NEWS

On November 7 2016 following extensive industry engagement and feedback AMSA announced that it will now commence its services as the sole maritime safety regulator on 1 July 2018.

The previous date for full implementation of the National System was 1 July 2017.

Many AIMS members have, over the past 12 months, prepared their business plans and undertaken further study in Diploma of Maritime Operations (Marine Surveying) in order to be eligible for AMSA accreditation as a domestic commercial vessel marine surveyor.

Many have also undergone the panel interview and orals and have received their accreditation with a view to commencing new business structures in July 2017.

While it is acknowledged that this change in date is of some inconvenience to newly accredited surveyors the AIMS will strive to work with AMSA to ensure that issues raised during the consultation process related to the privatisation of marine surveyors are addressed and that AIMS provides key stakeholders and vessel owners the opportunity to provide input and advice on survey costs and standards.

The AMSA media release and the full consultation report can be downloaded here.

AMSA Media Release.pdf

AMSA Consultation Cost-recovery-report.pdf

The Maritime Services (Access) Act 2000 requires the Essential Services Commission to review the South Australian ports pricing and access regimes every five years.

The Commission’s 2017 Ports Pricing and Access Review is being conducted to meet this requirement.

The Review will consider if the ports pricing regime and access regimes should continue for a further five-year period.

The Commission has initiated its Review with the release of an Issues Paper.

The purpose of the Issues Paper is to gather evidence and views from people and organisations with an interest in South Australian ports and maritime industries.

The Issues Paper is the first opportunity for stakeholders to raise matters that are important to them and to provide the Commission with responses to key questions.

The Commission is seeking feedback from all stakeholders with an interest in the regulated ports sector of South Australia.

Submissions and responses addressing the matters raised in the Issues Paper, or any other matters relevant to the review, are due by Friday, 18 November 2016.

Further information can be found on the Commission’s website:

http://www.escosa.sa.gov.au/

Richard Krabbendam is facilitating a Heavy Lift training course in Brisbane on the 7th - 9th November.

Richard is arguabley the industry expert in this field and started his Heavy Transport and Lifting career as a Heavy Lift Transport

Engineer with Big Lift, Dordrecht, The Netherlands in 1973.

By 1979, he was awarded the largest contract in Big Lift’s history by Saudi Aramco.This course offers a platform for your Heavy Transport and Lifting Projects on land as well as offshore and at sea.

Attention is dedicated to safety, accident analysis and discussions on how accidents can be avoided and dealt with.

The course provides best practices and standards in Management, Calculation, Application and Safety.

Contact Olygen in Singapore, Mrs. Joan Dee Lim and ask for details on the costs and venue. e-mail: lim.joandee@olygen.com for details of the Brisbane Seminar.

Click here for more info

Voting for the position of Secretary was finalized at the AGM held on the 19^th August in Melbourne at the Langham Hotel

Michel Lagesse retained the position with a lead of 10 votes over John Wilson that was gained in the member survey and then a final 6 votes in his favour from the floor on the day.

David Hepburn, AIMS Past President, and NSW member acted as the independent scrutineer on the day and confirmed that all votes were valid. No second count was required.

Members who voted on the day were A, Graver, S Beale, G Jago, JM Sauzier, R Behan, and G Joynson.

The final survey results were current Secretary- Capt Michel Lagesse - 58.18% (32 votes) and John Wilson 41.82% (23 votes).

The AIMS will commence the development of accredited higher qualifications in marine surveying on the 4^th September 2016 to accommodate individuals employed in managerial or senior surveyor positions in both the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) and private sector organisations that specialize in marine surveying across a wide range of categories.

After significant consultation with industry and AMSA the qualification structure is now at its final draft stage and work has commenced on developing the units.  At this stage we are unsure as to whether the qualification will be accredited as an Advanced Diploma or Vocational Graduate Certificate however it is expected that the qualification will consist of 10 specialist units of which 6 will be elective and 4 core units that have been identified as providing general competencies applicable to senior marine surveyors.

The qualification will allow cross training within the industry and provide an opportunity for holders of the Diploma in Maritime Operations (Marine Surveying) to progress to blue water surveys.

