Issue 134

"OCIMF Day in Kuala Lumpur was a huge success, with more than 150 people in attendance from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand."

Director's Log

Just as the spring had sprung in London, OCIMF was off to Asia Pacific.

I was delighted to engage with member colleagues, and happily surprised to see some friends with whom I had worked almost a decade ago. It was also energising to make and renew connections with members and industry stakeholders who are committed to working with us to deliver on our mission. We leaned into conversations about the current and emerging maritime risks and committed to working collaboratively to advocate and embed OCIMF best practices and inspection programmes throughout the region.

Singapore Maritime Week’s (SMW) theme was, ‘Navigating Sustainable Seas: Driving Innovation, Sustainability, and Resilience’. The ‘double-Ds’, decarbonisation and digitalisation, were highlighted in key notes and conversations. Enthusiastic leaders promoted innovation and technology. Others urged maritime to partner and learn from other sectors, such as the aviation industry. Please check out the SMW website to read more on the topics of emissions reduction, maritime security, recruiting and retaining seafarers, and promoting diversity.

OCIMF Day in Kuala Lumpur was a huge success, with more than 150 people in attendance from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand. The Secretariat skilfully showcased OCIMF’s ongoing initiatives. Regional leaders shared their view on risk, opportunity, and goals related to regional and global maritime challenges. Special thanks to the MISC team for their expert support, and for hosting the week’s committee meetings. Look for more details in this month’s newsletter.

I enjoyed all the learning and look forward to getting started on committed actions.

Karen Davis, Director OCIMF

OCIMF Day in Kuala Lumpur a great success

Over 150 people attended OCIMF Day in Malaysia on 22 April. The event was supported by MISC and brought together OCIMF’s regional members, customers, inspectors, SIRE users, operators, ports and government representatives.

OCIMF Chairman Nick Potter opened the day by sharing his vision for OCIMF in the fast-changing energy landscape. Managing Director Karen Davis thanked the attendees for their support and outlined OCIMF’s evolving role and increased agility. MISC President and CEO Captain Rajalingam shared MISC’s decarbonisation journey and how pleased he was to see OCIMF collaborating and partnering with the industry at this time of great change.

Keynote speakers included Captain Mohamad Halim Bin Ahmed, Director General of Marine, Ministry of Transport, Malaysia, who shared his government’s desire to work closely with industry to promote safety and enhance environmental protection in the region. Mr Raja Azlan presented on emerging risks and opportunities and Captain Ade Gunawan from Pertamina shared their SIRE 2.0 trial user experience.

OCIMF P&A Director Saurabh Sachdeva facilitated the day’s proceedings, supported by Secretariat members. He emphasised that the next period will be dominated by data, digitalisation and decarbonisation, adding that OCIMF is well positioned to manage the energy transition while remaining focused on existing safety needs with maturity and steadiness, and will play a crucial role in shaping the right outcomes with safety, security, people, and environment at its heart.

Presentations and pictures from the day can be found on the OCIMF Events page. For more information, contact Saurabh Sachdeva, OCIMF P&A Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Making links at Singapore Maritime Week

Left to right: OCIMF P&A Director Saurabh Sachdeva, ReCAAP Executive Director Mr K Natrajan, OCIMF Director Karen Davis, ReCAAP Assistant Director Lee Yin Mui.

OCIMF's Karen Davis and Saurabh Sachdeva were impressed by the Ambition to Action approach outlined at Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) in April.

During the event, OCIMF engaged with ReCAAP Executive Director Mr K Natrajan and Assistant Director Lee Yin Mui to discuss the strategic challenges on security, piracy and threats to shipping in SE Asia and the need for closer cooperation. ReCAAP was keen to work closely with OCIMF on their important initiatives.

OCIMF also attended the SMW Leadership Forum meeting, the Mission to Seafarers meeting to discuss diversity and inclusion and Lloyds List session, where decarbonisation, geopolitics and fragile security in the Red Sea were core themes of discussion. Speakers recognised the emerging threat of drones on the high-seas and OCIMF was appreciated for capturing that risk in its information paper, Loitering Munitions - The Threat to Merchant Ships (2023). Additional themes included the need to develop a skilled workforce for the future, investment in welfare and wellbeing and promoting gender diversity.

For more information contact Saurabh Sachdeva, OCIMF P&A Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Karen Davis, OCIMF Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

While in the SE Asia region, OCIMF visited members Pertamina and Medco Energi. Strategic conversations were held with senior representatives in support of their work in the region and to attract new members to join the OCIMF Principal Committees for Offshore and Tankers, Barges and Terminal interfaces (TBT). OCIMF was impressed at the safety first approach used across all activities.

SIRE 2.0 Phase 3 progress update

The Phase 3 industry-wide roll-out has been underway since January this year and we are very pleased to share that we are on track to achieve our Critical Success Factors for transitioning to Phase 4 in Q3 this year.

