Sets out future vision

The new chairman of tanker owners group Intertanko has set out his stall for his time at the top of the organisation. Nick Fistes replaced retiring chairman Stephen Van Dyck earlier this week.

“I want actively to encourage the wider involvement of our membership in INTERTANKO’s work,” he said. Firstly by “fostering a greater awareness of the vital work our committees do in protecting and furthering the interests of our members, and in providing technical back-up to our Council as it formulates the Association’s policies”. Secondly, by “ensuring a greater involvement of, and commitment from, Intertanko’s 120 Council members”.

“This is the governing body of the Association. We want its voice to be heard.” Intertanko is “keen to utilise its most valuable resource, the vast pool of experience and expertise of its members, out of which come on the one hand the broad general knowledge and experience of Council and Executive Committee members, and on the other hand the deep specialist knowledge and experience of Committee members”.

Intertanko has recently been encouraging its members to provide cadet berths on their ships, and to provide for such accommodation when designing newbuildings. Fistes encourages the provision of training facilities on ships – desks, chairs, manuals, DVD equipment. “The easiest way to get seafarers’ attention is when they are at sea, not when they are ashore during their precious leave time,” he said. Instead of teaching ashore, training officers would join the ships for training trips. On board training is a step closer to implementation, making sure that crews are not only trained but that they can apply what they learn in on-job training. The ship is the best environment to ensure that training is effective and procedures are implemented, he claimed. “I applaud the creation and work programme of Intertanko’s new Human Element in Shipping Committee, one of whose main aims is to promote the availability and utilisation of personnel with the highest quality skills and competence.”

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