Client Testimonies | WCMRC's Captain Kent Reid divulges the secret to ideal fleet management

In a heart-to-heart with the Marine Operations Manager (Port Captain) at Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC), we gained insights into upcoming marine safety regulations and the critical importance of streamlined asset management for maritime firms, as he divulged the secret to ideal fleet management!

About the Captain's Role at WCMRC

A seasoned expert in his field, Capt. Kent has been carrying more than 35 years of experience with esteemed organizations, including the Canadian Coast Guard and Transport Canada.

Currently at WCMRC, his job majorly involves managing the company's marine assets like vessels and marine infrastructure. "I advice marine operations to our senior management teams," he tells the Albatross team.

The marine spill response organization encapsulates about 80 vessels — from large offshore response vessels (74 cm in length) to small work boats.

Importance of a Robust Vessel Management System

Capt. Kent recounts experiences where inadequate management led to expired certificates and regulatory oversights, highlighting how a unified system like Oceanaut has transformed their operations.

A good safety management system can improve a ship's health drastically, even helping in "mitigating accidents", as Kent explains later.

The Forthcoming, New Mandate: 'Non-SOLAS Vessels Will Need Something Like Oceanaut'

The captain has also worked in the regulatory compliance department and knows how to keep ships afloat (sorry, not sorry).

"As someone who has a background in auditing.. it (a well documented SMS) is very important. If you are able to show the auditor or a classification society how you are tracking your assets, your certificates and crew, crew management and if it's all in one place, they're very happy."

Currently, only 0.59% of Canadian vessels are required to have an SMS in place, but the upcoming mandates by Transport Canada and Transport Safety Board will extend this requirement to about 16,000 vessels by 2026, in turn, significantly raising safety standards across the industry. "It is expected that 5,702 small businesses would incur costs, which are estimated to be about $53.19 million in total," the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement read.

Kent warns of the impending changes and advocates for proactive adoption of systems like Oceanaut to mitigate costs and streamline operations.

"Soon, the small commercial operators (non-SOLAS vessels) will need something like Oceanaut to maintain regulatory compliance. Because we use the software the most to do the same," he explains.

(P.S. Captain Kent Reid worked with Transport Canada when the decision of arming small marine operators with a domestic SMS came through. You may as well take him at his word as a marine scripture verse, if you will. You'll thank us later!)

Stand-out Fleet Management System Features Used by WCMRC

WCMRC’s adoption of Oceanaut’s sea time tracker and vessel tracking functionalities has standardized their marine endeavors, enhancing oversight and audit readiness.

"We had been managing our sea time tracker in a very ad hoc way. Somebody was keeping track of them on spreadsheets.. but we decided to be consistent across the fleet," he explains.

As WCMRC prepares to implement Oceanaut across its entire fleet, the organization remains committed to upholding the highest safety standards in maritime operations.

Describing another key Oceanaut feature, Kent adds that the folks at WCMRC appreciate the vessel tracking ability and the audit component greatly.

"We believe that Oceanaut can track some stuff.. independent from what the safety management team could do." Overall, "Oceanaut allows us to meet class requirements," he shares.

Impressed with the customization, Kent concludes, "We think we have a good product with Oceanaut.. Albatross Marine has done an absolutely phenomenal job at customizing Oceanaut to what we needed."

Join us as we delve into the experiences of Canada's leading maritime organizations, exploring their perspectives on effective safety management systems and their partnerships with Albatross Marine Inc!