Burning issues

It's a case of two swansongs as editor-in-chief David Morgan, who heads for pastures new this month after 30 years with Offshore Engineer, talks to retiring IMCA chief executive Hugh Williams about the marine & offshore technical trade association's ten years of unprecedented growth under his leadership.

It's a case of two swansongs as editor-in-chief David Morgan, who heads for pastures new this month after 30 years with Offshore Engineer, talks to retiring IMCA chief executive Hugh Williams about the marine & offshore technical trade association's ten years of unprecedented growth under his leadership.

When he hands over the reins of the International Marine Contractors Association to new CEO, Chris Charman this month, Hugh Williams can look back with satisfaction at a job well done. Modest and mild-mannered, the chartered civil engineer, former 'engineering' diver and self-confessed pyromaniac, doesn't do self-promotion so we'll let the current IMCA president, Andy Woolgar of Subsea 7, do it for him: 'His will be difficult shoes to fill,' admits Woolgar, referring to Williams' 'outstanding leadership' and describing his decision to step down as 'a great loss to everyone involved with IMCA'.

Most weekends Williams can be found indulging his love of bonfires, the bigger the better, in the garden of his home south of London. There have been some fireworks on the work front too, as the tally of new IMCA developments and achievements over the past ten years illustrates:

Membership has soared in that time from 150 companies to around 870 members in over 60 countries – and the 'country count' is increasing dramatically too as more and more national oil companies come to realise the value of IMCA's guidance and, hopefully, allude to it in their project tender documents.

As well as maintaining the association's voluminous existing good practice guidance, around 150 new and updated guidelines have been published.

Flashback to OE October 2002 and the startup of IMCA’s Americas section. Williams is pictured at the regional steering committee’s first meeting in Houston with (left to right): Bruce Gresham (Heerema Marine Contractors), deputising for section chairman John Reed, Roy Sijthoff (Allseas), Mark McWatters (Cal Dive), Norb Gorman (Oceaneering International) and Dick Martin (Subsea 7).

The creation of two new geographic sections – with Central & North America and latterly South America joining the long-established Asia-Pacific, Europe & Africa and Middle East & India groups – has enhanced IMCA's global spread to the point where its five sections now cover all the major oil patches.

Myriad other initiatives aimed at promoting good practice and safety awareness up and down the supply chain and spreading the word globally; for example the formation of new workgroups addressing contracts & insurance, security and renewable energy among others; supporting the major international trade shows; and growing IMCA's own popular annual conference and further developing its safety & environment seminar into a travelling, annual event.

To keep pace with the expanding workload of IMCA's four divisions – diving, marine, offshore survey, and remote systems & ROV – specialist staff numbers at the London secretariat have risen from five to 23 during Williams' tenure. Though there is 'still much to be done' – a constant Williams refrain – he says he has been much heartened by clear signs that the good practice message is getting through and the association's reputation and influence are growing. Global statistics published by IMCA annually show a marked reduction in the marine construction accident rate while industry activity and membership numbers have grown exponentially, he points out.

Williams arrived at IMCA in May 2002 with an impressive back catalogue of marine contracting and consultancy experience. With consultants Rendel Palmer & Triton early on he trained as a professional 'engineering' diver to handle underwater inspection work for London's Thames Barrier and he went on to serve in senior roles with Heerema Marine Contractors, Global Maritime and Noble Denton. This breadth of industry experience would stand him in good stead as he was tasked initially with furthering IMCA's internationalisation, and in particular getting a new regional section off the ground in Houston. 'Looking back on it, the extraordinary thing is how quickly that all fell into place,' he says.

Since leaving the Navy, Chris Charman, the new chief executive of IMCA, has worked as a loss adjuster and held various risk management and risk financing posts.

'I suppose I didn't have a lot in my in tray at the time, but by September of that year the new section had already held its kickoff meeting and by the end of that year the deed was done.'

The members wanted to focus on major deepwater construction activities in the Gulf of Mexico so the association chose initially to call the new section 'Americas Deepwater' (OE October 2002), to make it clear that the membership's particular focus would be on Gulf of Mexico work beyond diving depths. Encouraged by oil company and contractor member companies alike, however, the section was also embracing diving activities and interests within a year and, says Williams, 'it's been normal IMCA ever since'.

In bidding farewell to Offshore Engineer this month to take on a fresh oilfield publishing challenge, David Morgan extends warmest thanks to the many journalists and specialist contributors who helped make his 30-year rollercoaster ride with the magazine such an enjoyable one.

'Now we've got a lot of members in America, they are continuing to join and we represent them as best we can and now have had two annual seminars there in 2003 and 2011 and one safety seminar,' he notes. 'So we've covered it in our normal way, through quarterly meetings, the provision of technical materials, arranging seminars and also in lobbying. 'There are still some issues out there but we've made huge strides.'

Getting to that point required a good deal of tact and diplomacy on the association's part. But Williams is not short on those rations, as he would go on to demonstrate in occasional lobbying mode during industry debates about online e-bidding, proposed changes to the Jones Act and other contentious issues.

Williams may enjoy setting light to things but he is no burner of bridges. He remains on good terms with all six of the IMCA presidents under whom he has served, and will indeed be the guest of honour this month at a dinner convened by them.

With well-earned retirement beckoning, Williams declares: 'I'm never going to put down the interest in successful marine construction, because that's what drives me. I don't believe in burning bridges, because this is a small world and things go round and round in circles, and one of the things I've tried very hard to do over my career is to keep on good terms with all the people that are out there. That's who I am and it's what I believe in as well.

'Trying to corral all these people now with our 870 member companies and their slightly different views has been an interesting challenge and I've enjoyed it,' he adds, closing with words of encouragement for his successor couched in his favoured truism: 'We've done a huge amount, things are better than they were but actually there is still a lot to do.'OE