In this edition we spend some time with Stephan Hennig who is the UK Secretary of State’s Representative for Maritime Salvage and Intervention (SOSREP)
For those not familiar with the role of SOSREP, can you explain what you do?
The SOSREP role was created in the UK after the grounding of the Sea Empress in 1996. Competing local, regional and national interests had led to delays in decision-making. A government review led by Lord Donaldson (who had led the review following the Braer grounding in 1993) recommended the creation of a single role representing central government. The person in that role could make operational and time-critical decisions in the over-arching interest of the country as a whole. In effect, this takes decision-making in large maritime casualties away from politicians and gives it to SOSREP instead. Of course, senior politicians retain the power to reclaim that responsibility but that has to be done at the time of the incident response and not retrospectively.
My immediate role is to oversee the emergency response to a casualty with an initial focus on the safety of people onboard, the general public and the environment. I am also responsible for the aftermath including the wreck removal process which can be protracted.
What’s currently at top of your agenda?
A big issue we are grappling with is generational change coupled with fewer maritime incidents which at the same time are becoming more complex. Through no fault of their own, the younger generation coming through the ranks just don’t have the operational experience that their older – often now retired – colleagues had. This absence of first-hand experience creates a risk. Added to this, ships are much bigger and more complex than ever before meaning a casualty response is likely to be much more challenging. So we have less experienced teams having to deal with potentially more challenging emergencies. Globally, industry and administrations alike have to come to grips with this issue fast.
What’s been your most interesting or challenging casualty recently?
All casualties are challenging in their own way. Earlier this year, a containership and a tanker collided in the North Sea, and usually with this type of incident the worst is over within 72 hours or so and things start to calm down and become more manageable. In this case, there were several fires on the containership which were only extinguished after seven or eight days. I know that especially larger casualties will burn for weeks, but we hadn’t had such an extensive onboard fire in UK waters for some years. This was a new experience for some stakeholders but we overcame the challenges together.
The trickiest incidents are probably those where the vessel is not insured. Thankfully not that frequent but we do see them occasionally. Scenarios like this do not necessarily pose a technical challenge but they are certainly a logistical one for all parties involved.
What’s your relationship with marine insurers?
My relationship is mainly with the P&I sector and the International Group (IG). P&I representatives are often more easily accessible in the early days of a casualty and the sector is much less fragmented than H&M insurance, but I am working on establishing a better relationship with the property market. Outside of an incident we exercise, practice and plan together. With the IG and IUMI specifically, we’ve worked together on a number of issues, particularly at the European and IMO level, where we created operational guidelines for places of refuge.
What was the route that brought you to the role of SOSREP?
20 years ago I was employed as a Coastguard watchkeeper at the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Shetland working on a range of safety-related incidents in the North Sea and the North Atlantic. In 2012, I became the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) counter pollution and salvage officer for in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Maritime incident response was an aspect of that role and I started working closely with the previous SOSREP . I became the Deputy to the SOSREP in 2017 and was appointed SOSREP in 2018.
If you could change one thing related to the maritime industry, what would it be?
It would be changing attitudes and raising awareness of the importance of the shipping industry generally and of seafarers in particular. Shipping is very much “out of sight, out of mind”, ports are fenced off and ships are rarely noticed. The general public tend to forget that almost everything they buy has been transported by a ship at some point in the chain. If there was a greater awareness of the sector in the public perception, a lot of improvements could be made. I realise that’s a big task, but one I think that’s worth pursuing.
And what do you like to do away from the office?
I read, play tennis, and I enjoy cycling. Where I live, I have the option to cycle up big hills or choose gentler routes.
