U.S. Maritime Industry's Safety Excellence Cited At Award Ceremony

A total of 31 United States m a r i t i m e i n d u s t r y operations were cited recently for outstanding achievements in safety, including one that has functioned for more than seven years without an accident resulting in lost time among crew personnel of the vessel.

Co-sponsored by the American Institute of Merchant Shipping (AIMS) and the Marine Section of the National Safety Council (NSC), the award ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York included top government officials and maritime company representatives in a broad r a n g e of i n d u s t r y a c t i v i ty throughout the country.

Known officially as the Annual Ship Safety Awards Luncheon, the event was hosted jointly by the two key organizations, which spearhead accident reduction efforts nationwide in the maritime industry. The awards program covered operations of oceangoing general cargo ships, tankers, and passenger vessels, s h i p b u i l d i ng and vessel repairing, stevedores, barge and towing services, and other activities of companies represented by both organizations.

Each group handled awards for its own member companies.

P r e s e n t a t i o n s by the AIMS group are known as the Jones F. Devlin Awards, and are based on accident-free operations by United States-flag ocean vessels of at least two years duration.

Award presentations were made by retired Coast Guard Rear Adm. William R. Benkert, president of AIMS, and Capt. Jones F. Devlin, a former official with United States Lines Company and an acknowledged leader in maritime safety, after whom the AIMS awards are named.

The Marine Section presented s e p a r a t e c i t a t i o n s to member companies of the National Safety Council who achieved accidentfree records over the past calendar year based on specified standards of activity. The Marine Section presentations were made by Edward F. Mclntyre, manager of safety and loss prevention at Farrell Lines and deputy general chairman of the Marine Section.

He was assisted by Capt.

David J. Linde of the U.S. Coast Guard.

Six U.S. companies were eligible to receive Devlin awards from AIMS this year, and 23 individual A m e r i c a n - f l a g vessels were cited for continuous operations with no member of the crew missing a turn at watch due to injury. Devlin awards are based on three catergories of accidentfree operations—two years, four years, and five years or more.

In the category of five years or more, AIMS awarded plaques to two operations. The vessel names and company affiliations are Amoco Connecticut of the Amoco Shipping Company; and the oceangoing barge Interstate 55 of the Interstate & Ocean Transport Company, which was cited for accident-free operation of 2,795 consecutive days, or more than seven years.

In the AIMS category of four years, awards were made to four vessels of Interstate & Ocean T r a n s p o r t Company. Included were Interstate 50, Ocean 115, Argoil 160, and Transporter.

A total of 17 vessels were cited for safety records covering at least two consecutive years but less than four years. They included the Middletown of Columbia Transportation; the Mobil Aero of Mobil Oil Corporation; the Exxon Bangor, Exxon Galveston, and Exxon Philadelphia of Exxon Company, U.S.A.; and the dry cargo vessels Thompson Lykes, Mallory Lykes, and Elizabeth Lykes of Lykes Bros. Steamship Company, Inc.

Also included in the two-year category were nine vessels of Interstate & Ocean Transport Company.

They were Elk River, Chem 10, Fort McHenry, Ocean 250, Ocean 96, Interstate 36, Ocean 255, Ambassador, and Interstate 71.

The Marine Section of the National Safety Council cited eight operations for special awards.

They included the Marine Division of Atlantic Cement Company ; the Gulf Coast Fleet of Exxon Inland Waterways; the Gulf Towing Division of Nilo Barge and the River Towing Division of Nilo Barge; the Marine Repair Division of Ashland Petroleum and the Tanker Division of Ashland Petroleum; the United Brands Stevedoring at Charleston, S.C., and the Charleston Naval Shipyard.

AIMS represents American-flag vessel companies throughout the U.S. and is the largest management organization in the country's merchant marine industry.

The Marine Section, on the other hand, is one of 28 industrial components comprising the National Safety Council. As such, it is the largest group in the coast-tocoast marine industry devoted to safety and r e d u c i n g accidents among workers in the U.S. shipping industry.

In addition to compilation of records r e l a t e d to the annual Awards program, AIMS and the Marine Section are active in a wide range of other areas that further the concept of industry safety. These include the study of issues, development of proposals to reduce accidents, and participation in conferences in the United States and abroad that deal with such matters.

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 42, Jul 1981

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First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.