A Poseidon Challenge Award has been created to recognise outstanding accomplishments in continuous improvement in the maritime industry. The criteria and procedures have been officially endorsed by INTERTANKO’s Executive Committee and the judging panel has been formed. The first Poseidon Challenge Award will be presented at INTERTANKO’s next Tanker Event scheduled to take place in April 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey. Nominations are now invited and should be submitted no later than January 1, 2008
The Poseidon Challenge is an encouragement to all segments in the chain of responsibility of the maritime industry to make voluntary commitments to continuous improvement within their segment, and to improve cooperation and communication between the various segments of the maritime industry. It has the over-arching objective of obtaining zero fatalities, zero pollution and zero detentions throughout the maritime industry, and looks to bring about an exchange of creative ideas and innovations for improvement involving all sectors of the maritime industry.
"The Poseidon Challenge is a bold invitation to all those involved in the shipping industry’s chain of responsibility to commit to continuous improvement," says Poseidon Challenge Chairman, Stephen Van Dyck, "and at the same time to commit to working alongside and cooperating with all partners in the chain of responsibility."
The judging panel will consist of five members: Nicholas Fistes, Chairman of INTERTANKO; Chris Horrocks, former Secretary General of the International Chamber of Shipping; Thimio Mitropoulos, IMO Secretary General; Thomas Tay, General Secretary for the Singapore Maritime Officers' Union; Stephen Van Dyck, Chairman of the Poseidon Challenge.
Eligibility.
An award applicant can be any company, division within a company or individual within a company that is involved in any sector of the maritime industry.
These sectors include, but may not be limited to, agents, brokers, bunker suppliers, cargo owners, charterers, classification societies, coastal states, education, equipment suppliers, financiers, flag states, insurers, labor providers, P&I clubs, pilots, ports, port states, salvors, seafarers, ship breakers, shipbuilders, ship designers, ship managers, ship operators, ship owners, ship repair facilities, spill response, terminals, tug operators, training, and waterways authorities.
Nomination Criteria.
Applicants should be nominated based upon one or more of the following:
1. Sustained commitment to continuous improvement.
2. Voluntary efforts to raise or set higher standards for performance.
3. Significant outreach toward working together with other sectors in the
maritime industry.
4. Setting goals of excellence and taking tangible steps toward achieving the
goals.
5. Leadership in moving the maritime industry towards continuous improvement.
Selection Criteria.
Applications will be evaluated and the winner will be selected based upon the following selection criteria. Specific metrics to quantify or measure the degree or level of achievement are strongly encouraged.
1. The degree of commitment and level of improvement achieved;
2. The degree of standards set and the level of performance achieved;
3. The extent of the outreach sought and the level of success achieved;
4. The extent or degree of the goals set and the level of success achieved;
5. The extent of the leadership and the level of success achieved.
Applications.
Nomination applications should include the following:
1. The name, address and contact information of the nominee.
2. The name, address and contact information of the nominator.
3. A brief summary of the theme of the achievement(s).
4. A detailed description of what the nominee did to achieve one or more of the
nomination criteria listed above.
5. The description of the quantitative or qualitative results achieved.
Address for submission of nominations.
Applications should be submitted to:
Poseidon Challenge Award Nomination
Poseidon Challenge Executive Office,
Ninth Floor,
St. Clare House,
30-33 Minories,
London EC3N 1DD,
United Kingdom.
Poseidon Challenge – background.
The Poseidon Challenge came into being in April 2005 during INTERTANKO’s Athens Tanker Event with the gathering of a significant number of influential and authoritative figures from right across the tanker industry – and in fact from the broader shipping industry – who are committed to interact and work together not only to energise their sector, but also to work with other sectors, in order to raise industry standards even further.
A group of tanker owners and other tanker industry representatives went to Sounion, near Athens, where the Temple of Poseidon, Greek God of the Seas, sits on its high rocky headland. This visit marked the birth of the Poseidon Challenge. Since then there have been two Poseidon Challenge days – April 2006 in Singapore and April 2007 in Houston where the industry has met to give this initiative momentum.
The vision of this initiative is to encourage and inspire sectors, companies and people in the oil transportation sector to work individually, and more importantly together, not only to set new goals of excellence but also actually to achieve them.
However the spirit of the Poseidon initiative is already challenging not only the tanker industry but the shipping industry as a whole.
The Poseidon Challenge
- is part of a strategy to take tangible forward steps towards the goals of zero fatalities, zero pollution and zero detentions, and to work together with the industry to achieve practical and effective action.
- is a long-term part of the work programmes of INTERTANKO, of its members, of the whole tanker industry, and ultimately of the whole shipping industry.
- is an invitation to all participants in the Chain of Responsibility to work together in a sustained commitment to continuous improvement.
-is founded on the principle that these shared goals can best be achieved by proactive, voluntary, efforts to set our own high standards for performance rather than by waiting for governmental or environmental “policemen” to do it for us.
-recognises that every link in the Chain of Responsibility is vital and must perform to the same high standard for these shared goals to be achieved.
"It’s about improving the way we run our businesses. We need to have people here who really want to be here, who want to make a difference. Basically it’s all about changing what we do. If you do what you did, then you get what you got."
Stephen Van Dyck, Chairman of the Poseidon Challenge
"Poseidon Challenge is about an obsessive and sustained commitment to best practices, a willingness to embrace change, an openness and desire to learn from our mistakes ... Ultimately if it is not supported by time, energy, money and passion, it won’t work. We have to walk the talk."
Graham Westgarth, President of Teekay Marine Services, Teekay Shipping (Canada)
"Revitalising our spiritual values will take us beyond fundamentals to a higher level of excellence. The Poseidon Challenge can re-import our heart and our soul into management systems and into our human behaviour thereby bringing us nearer to achieving true excellence."
Emmanouel Vordonis, Executive Director, Thenamaris Ships Management
Contacts:
Joe Angelo, Regulatory Director, INTERTANKO
+1 703 373 2269 joe.angelo@intertanko.com
Bill Box, Communications and Public Relations Manager, INTERTANKO
+44 20 7977 7023 bill.box@intertanko.com