Oman Ship Management Company holds Mumbai Seafarers' Conference

Oman Ship Management Company (OSC) hosted a high-level conference in Mumbai for senior officers following a rapid rise in crew numbers.

The ‘Seafarers’ Safety Conference’ was a platform for Oman Shipping Company’s subsidiary Oman Ship Management Company (OSMC) to share the best safety practices and current and future trends in the maritime industry with its sea team.

It comes as the company released latest employment figures showing 1775 crew members working across 41 vessels – rising 500pc since 2010 when crew numbers remained under 400. Seafarers are also rising within the company currently standing at 120, with a further 150 cadets.

Key topics covered during the in-depth, two-day, conference ranged from the current regulatory framework to practical situations faced at sea. Non-technical topics such as multi-cultural crew management, on-board procurement and handling of social networks were also discussed.

OSC Chief Executive Officer Tarik Al Junaidi said: “The event was attended by more than 100 members of sea and offshore staff, highlighted the company’s continuing and ceaseless commitment to safety and best practice on all the vessels in its fleet. Mumbai was chosen as the venue for the conference because it is a major international shipping hub and a large number of OSC’s sea staff hail from India.

“Our strong message to everyone attending the conference is that our safety culture starts with them. They are all managers of the safety for themselves and everyone around them. OSMC remains absolutely committed to, and is passionate about, maintaining the highest international standards of safety and environmental responsibility.

“Events like this Officers’ Safety Conference enable us to continue to achieve those high standards and to drive home our safety messages, whilst also sharing the latest industry best practices. Conferences like this play an important role in the continual development of our highly professional sea staff.”

The company’s commitment to safety begins with its sector-leading recruitment and training processes. Safety plays a large role in the curriculum when it comes to OSC’s Scholarship Program (cadetship), which sees recruits from high school study either for Nautical Science or Marine Engineering in maritime colleges in Oman or the United Kingdom.

OSC is also keen on developing its seafarers through the Scholarship Program for securing management level certificates, under which fully paid scholarships are made available to the local seafarers enrolled with the company. Safety is again a central part of that program.

COO of OSMC Captain David Stockley said: “OSMC looks after the company’s in-house ship management activities. Through its long experience in the technical management, the company has formed effective working structures to enhance the link between the vessels and offshore support through its crew, operation and HSE departments.

“Safety at sea runs through all our training initiatives and sea staff progressions. We have still not suffered a lost time accident since we started keeping records in 2009. Moreover, we are rated a ‘better operator’ by the Tanker Management Self-Assessment (TMSA) program.”

OSC currently operates 50 ships of different types and sizes with a total cargo carrying capacity of about 8 million tons. Two more MR Tankers will join the fleet by the end of November as part of Silver project between OSC and Shell International Company to build 10 MR tankers. All silver vessels will be technically managed by Oman Ship Management Company.

OSC’s wide ranging fleet spans from very large crude carriers (VLCCs), liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers, product tankers, multi-purpose vessels, bulk carriers and container ships, to serve Oman’s oil and gas, petrochemical and other industries.

Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals are the core sectors for OSC, where its vessels trade internationally.

In dry bulk transport, OSC is mainly involved in the international transport of minerals. The company also provides coastal services for movement of products along the Omani coast and a container feeder service connecting Omani ports with UAE ports.

Customers include: OLNG, ORPIC, OTI, Sohar Aluminium, Vale Oman, Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Vela, Reliance, UNIPEC and oil majors like Shell, Exxon and Chevron.