Member and industry feedback is still being received. Members who wish to comment on the units may do so via email to training@aimsurveyors.com.au

Link to the proposed qualification 

In addition to the higher qualification, AIMS will be developing a bridging course for current blue water surveyors to gain a working knowledge of the NSCV and provide them with the essential knowledge required to apply for AMSA accreditation. Information on the bridging course will be provided to all members within the next couple of weeks.

AIMS members who hold Masters’ Certificates of Competency have become concerned that after December 31^st 2016 their certificates will no longer be valid and that if they do not revalidate prior to the December cut-off date that they will have to re-sit the entire Masters Certificate should they ever wish to return to sea.

Master Mariners who were granted their certificate in perpetuity are concerned that this qualification is now being taken away from them if they do not revalidate this year.

Concerns were also raised at the cost of revalidation – up to $16,000.00 to maintain the validity of certificates when many were unsure as to whether they would return to sea. 

 Soon after the press release many AIMS members contacted me to clarify the requirements.

I was able to speak personally with Allan Schwartz, AMSA General Manager Ship Safety, who assured me that this is not the case.

We were advised that If shore based Master Mariners wish to return to sea after the cut-off date and their certificates require re-validation they simply revalidate when and if required.

Any of these certificates that have not been revalidated by this date may be revalidated at any time by either a combination of sea service and shore based training, or, if no sea service, shore based training alone said Schwartz.

AMSA also confirmed that these changes only relate to certificates issued under the STCW Convention and that any certificates issued by a State or Northern Territory Marine Authority are not effected in any way by these changes.

AMSA has a Marine Notice 2016/14 on this matter and a Press Release further clarifying see http://www.amsa.gov.au/media/

Susan Hull,

Executive Officer

Please be aware that we have had quite a lot of scam and a couple of attempts to hack into both the President and Executive Officer emails.

We would like to remind all members that neither the President or EO or any other Council or staff member of the AIMS would ever request that a member deposit money into an account that is not the official AIMS bank account. 

No-one at the AIMS would request money without providing you with an invoice clearly stating what the payment is required for.

Once the AGM is over the EO will retain the services of a website IT specialist and attempt to reduce all spam attacks on our website.

We will also take all email addresses off the find a surveyor section and provide only phone numbers and physical work addresses. Email addresses of members will be kept in the members only area when that is finally established.

If the membership is agreeable we will keep full contact details in a section for lawyers, shippers and insurers and provide them with an access code.

The Blue Book will also be forwarded to corporate users of marine surveyor services to ensure that all members have good advertising and coverage of their services wherever possible.

On Wednesday 20^th July 2016 the DAWR – Grain and Plant Products Export Industry Consultative Committee met in Adelaide to discuss the AO Trial Training Program that was held at Oran, Kwinana Western Australia.

The AIMS Executive were advised that the meeting in Adelaide was agreed upon by all “members” of the working group when Viterra offered their boardroom for the meeting.

Viterra offered the use of their boardroom after the last meeting that was held in Melbourne but there was no official notification to the AIMS by DAWR that the meeting would be held in Adelaide.

The contents/discussion at the Adelaide meeting did not pertain to any matters associated with Adelaide/South Australian Grain / AO Inspections nor were any issues raised on this matter.

All discussion was centred on the AO – Trial Training Program recently held at ORAN, Kwinana, WA.

Present at the meeting were: 

• DAWR Director – Grain and Seed Exports Program – Vikki Fischer    who was the Chair of the meeting
• 2 DAWR representatives from Canberra
• 2 DAWR AO Assessors (Kwinana and Adelaide)
• 2 Representatives from Oldendorff Carriers
• 2 Representatives from Vittera
• 1 Representative from Emerald
• 1 Representative from AIMS – Michel Lagesse

Overview:

Following is a summary of the meeting from notes provided by the AIMS representative:

All persons were individually requested to provide / discuss their particular view on how the recent AO – Trial Training Program went and whether there were any adverse incidences to report.

In essence, the feedback from all persons’ present was extremely positive and there were no negative / adverse incidences to report.

There were some issues noted, which the AO assessors obtained from their “one-on-one” interviews held between the AO assessors and the individual AO trainee towards the final stages of the Trial Training Program.

