Assessing Seaworthiness

RightShip is a ship vetting specialist promoting safety and efficiency in the global maritime industry. Formed in 2001, the company offers ship vetting information system to help over 2,000 users and 200 organisations in commercial shipping worldwide to manage their maritime risk. Shipowners, operators, managers, charterers, insurers and ports have been benefiting from RightShip evaluation. The company covers nearly 97 per cent of all registered vessels and its substantial database is updated every six hours through data sharing from around the world, says Warwick Norman, CEO, Rightship Pty Ltd, in an interview with Radhika Rani G. 

Could you explain ship vetting as a process that is followed around the world, the guidelines binding on both charterers and vessels and the rating/pricing method in vetting? 

Ship vetting is used across the global maritime industry to manage risk. As we define it on our website, vetting is “an in-depth assessment of a ship's quality and suitability for a task” and “the best way to match available vessels to the operational requirements of the voyage and the need to properly manage risk”.

RightShip gives users a proven method of systematically assessing any nominated ship from our database of over 71,000 vessels. The idea is that RightShip delivers the same assessment of risks and suitability, based on a comprehensive analysis of accurate and up-to-date data, no matter who is doing the vetting, their experience or expertise and what day or time the vet is undertaken. This kind of systematic, reliable risk evaluation used to be possible only for the most well-resourced companies, but RightShip makes it possible for organisations of any size to have the same capabilities.

RightShip vetting can involve the online vetting system, advice over phone or email, a physical inspection of vessels and a range of other support services – it depends what each customer organisation wants and the risk presented by the vessel in question.

Our vetting support is available by subscription and priced on a volume basis, so the more a customer organisation vets, the more cost-effective each vet becomes.

Does ship vetting involve charter-specific or time-specific cycles/seasons? Do demand-supply fluctuations in shipping also influence vetting operations?

Shipping operates about six weeks ahead of the cycle of the commodity being shipped, such as the production of minerals, oil, chemicals, grain or manufactured goods. With a huge range of traded commodities and a global base, that means vetting is undertaken year-round to meet all shipping needs.

At the same time, the shipping industry has its own cycles of vessel building and delivery and movement in freight rates. Experience shows that higher freight rates correlate to better shipping standards, and lower freights rates similarly lead to lower standards. Because vetting is a search for lower risk and higher quality vessels, it is impacted by that cycle.

How are the various IMO regulations giving impetus to vetting inspections and procedures?

The IMO delegates authority to class and flag to set and enforce vessel standards. Vetting has a role in providing users with an independent snapshot of nominated vessels, validating the standards set by flag and class.

Having said that, vetting aims to support users of shipping in meeting the complex demands of all relevant legislation and regulations, so that it goes beyond IMO requirements. And, RightShip further aims to help its customers if they want to go beyond compliance to best practice.

We had a recent example of a number of ships recording an inspection deficiency because there was no insulation mat at their electrical switchboard. Vetting can note the ship has that deficiency recorded, and when it was remedied. That is about compliance, which is of course important. 

But RightShip talked to the owners and suggested painting a “Rubber Mat Missing” sign on the deck where the mat should be, so it would be immediately clear if it went missing and could be replaced before a deficiency was recorded. It’s a simple example, but it shows how vetting can not just validate standards, but directly improve them.

How is ship vetting as a risk management system gaining ground in India?

RightShip has a fast-growing relationship with the Indian shipping sector, and there are many reasons why demand for vetting is growing quickly in India. The country has 7,500 km of coast to protect, and uses ships to move 95 per cent of its export goods. Its population has growing expectations for how safe shipping should be and fast means of communicating its dissatisfaction through the media, Twitter and Facebook. India is less and less inclined to tolerate incidents like MSC Chitra, Khalijia 3 and Rak Carrier.

Similar factors in Australia led to RightShip being formed in the first place. The extra driver for India today is that, now that other regions of the world are using vetting extensively to push out higher risk ships, India cannot afford to be the market where these ships come to keep working.

India has high maritime levels now and is predicted to maintain rapid growth. Its demand for ships needs to be matched by the systems and processes used to ensure these ships are an acceptable risk in it sports and along its coast. These systems need to be scaleable, to grow as Indian shipping grows. 

