Lucion Marine, in association with the Ship Management International, hosted a webinar on the 26th January 2021 to highlight the importance of a very timely and pertinent topic of the management of asbestos in a post IHM environment.

The webinar appealed to a wide range of audience working in the Marine Industry including shipowners and ship managers, fleet directors, technical superintendents who have identified the presence of asbestos during the IHM process. Also to benefit from the presentation and the information and discussion that followed were representatives from Class, Flag, shipping associations and regulators.

The panel featured key maritime leaders, maritime lawyers specialised in both ship recycling regulations and the insurance chain and Lucion Marine’s maritime asbestos management expert.

• Vikas Goel, Senior Marine Superintendent, Anglo-Eastern
• Thomas Klenum, Senior Vice President, Maritime Operations, For the Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs, Republic of Liberia
• Jonathan Bruce, Partner, HFW
• Stephen Drury, Partner, HFW
• Christian Obst, Fleet Manager / Maritime Technical Project Manager at Columbia Shipmanagement
• Kevan O’Neill, Marine Services Director, Lucion Marine

There were some lively discussions on a very emotive topic for those involved in the marine industry, including responses from the experts on questions from the attendees which shed light on the intricacies of dealing with asbestos on ships.

Lucion Marine’s Marine Service Director, Kevan O’Neill kicked off the webinar with his presentation on the IHM findings from Lucion Marine’s work conducting asbestos surveys and preparing the inventory.

Kevan’s presentation provided a summary of the findings from 597 vessel inspections conducted by Lucion Marine over 24 months up until 24 December 2020. The inspections found asbestos in 332 cases, 84 of them in the highest-risk category, requiring immediate remedial attention. The cases were found across a wide range of vessels including tankers, container, bulk carrier, passenger, pleasure craft, FPSO, PSV vessels and offshore assets, highlighting the prevalence of asbestos on vessels as an industry-wide issue and not one that is restricted to a specific vessel type.

In addition, Kevan presented a high-level overview of the steps that can be implemented to ensure the safety of the crew and maintain compliance.

Speaking from a liability perspective, Partners from the Law firm HFW Jonathan Bruce and Stephen Drury highlighted some red flags for shipowners and their insurers in light of the European Union ship recycling regulations.

Jonathan warned that we might see a new wave of claims against shipowners over Asbestosis and Mesothelioma as it is going to be a lot easier to prove exposure. Jonathan’s colleague Stephen pointed out that shipbuilding had lagged aviation and motor manufacturing in inventory management of asbestos, but conscientious and proactive owners are changing this and are getting it done.

Vikas Goel, Senior Marine Superintendent with Anglo-Eastern provided the owner and managers responsibility by sharing what he has done to fulfil the duty under the regulations.

Representing the Flag, Thomas Klenum provided the Liberian perspective on managing the asbestos risks and the difficulty of getting asbestos out of the ships in his role as the Senior Vice President, Maritime Operations Senior Vice President, Maritime Operations for the Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs.

Ship Management International’s Sean Moloney was the host and moderator enabling discussion and insight from the panellists.

Lucion Marine organised the webinar to provide multiple perspectives on the issue of asbestos on ships. Summarising the experience Marine Services Director, Kevan O'Neill said,

“It was a fantastic opportunity to get key industry stakeholders together to discuss the topic of asbestos on ships. Some very pertinent questions were raised, both by the panel members and participants. I hope all that were present found the webinar to be interesting and insightful.”

The webinar recording is available to view below:

To download the presentation from the webinar, please provide your name and email at the link - Webinar Presentation Slides

If you have any questions or require further information and advice on issues discussed in the webinar, please contact us on enquiries@lucionmarine.com.