These being:

• 1.      The access area at CBH / Grain Terminal onto / from the launch is not deemed safe and an alternative access site will need to be identified,
• 2.      Declarations of “Conflicts of Interests” between Marine Surveyors and external Authorised Officers must be clearly established and closely monitored / audited.
• 3.      The appointment of the External Authorised Officers, by the port agent, could lead to certain ship agencies favouring certain AOs / AOs from a particular company at the exclusion of others whom may never get an AO appointment despite their required training.

DAWR – Health Safety personnel were satisfied with the safety aspects of the AO – Trail Training Program.

Upon closure of the meeting, the AIMS representative directed the following enquiries to the DAWR representatives.

The questions and the responses are listed below

• 1.      What “time-frame” would be expected before we / industry obtains feedback from DAWR as to whether the external AO Program will be “accepted” or not?

DAWR - Whilst there was no definitive date nor time frame period in place, it was inferred that we / industry should receive some form of notification “in about 4 to 5 months’ time!”.

• 2.      Should the AO Program be accepted for ORAN, Kwinana, would there be any consideration to extend the same to Gage Roads, Fremantle, given that most of the Grain Surveys conducted at anchorage are done at Gage Roads and the same would be extremely financially beneficial to vessels Owners / Operators?

DAWR - They would consider the request; however, further “internal” discussions would have to be made in this regard.

• 3.      Should the AO Program be accepted for ORAN, Kwinana, would there be any consideration to extend the same to other “hub” port anchorages in South Australia, Queensland, Victoria

DAWR – (As above) - They would consider the request; however, further “internal” discussions would have to be made in this regard.

AIMS representative Michel Lagesse has advised the Executive that subject to no adverse / negative output from DAWR’s internal review of the current AO Program, it is his opinion that the AO Program will eventually be “rolled-out” to other “hub” port anchorages subject to DAWR conducting their own assessment at that particular location.

If this were the case it would be imperative that an additional representative from the AIMS Executive plus a locally based AIMS member be present and part of the “assessment” and “discussion”.

The AIMS President and Executive would like to assure members that their input will be sought and additional representatives appointed before any future AO trials are conducted in any other Ports.

The Executive “will await the outcomes of the AO program for Oran before seeking a formal response from DAWR on the likelihood of AO Inspections being implemented in other ports”.

If the AO Program is not accepted for ORAN for whatever reason, then it is doubtful as to whether there would be any further trials or discussion related to the matter.

NOMINATIONS FOR EXECUTIVE POSITIONS OPEN TODAY

 

In accordance with the AIMS Constitution we wish to advise all associate and full members that nominations for positions on the AIMS Executive open today.

There are three positions available for nomination

 

1.   President

2.   Vice President

3.   Secretary

 

Participating in the AIMS via the Executive is an important role and demands a significant commitment of time as well as the ability to work with others to achieve the AIMS objectives. The positions are non-paid voluntary positions however travel costs for attending the AGM and Council meeting are reimbursed by the Institute.

 

As well as working closely with the State Representatives the Role of the Executive falls into five broad areas:

 

•              Maintain the statutory and legal requirements of the Institute including the review and amendment of the Constitution as required

•              Approve business and financial plans and provide these to Council for ratification

•              Promote the Institute as the peak body for Marine Surveyors in the Australasian Region

•              Address issues raised by members relevant to categories of survey, training and development and qualifications and experience required to maintain the professional standing of the industry

•              Support the Executive Officer in the management of compliance with all statutory and legal requirements including financial obligations, the AIMS Constitution, the NVR Standards for Registered Training Organisations the AIMS ISO9001 quality system and any other relevant organisational policies and reporting requirements

 

You can download the nomination form here <Executive Nomination Form> All nominations will be published on the AIMS website.

 

 

Nominations will close at 1730 hrs (Eastern Standard Time) on Monday August 8^th.

 

Nominations can be sent to execoff@aimsurveyors.com.au or via post to PO Box 6255 Kingston ACT 2604

 

Another financial year is over (and not a moment too soon) and now is the time the Executive and Council can reflect on budgets and achievements and ensure that there have enough resources to support our new projects.

