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 Programme (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 programme.
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) programme.”
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.
For further information contact OSC tel: +968 2440 0900 email: info@omanship.co.om visit: www.omanship.co.om
OSC FACTFILE
1) COMPANY STRUCTURE
Oman Shipping Company (OSC) was incorporated in 2003 and is owned by the Government of Sultanate of Oman through Ministry of Finance (80 per cent) and Oman Oil Company SAOC (20 per cent). OSC is the parent company, which is the investment arm, while Oman Charter Company SAOC (OCC) undertakes chartering and broking activities, Oman Ship Management Company SAOC (OSMC) looks after in-house ship management activities and Oman Container Lines (OCL) Inc. undertakes container-related activities. All the three companies are fully-owned subsidiaries of OSC. OSC was launched with the acquisition of six LNG vessels, which were employed to transport Omani LNG to the world markets in partnership with Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL). The company has since diversified into Crude Oil, Chemicals and Products, Dry Bulk, LPG and also Container and General Cargo market segments.
2) FLEET
Currently OSC operates 50 ships of different types and sizes with a total cargo carrying capacity of about eight million tons. It has a further two Medium Range (MR) product tankers under construction which will be delivered in October/ November 2016
3) CORE SECTORS
Oil, Gas and Petrochemicals are the core sectors for OSC. These vessels trade internationally. As regards the dry bulk transport, OSC is mainly 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, Chevron etc.
4) TRAINING
OSC has been making a big contribution to the shipping industry in the region through its Scholarship Program (cadetship), in which OSC offers scholarships every year for high school fresh graduates to study either Nautical Science or Marine Engineering in maritime colleges in Oman or the United Kingdom. To date it has sponsored 183 such cadets. It also offers job opportunities to such sponsored cadets after they successfully complete their studies. Furthermore, 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. In 2013, OSC signed an agreement with the International Maritime College Oman to provide training berths to all its cadets including non-Omanis, to complete their required sea service on board its vessels.