
As the yachting industry has grown over the last 20 years, so too has the size of the vessels, standards of safety, but without a shadow of a doubt, the expectations of the guests far surpasses anything else.
Competition is fierce to have the biggest and best of everything, this inevitably means the guests onboard have the ultimate privilege of an overwhelming plethora of activities, to keep themselves entertained.... but at what cost?
As vessel sizes have grown, so have the crews, and although almost all yachts with even modest itineraries have some 'hours of rest' challenges, the larger vessels are much more equipped to cater for the increased demands, and usually have enough crew to have fixed periods of rest for all, while maintaining both watch keeping and guest service requirements.
But what about the class of yachts, once deemed as the biggest and best, now in the shadows of the 70/80/90/100+ metre yachts rolling out of shipyards in huge numbers?
Someone with enough wealth to afford a £20M yacht, with the associated running costs, may have no fewer demands, and perhaps even a higher net worth, than his counterpart with the £100M yacht. So how does a crew that consists of a captain, mate, engineer, chief stew, Chef, plus maybe another 2 'very junior' crew, manage to stay compliant with HOR regulations? They still have essential watch keeping duties, planned and corrective maintenance, endless paperwork associated with ISM/SMS, cleaning/housekeeping/laundry, all alongside meeting the high expectations of owners/guests: The short answer is, they can't!
A 100 metre yacht can still be limited to 12 guests, but will likely have 30-40 crew. A 40 metre yacht will have the same guest numbers, often with less than 10 crew members, many of whom will be new to the yachting industry.
This creates a huge problem for all parties, something has to give, and the HODS have no choice but to choose what gets neglected on a daily basis. The owners asset may depreciate, crew/vessel safety may not be maintained at the required standard, guest services may need to be reduced/postponed (but this certainly is a last resort, and to many almost unthinkable).
Flag states are now starting to focus in on this, with CISR issuing new guidelines in March of this year to address the situation - cishipping.com-notice
This highlights the need to tackle the source of the problem (yachts built to maximise guest areas, accomodate crew as per safe manning requirements, and no consideration on how many crew are required to operate the yacht in line with the owners requirements) by ensuring the crew accomodation reflects the intended requirements of the owners. But what about the the yachts already afloat, how can they meet the ever increasing demands of the owners without spending huge amounts creating more crew quarters?
Safe2Sea is a new company aiming to reduce crews workload by providing bespoke technical support packages, which can both reduce workload and costs, through remote support in all technical areas. All services are supplied by some of the most experienced engineers/technical managers in the industry. They can also plan and execute maintenance periods in any location, allowing the crew to focus on the day to day operations, as well enabling them to take well deserved leave on completion of a busy charter season.
Additional benefits include the ability to retain vessel knowledge regardless of crew turnover, and a big reduction in the need to use expensive local contractors and/or equipment manufacturers to diagnose/repair faults on ships equipment. It gives the crew one point of contact for all their technical needs.
Recent global events have given rise to remote working in all industries, this model of working can and will be used in the yachting industry to to help crews remain compliant with HOR regulations, while ensuring the owners requirements are met and the vessel remains safe to go to sea.
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