APL was awarded the Safety at Sea Award at the CrewConnect Global Awards 2018 in the Philippines on November 7. The accolade is a recognition of APL’s best practices and initiatives which has demonstrably led to the reduction of risk to human life at sea.
“The accolade re-affirms APL’s “Safety First” emphasis on board our vessels and at the terminals that we operate. Through safety protocols and training, APL imbues in our seafarers the right attitude towards safety management,” said Dennis Yee, APL Global Head of Safety, Security and Environment.
APL adopts policies and processes that safeguard early detection, prevention and mitigation of risks associated with the business to enable safe and secure operations. In 2017, APL reported its 10th consecutive year of zero fatality and a low lost-time injury frequency rate of 1.55 incidents per million man hours.
APL deploys the latest navigation assistance tools and technologies to track and analyse wide-ranging nautical, meteorological and geographic information from ashore in real-time – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Based on live analytics of the vessels’ operating speeds, ocean currents, weather forecasts and high traffic areas, a team of onshore experts are empowered to assess, anticipate and mitigate any navigation-related risks to its vessel operations.
Complementing the effort, route optimization systems are being installed onboard its vessel fleet. These systems take into account the hydrodynamic properties of the vessel, loading parameters and weather forecasts to map out the safest and most efficient voyage that enable ship officers to make best informed and real-time navigation decisions throughout its voyage.
Besides safeguarding its assets and cargoes, APL also renders the voluntary support of its sea crews to maritime safety. Through the Automated Mutual assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) Maritime Safety Programme, APL joins over 160 merchant shipping companies to provide a worldwide safety network that assists search and rescue coordinators in responding to emergencies at sea. In 2017, seven APL-operated vessels were acknowledged for APL’s dedication to the Programme that rescued 283 survivors in 2016.
