May that it was "open to collaboration with other industry bodies and organisations", with a view to "finding merit in any initiative that would respect our values and principles".
"We envisage a scheme carefully developed, widely consulted upon and accordingly accepted by the industry, as offering the best service for the dry bulk sector," Intercargo added.
