Page 29: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2013)

www.marinelink.com 29As transporting cargo by barge is also incredibly environmentally efÞ cient, producing just 1/15 of the emissions of rail freight, and 1/60th of commercial trucks. Brown water shipping is an in-dustry that we whole-heartedly support. Earlier this month, ClassNK received expanded authorization(s) from the U.S. Coast Guard. With the new in- land subM rules looming on the ho-rizon, what will be your approach to penetrating that market? We actually started discuss- ing the new regulations proposed by the USCG with some brown water owners as early as 2009, and at their request, we began looking at how we could best sup-port the brown water industry as the rules enter effect. While we are just now in the process of expanding our operations to deal with this demand, we realize that one very key area is going to be price. We think that safety management, like many other kinds of certiÞ cation, can ultimately help reduce costs for owners and operators, but implementation does present a cost to owners. However, we hope that by offering our services in the brown water sector, we can help reduce those costs for everyone in the industry. In a sense, ClassNK is very much like Toyota in that we have a very lean op- eration that is focused on providing high quality service. For example all of our surveyors are not only trained to con-duct ship surveyors but also ISM, ISPS, and MLC audits. We also train all of our surveyors from around the world exten-sively in Japan for several months when they are hired and several times over the course of their career to ensure they can carry out their work efÞ ciently and with the highest quality possible. Our goal is to provide world-class quality at a rea-sonable price. Equally, just by participating in the market, we can offer owners a greater range of choices, and via competition keep prices down for the entire industry. If our presence can help reduce the bur- den of compliance on the industry, than we consider that a success. As you know, on the U.S. shallow draft market, the Subchapter M rules are coming and while most stakeholders have a fair idea of what the Þ nal rules will entail, no one can know for sure right now. How do you tailor a solu- tion package in advance of that? Can anyone? As I mentioned, the brown wa- ter industry is incredibly important, not just to American shipping, but to the en-tire global maritime industry, and we ex- pect it to become even more important in the future. In line with that importance, we are seeing an increased emphasis on professionalization, as well as reducing the human causes of accidents. This is already something we have addressed on the blue water side of the industry with the implementation of the International Safety Management (ISM) code. At ClassNK we not only contributed to the development of the ISM, we are also the world leader in ISM registration and au-dits. Each year we audit more than 5000 blue water vessels to the ISM Code, far more than any other class society, and we have an unmatched experience with safety management systems. It?s that experience and understanding that we hope to offer to owners and operators on America?s rivers. ?The brow n water industry is incred-ibly important, nnnooottt jjjuuussstt ttooo AAmmeerrii--ccaan shhiippppppiiinnnggg, bbuutt tto tthhee eeennntttiiire gggggglllooobbbaaalll mmaarritimmmeee indduussttrryy,, aaannnddd wwee exppeecctt iitt tto bbeeccoommee eevveeeennnn mmmmoorree iimmppoorrttaanntt iin tthhe ffuuuttuurree.. Inn lliinnee with that iiimmppoorrttaannccee,, wwee are sseeeee--iinngg aann iinnccrreeaased eemmmpppphhaaaassssiiiissss oonn pprrooffeessssiioonalizaattiioooonnn,,,, aaaassss wwweeeellll aass rreedduucciinngg the hhuummmaaaannnn ccccaaaauuussseess oof acccciddeennttss.?MR #3 (26-33).indd 29MR #3 (26-33).indd 292/26/2013 4:14:19 PM2/26/2013 4:14:19 PM