KLSM Webinar – Continuing to use the technology to keep Seafarers Abreast with Latest

As the covid 19 pandemic continues to affect the normalcy the industry is forced to continue the use of online systems. Although the situation in India has improved with break through achievements in inoculating over 1 billion people with at least 1st does of covid vaccine, the travel restrictions for international delegates making it difficult to conduct the physical seminar. However, this new revolution of digital era provides the online platform to conduct such events as effective as physical interaction. KLSM Mumbai conducted yet another online webinar to interact with seafaring staff, providing the updates about present situation and discussing topics related to upcoming regulations. The webinar was hosted for 2 days on 10th and 11th November 2021. It was attended by total 105 participants which included 57 Officers from various parts of India and 48 dignitaries of KLSM & K-ENE from Tokyo, Singapore, Manila, Indonesia attended this event.

Capt S. K. Goyal, CEO and Managing Director, KLSM India welcomed all officers and delegates for this 2nd consecutive online webinar. He thanked all the participants for taking out precious time from their vacations to attend this webinar. He explained that although technology has permitted us to have these online interactions to keep our sailing staff updated with company activities and industry requirements, but our first preference is always to have physical seminars as we used to have in past. He further highlighted that milestone of 1.1 billion doses in India and vaccination drive still going strong the pandemic seems to be showing some signs of relenting in India which brings the ray of hope that next year we can come back to normalcy and have physical seminar. He welcomed the top management from Tokyo, Singapore, Indonesia, and Manila to take time to be part of this event.

The President of K-ENE Tokyo, Mr. Hiroyuki Iwaki, addressed the large audience, thanking the Seafarers for attending the webinar. He expressed his concerns about this global pandemic of covid-19 which has been creating issues with many new regulations and restrictions for timely relief of crew for almost two years now. He also explained the impact of this pandemic on vessel visits by office staff and delays in dry docking of the vessels. He was pleased to announce that there was no case of COVID-19 infection on-board our vessels and the safe operation of vessels was never jeopardized. He thanked all the seafarers for their relentless efforts even if they were to stay on-bord for longer time. He praised the strong vaccination drive, individual health management and awareness about the infection which is indicating the reducing trend of covid cases in India and Japan whereas European countries the number of infected persons is still increasing. He said that we are hopeful that the Oral vaccine will soon be available which will drastically reduce the infection all over the world. He also mentioned about the upcoming SIRE 2.0 and informed that our SIRE score has improved in last quarter for which he is again thankful to our seafarers. He also emphasis on the upcoming environmental regulations such as EEXI. Our vessels need to strictly follow these requirements. We are working with classification societies and K line head office to achieve our targets. He mentioned that we will soon have LPG and LNG operated vessels, which will bring more challenges but with our dedication and hard work for safe operation we want to be the first choice for our customers. He also emphasized on the Zero accident and strong alcohol management policy of the company.

Capt Shoji Fukuda, Sr. Director, K-ENE Tokyo started his address with his concern about the present pandemic situation and expressed his deep condolences to all who lost their loved ones during this pandemic, but we must challenge this situation and evolve above these difficulties. He praised and thanked all seafarers for their efforts and no major incidents in last two years in our fleet. He appreciated seafarers for their efforts onboard in spite of many restrictions like No shore leave, extended time on-board, limited time for turn overs and shorthand on some occasions but our vessel always conducted safe operations on- board which is a remarkable achievement. He also shared his discussions with one of the terminal representatives in Japan who said that the K line vessels are number 1 in maintaining safety and hygiene on-aboard among all the vessels calling to this port, this made him feel proud of our seafarers. He also expressed his thought about shell PiS (Partner in Safety) program which we all shall be proud of as it indicates the high safety and quality in our fleet which is recognized by the oil majors.

After the address by senior management the session was focused on discussion and learning form the incidents. Although there was no significant incident in our fleet in last two years as mentioned by our senior managements. Capt. P. Bhaumik QCG- KENE/ADPA/NAVRES discussed as alleged Navigational incident with fishing vessel. The focus was on correct use of navigation equipment’s with optimum setting to get best performance and information from these equipment’s for safe navigation. He also emphasizes on the importance of being aware of different type of fishing activities that takes place with respective seasons in south China sea and the alertness level of bridge watchkeeping.

