CEO of IMCA to Stand Down

Hugh Williams, 59, chief executive of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA, UK), has announced his intention to stand down at the end of 2012 after 10 years in the post.

Andy Woolgar, Subsea 7, IMCA president, says that Hugh’s decision to step down as chief executive is a great loss to everyone involved with IMCA, especially those on the IMCA Council and Overall Management Committee. "Under his leadership IMCA has delivered a considerable number of achievements. These include an increased recognition of IMCA around the world and the use of existing good practice guidance has been maintained and around 150 new and updated guidelines have been published. Membership has been increased from 150 companies to around  850 members  with the ‘country count’ increasing dramatically as well."

The worldwide spread of the association has been enhanced by creating two new geographic sections: Central & North America, and South America. The five sections now cover all the major global oil patches and allow members to meet to discuss global and local issues. New workgroups have been formed to address, for example: Contracts & Insurance, Security, and Renewable Energy.

IMCA’s annual seminar already had a global recognition (or standing), which has continued to grow. It is supported by the safety and environment seminar which is now both annual and moves each year to a different location around the world. The association is a supporting organisation for leading global events such as: the Offshore Technology Conference (Houston), Offshore Europe (Aberdeen), Oceanology International (London), Offshore South East Asia (Singapore), Middle East Workboats (Abu Dhabi) and Rio Oil & Gas (Rio de Janeiro).

Global statistics published annually by IMCA show a marked reduction in the marine construction accident rate at the same time as a huge increase in man-hours reported by the expanding industry and membership – a demonstration of the benefits of the good practice.