At this point, SIRE 2.0 will ‘go-live’ and become the only version of the inspection programme available. We would like to thank all those who have participated so far and provided invaluable insight and experience.

OCIMF very strongly encourages all users of the programme to participate in Phase 3 inspections to assess their readiness. Users are also reminded that Phase 3 provides an opportunity for vessel operators to complete the administrative work of updating the Pre-Inspection Questionnaires (PIQ) for each of their vessels.

Full instructions for booking a SIRE 2.0 inspection are available in the SIRE 2.0 Inspection Management Process documentation in the links below:

Support will be available through the Helpdesk and all users are encouraged to provide feedback via the Suggestions for Improvement (SFI) portal within SIRE 2.0.

Thank you for your continued partnership and dedication to safety and quality assurance. For more information, contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Maritime security snippets

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) raises concern on the continued acts of maritime piracy off the coast of Somalia in its first quarter report for 2024, released on 10 April.

A total of 33 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first three months of 2024, an increase from 27 incidents for the same period in 2023. Of the 33 incidents reported, 24 vessels were boarded, six had attempted attacks, two were hijacked and one was fired upon. Violence towards crew continues with 35 crew members taken hostage, nine kidnapped and one threatened.

IMB Director Michael Howlett said: "We reiterate our ongoing concern on the Somali piracy incidents and urge vessel owners and Masters to follow all recommended guidelines in the latest version of the Best Management Practices (BMP 5).”

The full report can be downloaded here.

Antwerp Inland Navigation School

Barge Adviser opens event for inland waterways experts.

OCIMF was invited to speak about worldwide barging activities at the University of Antwerp on 24 April, during the five-day event Antwerp Inland Navigation School. The theme of the third day was 'Safe transport of Dangerous Goods'. The audience included PhD students and experts from Inland Waterway Transport from all over the world. OCIMF Barge Adviser Ton Mol started the day with a round-up of the activities of OCIMF and its members across the globe. The day was closed by Mr Vincent Denis of BASF with a presentation about dangerous goods on inland barges from a product manufacturer point of view.

For more information, contact Ton Mol, OCIMF Barge Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Workshop looks for solutions to seafarers' work/rest hours and ships' manning

OCIMF was invited to attend a workshop held at the World Maritime University (WMU) in Malmo, Sweden on 16 and 17 April 2024.

Work/rest hours are critical in mitigating fatigue at sea. Through a global survey from June to December 2022, the WMU’s research team captured seafarers’ insights on fatigue factors, the effectiveness of the current regulatory regime, work-rest-sleep characteristics, recording practices and associated challenges. Seafarers advocate for recognition from companies, flag states and port states regarding work/rest related challenges. They emphasise the pivotal role of regulatory reforms in manning (crewing) and working time to mitigate the risk of fatigue effectively. The report serves as a reminder of the need to address this long-standing issue and consider effective regulatory and industry cultural changes.

Workshop participants, including NGOs, shipping companies, seafarers, Flag States and IMO representatives, were given a presentation on fatigue and the implementation of seafarers’ work/rest hours regulations. They then broke up into groups of six to identify and present on the challenges and potential solutions.

For more information, please contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

South-East Asia Ship to Ship Regional Forum

OCIMF would like to thank the organisers of the South-East Asia STS Regional Forum – Singapore Nautical Institute (SNI) and the Association of Malaysia’s Maritime Professionals (IKMAL) – for bringing forward their annual meeting to co-ordinate with OCIMF’s visit to Kuala Lumpur.

The meeting on 25 April was well attended by members of SNI and IKMAL, regional STS Service Providers, Port Authorities, the Malaysian Marine Department, Ministry of Transport and relevant external stakeholders. The Council members of SNI and IKMAL updated the Forum on a range of topics, including an overview of STS operations in the SE Asia region, the Malaysia Coastal State Authority initiative of conducting Person in Overall Advisory Control (POAC) courses, and standardisation of the use of the STS Service Provider Management and Self-Assessment Tool.

OCIMF’s Nautical Adviser Kevin Coelho presented an update to the Forum on the progress of the Ship to Ship Transfer Guide revision, along with other topics relevant to the STS community.

For more information, please contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

IMCA and OCIMF discuss offshore decarbonisation

OCIMF was pleased to host Lee Billingham from the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA), who leads ProjectGHG.

ProjectGHG is IMCA’s new campaign to help the offshore industry meet these changing expectations and support the industry in moving towards Net Zero.

Representatives of both organisations discussed synergies associated with knowledge sharing on operational and technical best practices to reduce emissions from offshore vessels. Additionally, common advocacy opportunities for the IMO and EU were discussed.

