To view the technical programme for Commercial Shipping, please download the programme.

Commercial shipping plays a key role in the world economy carrying raw materials, goods and people across the oceans and along the waterways of the world. Innovative and sustainable ship designs, construction methods, operational management and ship disposal contribute to the ongoing success of the world commercial shipping industry and all rely on the continuous development of new maritime technologies. This conference stream highlighted some of these new technologies and described how they are enabling commercial shipping to become ever more safe and efficient and to minimise its environmental impact.

The Chairman’s views prior to the conference:
“Demands for shipping to be safer and increasingly environmentally friendly are the greatest challenge facing our segment of the industry in the immediate future,” says Richard Vie.

“To meet this challenge we need to be smarter in the way we design, build, operate, maintain and dispose of ships. The targets of improving the basic ship design and the equipment within are to make ships safer and more environmentally friendly whilst at the same time making them cost effective to operate by reducing through life costs to a minimum. At the end of a ship’s life, we have to dismantle it and recycle the materials in an environmentally responsible manner.”

Looking at the greatest success for his segment of the industry he says: “Commercial shipping plays a key role in the global economy and without it we would not enjoy the health and prosperity we have today. In spite of some well-publicised incidents, it also has a good record as regards safety and protection of the environment. It also operates within a strong international regulatory environment under the auspices of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), flag state authorities and the Classification Societies. Often all this is overlooked. However, we cannot be complacent and we must always be looking to improve.”

He and his stream committee will get this message over by “looking for papers where the authors understand the issues facing the industry and papers that are forward looking and have the aim of improving on current performance in a balanced and holistic manner.” The subject-matter included in the programme will cover:

• Ship design
  design tools and model testing • innovative ship designs • reducing maintenance and through life costs by design • improving ship safety/survivability and design for the human factor • minimising the environmental impact of shipping

• Construction
  shipyard design and construction • shipbuilding contracts and specifications • shipbuilding methods and management • new shipbuilding materials • purchasing strategies/supplier selection

• Operation
  managing the human factor • cost effective ship management and operation • the future, shipowner and operator requirements • role of the classification society and regulatory bodies • education and training

• Repair and maintenance
  ship repair facilities and innovative repair solutions • ship maintenance strategies and systems

• Disposal
  what will be the new asbestos? • sustainable ship disposal techniques •y stakeholder interests and managing the political process

Looking forward to WMTC 2006 he says: “I am very pleased that IMarEST is hosting this truly international and prestigious conference as I believe it is only by sharing information, ideas and views that we can maintain our goal of continuous improvement.”

“IMarEST, however, does much more than just arrange conferences and throughout its programme, including its very important role in education and training, it seeks to continuously support the whole maritime sector. As a result I am committed to and indeed delighted to be a part of the activities of IMarEST.”