Main text
Weblog June 2011
Dockwise Management Vessel Safety Visit - Sponsorship Program
I have been fortunate to be able to participate in the Dockwise Management Vessel Safety Visit – Sponsorship program that began in November of last year. This program was initiated by our QHSES department as a way to bring our vessels’ captains and crews in closer communication with the company’s senior management, and for the special purpose of promoting safety to be a real part of everyone’s daily routine and culture within Dockwise.
The basic idea was to establish a regular set of correspondence between a particular executive and the crew of a specific vessel, with some guidelines established with respect to the frequency of communication as well as an annual visit to the vessel to discuss safety and keep it foremost in our minds. Additionally, the idea was for both the executive and the vessel’s crew to get to know each other and share experiences from the office and life at sea.
At first I was not sure how this was going to work in actual practice, but after exchanging a few monthly emails with the crew of the vessel assigned to me, the Swift, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and interesting this exchange could be. The Swift has two captains and crews, and I have been able to correspond with both Captain Mednis and Captain Kabicenko and get to know them and learn a lot about what it is really like to work on a ship and be at sea for months at a time on the world’s oceans. In each of our letters, we keep a strong focus on safety, using examples of various situations we have witnessed both in order to encourage the proper thinking about safety, both at sea and in our daily lives, on and off the job. “A routine job does not save you from a possible lapse in adhering to safety regulations”, says one of the Swift’s captains, Vadim Kabicenko.
I have sent photos of my sales team in Houston to the captains, and they, in turn, have shared stories about things that are fascinating to me, such as how they feel about dealing with piracy in the Gulf of Aden, and dealing with stormy weather in notoriously difficult to navigate areas such as Cape of Good Hope. I’ve learned a lot about life on board our vessels through this process, and have come to know the captains as real pros who take their responsibilities very seriously. I’m proud to be associated with them.
Not only has this been a learning experience for the crews and the office staff with whom I share the correspondence, it has made an invaluable connection between different groups within the business. It is easy for these crews to just do what they do and for sales people to just do what they do without knowing much about each other, but establishing this connection has made us all feel part of the same team and given each a better appreciation for the other. In my discussions with major oil companies and drilling contractors, there are always important “safety moments” at the start of every meeting. I think that the program we have at Dockwise is one of a kind and is extremely effective on many levels, the most important being the safety of our people, the cargos we transport and our ships.
Robb Erickson
Vice President, Sales Heavy Marine Transport Worldwide
Dockwise USA
