The Norwegian Maritime Authority has identified a need for people to reach us outside regular working hours on some emergency matters. As a result, the Authority now widens the scope of telephone services to include more types of urgent matters.
-We introduce this service as a trial arrangement in order to find the optimal solution for meeting the needs of the industry, for instance when Norwegian ships operate in other time zones than Norway, says Director General Olav Akselsen.
As part of the work to improve service and customer focus, the Authority has had a number of contact meetings with the industry – either through visiting ship owners or organizations individually, or through attending assemblies of several interested parties along the coast.
This initiative has been welcomed and the input from the meetings plays an important role in the current work to improve the Authority. At the meetings, the Authority has also been given the opportunity to introduce the ongoing digitalization of several services. The digitalization will ensure 24-hours availability of our services – for instance application for personal certificates for seafarers and the reimbursement scheme.
The reason for expanding the emergency telephone service is that the Authority wishes to improve it's level of service and availability. The experience gained over the first weeks will be used for evaluation of the arrangement, and necessary adjustments will be made accordingly. The arrangement is first and foremost intended for urgent matters and for enquiries from those operating in other time zones.
-We hope that this will be a welcome initiative and that we succeed in our aim to focus on service. Not all matters can be solved per telephone, but we are in the process of establishing good routines for follow-up the next day on enquiries which cannot be answered there and then, says Akselsen.
Enquiries concerning registration of ships will also be channeled through the new emergency telephone service.