Marine safety equipment supplier Survitec has opened a dedicated cruise ship headquarters in Miami.
The new facility can handle worldwide cruise ship supplies with specialist procurement and logistics teams aimed at building up a complete supply chain department.
Last year, the company introduced what it calls a SOLAS 360 service in the run up to the entry into force of amendments to SOLAS on 1st January next year.
It was launched to ease ship operator’s operational burden by keeping vessels’ regulatory compliant and has gained traction as the industry gears up to meet the revised rules governing the frequency of safety and survival equipment maintenance.
IMO Resolutions MSC.402(96), MSC.404(96) and MSC.409(97) were adopted in 2016 and will become mandatory on the 1st January, 2020. MSC 402(96) is claimed to be of particularly importance, as it revises the requirements for maintenance, thorough examination, operational testing, overhaul and repair of lifeboats and rescue boats, launching appliances and release gear.
The revision to SOLAS permits authorised multi-brand service providers to carry out the work, reducing the number of suppliers and simplifying training and service regimes.
The benefit of SOLAS 360 in helping operators meet the revised rules is that the concept maps out a full inventory of a ship’s safety equipment and then manages the due dates for servicing and inspections, alerting the ship’s master and operator at 90, 60 and 30-day intervals in the run up to the deadline.
Survitec then ensures that equipment is maintained, serviced, inspected and certified. The company can also replace liferafts, which have lengthy servicing times, with newly-overhauled and refurbished rafts.
The cruise sector is of great importance to the company as Spanish general manager Miguel Romero explained to ICSI that during a large cruise ship drydocking, servicing the emergency evacuation mass evacuation systems (EMES), lifeboats, davits, etc can take mean around 15-20 days work for the company.
A safety project management team provided by Survitec will handle all aspects of the safety equipment supply and maintenance on board during a newbuilding or refurbishment project in any drydocking hub.
Survitec also offers cruise ship crew inflatable lifejacket services which started a couple of months ago. Around 200 have been supplied thus far, Romero said.
