Collaboration the key for Members in Asia Pacific

Offshore delivery in the region is, it is fair to say, experiencing its fair share of challenges.

Firstly – and this will be true for many operating in other regions of the globe – from a vessel perspective where there is currently significant waiting time owing to insufficient ships for subsea work.

Secondly, and perhaps more specific to the Asia-Pacific region, is around personnel. There are severe shortages in several local countries and the limited number of trained offshore workers are often attracted to working in the Middle East where wages are often higher.

While there is no ‘silver bullet,’ the key to alleviating some of these issues is better and deeper industry collaboration. This is something which I have been stressing to both Members and prospective Members across the region in the last year and I firmly believe IMCA can have a vital role to play in bringing the industry together to find the solutions to the challenges we collectively face.

This message has been heard in my meetings with Pertamina, the Indonesian state-owned energy company, who I am pleased to say are in the process of re-joining IMCA, as well as to attendees of Hibiscus Petroleum’s Safety and Logistics Forum and Petronas’ Diving Symposium. The last two are internal company events where IMCA was given the opportunity to speak.

Increased collaboration is something which works in all areas of offshore energy delivery, and again this message was heard at our joint offshore wind health and safety event with G+ which included a keynote from new IMCA CEO, Iain Grainger.

Following the post-Covid lull, it is fair to say that professional networking is back! It has been great to reconnect at major regional events such as IPA in Jakarta, OGA in KL, and I’m looking forward to Energy Taiwan in a few weeks’ time. These events are great opportunities to connect with colleagues from across the region and hear first-hand of new developments and innovations.

Part of my strategy has been to re-engage areas of the globe where IMCA has perhaps been less than present in recent times than in the past, and I’m pleased to have met with Members – Jakarta in May, Perth, Australia in early October, and I am looking forward to doing the same in Xiamen, China when I attend the International Diving Salvage and Marine Engineering Equipment Exhibition Conference organised by the CDSA in November.

This activity has come alongside our regular events with IMCA Members in the region. We’ve held Regional Meetings in both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and I am looking forward to sharing our IMCA Live event programme for 2024, which I’m promised includes several exciting new opportunities for Members to connect in person.