Page 89: of Marine News Magazine (November 2015)

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DYNAMIC POSITIONING

Credit: Kongsberg

Offshore Operations and DP Training on a Collision Course for Safety

Fledgling OSVDPA seeks to train, assess and certify DPOs by year’s end.

By Joseph Keefe hen a new organization, the Offshore Service instead, they had hoped to work with existing schemes in

Vessel Dynamic Positioning Authority, Inc. (OS- an effort to create a DPO certi? cation system that under-

VDPA), held its ? rst board meeting in March of stands and appreciates offshore service vessel industry us-

W 2014, it began charting the course toward a new dynamic age of DP, and one that addresses the needs of DPO’s on positioning operator (DPO) certi? cate specially designed board offshore supply vessels.

for the offshore service vessel industry. Incorporated as a The emerging scheme was developed in anything but a non-pro? t, the OSVDPA today is seeking to improve the vacuum. Members today come from all aspects of industry, safety of the maritime industry by improving the quality including operators, and, the very people who create the and quantity of certi? ed DPOs. The Authority’s training DP technology and simulators used in every day practice. and certi? cation system – now almost completed – will For example, Kongsberg Maritime is also an OSVDPA emulate some aspects of existing DPO certi? cation meth- charter member, and for very good reason. Kongsberg no- ods, but will also introduce key enhancements. tably has delivered and installed Control and Automation

OSVDPA Chairman of the Board, Carl Annessa, of systems on board more than 18,000 vessels worldwide and

Hornbeck Offshore Services declared last year, “The OS- has delivered more than 4,000 DP systems.

VDPA looks forward to working with industry to estab- Nils Even Urkedal, Vice President of Operations at Kongs- lish a rigorous and practical DPO certi? cation system, one berg Maritime last month weighed in on the new scheme. open to all of those who use DP offshore.” As the end For its part, says Urkedel, Kongsberg has added value to of 2015 fast approaches, the ? edgling organization is set OSVDPA by providing the technical background and expe- to deliver on those promises. Importantly, and while the rience to foster the assessments and competencies portion, outline of the OSVDPA’s certi? cation system has been partnering with other suppliers and the OSV Operators who crafted and driven the Authority’s Board of Directors, the provide the operational background and experience.

particulars of this system are being written by the Author- ity’s Technical Advisory Council (TAC), a team of industry Competence, Sea Time & Training professionals involved with DP usage and the training and Without a doubt, the new OSVDPA certi? cation sys- certi? cation of DPOs on a daily basis. tem is unique in its change of emphasis from measuring sea

The Authority’s purpose was never intended to reinvent time to assessing competence. OSVDPA Executive Direc- the wheel or for that matter, start a certi? cation system; tor Aaron Smith told MarineNews in October, “We com- 89 www.marinelink.com MN

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