 I joined Shell in 1980 as a Deck Cadet aged 18. At that time in my life I certainly didn't want to do much more intensive studying and sit behind a desk any longer. I wanted to get out and do something. A seagoing cadetship certainly did that for me, with travel around the world and some amazing new challenges and experiences on different ships. Of course there was work to be done and some study but it all had a meaning and a purpose and a long term goal. By 1984 I was qualified and took my first seagoing watch on a 115,000 tonne tanker out of Rotterdam and down the English Channel at night. After 4 years of training I was on my own in charge of the navigational watch in some of the busiest sea lanes in the world. Experiences like that stay with you forever. Over the next four years I served on board a variety of vessels worldwide as well as going back to college to gain my next certificate. In 1988 the opportunity came to go into Shell's London Office and work as a vessel operator utilising my practical experience and knowledge gained at sea in an commercial and operational environment dealing with freight traders, oil traders, shipowners and shipbrokers. This really opened my eyes to the bigger picture of what Shell’s Trading, Shipping and Marine business was all about. I dealt not only with Shell vessels but also the hundreds of other vessels that Shell utilises in its daily business trading and shipping gas and oil globally. Back to sea in 1990 I was soon Chief Officer and gained my Masters Certificate in 1992. By this time I was becoming quite specialised and was working on the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) trade, on large technically advanced vessels in the Far East serving Japanese customers with LNG for their Power and Utilities industries. These ships were run on a tight schedule delivering regular cargoes to dedicated customers who expected the highest standards in and safety and efficiency of operation. This required teamwork on board the vessel, a customer focus and a well presented ship and crew on every port call. Just when I thought it was a steady run up to a Command I was offered an opportunity to go to Brunei to live and work in there as a Marine Operations Supervisor. The next 4 years was a richly rewarding experience, piloting the vessels I had sailed on into the Brunei LNG Terminal and remaining on board as the Brunei representative during the cargo operation. Once I had piloted the vessel safely alongside with the assistance of tugs I was responsible for performing the role of ship/shore liaison using my knowledge of the shipboard operation and the shore plant processes to deliver a safe turnaround of the vessel in port. As well as the LNG shipping operations I also performed the same role for Crude Oil tankers loading at the Seria Crude Oil Export terminal. On top of the shipping work I learnt the skills to move oil rigs around a busy oil field, review oilfield construction operations, perform operational and safety audits of vessels working with the field as well as work with a whole bunch of new people from various countries with very different skills and disciplines and backgrounds. As well as the professional side of things developing and expanding into new areas, I was able to have my wife with me and both my children were born in Brunei. After Brunei I didn't go back to sea but moved on into Marine Consultancy and worked on various marine projects and marine operations. I travelled extensively and gained experience in offshore projects developing oilfields to production. On these projects, I was responsible for advising and overseeing the marine aspects of oilfield installations being fabricated onshore then transported to site and installed offshore. The satisfaction gained from being part of these projects is immense. One involved the construction of an offshore platform in 2 parts in Korea, transportation by specialist semi submersible vessel to Europe and then installation in the North Sea. The first part weighing 46,000 tonnes was offloaded in Rotterdam and then towed out to site by 3 tugs and sunk by controlled flooding onto the sea bed before the top section weighing 6,000 tonnes was lifted from a transportation vessel onto it by a specialised heavy lift offshore construction vessel equipped with two 7,000 tonne cranes. Having joined Shipping Technology in 2001 as Marine Facilities Advisor, I am London based. In this role I advised Shell Companies worldwide on shipping and marine operations and issues utilising my background of 20 years as a Marine Professional. Just one example of my work was to assess the compatibility of LNG vessels under STASCO management at new ports and terminals. This required desktop review of drawings and plans followed by travel to the terminals for meetings to confirm technical fit and acceptance before finally attending during the ship visit to verify the studies and liaise with the terminal and ships Master to ensure a safe operation and use lessons learned from that visit to improve future visits. Since then, through an open resourcing opportunity I have moved on and am now the Business Development Manager for Shell Shipping Technology. My role today is less technical and more focused on Business and Systems concentrating on developing the work for the department, establishing relationships and contracts and ensuring we have a robust Business Management System. Since coming into the role we successfully gained ISO 9000 Certification for our Business Management System from Lloyds Register Quality Assurance. My career with Shell has taken me to places both literally and professionally well beyond my expectations when I started out and I am sure there will be more diverse opportunities to come.
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