Tom Keeling - New Chair of the Small Ships SIG
Tom Keeling MIMarEST CMarEng is an independent Marine Surveyor, Boat Safety Scheme (BSS) examiner and is gas safe registered for boats. Tom works primarily on the inland waterways, having run his own business for the last 20 years, and has been a member of the IMarEST since 2005. Having been actively engaged in the Small Ships SIG, he is now taking on the Chair role following Alan Cartwright’s well-earned retirement.
The SIG is open to all IMarEST members and supports those who are working in design, construction, operation, survey, or any other aspect of ships or surface vessels up to 100m length overall (LOA). Members support the development of regulations and standards and promote maritime safety through contribution, on behalf of IMarEST, on a number of regulatory, standards, safety, and other bodies and committees, including:
- MCA Workboat and Small Commercial Vessel Technical Working Groups;
- The UK inland waterways Boat Safety Scheme Technical Committee (BSS TC);
- International Standards Organisation and British Standards Institution Small Craft committees;
- UK Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship Regulatory Working Group;
- CHIRP Maritime Advisory Board; and
- A number of other groups and committees, on an occasional basis
The SIG plays an important role in shaping the standards and frameworks the sector works with, and Tom sees this as a key role of the SIG. Working with fellow committee member Jean-Baptist Souppez, the group has provided key input to important safety documents such as ISO 10239 (domestic LPG on boats), bringing about tangible improvements for the benefit of boaters and seafarers internationally. Other standards the group contribute to include ISO 12215, which looks at hull construction and scantlings; ISO 799, which looks at pilot ladders; and ISO 12217, which focuses on stability and buoyancy. Through colleague Peter Stott, IMarEST represent a combined surveyor’s group at the BSS Technical Committee, shaping guidance and rules affecting some 80,000 vessels nationally.
Tom wants to increase interest and participation in the SIG, and hopes to encourage existing IMarEST members with an interest in small ships to join in. He hopes to create a mailing list of SIG members and produce a quarterly mailshot, as well as continuing the annual meeting convened during Seawork in Southampton. Tom has recently forged strong working relationships with IIMS, delivering presentations at training days and combining to improve and shape inland waterways safety policy. This important collaboration has shown results and is something Tom feels is worth developing. Having also seen the benefit of professional engineering registration personally, increasing numbers of incorporated and chartered engineers across the small ship sector, as well as encouraging novel research, is also something Tom would like to develop.
Ever present in current debate is decarbonisation. The small ship sector has to join the march to green, but the remote locations we operate from, and the small nature of some vessels come with constraints bigger cousins don’t face. There is often not room aboard our vessels for large plants producing green energy, meaning we must take it with us. Developments in solid state and other emerging battery technology present exciting possibilities, but are not cheaply and easily implemented. Tom and Alan both raised questions at 2023 Seawork conferences about how the small ship sector is particularly challenged by this, and Tom believes this pressure and questioning is a key role the SIG can continue to play.
- If you would like to get involved in the Small Ships SIG, you can select it from the My SIGs page of My IMarEST. For questions, Tom can be reached at [email protected].