Course Leaders
Richard E W Butcher
Chairman and Managing Director of Invicta Management Services, providers of commercial and operational advice to companies involved in deep sea cargo transportation, with a specialisation in the container business. He is a qualified Master Mariner with an extra Master Mariner's BSc in Maritime Studies, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport; and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation.
His early career was spent at sea with Ellerman Lines in general cargo ships and as master of cross channel passenger ferries before coming ashore in 1964 to serve as Divisional Shipping Manager for British Rail's ferry operation.
At the start of the container revolution he joined Overseas Containers Ltd (OCL) as General Manager, with an initial assignment to develop the first of the specialised container handling terminals. During the 1970s, he was the Operations Director for Atlantic Container Line, the dominant carrier on the North Atlantic trades.
In 1979, he formed his own company - Invicta Management Services - to provide expert consultancy on a long term basis for companies involved in the container business. Since then, his appointments have included:
- Waterman Steamship Corporation - European President (1979-81)
- OOCL - Operations Director; Chairman Furness Withy Agencies; Director, Dart Line, Royal Mail, Manchester Liners, PSNC, Prince Line and Shaw Saville (1981-87)
- Finmare Group (Italian State Shipping) - Senior Advisor, including Lloyd Triestino and Italia Line (1987-90)
- Saudi Arabian Government - Ports / Shipping Advisor (1990-94)
- Senior Shipping Advisor to: Croatia Line; the Malaysia Government on Ports / Terminals; Holyman Australia; Sea Containers; and Strategic Advisor, Poole Harbour Commissioners (1994-97)
- Holyman (Luxembourg) - Managing Director (1995-2005)
- Poole Harbour Commissioner (1995-2006)
Dr John M Doviak
Graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 with a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering and was awarded a Thouron Scholarship to study in England at the University of Cambridge. There he became a member of St John's College undertaking research at the Cavendish Laboratory in the field of high intensity laser light interaction with solid state materials. He received his PhD in Physics in 1971.
After three years in post-doctoral research at the University of Essex, he entered the shipping industry with Seatrade Publications where he held various senior management positions. John Doviak has been associated with education and training in the maritime field since 1978 when he founded and became the Director of Seatrade Academy, a company affiliated with the internationally recognised Seatrade Organisation.
He joined Cambridge Academy of Transport as its Director at the end of 1985 and is responsible for the development of educational courses held in Cambridge and London, and for the Profiled Course activities held in many locations world-wide.
He is a Member of the Propeller Club of the United States, a Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, an Associate Member of Sigma Xi Scientific Fellowship and a Member of the Baltic Exchange.
Jan Lafranca
Joined Van Ommeren Shipping in 1955 where he worked until end 2001. During his time with the company, he worked in the Inland Shipping Dept 1955/1967 and then the Seagoing Fleet Dept 1968/2001. From 1984, he was a Proxy and in 1990 appointed the Commercial Director.
As the Commercial Director he was responsible for the owned, timechartered, managed and pooled fleets; commitments covered short, medium and longterm cargo contracts and parcel-services with special focus on forest products and steel products
Van Ommeren owned, chartered and managed a fleet consisting of tankers, tweendecker general cargo ships, geared and gearless bulkcarriers of up to 67,000 dwt and multi-purpose container/bulkcarriers of up to 2200 TEU and 46,000 dwt. Jan Lafranca also spent one year in Peru with Naviera Humboldt training its local staff.
He maintains his active association with the industry as:
- Vice-Chairman, Bimco Documentary Committee since 1995
- Chairman of the Bimco Sub-committee on Standards of Bunker Contracts
- Chairman of Bimco's Bills of Lading Sub-Committee
- Maritime Arbitrator
- Member of Commercial and Legal Committee of the Royal Dutch Shipowners Organisation (KVNR)
- Member of the Examination Committee of the Dutch Shipbrokers Organisation (NZS)
David Martin-Clark
Barrister at Stone Chambers, Maritime Arbitrator, Commercial Disputes Mediator, Shipping & Insurance Consultant.
Previously Chairman and Chief Executive of Thomas Miller Group holding company and Chairman and Director of its subsidiaries in the UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and the US. The Thomas Miller Group is best known for its management of mutual insurance associations in the shipping and transport industry, such as the UK Pand I Club, the UK Defence Club and the TT (Through Transport) Club.
After a distinguished career in the commercial sector of the shipping industry, David returned to his roots in the law and re-qualified as a practising barrister, entering Stone Chambers in 2006. He lectures at post-graduate level in universities in the UK and overseas and he is also the Editor of the DMC's CaseNotes web site, a valuable reference source of recent law cases with significant relevance to maritime law and insurance. (www.onlinedmc.co.uk)
Jean Richards
Graduated with a degree in Mathematics and has been in the shipping industry since 1973. During the earlier part of her career she worked as marketing manager of Seabridge, the large bulk carrier consortium; Development analyst for the Gulf Group companies; Strategic planning manager for Gotaas Larsen; and Director of Magma Services Ltd.
From 1984 to 2004 she worked with Fairwind Shipping Ltd a company specialising in commercial consultancy and in the work-out of problem shipping loans. As Director and 50 per cent owner of Fairwind, the company was sold in 2002 to Denholm Shipping Ltd. Jean Richards resigned from the Denholm Group in 2004 to form her own shipping advisory company Quantum Shipping Services offering commercial advice and expert witness services, and to take up the role as Chairman of Datatrac Ltd, a company providing solutions for “data capture” within the shipping industry.
She is a Liveryman in the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and its London branch Treasurer, a member of the Baltic Exchange and is a frequent presenter at Industry Seminars. She is regularly retained as an expert witness; having been involved to date in over 200 disputes ranging across nine legal jurisdictions.
Jean’s other shipping interests include being a non-executive director of Cambridge Academy of Transport (www.quantumss.co.uk)
Dr Martin Stopford
Obtained a degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University in 1969 and went on to receive a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from London University. In 1971 he joined the London based shipping consultants Maritime Transport Research working on a range of research and consultancy activities, including commodity studies, shipping market analysis, computer modelling and data processing.
Martin joined British Shipbuilders as Group Economist in 1977 and was appointed Director of Business Development 1981, responsible for Corporate Planning, capital expenditure, financial forecasting and statistical services.
For 2 years at the end of the 1980s he was the Global Shipping Economist for Chase Manhattan Bank, London before joining H Clarkson as a Director in 1990 and also the Managing Director of Clarkson Research Studies Ltd.
He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Shipping Trade and Finance, City University Business School and the author of perhaps the most successful of maritime text books: "Maritime Economics".
Philip Wood
Was at sea with the Blue Funnel Line (part of the Ocean Transport and Trading Group) for over 13 years during which time he assumed command of dry-cargo vessels. He came ashore in the early 1970s to study at South West University (then known as Plymouth Polytechnic) for his BSc (Navigation and Transport). He was accepted on the Baltic Exchange in 1974 and since then has served as either an Owners Broker, Charterers Agent or Competitive Broker.
In 1981 he joined Trade & Transport (UK) looking after their commercial interests in London as Chartering Manager and then as Director since 1984. Trade & Transport operate a mixed fleet of Tankers and Dry Cargo vessels
Philip Wood served as the Chairman of the Education Committee of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers for many years. He was appointed Vice Chairman of the Institute from 1997-99 and then Chairman from 1999-2001. After 2 years as President Designate of FONASBA (2002 - 2004), he assumed the Presidency in October 2004.
He is the author of the textbook "Tanker Chartering" published by Witherbys in cooperation with the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers.