Ocean Petroleum Tanker Vetting.
Operations of marine petroleum vessels, tankers and barges, is one of the most scrutinized activities in the oil industry.
Despite the number of regulatory requirements in place, both licensing and inspections, the users of petroleum vessels have established an additional qualification regime through the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) which operates a clearing house for inspection reports and management reviews under its “SIRE” system.
The SIRE system represents challenges to both owners of vessels and potential charterers. We are available to provide assistance in all of these areas.
For the Owners the challenges are:
For potential users of petroleum vessels the primary challenge is expert review and interpretation of the information and reports available from OCIMF and Port State Control (PSC) authorities.
This review is a Qualitative Risk Assessment exercise, which can only be competently completed by a person with experience on-board and in the management of such vessels. There are vetting review systems that use numerical criteria applied by reviewers without such experience, but those systems have potential to miss both risks and economic opportunities. It is the marginal vessels where detailed knowledge and experience are needed. This is best described by a notice in a tanker cargo control room:
“If you are not worried
it is because
you do not understand
what is going on here.”
The third category of potential “users” of tankers is potential buyers of the vessel.
In those cases we offer the reminder that:
“When you purchase a ship,
you are also buying its history.”
The commercial returns available for a tanker are largely driven by its ability to be approved and chartered by Oil Majors. Previous inspection and use records for the vessel must be carefully reviewed to give assurance of such future approvability.
Despite the number of regulatory requirements in place, both licensing and inspections, the users of petroleum vessels have established an additional qualification regime through the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) which operates a clearing house for inspection reports and management reviews under its “SIRE” system.
The SIRE system represents challenges to both owners of vessels and potential charterers. We are available to provide assistance in all of these areas.
For the Owners the challenges are:
- Maintaining the vessel incompliance with the latest OCIMF and Oil Major expectations for condition, operability and equipment
- Recruiting, training and retaining qualified vessel crew members
- Putting in place comprehensive operating procedures in the form of a Safety Management System (SMS) that complies with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Safety Management System (ISM) regulations.
- Preparing the vessel for SIRE inspections twice per year
- Responding to SIRE inspection report observations recorded in the vessel’s Vessel Inspection Questionnaire (VIQ)
- Revising SMS procedures to prevent repetition of SIRE observations
- Complete and upload the OCIMF SIRE Vessel Particulars Questionnaire (VPQ) and maintain it current
- Completion and regular review of the OCIMF Tanker Management Self Assessment (TMSA)
- Go through a TMSA audit by an Oil Major inspector.
For potential users of petroleum vessels the primary challenge is expert review and interpretation of the information and reports available from OCIMF and Port State Control (PSC) authorities.
This review is a Qualitative Risk Assessment exercise, which can only be competently completed by a person with experience on-board and in the management of such vessels. There are vetting review systems that use numerical criteria applied by reviewers without such experience, but those systems have potential to miss both risks and economic opportunities. It is the marginal vessels where detailed knowledge and experience are needed. This is best described by a notice in a tanker cargo control room:
“If you are not worried
it is because
you do not understand
what is going on here.”
The third category of potential “users” of tankers is potential buyers of the vessel.
In those cases we offer the reminder that:
“When you purchase a ship,
you are also buying its history.”
The commercial returns available for a tanker are largely driven by its ability to be approved and chartered by Oil Majors. Previous inspection and use records for the vessel must be carefully reviewed to give assurance of such future approvability.