- INTERCARGO and RightShip are founding partners of DryBMS, a quality standard for the dry bulk sector.
- Safety, environmental and operational excellence are promoted through company self-assessment.
- Both RightShip and INTERCARGO have strongly and consistently advocated the need for significant improvements to dry bulk safety standards.
- In August 2020 both organisations combined their expertise to create a single framework for the whole industry.
A recent press release published in the Intercargo reveals that RightShip and INTERCARGO announced on 21 January 2021 the launch of this important new quality standard for the dry bulk sector.
Launch of important and new quality standard
RightShip and INTERCARGO have today announced the launch of an important new quality standard for the dry bulk sector, DryBMS.
The standard will be governed by a new NGO to be established later this year and will support the improvement of safety in the dry bulk segment.
Chairman of INTERCARGO
Dimitrios Fafalios, Chairman of INTERCARGO agrees: “This is an important step, not only for the industry, but for the sector as a whole. We are all collaborating in a scheme that is being developed by the industry and for the industry, which will deliver a truly robust standard with the buy-in of those that the industry relies upon to implement and support it.”
International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) support
Backed by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and BIMCO, DryBMS is a simple set of best practices and key performance indicators.
It raises the bar on safety, environmental and operational excellence.
RightShip’s CEO Steen Lund
RightShip’s CEO Steen Lund says that he is confident that such a programme will be supported and adopted:
“We believe that this ensures the program will be supported and adopted across the industry as a whole. The rapid delivery of the initial consultation document means that we are a step closer to providing consistent, meaningful safety expectations for the dry bulk industry.
30 areas of management practice
Guidelines focus on 30 areas of management practice across four important risk areas in vessel operations; performance, people, plant and process.
DryBMS will grade the excellence of a company’s SMS against measurable expectations and targets without involving the burdens of excessive inspections.
Each area can be completed to one of four levels:
- Basic
- Intermediate
- Advanced
- Excellence
Companies can improve safety and industry performance
By assessing their management systems against voluntary standards and carrying out continual improvement to meet the higher stages, companies can help improve their safety performance – and that of the industry’s performance as a whole.
The standard identifies 17 priority subject areas that are considered to have the greatest impact on safety, environment and operational efficiency.
If companies have sufficient resources, they should self-assess all 30 subject areas.
However recognizing that some smaller companies may find it difficult to tackle all areas.
It is suggested to start focusing on the priority areas before moving on to the rest in due course.
These areas may be considered as priority areas but gaps identified to them have no different impact on the score than the remaining 13 subject areas.
Scoring
Within each subject area, and based on the self-assessment, a score will be marked for each level based on the following criteria:
- This level is not met -0%
- This level has substantial opportunities for improvement -25%
- This level is partially met -50%
- This level is substantially met -75%
- This level is fully met -100%
The percentages for each stage are totaled and divided by 100 to give a score out of four.
Unless the score for the basic level is 100%, scores for the intermediate, advanced and excellence levels will be scored at 5% of the self-assessed score.
Unless the scores for both the basic and intermediate levels are 100%, scores for the advanced and excellence levels will be scored at 5% of the self-assessed score.
Actions required
Ship Managers wishing to use the standard should review the final draft of the subject areas and perform a detailed gap analysis to their Safety Management System in order to identify the status of compliance for each level of DryBMS.
Depending on outcome, some changes may be required to SMS or other procedures and practices in order to achieve compliance.
Ship Managers may use the self-assessments every year to monitor status of compliance and achieve targets set.
Self-assessments may also be carried out when there are significant changes in the organizational structure, fleet size or management system.
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Source: Intercargo
