PSSC becomes a global resource

RICHARD GOODWIN
Business Manager - Passenger Ships
Lloyd’s Register

The cruise industry has changed radically over the years. Back when White Star Line and Harland and Woolf were building the Titanic, the owners did not want to know about compliance. Nowadays, the cruise industry is so proactive, it is the regulators who are struggling to keep up with the lines.
Lloyd’s Register’s recognition of this turnaround has prompted its own proactive approach to helping clients build their ships.

Five years ago, it opened the Passenger Ship Support Centre (PSSC) in Fort Lauderdale with John Hicks as Manager Passenger Ships and Design Support to put into action his idea for providing a one-stop shop for existing Lloyd’s Register clients and their passenger ships.

Initially it was designed to provide co-ordinated, centralised technical and business support just for US-based clients but, a year ago, it became a global resource so that those based outside the US could also use it.

From the beginning of this year, a second PSSC has been in place in Europe to provide a similar one-stop service but this time designed for ships through the design and construction process to delivery.

Headed by Richard Goodwin as Business Manager - Passenger Ships, this UK-based team aims to ensure that shipbuilders not only deliver what the owners want but also what is allowed. No-one wants to design or - worse - actually build a ship that they are not allowed to operate.

Training is also a key part of this process as it is crucial to have people with the right qualifications in the right places. There is a need to be able to predict just where skills will be needed - which is where the PSSC comes in.

The PSSC is also in close contact - including serving on the relevant committees - with such key bodies as the International Maritime Organisation and the Cruise Ship Safety Forum.
As a result, not only can important information gleaned from attendance at their meetings then be disseminated to clients but Lloyd’s Register technical specialists will also be better able to work on the development of new regulations.

In fact, the aim is to deliver a consistency of information, advice and service from all parts of Lloyd’s Register to its clients, which are many: nearly half the world’s cruise fleet are classed by Lloyd’s Register, making it the market leader.