Taner Umac sailed onboard chemical and product tankers for ten years, five of which as a master mariner. In 2016, he completed an MSc in Shipping, Trade and Finance at Cass Business School in London, joining RightShip as a Vetting Superintendent.
In his current role, Taner leads the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Operations Team, working closely with RightShip’s members to improve their standards. Taner is a member of the Institute of Chartered ShipBrokers and Nautical Institute.
We catch up with him ahead of Posidonia, one of the biggest events in the shipping calendar.
Why are you going to Posidonia - and what do you want to get out of it personally?
The ocean is one of the most dangerous workplaces on the planet. Seafarers put their lives at risk every day whilst performing their duties at the highest level. For many years, it was accepted that incidents were par for the course at sea, but I see my role as working with RightShip members to change this mindset and progress towards a zero-harm maritime industry.
At RightShip we want to increase our engagement with the wider sector – meeting other stakeholders in the shipping industry who share a similar vision to us – I’ll look forward to exchanging ideas about where the maritime industry is heading. These kinds of events are also hugely important for gathering feedback about our products, so we can continue to evolve and improve.
Posidonia is one of the biggest shipping events in Europe – probably in the world – and we have very strong ties with Greece. We have a large membership base there and Posidonia is a great opportunity to meet stakeholders, friends, and colleagues. I’ve never been before, so it will be a brand new and exciting experience for me.
What do you see as the key topics within your area that you think people will be discussing?
I’m expecting to have conversations around our Safety Score, vetting processes, upgrades in our inspections and ways to improve crew welfare at sea.
It has been almost 15 months since we launched the RightShip Platform and Safety Score and so far, we have received great feedback from the industry. Posidonia offers a fantastic opportunity to meet ship owners and managers in person and listen to their thoughts on how the Safety Score motivates them to do the right thing to improve safety across their fleet.
Last year we also released a new vetting baseline, so during Posidonia we hope that we’ll really be able to communicate some of that in detail – and clarify the expectations of our vetting members.
Also, we are in the process of strengthening our dry vessel inspection regime. RISQ, the new questionnaire, has been available to the industry for a year now and we received lots of positive reaction about it. I believe that will be one of the popular topics as well.
Finally, we’ll be highlighting the benefits of completing our Crew Welfare Self-Assessment and hoping for an increased commitment from our stakeholders to the people who live and work at sea.
What are your hopes for the future?
The world is changing faster than ever before. More engagement and collaboration among the stakeholders are critical in dealing with an ever-changing environment and tackling common pain points. We see a shift towards more transparency and data sharing on a positive note. This will support and accelerate digitalization in maritime.
Our work focuses on expanding our data, developing advanced tools, and enabling like-minded stakeholders to reach their ESG targets. We work hard to increase our impact and reach a broader audience.
I am hopeful that the commitment of our industry to do the right thing will continue increasing. So, we have a safer, more environment-friendly maritime industry that takes excellent care of its key workers.
Where can people come and meet you at Posidonia?
We will be in Exhibition Hall 2, stand 2.214, or you can request in advance to meet us there.
You can’t miss us, look out for the RightShip banners above our stand. I look forward to meeting as many maritime colleagues during the event as possible.