Awards for North Star Shipping’s Safety Stars
  by: OilOnline
  Monday, March 17, 2008

The outstanding safety record of a North Star Shipping vessel which has seen it notch up the equivalent of a decade at sea without any lost time incidents has been formally recognised.

The Grampian Venture, which is on contract to Talisman and based at the Ocean Princess drilling rig in the central North Sea, is the first vessel in the North Star fleet to receive a gold plaque for reaching a milestone 3,616 days at sea without any safety-related downtime.

North Star, the shipping division of the Craig Group, has introduced three plaques which can be awarded to vessels in recognition of their safety record: A gold plaque is awarded to any vessel which spends 3,000 days at sea without a LTI, a silver plaque for those that achieve 2,000 days and a bronze plaque for vessels with 1,000 days at sea.

There are currently 11 vessels in the fleet which have earned a silver plaque and a further six that qualify for a bronze award.

The Grampian Venture has been with Talisman for the past two years after spending eight years on contract to Shell. It is the only ship in the fleet to have earned a gold plaque.

Masters Pat Collings and Steve Leighton were presented with the accolade at a special ceremony in Aberdeen which was attended by invited guests including Craig Group chairman David Craig and his grand-daughter Samantha, North Star QHSE unit leader and marine superintendent Alistair Nicol and North Star safety advisor Dave Birkett. The crew were presented with a blue flag to fly from the mast in recognition of their achievement.

A second Craig Group vessel is also to be presented with a shield and insignia for its impressive safety record.

The Grampian Falcon has earned a gold flag and shield after it was named the vessel with the best safety culture in 2007. The Falcon has been on contract to Shell since 1994 and is currently working in the Pierce field around 150miles north-east of Aberdeen.

The shield will be presented to Masters Jim Taylor and Sean Ennis on Wednesday, March 19. The accolade will be awarded on an annual basis to whichever vessel in the fleet has performed the best over the previous 12 months.

With investment in the fleet totaling more than £130million since 2003, the Craig Group now owns and operates one of the most modern and the only wholly UK-owned fleet of offshore support vessels.

"The presentation of these awards marks another stage in our continuing pursuit of excellence in terms of providing the most efficient, modern and safety conscious services for customers operating in the North Sea," said North Star managing director Callum Bruce.

"Craig Group's living safety culture flows across the organisation from the crews out at sea through to our headquarters in Aberdeen and we congratulate the Masters and crew of the Grampian Venture and the Grampian Falcon for their inspiring achievements."

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