Christian brings a depth of  knowledge and experience and is widely known in the industry, having undertaken a number of roles.

Christian began his career as a deck officer in the merchant fleet followed by 39 years of service in the Danish Maritime Authority. The last 13 years he held the position as Deputy Director General and was responsible for maritime safety, security and protection of the marine environment. In addition Christian was the representative of Denmark at a number of international, regional, multilateral and bilateral events, including IMO diplomatic conferences, Assemblies and sessions in the Maritime Safety Committee and Marine Environment Protection Committee since 1988. He was the chairman of the Maritime Safety Committee in the years 2012 – 2015. 

QACE held meetings with the Accredited Certification Bodies (ACBs) during the Gdansk ‘Quality Week” in November 2016. QACE thanked the ACB’s for their auditor’s commitment to the scheme and for their vital assistance role in helping to achieve the QACE objectives. The meetings will be repeated annually and are designed to provide a two-way dialogue, provide feedback from the year and a discussion of plans for the future.

The QACE Members and stakeholders attended the QACE Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Gdansk, Poland on 11th November 2016. Chaired  by the President, Andrew Kennedy, the meeting included the Director’s Report, the 2017 Work Plan and 2017 Budget and the election of  Director’s. 

Hiroshi (Dave) Iwamoto steps down as a QACE Director having completed his final term of office. Iwamoto-san has been a QACE Director since its beginning in 2010. His varied experience and expertise, together with his sound advice has been a major factor in QACE’s success. His presence will be sorely missed. The QACE Board, Secretariat and the QACE Members wish Dave all the best in his future endeavors. 

Dave’s background is with ship sales and as a General Manager with IHI Marine United Inc. (Japan Marine United Corporation), Chairman International Sub-Committee, Planning Committee, ship builders’ Association of Japan. Chairman, Committee for Expertise of Shipbuilding Specifics (CESS), a JECKU committee. 

From 1st November 2016, QACE’s new office will be:

QACE
3rd Floor, Crown House
72 Hammersmith Road
London, W14 8TH

The office number 0203 178 2301 remains the same.

QACE presented Bureau Veritas with their Certificate of Compliance, during the Individual Recommendations meeting in Paris on 9^th September 2016.

The QACE Board of Directors and Secretariat welcome Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) to QACE membership, after confirmation of their recognition by the European Union.

QACE presented the IRS Chairman and Managing Director, Arun Sharma, with the IRS QACE Certificate of Compliance during the Individual Recommendations visit to Mumbai on 24th November 2015.

2016 has already been an eventful year. Here is a summary of the key activities so far:

The Assessment Programme proceeds well with, so far 27 of the planned 52 audits witnessed over 20 visits planned for 2016. QACE is pleased to report general continued improvements, effective consideration of recommendations and focus areas, increasingly effective trend analysis to identify weakness areas and effective corrective actions. Continually improving planning has seen a decrease in changed audit arrangements; a problem associated with ship operation arrival schedules and the consequent availability of auditors.

January 

• The Annual Assessor’s Meeting is held at the QACE office in London to plan the 2016 QACE Assessment Programme.
• London office Board Meeting and welcome to the new President, Lloyds Register’s Andrew Kennedy for his first full meeting.
• An Individual Recommendations visit was made to the Korean Register of Shipping.
• QACE participated in the annual IACS Auditor Refresher Training Course, this time in Busan, Korea.
  

  January’s Assessors meeting

February 

• QACE completes a successful ISO 9001:2008 surveillance audit “The company is a small well-organised operation, with a clear vision of what it is trying to achieve.”

March

• The Chairman and Sectary General present at the EU member States Committee of Safe Seas (COSS) Meeting in Brussels, raising awareness of the QACE organization, activities, results of assessments and recommendations.

April

• The first of the biennial IACS/QACE Meeting for 2016 to continue the important working relationship and ensure QACE involvement in the QSCS Scheme that it adopts. This time held at the IACS office in London.
• QACE publish the 2015 Annual Report and  2016 Collective Recommendations online

May

• QACE provide the International Maritime Organisation member State and adviser with the 2015 Annual Report and 2016 Collective Recommendations and the first of what will be biannual Stakeholder Surveys (link). 
• The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) carry out an inspection for QACE compliance with the EU Regulation (EC) No. 391 2009, Article 11 requirements.
• QACE hold the mid-year Board Meeting, again at the London office.

QACE publishes it’s 2015 Annual Report. The report  includes sections on the QACE Work Plan, assessment activity, main findings and, in Annex C, the Collective Recommendations for 2016.

2015 Annual Report 

 

QACE was invited to the latest COSS Committee meeting in Brussels on 8th March 2016 and made a presentation to the Member States’ raising the awareness of the purpose of QACE and its actives.

 

COSS Presentation v.2 (kg)(dg)