R: Good day Capt Yves, thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview.
Y: Many thanks for inviting me for this interview.
'When in doubt, ask!' Never be ashamed of asking to clarify when you are uncertain.
R: With your extensive experience in loss prevention in the maritime industry, can you share some insights into the current market sentiment, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region? How has it evolved in recent years?
Y: I have been working in Singapore for over 20 years and have come to love Asian culture and cuisine! Through the various positions I have held, I have been able to travel extensively internationally and within the region. From my interactions and experience, Asia-Pacific will be the growth area for maritime worldwide. We see a lot of new ship management companies being established in the region and expansion of existing owner tonnage. Over the years the quality of tonnage has improved drastically, with top ship management companies now based in the region. Notably the majority of seafarer supplying nations are in Asia-Pacific too.
Capt. Yves Vandenborn, Director of Loss Prevention, The Standard Club, Sep 26 - 2018 (Photo: Safety4Sea)
R: You've held leadership roles in loss prevention at prestigious organizations like The Standard Club and NorthStandard. Could you tell us about the key responsibilities and challenges you've encountered in these roles, and how they may have changed over the years?
Y: I have been working in P&I loss prevention for 14 years now and the work has changed a lot over the years. Initially, loss prevention was a claims related function, focusing on working with the claims department on providing mitigating measures for ship owners/managers following an incident and carrying out condition surveys on entered ships. Today, loss prevention is one of three main pillars within NorthStandard (alongside claims and underwriting).
The role of loss prevention has greatly expanded and is now one of the main differentiators between the various P&I clubs. Yet what remains constant is working with ship owner members on providing guidance on further improving their ship management standards. P&I clubs are only trying to help, and cooperative ship owner members who implement our guidance on board have reaped positive returns. Today, ship owners are expecting more services like this from loss prevention.
R: The merger between The North of England Protecting & Indemnity Association and The Standard Club created NorthStandard. How has this merger impacted the club's role in the marine insurance industry, and what can we expect in terms of services and offerings?
Y: It has been remarkable to be part of this merger and working together with colleagues on creating a new marine insurer, backed up by the world-leading expertise of our people and impressive financial strength and resilience, rated ‘A’ by S&P Global. I am proud to share that NorthStandard is now one of the two biggest P&I clubs in the world, insuring 256m GT mutual poolable tonnage and forecasted to be in excess of 350m GT across all sectors. In addition to the vanilla and extended P&I cover, we are also providing over 10 specialist covers to ensure shipowners can trade with confidence.
(Photo: NorthStandard)
Notwithstanding its size, the club provides a service that is tailored to each member, with flexible underwriting ethos and extensive claims handling expertise. Our strength allows us to continue expanding on the type of services that we are able to provide our members with. For example, we recently announced our Get SET! portfolio of Safety & Efficiency Technologies which introduced our ECDIS Training Assessment Tool (ETA). Developed together with the UKHO, the continual professional development tool is designed to help improve ECDIS use onboard, and therefore improve navigational standards worldwide. It is also free to our members.
To follow this we announced our collaboration with ORCA AI – an AI and Computer Vision expert for the maritime industry - on 12 March, which brings our members exclusive cost savings for their navigational assistant platform. There is plenty more to launch under Get SET! throughout the year so have a look on our website for more details about that!
Towards the middle of this year, we will launch our member portal that combines the functionality of both the legacy clubs' portals and includes a wider variety of targeted resources and information for our members to appeal to their specific needs.
(Photo: NorthStandard)
R: As the Head of Loss Prevention Asia-Pacific at NorthStandard, what are your primary objectives and strategies for enhancing safety and loss prevention in the region?
Y: Last year we focused on setting up the new internal procedures and processes. This year, we will target enhancing engagement with our members, getting to know their current needs and desires, so we can provide a more tailored service.
With the merger, services previously exclusive to the respective clubs are now available to all our members. Members have responded favourably to the wider suite of services and sign up rates reflect this enthusiasm.
We will also continue working closely with our claims and underwriting colleagues on risk mitigation, providing guidance to members when we spot a claims’ trend.
Capt Yves Vandenborn, 2nd from right (Photo: The Nautical Institute (Singapore))
R: In your role as President of The Nautical Institute (Singapore), how do you see the institute contributing to the maritime community, and what initiatives or goals have you been involved in as its President?
Y: The four years that I served as the Hon President of the Singapore branch of the Nautical Institute have been very rewarding for me. It was great to see the branch grow in membership to over 300 members, and to expand on the number of events held for the membership.
I am proud of our close working relation with the MPA and our seat on the National Maritime Safety at Sea Council, working closely with the MPA and the industry on improving the safety in and around Singapore Port.
We have also developed a close relation with the Singapore Maritime Academy, providing additional training to the cadets, only by investing in them can there be a maritime future.
