Meet the Author
Niall M Bennett
BSc MSc MBACS
Niall joined the Royal Navy as a Supply Officer in April 1990 after gaining his BSc (Hons) in Geography from Edinburgh University. After seeing off the Soviet threat, with the break-up of the Soviet Union in the summer of 1990, and Saddam Hussein in Kuwait (he surrendered before Niall arrived on his frigate), Niall left the Navy for further study.
This time he studied an MSc in Marine Resources, Development and Protection at Heriot-Watt University. This included a dissertation on the development of the harbours at Dunedin and Port Chalmers in Otago, New Zealand and he has recently learnt that this has been referred to in the current study preceding the possible enlargement of the container terminal at Port Chalmers.
After graduating, Niall worked as a Fisheries Observer on Spanish and Portuguese vessels on the
Grand Banks off Newfoundland. From there, he moved to work as a marine surveyor working for the Five Anchors Group in Lagos Nigeria surveying damage to ships and cargo. Following this he had his first contact with Maritime Services International when he was contracted to return to Lagos to help release vessels from arrest.
Since then, Niall has worked for two large marine cargo surveying companies, Cunningham Lindsey Marine in The Netherlands and International Surveyors and Adjusters (ISA) in the UK. Through the latter, Niall qualified as a Member of the British Association of Cargo Surveyors. In mid-2012, he left ISA to set himself up as a contract worker for Maritime Services International.
In his spare time, Niall is a member of the Royal Navy Reserve, has trained as an Assistant Operations Officer for Mine Hunters and has recently stepped up to train for the next level as Battlewatch Captain in the control cell for the Mine Hunter Squadrons.