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19 January 2015 BIMCO is now calling on shipping companies to participate in its new vetting system designed to gather information on the quality of the facilities and service at dry bulk terminals – and use it to drive improvement at terminals around the world. To gather the information, seafarers must complete a quick survey each time they leave a terminal – this can be submitted online or saved offline to send later. The identity of the ship or company sending the survey will be kept confidential by BIMCO. Once BIMCO has enough survey data, it will create and publish information on the quality of the following facilities and services at the given terminals: 1. handling of loading/unloading 2. mooring and berthing arrangements 3. information exchange between the terminal and the ship 4. quality and availability of equipment and 5. other relevant services. Terminals will be given a star rating providing a quick overview of its performance based on the five categories mentioned above. BIMCO will also publish detailed reports which ships can use as guidance for planning future use of terminals around the world. For example, shipping companies will be able to find out if there is a trend for ship damage or surges at particular terminals. Lars Robert Pedersen, Deputy Secretary General at BIMCO said: “With the launch of this vetting scheme, we want to provide shipping companies with some valuable information about dry bulk terminals that they can use for better planning and efficiency. “Even better, sharing the feedback of the equipment and services of terminals will highlight which ones are performing the best – or the least – which we expect to help drive improvement where the need is clear. “The more data we receive the better results we will get – so we’re calling on shipping companies to spend 5 minutes taking the survey when they leave terminals – so they can benefit from the resulting data.” The survey is available online and to download for offline use, or can be mailed out upon request. All information is protected by BIMCO – shipping companies can contact us for assistance using marine@bimco.org. Ship and shipping company names will remain confidential and will not be used in any reporting. • BIMCO is the world’s largest international shipping association, with 2,300 members in around 130 countries. • Our members represent around 2/3 of the world’s commercial fleet. • We provide a wide range of services to our global membership – which includes shipowners, operators, managers, brokers and agents. • BIMCO’s core objective is to facilitate the commercial operations of our members by developing standard contracts and clauses, and providing quality information, advice and education. • BIMCO promotes fair business practices, free trade and open access to markets and we are a strong advocate for the harmonisation and standardisation of all shipping related activity. • BIMCO actively promotes the application of globally agreed regulatory instruments – we are accredited as a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) with all relevant United Nations agencies and other regulatory entities. Source: BIMCO |