The Nautical Institute carried out a survey in early 2023 on Safety of Navigation in The Straits of Malacca and Singapore, resulting in a proposal for changes to the STRAITREP Sector 7. It was presented to the three Littoral States at the 14th Cooperation Forum on 31 July and this gave impetus to the formation of a working group this year to further the Nautical Institute's suggestion into a detailed proposal, with the aim to submitting it to the IMO.
I am happy to share that Capt Hari Subramaniam is the new Hon Chair of the branch, and I believe the newly elected team will continue this work and further grow the branch.
R: Loss prevention is crucial for maritime safety and risk management. Could you highlight some best practices and strategies you've implemented or encountered in your roles that have contributed to enhancing safety within the industry?
Y: The clubs are providing guidance to ship owners that goes above and beyond what is available by training institutes or classification societies.
The first example that comes to mind is the enhanced Pre-Employment Medical Examination Programme that most P&I clubs have in place. Whilst voluntary, it has proven to be very effective at reducing personal illness claims due to pre-existing conditions. It also allows the ship owners to work closely with the seafarer on improving their condition before joining ship, reducing the risk of the seafarer developing a serious condition that may result in repatriation or even worse, a fatality.
Guidance on cargo handling is also extensive as roughly 30% of claims that the P&I clubs experiences on an annual basis are cargo claims, often caused by inappropriate loading/stowage or in-transit handling.
Training on navigation is considerable as well since based on club statistics, the most expensive claims we receive are navigation related. Hence our focus on ECDIS and bridge team management or even master/pilot exchange procedures.
(Photo: Safety4Sea)
Crew wellbeing is a topic that I am personally very invested in. I have implemented many initiatives to raise awareness about the importance of seafarer wellbeing to the maritime industry. These range from various initiatives in cooperation with seafarer charities, like the Mission to Seafarers' Happiness Index or the Sailors' Society's Wellness at Sea programme to our award-winning wellbeing poster campaign and many others.
Both the Standard Club and The North of England Protecting & Indemnity Association were founding members of the Vehicle Carrier Safety Forum in 2021, an industry-led forum of vehicle carrier operators, focused on reducing operational and cargo-related risks on board RoRo and PCC ships.
Smaller examples of best practices I have implemented are the tailored workshops that we carry out for our members on a wide range of topics, chosen by the ship owner. One particular example was my engagement with an Asian based shipowner on refining their selection and management of third party ship managers, resulting in a reduction of the number of third party managers used by the owner, better oversight of the third party manager's activities and ultimately an improvement in their claim's record.
R: The maritime industry is continuously evolving. From your perspective, what are some of the contemporary challenges and opportunities in loss prevention, especially as it relates to new technologies and environmental concerns?
Y: A silver lining coming out of the pandemic is the renewed focus on seafarer wellbeing. However there remain many challenges. One of which is the keyworker status of seafarers. Whilst this was recognised worldwide by the Neptune Declaration in 2021, it has not been translated globally into local regulations. Simply put, why is it that air crew can pass through immigration without issues, but seafarers have so many problems obtaining visa and complying with local requirements when carrying out crew changes.
On the note of new technologies, there has been a lot of change on board a modern ship's bridge and seafarers are required to be properly trained in all these new technologies. The ongoing review of STCW will provide clarity on this, but that will still take some years before those changes will be in-force. Meanwhile, the club's focus is on providing guidance to members on navigational matters with our Get-SET! digital portfolio, mentioned earlier. What we have learned from root cause investigations into navigational incidents is that seafarers are too trusting of new technology, not properly understanding the risks involved or not being able to correctly setup the ECDIS for a particular situation. This resulted in the development of our ECDIS Training Assessment tool.
Capt Yves Vandenborn, 1st from left (Photo: The Nautical Institute (Singapore))
R: You've transitioned from seafaring roles to shore-based positions. How has this transition influenced your approach to loss prevention and safety in the maritime sector?
Y: It is probably fair to say that my perspective has changed quite drastically. When you are master on board a ship, your focus is on the operation and safety of a single ship, building on the experience you have garnered over your sailing career. But it remains limited to that and you don't see the bigger picture (remember saying 'that won't happen to me' when reading incident reports?). Even when I was working in ship management and I understood better how the fleet was operating as a unit, my perspective was only as sizeable as that fleet. When I transitioned to P&I, it broadened my horizon to see a much more global view of loss prevention and safety.
The flip-side to this, as I tend to see so many claims and incident reports from across the membership, is that it has made me much more risk-averse in real life as well.
R: As a seasoned professional in the maritime industry, what advice would you give to aspiring maritime professionals looking to make a meaningful impact in the field of loss prevention and safety?
Y: 'When in doubt, ask!' Never be ashamed of asking to clarify when you are uncertain. We have seen many incidents happen because both parties thought they understood each other, but their understanding was based on assumptions and not reality.
The maritime world is a wonderful world to work in and I frequently miss my time at sea. It is a very different world now with the technological changes and the communication that is available, but the expectations from seafarers have also changed accordingly. Whenever you are implementing a new procedure, look at it from the recipient's perspective and ensure it works for 'their' world, not just yours.
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