London Offshore Consultants (LOC), the leading marine and engineering advisory group, have doubled the size of their Hong Kong office with the appointment of Ed Wollaston and Steve Salt, effective immediately.
Mr Wollaston, a naval architect and chartered engineer, will be responsible for claims investigation specialising in classification and ship structural issues. Ed has been with LOC since 2007 in the group’s London office and has worked on pivotal claims for flag states, P&I Clubs, insurers, and law firms, with emphasis on marine warranty cases. Prior to joining LOC, he worked for a major ship classification society in Europe and China for five years.
Mr Salt, a marine engineer with more than 20 years experience at sea and over a decade ashore, joined LOC at the beginning of the year. Steve spent much of his time at sea as chief engineer on gas and chemical tanker vessels before moving to newbuilding supervisory, technical ship management and fleet management. He now specialises as an investigator in marine engineering, technical and operational tanker practice, and newbuild and shipyard cases.
“Ed and Steve bring exceptional levels of skill and experience to augment our Hong Kong operations,” said Paul Walton, director of Hong Kong operations. ”Over the last 12 months, we have seen huge growth in the demand for our services from Hong Kong. By joining us, they effectively double our capability.”
Jon Walker, Head of LOC Asia, added: “We have been in Asia for more than 25 years and our commitment to the region is ongoing. Just this month, in addition to doubling our presence in Hong Kong, we have announced a new operations office in Vietnam. Our expansion plans will continue to meet the needs of clients both based in and with key business into Asia.”
• Visit LOC at Sea Asia 2013, the leading conference and exhibition for the maritime industries: Singapore, 9-11 April. Stand V05.
LOC is a leading international marine and engineering consultancy and survey company that was founded in London in 1979. Headquartered in London, the company operates 22 offices located in Europe, Africa, Americas, Middle East, Asia and Australia; and employs around 250 people.
Its core business is split into shipping and energy divisions. Shipping includes marine casualty work, accident investigation, claims, disputes & litigation and surveys. Energy work includes marine warranty surveys, loss prevention, inspections, audits as well as marine and transportation consultancy. In addition, the LOC Group operates a subsidiary company (Longitude) that focuses on specialist engineering design and consultancy.
LOC has delivered specialised, multi disciplinary marine and engineering consultancy and survey services to many of the world’s shipping and offshore energy companies and has handled numerous high-profile marine casualties in all parts of the world.
Source: London Offshore Consultants (LOC)