Keynotes for Imca’s Annual Seminar Announced
Keynote addresses on both days at this year’s International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) Annual Seminar, to be held in London, UK, from 19 to 20 November 2014, will ensure both days get off to a flying and highly relevant start. Following an introduction and welcome by Pascal Grosjean of Technip, Chairman of IMCA’s Europe & Africa Section, keynote addresses on the conference theme ‘Where next for the offshore marine industry?’ will be delivered by IMCA’s president Massimo Fontolan, vice president Commercial, North Atlantic and Arctic of Saipem; Dave Turner, vice president Subsea Upstream Production Operations, BP; and Judith Hackittt CBE, Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive.
Day Two sees Stephen Carver Lecturer in Project & Programme Management, and Innovation Process Management, School of Management at Cranfield University, and expert in risk management, who has spent time working on projects in the oil industry, home in on ‘Emerald field: risk management case study’, in what promises to be a compelling presentation.
The full programme and registration for the two-day conference at the Landmark Hotel, London is now online at www.imca-int.com and shows that the now-traditional and highly successful mix of plenary sessions, parallel sessions – looking at Marine; Diving; and Offshore Survey & ROV; and topical workshops is very much the order of the day.
Topics coming under the conference spotlight in plenary sessions include ‘Aegir’s first project’ (Meredith Taylor, Heerema Marine Contractors); ‘Revolutionising subsea lifting: an introduction to liquid buoyancy systems’ (Alex Simpson, Aubin Subsea); ‘Risk management for control system software’ (Øyvind Smogeli, Marine Cybernetics); ‘Role and accountability of the designated person ashore’ (Nigel Hope, Technip); and ‘Top ten deepwater pipelayers for Brazil (Ronald van Son/Mike Watchorn, Royal IHC).
The technical sessions will focus on the initiatives being employed to improve performance across all of our four technical divisions. The Marine sessions will be chaired by John de Hartog of Saipem on Day One, and Pete Somner of Technip on Day 2; Joar Gangenes of Subsea 7 and Sjur Lothe of Technip will share chairing of the Diving session on the first day and Steve MacMillan of McDermott International Inc will take over on the second day; while Walter Steedman of Veripos chairs Day One of the Offshore Survey & ROV session to be followed on Day Two by Jim Mann of Fugro.
Workshops being held over the two days will look at DP FMEAs, Diving System FMEAs, Shared sensors: ROV/Offshore Survey; Learning from incidents; Key DP personnel: dilution of skills; DP incident reporting; Subsea lifting and rigging; Live high voltage short circuit testing; Competence assurance – 15 years on; and Exploring the deep post Macondo.
A Welcome Reception and Registration will be held at the Landmark Hotel from 18:30-21:00 on Tuesday 18 November immediately after a Europe & Africa Section meeting, which will focus on EU regulatory and other regional issues.
At the end of the first day of sessions, delegates will be looking forward to the Night at the Museum Dinner at one of London’s most iconic venues, the Natural History Museum. This is sponsored by Drass Energy, with pre-dinner drinks sponsored by Griffin Marine Travel.
On Thursday 19 November after the Seminar has closed everyone has a final chance to relax, soak up the atmosphere and discuss the experience at the ‘Night at the Circus’ post-event drinks reception at the Jewel Bar in Piccadilly Circus sponsored by SAFER Training.
The lunch and coffee breaks throughout the seminar are provided with the support of Griffin Marine Travel, Royal IHC and Unique Hydra, providing the ideal opportunity for delegates to talk about the issues just covered in the session, as well as the ideal opportunity to look around the trade show.
Nearly 30 IMCA supplier members have already committed to exhibit at the Annual Seminar, which offers an exceptional opportunity to present new technologies and solutions for the industry to decision makers working for contractors and potential clients.
The National Hyperbaric Centre is sponsoring the WiFi throughout the event to enable delegates to keep in touch with their wider network.
