We begin this packed edition with the news that we have appointed Gary Rawlings as our new Global Head of Marine Engineering Services. Based in our London office Gary brings a wealth of experience to the role and with his appointment we now have a team of four marine engineers as we continue to expand the Solis Marine Group.
The Singapore Branch of the Nautical Institute held its annual conference in August and Solis Marine were actively involved as usual, led by Captain Ken Ellam our Director of Shipping Services and Vice Chair of the Singapore Branch. A central theme of the conference was “Caring for Seafarers Wellness” and here we reflect on the issues discussed.
Our UK based Master Mariner consultant and Special Casualty Representative Captain Jamie Simpson was interviewed on the risks and practical considerations of carrying EVs (electric vehicles) for the UK Club’s “Ask and Expert” series, and you can follow a link to see the interview.
SpillAsia 2026 was held in Singapore in September and at the conference our CEO Ros Blazejczyk presented case studies where Solis Marine played key roles in the salvage operations for MARINE HONOR and GLENGYLE. In a busy conference season Ros also spoke at the IMO Research and Development Forum, also held in Singapore, on the subject of “Emergency Response to Alternative-Fuelled Vessels”, with particular focus on vessel design aspects.
Solis Marine regularly attends the Maritime Law Association of South Africa’s annual conference, and this year our Durban based team of Captain Mike Melly and Brendon George were in attendance, along with Captain Ken Ellam visiting from Singapore who gave a presentation with the title “Hidden in the Hold”.
Jun Hao Liew is one of our Naval Architect consultants based in our Singapore office and at SpillAsia 2026 he presented his doctoral research on predicting how ammonia disperses during ship-to-ship bunkering.
We end with the news that three of our colleagues are once again entering the Adventure Race Japan, to be held next May. We are hoping to raise through sponsorship and donations USD5,000 for the Mission to Seafarers, a very worthy cause.
We hope you will find this edition both interesting and informative. You can read the newsletter here.
Chairman