Whether conducting initial surveys, periodic surveys, or insurance & valuation surveys, Maritime Survey Australia has now become the go-to Marine Survey company across Australia.
With AMSA-accredited marine surveyors, engineers and naval architects in nearly every state, the company is bringing innovative solutions across a variety of diverse marine settings, including maritime safety, shipping, and pre-port state control.
In addition to the company’s geographic expansion and service growth over the recent years, MSA has seen a steady onboarding of accredited surveyors to its ranks. One of the newer team members is Lauren Stotz – a Naval Architectural Engineering graduate from Memorial University of Newfoundland who joined the business in 2021 after working as a Naval Architect in the United States and Australia.
For this article, we asked Lauren about her career path as a Marine Surveyor in Australia and discussed one of the first large projects she worked on with MSA for the Department of Defence. We also asked her thoughts and advice for women considering a maritime career.
Becoming a Marine Surveyor in Australia
Q. How did you get into marine surveying?
After working as a Naval Architect in the United States, I was able to transition into a Naval Architecture role here in Australia where I was interacting with marine surveyors and became quite interested in learning how to pursue that career path.
After graduating from the University of Newfoundland, I worked across multiple marine industries, including vessel design and construction for government, commercial and private sectors, offshore oil and gas.
Q. What attracts you to marine surveying?
My role as a marine surveyor is fast paced with a great divide of hands-on and technical work which really suits my interests. I really enjoy working in a team environment, and the company culture that MSA has encouraged is just that, a collaborative and supportive environment.
Q. What are your career aspirations?
One of the great things about marine surveying is the freedom to choose the work that suits my interests and skill set. My current goal is to take on more work that expands my technical knowledge.
Q. What was the process like getting AMSA accredited?
It certainly wasn’t an easy process; coming from working in Canada and then the United States, my exposure to the National Standards for Commercial Vessels (NSCV) and the marine surveying industry here in Australia was very limited. The AMSA accreditation interview focused quite a bit on my background as a Naval Architect, so I was fortunate to be able to fall back on my previous experience with vessel design and working in shipyards.
Q. How has the AMSA accreditation helped you on your path and in your work with MSA?
Gaining accreditation as a marine surveyor opens a path for many to work independently and have the freedom to choose the work that suits their interests. Prior to gaining accreditation, I was limited to a role as a Naval Architect, but now my role is constantly changing and diversifying.
Marine Survey project for the Department of Defense
Q. What was the scope of the work with the Department of Defence?
The Australian Department of Defence (DoD) operates a number of commissioned vessels and the fleet includes everything from assault ships, frigates and patrol boats to barges, tugs, workboats and training vessels. A number of support vessels in the fleet are crewed and operated by private organisations as domestic commercial vessels – requiring AMSA survey certification. We were engaged by DoD to review compliance aboard these vessels in locations around Australia.
The DoD needed an assessment and report of the present status of their vessels with a review of compliance against the NSCV.
Q. What was your role in the Department of Defense survey project?
After organising availability of the vessels, I went aboard to survey the compliance of the vessels against the NSCV. This included survey of the vessel and its machinery and ancillary equipment and in the case of selected vessels stability tests to verify compliance.
MSA also evaluated all supporting documentation including plans, build documentation, stability reports and certification to assist in review of NSCV compliance.
After the survey was complete, MSA produced an individual risk-based survey report for each vessel. The reports detailed compliance with the standards that apply to the vessels and also a gap analysis review of compliance with the NSCV. Where non-compliances with the NSCV were identified, the reports provided recommendations to achieve compliance with the NSCV.
Q: How did the project assist with your development as a marine surveyor?
It was a great introduction to marine surveying; with such a diverse and well-kept fleet I was able to gain experience surveying a wide variety of vessels.
Women in the Maritime Industry
Q: With few women in the sector, what do you think might encourage women to get into the maritime industry?
That’s an area that seems to be rapidly changing and I feel fortunate to have access to those opportunities. By getting stories out there about women in the industry, we can help show other women that there are successful pathways available.
Q: What advice would you give other women interested in entering the maritime industry?
Ask for help and seek advice from others working in the industry. Whether it is to seek advice on joining the industry or looking for new opportunities within the industry, I have found LinkedIn to be a powerful resource to help connect to those working in the same field.
As a valued Maritime Survey Australia team member, Lauren is based in New South Wales and currently provides Naval Architecture consultancy and Marine Survey Services to owners and operators of DCV’s across the state and throughout Australia.
READ MORE