RightShip’s increased presence in India is one of many signs that India is responding to these imperatives and using vetting as a reliable way to manage maritime risk.

What is the USP of Rightship and its growth plans?

RightShip offers a uniquely comprehensive, systematic and easy to use online vetting system – there is no other commercially available system that matches the range and reliability of both its data and its risk algorithm. RightShip adds to this a complete package of vetting-related support – including vessel inspections worldwide, expert officers available 24/7 anywhere in the world for advice over phone or email, audits, secure hosting of customers’ vetting systems.

With its position as a decision support provider strongly established, RightShip has recently added an online environmental rating. This unique offer allows customers to get an immediate assessment of, not just a vessel’s safety risk and suitability for the nominated task, but also its sustainability credentials. This helps organisations select ships that meet their needs for efficiency and environmental impact, as well as safety.

RightShip currently supports over 2,500 users in more than 200 customer organisations, based in over 50 countries around the world. Through RightShip, these customers vet some 30,000+ ships and inspect about 2,400 each year. That represents significant growth each year since we started a decade ago, and we believe demand will keep increasing. The number of ships in operation keeps growing, and there are more and more companies in the industry who need to bring in expert skills and experience to operate safely and efficiently.

Most importantly, RightShip can see the improvements made to shipping standards as a result of the growth in vetting, and we look forward to that influence and improvement continuing and being extended to all shipping regions of the world.

Who are the various maritime industry operators who seek your services?

RightShip’s vetting system was originally intended as a decision support tool for shippers, to give them the best information before deciding whether to accept a nominated ship.

Today our customers come from right across the maritime industry, highlighting the critical need for accurate, timely information in decision-making in many different kinds of business operations. They include shippers, shipowners, ship managers, port authorities, terminals, agents, insurers and maritime finance organisations.

What could be the reasons for ship board accidents despite vetting inspections in place?

Vetting is designed to use indicators to evaluate risk. It uses indicators of elevated risk, which are usually based on consistent poor performance or trends. It is not a perfect system for predicting accidents, especially those which are one-off incidents unrelated to any previous deficiency or performance problem. RightShip does not claim that vetting offers 100 per cent protection against a problem occurring – but we can say that it is a proven, reliable way to minimise risk. Like flag and class, vetting is an established barrier and control that reduces risk. RightShip’s tools systematically assess the risks. We provide our best advice and our customers can make their choices based on the best information available.

Are there instances of the transparency of vetting process being influenced for commercial gains?

Vetting can have a role in commercial discussions, of course. It is true in shipping, as it is generally, that “knowledge is power”. Vetting is a source of reliable, accurate data and proven methods of analysing it. Any organisation or individual entering negotiations or considering committing to a contract would be advised to get as much relevant information as they can.

One of RightShip’s stated goals has always been to promote commercial rewards for those who own, manage and use higher quality shipping. Vetting is a commercial business, and ultimately shipping will improve because people see that it makes commercial sense to choose better vessels. We hope the information we provide helps deliver those rewards.

What are the challenges, if any, that vetting companies face today?

Vetting companies face the same challenges as the wider maritime industry – changing and growing expectations about both the safety and sustainability of ships, technical redundancy of vessels that don’t meet terminal requirements (despite being safe) and pressure from global economic conditions are just some major challenges putting pressure on all parts of the industry, especially shipowners.

Our specific challenges are the same as they always have been, and we keep putting pressure on ourselves to deliver better services before they are demanded by customers. We need to keep sourcing accurate data, we need to ensure daily updates so all vessel information is up-to-date, we need to maintain positive alliances to promote better standards and we need to grow new markets for vetting so poor quality vessels can’t just be redirected.

What are your plans in the coming months?

Just to say that RightShip welcomes questions from anyone in the industry, so we can be transparent about what we do. In the next couple of months we are planning an industry survey, so we can better understand perceptions of RightShip and ship vetting and address any misconceptions. We are also launching a mobile app so we can be that little bit more accessible.

It is in everyone’s interests to reduce risk. Casualties, detentions and environmental damage from shipping are very costly for the companies involved and for all of us as a maritime industry. People are watching, and we need to improve standards or we will be subject to greater regulation, insurance costs and other burdens. India is taking many steps in the right direction and RightShip is glad to be part of it.

Published in Maritime Gateway, December 2011