Mr Tom Boardley is the new chairman of IACS from July 1st
The new chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies, Tom Boardley of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, who took up the post on 1 July, has spoken to ‘The Motorship’ about his vision for the year ahead.
Mr Boardley, LR’s marine director,intends to continue the good work of his predecessors, taking forward the initiatives that they started. His main goals for his chairmanship are to ensure good harmonisation of the common structural rules (CSR), and to reassert IACS’s position as a ‘quality stamp’. He has already started discussions with industry associations and other bodies, and has found, in the main, a willingness on their part to engage with IACS, which is perceived as a trusted, practical and impartial technical authority. He will be assisted by Konstantin Petrov, also from LR.
He spoke about the change in the past few years to a more open membership policy, which was brought about through EU’s intervention. Mr Boardley says he regrets the way that certain anti-trust authorities view the concept of information sharing as collusion, when in reality it is a vital contribution to safety. As a result IACS has to be careful about how much its members cooperate with each other. The three Associate members, the Indian, Croatian and Polish registers, have now become full members and share the aims of IACS as a whole.
As IACS permanent secretary Derek Hodgson pointed out to us, the membership criteria are openly published, and any body which feels it can meet the criteria is welcome to apply for membership. However, IACS has not exactly been flooded with applications since it opened its membership to all. Mr Hodgson looks forward to working with Mr Boardley – as IACS and LR are both London-based he expects it to greatly ease communications.
Mr Boardley says that the involvement of the EU has resulted in a view among some of the non- European class societies that IACS is too close to Europe – nothing could be further from the truth. The resulting formation of bodies to represent, say, the Asian class societies is, he believes, a good move, as long as these remain sub-groups of IACS rather than trying to stand independently.
Mr Boardley went on to say that he wants IACS to play an active role at the IMO, and to enhance its current status, allowing it to provide greater technical support to the regulators and the industry. He also sees a role for IACS in sharing information with the insurance industry, to help minimise risk.
As far as CSR is concerned, the first publication is now out for review; this will be followed by a second publication, with a view to a final version being ready by the end of 2013, ready for adoption in July 2014 and entry into force at the end of that year.
Mr Boardley expects IACS to become involved in environmental issues affecting shipping; he intends to raise the issues with IMO concerning the confusion over implementation of the Ballast Water Convention, and similarly over fuel sulphur limits. He says there are solutions to both issues which will enable the industry to meet the regulations, and his intention is not to frustrate these measures but to ease their introduction, by raising the practical issues and avoiding economic hardship. He would like IACS to co-sponsor a paper on BWMS for presentation to IMO, but he recognises that he may not get all 13 member societies on board, because some may regard the paper as being over-critical of the ‘recognized organisations’ (ROs).
Another focus for Mr Boardley will be to work with the International Labour Organization, to find a way that IACS and IMO can prove that all three bodies are aiming for uniform, workable standards, and the shipping regulators can be welcomed by ILO.
Source: The Motorship