Once again the team has achieved much as both an association and as a small business. The RTO has managed to trade for the full financial year under its own steam and we now have an Office Manager to help with the load. 

Many of you have now had some interaction with Andy van der Rijt who came on board in February of this year. Andy has been managing most of our correspondence with students and members and bearing the load of the mountain of administration that comes with our operations.

Andy has developed a great rapport with all of our clients and I think that everyone will agree that our systems are running more smoothly and our response times to students, queries from the public and membership applications have all improved dramatically.
 
The RTO projects include the review of the Diploma for accuracy and relevance and over the next few months many of the learning materials and assessments will undergo some changes. Student feedback has been really well received and we have had some great tips on how we can improve our materials. We hope to have this qualification fully reviewed and updated by 2017.

While the review is underway we will be working even more closely with industry to develop the Advanced Diploma and a more relevant range of professional development courses. We have already had significant industry input, for which we are most grateful, from our members but we have also some input from AMSA. At a recent meeting it was agreed that we would develop a bridging course that would allow surveyors of vessels over 500gt to gain the knowledge required for small vessel surveys. 

All AIMS members should have some knowledge of the new National Law and the National Standards for Commercial Vessels whether they do these small vessel surveys or not. This is fundamental information that every surveyor should have or should at least know where to find it, and how to apply it if necessary.  I hope to have this short course available by 2017.

We have now completed the basic structure of the Advanced Diploma and we hope to apply for accreditation for this qualification as quickly as possible.

In order to do that I would like to have as much final input as I can get on the proposed structure. Members who would like to provide comment can view the proposed qualification structure here: http://aimsurveyors.com.au/Members-only. I welcome any feedback that members can provide. 

If any members do have old course material that is relevant to any of the proposed units we would gratefully accept that as well. The more information that we can gather the better our learning materials will be. 

If any retired member would like to earn some additional income helping us to write materials then please let me know. You don’t have to be a writer, we can do the technical writing, but you do have to know how to carry out the particular survey that the module is dealing with.  

We will provide templates for you to fill in information and ask you for suitable methods of assessment.  Again, any help that we can get is very much appreciated and I will gladly chat with any members who think that they might like to assist.

While the need to ‘grow our own surveyors’ is very much our focus much of the activity going on in regard to the qualifications and courses is in response to the member feedback suggesting that CPD become mandatory for membership. 
The Executive and Council were impressed by the number of members who voted for CPD in the last survey and this has resulted in CPD being mandatory as of January 1st 2017. 

Members will have until January 2018 to provide some evidence of CPD. 

Formal training is not the only CPD activity available to members. CPD includes attending state meetings, conferences and events, contributing to the development of training materials, reviewing materials, mentoring students, writing articles, speaking at events.  I am working to develop a list of CPD activities that can be aligned to each survey category so that members have ample choice of activities to choose from.

It is exciting and pleasing to see that so many of our new surveyors are showing plenty of spirit, attending meetings and volunteering to participate in subcommittees as well as being vocally active. 

Their participation is so very welcomed. These new surveyors will form a large part of our membership and it is up to our longer term members to display leadership and encourage them in every way that they can. 

Yes, the institute is changing and it needs to in order to progress our commitment to the ever changing structure of the industry we represent. When an industry is growing as rapidly as ours is change is inevitable. 

Leadership is a challenge that many of us struggle with. Not just within our profession or our institute but with our children, our families, our community our employees and our mates. It is a hard concept to master.

One person who does know about leadership and how to develop the necessary qualities is AFL great Kevin Sheedy. You don’t get to be as great as him without knowing how to develop leaders.
It is timely indeed that he is presenting this very topic at our 30th Dinner in August.  

I for one think that it is an opportunity not to be missed. Everyone one of us can benefit from this presentation in some way. He will focus on how our Executive and Council can become better leaders, how our long term members can lead the new surveyors and how our new surveyors can develop their leadership skills and progress their business objectives. 

Leadership, like education can enrich our lives.
I hope our members get behind this auspicious celebration and be part of another moment in our history. 

Don’t look back at what was – look forward to what is coming.

Susan Hull
Executive Officer