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Home Associations New technical director appointed for IMCA

New technical director appointed for IMCA

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Richard Benzie

Richard Benzie

Richard Benzie has been appointed Technical Director of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) to replace Jane Bugler who retires at the end of this month (September 2015) after 18 years in the role. He will join IMCA in the near future.

“More than any other individual past or present, Jane’s name is synonymous with the IMCA brand and the objectives of the association.  Replacing Jane is therefore a big challenge, but one that I relish.” says Richard. “In these testing times for our industry I am delighted to be joining an organisation I know well, whose track record I respect, and which is firmly committed to the principle of helping its 1, 000+ members in more than 60 countries add value rather than cost to their ongoing business around the globe.

“IMCA’s commitment to increased safety and efficiency throughout our sector will remain at the heart of all that is done by me and our talented team of Technical Advisers. So too will my engagement with our member companies, with the aim of ensuring that our work programmes not only meet, but exceed their expectations.”

In welcoming Richard to his role, Jane Bugler, who is also Acting Chief Executive of IMCA, says: “Richard’s track record speaks for itself. He has been committed to marine contracting from the moment he joined the industry, and has seen IMCA at work ‘from the other side’ having held many committee positions, the most recent of which was as Vice Chairman of IMCA’s Remote Systems & ROV Division Management Committee. He will certainly be able to ‘hit the ground running’. I wish him well, and know IMCA’s technical programme is in safe hands. I am firmly of the view that Richard will greatly enjoy his new role.

“My role over the past 18 years has been responsibility for our extensive and varied technical programme and for liaison between IMCA and external organisations, including other trade associations such as OGP, OCIMF and IADC; regulators such as PSA, HSE, and USCG, and other relevant organisations. Naturally my role has included working with our expanding technical team, co-ordinating their work with IMCA’s committees and workgroups, the preparation of technical guidance and briefing papers, review of third-party drafts, oversight of technical audits (both of applicant members and establishments seeking recognition of certain training courses), and communicating our work widely.”

About Richard Benzie
Richard joined the industry in 1981 working first as a Mud-logging Equipment Field Service Engineer. He then moved into ROV operations and spent eight years with Wharton Williams (2W) Ltd before moving to Rockwater Ltd as ROV Project Manager and Subsea Manager, spanning a period of nearly five years. Six years at Stolt Offshore then followed where he became Group Manager – Mobile Assets after roles as ROV Support Engineer and ROV Manager.

He was Asset Manager at Thales Geosolutions at the start of the century and in 2001 Richard moved to Technip Offshore where he spent seven years on the DSVi Contract, a multi-Client Saturation Diving call-off Project; initially as Project Engineer, subsequently as Team Leader and finally as Project Manager; before moving to Subsea 7 as Global ROV Manager, from 2009 until 2014.  Latterly at Eunoia Services Aberdeen he has undertaken business and operations management consultancy in the oil and gas subsea sector before taking up the position of Global ROV Services Manager at Forum Energy Technologies.

About IMCA

  • IMCA is an international association with over a thousand members in more than 60 countries representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Asia-Pacific, Central & North America, Europe & Africa, Middle East & India and South America regions. As well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training, IMCA seeks to promote its members’ common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
  • IMCA Vision & Strategy. As a result of work and collective input in 2013, IMCA has redefined its stated core purpose to be “Improving performance in the marine contracting industry”. To achieve this goal, IMCA’s Vision & Strategy has been devised with two elements in mind: Core activities and ways of working.
  • IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports – many are available for free downloading by members and non-members alike. These have been developed over the years and are extensively distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving code of practice, DP documentation, marine and ROV good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID) – now available electronically as e-CMID, safety recommendations, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and distributes safety flashes.

About the industry IMCA serves
The marine contracting industry plays a vital global role. Its vessels account for 4% of the world’s maritime fleet. Collectively IMCA members employ some 350, 000 people and have an annual turnover of around $150bn. They work in all the world’s major offshore areas, delivering large offshore oil and gas and marine renewables projects around the globe that quite literally fuel the global economy.

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