After 7 years at QACE, Secretary General, Des Gutteridge is set to retire on 19 June.

Des joined QACE in December 2013, after 32 years at Lloyd’s Register.

With the support of the Directors, he was responsible for ensuring QACE met its  objectives set out by Regulation 391.

QACE wishes Des all the best on his retirement. He will be sorely missed.

QACE publishes it’s 2019 Annual Report. The report includes sections on the QACE Work Plan, assessment activity, assessment results and, in Annex C, the Collective Recommendations for 2020.

QACE Annual Report 2019

In line with EU Regulation (EC) No. 391/2009 Article 11 2 (c), QACE publishes its Interpretation of International Quality Standards (QIQS). QIQS will complete a trial and feedback year in 2020 before implementation on 1st January 2021.

QIQS v.0

Abhay joined the QACE team in January 2020 following 20 years with Lloyd’s Register where he held senior governance, assurance and improvement positions at global and regional levels. Abhay has a background in technical performance. In that role, he was responsible for a transformation programme, that helped improve ship maintenance and reduce common deficiencies found on ships. This was achieved through a digitalising data related to port state control inspections and by producing a series of pre-port arrival pocket checklists, now widely used in the marine industry. He was heavily involved with internal and external audit and introduced risk-based and remote ISO audit methods.

QACE publishes it’s 2018 Annual Report. The report includes sections on the QACE Work Plan, assessment activity, assessment results and, in Annex C, the Collective Recommendations for 2019.

Ashok joined QACE in January 2019. Again QACE is lucky to have such an experienced new Director. He began his career as a cadet working up to the level of being a Master on foreign going ships in the Merchant Navy. This followed with many years as a Surveyor with the Indian Maritime Administration. Ashok has also been the Deputy Nautical Adviser to Indian Government of India. Thereafter, he has worked at the IMO in the Maritime Safety Division from 1998 to 2017. He was the Director of the Maritime Safety Division, IMO from 2015-2017.

Niels-Bjørn joined QACE in January 2019. QACE is lucky to have him, his career having covered many aspects of the marine industry at sea and on land. After his sea time for East Asiatic Company as deck officer, he qualified as naval architect which took him to head the Burmeister & Wain Shipyard design office at a time when large numbers of tankers, OBOs and bulk carriers were designed and built at the yard. Work for BIMCO followed as a technical consultant and then Head of the Marine Department. Niels has had various roles from Vice Chairman of the IACS Advisory Committee (QSCS), member of the Korean Register European Committee and Lloyd’s Register’s Technical Committee. In 2010 he became Director of Regulatory Affairs in Maersk Maritime Technology and chaired the Technical Committee of the Danish Shipowners’ Association from 2013-2016.

QACE publishes it’s  2019 Specific Interest Areas.

QACE attended the IACS End User Workshop (EUW), in London on 8th and 9th November 2018 to discuss with the audit bodies and stakeholders, its feedback in relation to the audit scheme. While the scheme is meeting the QACE objectives focus is called for on the verification of surveying and auditing standards, the effectiveness of audit finding corrective actions and the evidence to support the downgrading of major ISM non-compliances.

QACE is pleased to announce that, Christian Breinholt has been appointed as the new QACE Chairman. QACE and the QACE Members look forward to Christian’s leadership and direction, thank him for taking on the role and wish him all the best for the new challenges ahead.