Building sustainability into the fabric of the IMarEST

Decarbonisation and workforce health are some of the challenges Alastair Fischbacher identifies as he prepares to step into the role of the IMarEST president later this year

1. What should the IMarEST members know about you?

As well as being President-elect of the IMarEST, I’m co-chair of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and a member of the Lloyds Register Classing Committee. I was chair of Rightship for four years, chair of the World Ocean Council, and chair of the Sailors Society charity.

I started my career at sea and qualified as a Master Mariner. I learned to fly as a hobby, qualifying as an instructor and commercial pilot on singles and twins and flew into some very different and interesting places in the UK, Europe and Southern Africa.

2. What roles have you held?

My day jobs have seen me involved in ship and cargo chartering and operations, coal marketing, coal mine acquisition in Colombia, coal terminal development, alternative fuels and ship building and operation.

I managed the railing, quality and loading of Coal & Allied’s coal exports in New South Wales; and dealt with Newcastle’s burgeoning demurrage issue amongst other things.

With Rio Tinto Marine I was responsible for the construction, delivery and operation of a fleet of 17 large and very large bulk carriers consisting of post-panamax bauxite carriers, post-panamax bulk carriers, very large bulk carriers and caustic-bulk carriers. We also had several very large ore carriers under construction. I was also responsible for sustainability with involvement in the founding of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and the World Ocean Council.

3. Of what are you most proud?

All of it! Most recently of course being elected to become President of the IMarEST is an enormous honour. An honorary doctorate from Southampton Solent University was also wonderful. And building and operating a fleet of bulk carriers was enormous fun and very rewarding.

4. When did you join the IMarEST?

I co-authored papers that were presented at the IMO through the IMarEST some years ago, and should have joined then, if not earlier! When I finally joined, I could see I’d missed out on becoming part of a community of highly committed and knowledgeable people, very keen to engage, improve, advise and discuss a wide range of maritime-related issues.

The extent of involvement around the world, the depth of knowledge and the drive to make a difference is remarkable. I don’t think I could ever exhaust my own areas of interest, never mind exploring other ones. And the IMarEST has risen to the challenges of the pandemic, by providing online access to the annual conference and the use of IMarEST TV, making it accessible to more members across different time zones and varying levels of internet service.

5. What are you passionate about in marine today?

Ensuring that shipping has a sustainable future. I’m very keen on technology’s role in improving performance, reliability and safety. The human element aspect has long been a particular interest as has the welfare and conditions for seafarers, and there are sometimes conflicts with the technology drive that need to be considered. I still see an ongoing need for seafarers even as we head towards autonomous vehicles. Coping with both the existing, and often quite old systems on board, as well as the leading-edge technologies is going to be a challenge as there is only limited time available for training.

6. Describe maritime’s biggest challenges.

Decarbonisation and workforce health need to be addressed in the coming years. And despite increased volumes of cargo and the numbers of ships, shipping and the maritime industry itself is still pretty invisible until an incident occurs or there is a need to blame or criticise. It’s important to showcase and highlight developments, progress and the commitment of the industry to be a respected part of global society.

7. What do you plan to champion as President from March?

I want to promote sustainability as a connecting and enabling factor across as much of the Institute activity as possible. Sustainability is going to continue to evolve and expectations of the industry will change over time, requiring a process of continuous improvement as well as achieving milestones and goals.

It’s a little early to set out a roadmap but as I begin my term, you’ll start to see the theme working its way into the activities and communications. I’m only the promoter though and we need all members to engage where they can. I welcome thoughts and suggestions on how we can build sustainability into the fabric of what we all do, and especially how the IMarEST can guide, educate and articulate the integration of sustainability within our respective sectors.

Alastair Fischbacher becomes the IMarEST President in March 2022