RightShip Launches New Safety Score

Maritime risk management and environmental assessment organization RightShip launched its new Safety Score in response to industry feedback that called for more transparent methods of assessing vessels.

RightShip said it has spent the last two years working in collaboration with stakeholders from across the shipping industry. The new Safety Score provides a metric that is explainable, transparent and only includes factors which are in the control of the operator, to help support improved safety across the maritime sector.

The Safety Score will be housed on the new RightShip Platform, which will replace the current platform Qi as well as the predictive Risk Rating once the Safety Score goes live. The announcement is being made before its formal launch in September 2020, to provide the maritime industry with a period of time to prepare for the switch over.

RightShip’s previous Risk Rating predicted the likelihood of a vessel having an incident across the next 12 months. The new Safety Score focuses on providing the operational performance at the vessel, DOC holder, flag and class level.

The Safety Score uses a refined methodology that analyses the severity of any previous incidents, the frequency of incidents and any previously identified detentions and deficiencies for a given vessel. The new score also takes account of the proactivity of owners, operators and managers in managing safety and risk, by looking at their responsiveness to incidents, deficiencies or detentions. This, in turn, helps to provide a clear, identifiable path towards improving safety standards and processes.

According to RightShip, it creates a level playing field for all vessels on the water, regardless of type, size, age or builder, allowing industry participants to benchmark their safety procedures against the sector’s best performers. It is intended to help users gain an initial perspective on the operational performance of a potential charter and to encourage shipowners to invest in improved processes and technologies that make the entire supply chain safer.

RightShip's new Safety Score as it appears on the RightShip platform (still in development) (Image: RightShip)

Martin Crawford-Brunt, CEO at RightShip, said, “Since 2001, RightShip’s mission has been to help improve safety across our industry. An important element of this mission has been to ensure that we provide the market with the tools that ultimately help to underpin that pursuit of continuous improvement. Our new Safety Score recognizes considerable industry feedback calling for greater transparency and control of ratings, and is the result of widespread collaboration with owners, operators, managers, charterers and others across this global industry.

“We have created a balanced score which can be used by all members of the supply chain. For our due diligence customers, it provides a clearer insight to the operational performance of a vessel and DOC holder. The Safety Score is an indicator designed to be used as one of many factors in the due diligence process. Coupled with maritime expertise, it allows for the assessment of a nominated vessel and the provision of a vetting recommendation for a charterer.

“For the shipowning community, the new Safety Score takes into account management performance and approach, giving owners a true understanding into how they can improve safety across multiple parameters. It also encourages shipowners to invest in system improvement, processes and technologies that make the entire supply chain safer.

“We believe that this will support improving wider safety standards across the industry and drive a new conversation within shipping about how we manage risk whilst safeguarding our operations, which is particularly important in our current environment.”