Call for Papers Published for Imca’s US-Based Annual Seminar

The Call for Papers for the 2011 International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) Annual Seminar with ‘The future of marine and subsea operations’ as its theme has been published. The seminar – the nineteenth in the series – will be held on 9–10 November at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, New Orleans, USA.

“The chosen theme really ‘hits the spot’ within the marine contracting industry – where is it going, and what are the vital ‘tools’ we need to constantly deliver added value for clients?” explains Hugh Williams, Chief Executive of IMCA. “Topics at the seminar are likely to include technological developments such as new vessels, PLC controls, more automation, more sophistication, AUVs; but also operational experience on recently completed projects as well as those under development.

“Figuring high on the list of topics is ‘lessons learned’ – a particularly relevant subject considering that the Annual Seminar is being staged on the Gulf of Mexico.

“The seminar represents the interests of all four of our technical divisions – marine, diving, remote systems & ROVs, and offshore survey. It is an important event for our 750+ member companies in 58 countries, as well as their clients and others actively involved with marine contracting.”

The Annual Seminar will include separate Marine, Diving and Offshore Survey/ROV sessions. The format will again include keynote presentations on commercial/ contracting issues, plenary sessions, streamed presentation sessions and parallel workshops on a variety of issues, as well as the associated exhibition of supplier members and variety of social and networking events.

Abstracts should be submitted to [email protected] by 28 February 2011 using the template available on IMCA’s website at www.imca-int.com/events/seminar. IMCA is particularly interested in papers on the following:

* Marine and subsea operations

o Decommissioning

o Marine and subsea operations in the next 5 -10 years

o Renewable energy projects

o Ultra deepwater operations

o Developing technologies – particularly in data streaming and communications

o Case histories, including lessons learnt from incidents such as Macondo

o Elimination of human factors

o Management of offshore operations

o Developments in the use of simulators

o Marine Operations technology and equipment – current and evolving technology including:

+ DP operations

+ Satellite based and acoustic positioning systems

+ Simultaneous operations

+ Vessel assurance

o Diving – key developments and advances in diving equipment and operations including:

+ Developments in bubble technology

+ Medical aspects including medical equipment in hyperbaric environment

+ H2S in the bell

+ Hyperbaric rescue – where are we now

+ New generation DSVs

o ROV and AUV operations – developments in ROV and AUV technology including:

+ Remote intervention

+ Simultaneous operations / integrated projects

+ AUVs and the development of AUVs integrated into field infrastructure

o Offshore survey – technical challenges in surveying operations in deepwater environment including:

+ Selection of satellite based systems

Looking back The 2010 seminar, held in Dubai, UAE, in November saw over 380 people attending with 22 companies exhibiting. Delegates included offshore and onshore management and operational staff together with equipment suppliers, consultants, oil company representatives and regulators.

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Source: imca,February 11, 2011;