After the good discussion on safe navigation procedures, Capt. Michinori Morohara (Group Leader & DPA K-ENE Tokyo QCG) provided the update on the KLQSMS simplification and review project which K-ENE has adopted last year, and the efforts being made to timely completion of the project. He discussed the difficulties being faced with present safety management system and how such issues are being addressed in new simplification project. He also explained the challenges being faced for reforming the whole safety management system to be in line and accessible through our new ship management software KONeCT. He also shed some light on the smart checklist which will be soon part of our safety management system and will be user friendly.

Moving further on the discussion about K-ENE’s way towards the digitization Capt. Prerit Awasthi, SI K-ENE Tokyo – QCG, provided an update on the K-ENE’s new software KONeCT which is now an integrated part of our safety management system. He provided the updates on various modules of KONeCT and explained how this will help us in building new safety culture. He also discussed the relation between compliance to convenience of adopting a new system. He emphasized on standardization of on-board recordkeeping which can easily be achieved through KONeCT. He also explained the workflow being followed in the software. He showed some salient features of the software which will help ship staff to interact with the software efficiently.

One of the major objectives of this webinar was to update seafarers about the upcoming regulations and changes in the industry. Capt. Pranshu Vashisht KLSM-QCG / Sr Manager gave a brief introduction of SIRE 2.0. He explained the mind set and concept of OCIMF to have an enhanced inspection program that will provide more accurate description of how HSSE risks are managed on a vessel through dynamic risk-based inspection process focused on equipment, procedure, and Human factor. He also informed about the tablet-based inspection under SIRE 2.0 with showing some examples of SIRE 2.0 question library. He explained how K-ENE is already started the gap analysis and soon information’s will be shared with vessels.

As we all know that cybercrime is the biggest challenge these days with development and access to technology across the globe. There are cyber threats out there and no industry is immune to these risks. Capt. P. Bhaumik QCG-KENE/CSO explained the cyber threats in our industry with some examples and case studies of recent cyber-attack in shipping industry. He also explained the K-ENE’s roadmap to cyber security risk management and updated the attendees with cyber security certification status of our vessel through classification society. He further discussed the vulnerability of our systems on-board and how these measures can be as effective as the user on-board.

Day 2 of the Webinar began with address from Capt. Hiroaki Uba, (General Manager – Marine Human Resources Group – KKK Tokyo), He remined how these seminars used to physical events where the management gets the chance to meet the seafarers and exchange gestures, however this pandemic has made us more resilient and wiser in dealing with difficulties. We need to adopt new normal, and he expressed his gratitude to be here and interact with seafarers safely. He ensured that K line will continue to take every possible measure to protect and assist their seafarers for the safe operations on-board. Although some in some places authorities are easing down the restriction but he emphasized on taking induvial efforts to protect ourselves and each other. He appreciated the combined efforts of all seafarers and shore staff and thanked everyone for safe operations on-board which resulted in no major incident in past two years. He further emphasized that seafarers are the key support for all what Kline has achieved today and management will strive to provide all the support and training to improve the quality on- board our vessels. He concluded his address by once again thanking the efforts of seafarers for safe operation on-board.

To proceed further Capt. Nishio “K” Line / QMT Manager introduced the “K” ARE project which is a new approach for non- technical skills. He explained the purpose of the project is to achieve Mature Organizational Safety Culture by learning non- technical skills effectively and practicing them in workplace to minimize the human error and eradicate the major causality. He further explained that it is an application-based program which every individual should download application on their devices and complete the interactive safety modules. This helps us to understand the human behavior in different conditions and how to eliminates errors

All the attendees were now divided in two spilt rooms to have more focused discussions on the safe operation of each department. On deck side it was the discussion on safe passage planning and safety of navigation where Capt. Pranshu Vashisht KLSM QCG / Sr. manager gave the presentation on passage plan analysis and addressed the area of concern in safe navigation.

