Page 20: of Marine News Magazine (October 2023)

19 21

Column

Offshore

Diverse Resources in Desperate Times

By Chad Fuhrmann

Offshore services vessels frequently overlooked resource that can be leveraged in the are designed for myriad activities in the maritime industry. event of an emergency. The Chaos Ready approach exploits

But as multifunctional assets, they not only offer utilitarian the ubiquity and ? exibility of these assets to complement capabilities that are indispensable for commercial diving, and support existing resources, not as a replacement to them, subsea construction, mining, and countless other activi- but rather as immediate though temporary means of address- ties, they can simultaneously serve critical crisis response ing the “gap of pain” between the onset of a crisis and arrival functions in the aftermath of a disaster. of requested specialized resources.

Chaos Ready Inc., a new non-pro? t marine industry ini- tiative, quanti? es and coordinates these versatile resources

The concept and their capabilities – both designed and inherent – for Chaos Ready represents a comprehensive effort to es- application as elements of an expansive network capable of tablish and maintain an infrastructure comprised of exist- responding to diverse crises anywhere in the world. ing assets. This is based on cooperation and collaboration across all concerned stakeholders and includes advocacy

The case for action within international governments, industry groups, and

As natural disasters increase in frequency and impact, vessel owners and operators. By working across these governments and response organizations must be able boundaries, Chaos Ready helps to ensure that regional conduct and support activities in response to an unpre- economic interests, national security, and commercial vi- dictable variety of crises. The maritime industry resources ability are protected.

dedicated to response activities, although absolutely essen- The most tangible outcome of the non-pro? t’s work, tial, are limited by location and in number and versatility. however, is the development of an app that allows response

Unlike these limited assets, OSVs and other commercial entities to locate needed resources within a prescribed ra- resources are far less constrained in their availability by vir- dius from a disaster location. Beyond the normal functions tue of their global presence. What they potentially lack in of platforms such as AIS, organizations responding to crises regard to concentrated response focus they compensate for can use the Chaos Ready app to locate speci? c capabilities in number and, in the case of OSVs, diversity of functions. and coordinate with vessel owners and operators to relocate

The international maritime industry thereby represents a them to disaster affected regions.

© Lukasz Z / Adobe Stock 20 | MN October 2023