A risk management methodology for maritime logistics and supply chain applications

Mokhtari, Kambiz,Ren, Jun Techno-Press 2014 Ocean systems engineering Vol.4 No.2

In the marine industry although there has been significant growth towards safety, security and risk assessments or risk-based strategies such as marine insurance and regulations to avoid the risks of damage to properties and the environment or the prospect of premature death caused by accidents etc, the moves toward managing the risks which are linked directly to the business functions and decision making processes have been very slow. Furthermore in the marine industry most perceptions, methodologies and frameworks of dealing with hazards, risks, safety and security issues are for their assessment rather than their management. This trend reveals the fact that in different marine industry sectors such as logistics and shipping there is a lack of coherent risk management framework or methodology from which to understand the risk-based decisions especially for the purpose of design, construction, operation, management and even decommissioning of the marine related applications. On the other hand risk management is not yet viewed holistically in the marine industry in order to, for example, assign a right person, i.e. risk manager, who can act as a coordinator and advisor with responsibilities that are only specific to risk management. As a result this paper, by examining the present physical borders and risk-based activities in the marine industry, aims to propose an appropriate risk management methodology in addition to the emergent role of risk managers which will enable the industry users initially to become familiar with the concept of risk management at its holistic level. In the later stages this eventually can lead to development of risk management capabilities at an exclusive level and its integration into the marine industry functions in future.

Risk Management on a Liquefied Natural Gas Export Terminal in the Sultanate of Oman: The case of Qalhat LNG Terminal

Kambiz Mokhtari,Mehrdad Behforouzi,Kawkab Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al Balush,Hamidreza Soltani,Norhan Ibrahim 국제이네비해양경제학회 2020 International Journal of e-Navigation and Maritime Vol.15 No.1

In the maritime industry, most perceptions, frameworks and methodologies of dealing with hazards are for their risk assessment rather than their risk management. This tendency discloses the reality that within the maritime sectors in areas like shipping, logistics, oil and gas there is a lack of coherent Quantitative Risk Management (QRM) methodology from which to understand the risk-based decisions especially for appropriate risk management such as in seaports’ terminals. Therefore, in this paper initially, during priority assessment of the identified hazards, Fuzzy Set Theory was applied to handle imprecision of the uncertain risk-based statistics to get an accurate result. In the next stage, Fuzzy Fault Tree and Fuzzy Event Tree methods were used to achieve the sequence of quantitative risk analysis. In the final step, a Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution tool was used for the implementation of the mitigation phase to complete and conclude the proposed QRM cycle.

Risk analysis of offshore terminals in the Caspian Sea

Mokhtari, Kambiz,Amanee, Jamshid Techno-Press 2019 Ocean systems engineering Vol.9 No.3

Nowadays in offshore industry there are emerging hazards with vague property such as act of terrorism, act of war, unforeseen natural disasters such as tsunami, etc. Therefore industry professionals such as offshore energy insurers, safety engineers and risk managers in order to determine the failure rates and frequencies for the potential hazards where there is no data available, they need to use an appropriate method to overcome this difficulty. Furthermore in conventional risk based analysis models such as when using a fault tree analysis, hazards with vague properties are normally waived and ignored. In other word in previous situations only a traditional probability based fault tree analysis could be implemented. To overcome this shortcoming fuzzy set theory is applied to fault tree analysis to combine the known and unknown data in which the pre-combined result will be determined under a fuzzy environment. This has been fulfilled by integration of a generic bow-tie based risk analysis model into the risk assessment phase of the Risk Management (RM) cycles as a backbone of the phase. For this reason Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) and Event Tree Analysis (ETA) are used to analyse one of the significant risk factors associated in offshore terminals. This process will eventually help the insurers and risk managers in marine and offshore industries to investigate the potential hazards more in detail if there is vagueness. For this purpose a case study of offshore terminal while coinciding with the nature of the Caspian Sea was decided to be examined.

A Proposed Method for Ship Safety Enhancement After Flooding

Nourhan I. GHONEIM,Mohamed SHOUMAN,Kambiz MOKHTARI 국제이네비해양경제학회 2020 International Journal of e-Navigation and Maritime Vol.15 No.1

Bulk carrier ship type is one of the three dominant types of merchant vessels along with container ships and tankers. Recently, in terms of tonnage, bulk carriers constitute about the world's fleet third. The stuff materials indigence such as grains, fertilizers, ores, etc. Since the turn of the millennium, the number has increased considerably. Recently, a growing variance in bulk cargo which has transported by sea, represents now a large part of international commercial exchange shipped by sea. Every year there are huge number tons of cargoes like steel, coals, livestock feed, copper and minerals that are transported by sea in bulk. While most of those shipments are made without accidents, a number of serious injuries have occurred which have resulted not only in the ship's loss, but also in lives loss. In this paper, there is an existing bulk carrier vessel, a computational case study, is made to investigate the different loading conditions effects and bulk cargoes’ types on ship’s stability, in case of damaged conditions, in addition to the effect on the ship’s hull longitudinal strength. A proposed method is suggested to improve the level of safety of the ship past flooding by the usage of air bag (cushion). The candidate vessel consists of two cargo holds. In this paper there are three investigated damage scenarios, the first one is checking the stability in case of damage of cargo hold No.1. The second one is checking the stability in case of damage of cargo hold No.2 and the third scenario is checking the stability in case of flooding of both of the two cargo holds. There’s a modelling software, Auto Ship, is used here to model the vessel, simulate the different scenarios and to run the stability code to check the stability criteria. Finally, after performing the above mentioned three damage scenarios, the result was that the ship will still float in case of scenario one or two but in case of the third scenario, it will sink. So, this study has suggested a way to keep the vessel floating in case of the third scenario until reaching the nearest port without sinking. This proposed method is by using air cushions to open directly in case of existing alarm in the bulk carrier work to fill all the space inside the cargo hold instead of filling with the water.

Encouraging Young People to Study Maritime Science and Identifying Factors That Will Keep Them Happy

Mehrdad BEHFOROUZI,Noorul Shaiful Fitri ABDUL RAHMAN,Kambiz MOKHTARI 국제이네비해양경제학회 2020 International Journal of e-Navigation and Maritime Vol.14 No.1

The purpose of this study is to identify methods for attracting more students into maritime colleges, for making sure they remain happy, satisfied with their decision and finally for enabling them to have job security. At International Maritime College Oman (IMCO), the Deck Officer program is a field of study that incorporates the ancient knowledge and techniques in navigation with the latest information and technology in the maritime industry. The industry requires officers who are well trained and capable of working as professionals on board vessels. The goal is to attract more students into the maritime industry, to ensure their achievement in future and to make sure they are happy with their choice to join the maritime industry. For the purposes of this research, a questionnaire about deck cadets’ experiences of work and life at sea, with thirty-one questions, was prepared, based on the authors’ experiences, and distributed to deck cadets studying in International Maritime College of Oman (IMCO). It was answered by sixty deck students in years two, three and four. The students were of both genders and from various countries including Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt. The age ranges varied between eighteen to twenty-five. The main problems adversely affecting the students’ happiness and satisfaction were found to be related to loneliness and emotional insecurity at sea, resulting from inadequate opportunities for communication with family and friends, as well as uncertainty about employment prospects. Colleges need to focus more on supporting cadets’ emotional well-being. Shipping companies also need to play a greater role in reducing cadets’ uncertainty by sponsoring them, by providing guarantees of employment and by looking after them well at sea, especially by ensuring availability of cheap internet.