On the other side Mr. Vishal Sharma, Chief Auditor QCG K-ENE Tokyo discussed the Defect management in PMS with the engineering staff. He highlighted the importance of such defect reporting and how it helps to analysis the areas of concern and helps management to takes preventive measures to avoid any unusual breakdown or downtime of machinery.

As globally many countries are emphasizing on use of VLSFO in their territory C/E Mr. I Ogawara K-ENE / Sr Managing Director discussed the present condition and future potential of consuming VLSFO. He presentation was focused on operation guidelines to consume VLSFO, sharing of some trouble information’s and advantages of consuming VLSFO in shipping industry.

On the deck department side Capt. Rakesh Rai K-ENE MSG / SI discussed yet important topic about Master and Berth Master Relationship in Japanese ports. He explained the additional responsibilities given to the berth Master in Japanese ports due to the geographical location of these ports which makes it vulnerable to natural calamities. He also shared the expectations and feedback of various berth masters about K Line vessels calling to their ports.

Making use of this platform to discuss the learning form incidents, Capt. Rajakumar K-ENE / Chief MSI gave his presentation about LNG vessel incidents. As there were no incidents in our fleet so he discussed few incidents from the industry and the lessons learn form same. He also shared the performance graph of our LNG fleet which is heading towards good and safe direction.

Proceeding further on Engine dept side Mr. Saji Paul K-ENE / Chief TSI discussed the defect analysis and results. He emphasized on the trending of defects in the fleet and effective use of PMS software and shared some good information gathered from such analysis. He further discussed the present situation of the defect management in our fleet.

After closing out the breakout sessions all attendees were gathered again in common hall to discuss the Shell's PIS Update on Human Performance & How You Respond Matters by Capt. Santosh Rele KLSM QCG / Dy GM. This was the interactive session where all participants were asked to provide their input on how to respond in situations when something goes wrong or goes not as planned. The focus of his discussion was about human error and how a leader should respond to such errors for learn from the incidents.

After the fruitful discussions and informative presentations by all delegates, it was the time for an Open Forum where Capt. Praveen Bansal KLSM / Sr GM addressed the various queries and concerns of our seafarers. All the attendees were encouraged to ask any queries related to any issues they might have.

After the interactive session in open forum Capt. M Okada KSLMSGP / Managing Director thanked all the participants for attending the seminar and apricated their efforts for safe operations on-board and no major incident in past two years. He also talked about the future of LNG bunkering vessels in K-ENE fleet.

Mr. Hasegawa K-ENE / Managing Director then addressed the audience thanking everyone for attending the webinar and he appreciated the efforts for seafarers for avoiding any injuries on-board for past two years. He also talked about the environment issues and company’s plans in future to minimize the GHG emission.

C/E Mr. I Ogawara K-ENE / Sr Managing Director addressed the audience and requested to provide their feedback for such online webinars. He said we are hopeful to have physical seminars very soon as due to covid 19 restrictions it is not possible to visit vessels frequently so he would take this opportunity of physical seminars to meet our seafarers face to face in future. He also raised his concern about the crew’s exposure to the infection during the port operations and requested all to take every possible precautions.

Proceeding further was the time for recognizing those who has served with their utmost dedication and loyalty in our company for many years. Capt. Praveen Bansal KLSM / Sr. GM announced the recipient of 7yrs and 15yrs loyalty awards. He also expressed the gratitude and thanks to all recipients and their families for showing faith in the organizations and their sincere contribution towards the company.

The closing address along thanksgiving farewell speech by Capt. Miyazawa K-ENE / Group Leader CWG. He also introduced his successor Capt. H. Kubota K-ENE / CWG. He expressed his thanks and appreciation to all seafarers, especially for their cooperation and patient during these tough times on COVID-19. He also announced that management is very pleased to know that all Indian seafarers on vacations are 100 % vaccinated. He also suggested to continue the safety precautions to prevent the covid infection. He also encouraged everyone to provide their valuable feedback for the webinar.