Bulker operators and owners have joined forces with the Rio Tinto, Cargill and BHP-owned Rightship to establish new rules to drive up safety standards in the sector.
The new Dry Bulk Management Standard (DBMS) project is being led by risk manager RightShip, inspired to some extent by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) which manages benchmarks for the tanker and offshore industry.
Big names such as Victor Restis' Enterprises Shipping & Trading and fellow Greek owner Neda Maritime Agency are on board as part of a working group of six companies that developed the scheme.
Launched on Thursday, the idea is to drive collaboration and conversation in the market, with a view to ultimately improving standards for managers and crews.
The standards are still in their draft format to encourage input from all industry players.
They are available on the new DBMS website, where owners and operators can download them and provide feedback.
Voluntary basis
The voluntary programme is designed to allow ship managers to measure their Safety Management System (SMS) against agreed industry standards.
The aim is to go beyond ISM Code benchmarks and allow operators to "stand out from the crowd", they added.
The oil and gas industry's OCIMF's ship inspection report programme (SIRE) has been in place since 1993 to improve safety standards.
It too is notionally voluntary for owners and operators, but it has effectively become a 'licence to trade'.
George Sarris, managing director of Enterprises Shipping, said: "DBMS is meant to provide direction to shipping companies interested in improving their management system by regularly assessing their overall performance, identifying their weaknesses in different aspects of their operation and allowing for the implementation of best practices and KPIs that will assist them to gradually achieve their safety and environmental objectives.
"This will allow them to meet goals set in their corporate policies, and subsequently meet their obligations towards society."
He added: "New technologies and new regulations alone will not improve shipping standards, unless we perceive things differently.
"The enhancement of a safety culture across the industry is a necessity, and moving on from ‘paper compliance’ and ‘mandatory certification’ models to self-regulation and self-assessment will help us achieve our goals and bring about a better dry bulk segment."
The draft guidelines and standards have been created after months of collaboration with partners and operators across the dry bulk segment and the wider industry, including experienced shipmanagers and maritime experts.
Standards have been missing
Antonis Sakellis, safety and quality director at Neda Maritime, added: "A set of standards like DBMS has been missing from the dry bulk sector. It will allow companies individually, as well as the dry bulk industry as a whole, to gradually raise its level of safety.
"DBMS provides a common guideline of what the industry expects at each level, and companies can clearly plan their actions towards attaining excellence."
Provide expectations and targets
Benchmark a company’s management system
Allow the creation of self-assessment results
Compare self-assessment results against DBMS expectations
Four key areas
The draft guidelines focus on 30 areas of management practice across the four most serious risk areas faced in vessel operations: performance, people, plant and process.
DBMS will grade the excellence of a company’s SMS against measurable expectations and targets without involving the burdens of excessive inspections.
It will not be a replacement for the ISM Code, but it will build upon industry standards and provide a systematic approach to encourage shipmanagers to move from minimum compliance to operational excellence, the partners said.
Ongoing process
RightShip's Luke Fisher, project leader for DBMS, said: "Improving safety standards is an ongoing and constant area of focus for the dry bulk segment.
"DBMS will help to accelerate an increase in standards, and also provide an attainable benchmark for maritime excellence."
He added: "Importantly, this voluntary scheme is based on the principle of comparisons and collaboration.
"DBMS will also not stand still. In line with a segment that is being reshaped constantly, the guidelines and standards will themselves constantly evolve and develop with ongoing feedback from participants, creating shared investment in the whole sector’s journey towards safe, compliant, environmentally friendly operations.
"By continuing the same consultative process that shaped DBMS, we will be able to say with confidence that this standard has been set by the sector, for the sector."
