Survey consultancy launches reference book

The marine consultancy and survey company says that hull and machinery insurance is a market handling many millions of dollars’ worth of claims each year, and there are already indications that the company’s new Hull & Machinery Guide will become a standard reference publication, in the light of the welcome it has received from leading figures in the London underwriting market and beyond.

The publication is seen by BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys as part of its professional interaction with ship operators, hull insurers, P&I providers, brokers and other specialists. The compilers have drawn on material from 24 authoritative sources to produce more than 70 pages of diagrams and explanations of terms relating to the key functions of ships – including those such as rocker arm, pushrod, scavenger air inlet, sterntube aft bearing, crosshead bearings – which might puzzle novices or those less familiar with marine technology. BMT says that users of the guide will gain greater insight into questions of propulsion, steering gear, engines, and boilers. The importance of factors such as ocean wave geometry is underlined: “In a seaway, the vessel’s structure will be continuously subjected to deformation in all directions,” says the guide.

Simon Stonehouse (Brit Insurance), a hull underwriter at Lloyd’s, says: “This is an essential reference guide for the marine insurance industry and a most welcome initiative. It has been many years since something of this calibre has been published and, as it’s available electronically, underwriters and claims teams can refer to it whenever and wherever – a great step forward.”

“Marine survey reports frequently contain engineering terminology which can be unfamiliar to the non-engineers in the wider spectrum of the shipping industry,” said the lead author, Dinos Levantis, who recently introduced the guide to underwriters. “In an attempt to bridge this gap we have produced this guide, which covers some of the common terminology often encountered in survey reports for ships, their engines and their operations.” Piraeus-based Levantis is business director for the Mediterranean and Eastern Europe region of the company. He is an accomplished naval architect, surveyor and marine engineer, with substantial experience in casualty investigations.

Rather than seek to compile what would be an unwieldy dictionary of the entire terminology, Levantis and his colleagues in Piraeus and other offices of BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys chose to produce a small, easy-to-use handbook with clear illustrations of ship components which figure often in insurance claims. The book is divided into three parts: general, hull, and machinery

This is the first version of the booklet and Levantis says he welcomes suggestions from users to enhance future editions.

BMT Marine & Offshore Surveys incorporates the casualty expertise of The Salvage Association and BMT Murray Fenton. The company has for several years been building on its professional relationships with insurance specialists through its shipyard familiarisation courses, what it terms its “assault courses”, organised for small groups of underwriters and brokers, and based around visits to shipyards and other facilities in Greece and the UK.

Managing director Nigel Clark said: “The hands-on familiarisation visits we have arranged so far have proved so successful and well received that we are planning to run additional courses this year and to extend them to more of our overseas offices. As well as being an extremely informative document for everyday use, the new guide will also be an excellent reference tool for those attending the courses. Meanwhile, we congratulate Dinos and his colleagues for producing such a useful guide to the workings of ship and machinery for those at the sharp end in receiving and dealing with claims – the commercial and P&I underwriters and claims adjusters.”