For enquiries, contact Filipe Santana, OCIMF Engineering Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

OCIMF engages with members on maritime decarbonisation

During a recent visit to the Chevron office in San Ramon, California, OCIMF's Engineering Adviser engaged with local teams.

The session covered topics that include the following:

IMO’s upcoming decarbonisation calendar.
The next steps in developing IMO’s lifecycle assessment of marine fuels guidelines.
The revision of the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII).
Emissions capture and control at berth and onshore power supply for tankers and terminals as measures to minimise air pollution in port areas.

This meeting underscored the shared commitment between OCIMF and its members to enhance maritime sustainability and reduce the environmental impact of shipping operations, aligning closely with broader decarbonisation efforts.

For enquiries, contact Filipe Santana, OCIMF Engineering Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Meeting reports

P&A Tankers, Barges and Terminal interfaces Committee

Members of the P&A TBT Committee, the Legal Committee and the OCIMF Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur.

Chair: Aled Roberts (BP)
Vice-chairs: Raj Shetty (ENOC), Paul Tait (Chevron)
Secretary: Saurabh Sachdeva (OCIMF P&A Director)

The P&A Tankers, Barges and Terminal interfaces (TBT) Committee held its 8th meeting in Kuala Lumpur on 23–24 April, with the support of MISC Maritime Services. The meeting appointed a new Vice-chair, Paul Tait (Chevron), who replaces James Sager (ExxonMobil). The committee updated its multiyear strategic activity plan, which includes advocacy across the IMO, a communications plan and outputs of the Environment, Human Factors, Legal and Maritime Security functional committees. The second day saw an update on OCIMF’s overall priorities and goals and the priorities for delivery in 2024 and 2025.

The meeting noted industry concerns regarding enclosed space entry fatalities and supported next steps to address this with industry partners following OCIMF’s workshop in February. It reviewed the 2024 publications schedules and noted progress on publications, including the Ship to Ship Transfer Guide revision and the Global Barge Guide, and approved the proposal to revise Manning at Conventional Marine Terminals and to develop an information paper on the safety of navigation in the Great Belt of the Danish Straits. The meeting also noted the need to further strengthen the composition and skills in the Engineering Expert Group and the Human Factors Committee. Finally, it approved the multiyear risk and priorities plan for TBT.

For more information, contact Saurabh Sachdeva, Publications and Advocacy Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Programmes Committee

Chair: Javed Bhombal (ExxonMobil)
Vice-chair: Deb Cobb (Marathon)
Secretary: Aaron Cooper (OCIMF Programmes Director)

The bi-annual Programmes Committee meeting was held on 16–17 April, kindly hosted by Marathon Petroleum in San Antonio, TX. Topics discussed included a SIRE 2.0 update as well as updates from each Programmes Expert Group (Innovation and Technology, Programmes Governance and Inspection Processes) to discuss priorities, work items and present status.

Additional topics of discussion included Submitting Company requirements, ISO9001 recertification and ongoing verification, the effective use of programmes data, as well as reviewing several initiatives underway within Publications and Advocacy. The Committee was also able to hear updates from INTERTANKO, including feedback on SIRE 2.0 and an introduction from OCIMF’s new IT service provider Nine Software.

For further details, please contact Aaron Cooper, OCIMF Programmes Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Human Factors Committee

8th meeting, 26th March 2024 (Virtual)
Chair: Terry Luke (Chevron)
Co-chairs: Victoria Norris (BP) and Laurent Routisseau (Total Energies)
Secretary: Kevin Coelho (OCIMF Nautical Adviser)

The Human Factors Committee (HFC) met virtually for its eighth formal meeting to progress ongoing actions. Discussions included the following topics:

The HFC thanked Rob Saunders from Shell and Dave Vaughn from IMT/EM, who left the HFC at the end of 2023, and welcomed Alex Cline from IMT/EM.
The HF Plan and Project Tracker was discussed and the Secretary and Lead thanked members for their ongoing contributions.
The Chair provided feedback from the first ‘7 Chairs’ meeting/workshop that took place in OCIMF's London office in February.
The Secretary provided an update on the publications plan and briefed the team on the documents needing significant human factors input (Ship to Ship Transfer Guide and Global Barge Guide). The HFC is also keen to to revise the Human Factors Approach and Human Factors: Management and Self Assessment papers.
The Secretary thanked the HFC for taking part in the Enclosed Space Entry workshop in February. All agreed that human factors needs to play an ever more important role in this area.

Next meeting: Q3 2024 (meetings will be held in-between to cover work planned)

For further enquiries, contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Environment Committee

8th meeting: 11–12 April 2024 (El Segundo, California/Teams)
Chair: Maartje Wibrew-Forster (Shell)
Vice-chair: Maria Polakis (BP)
Secretary: Filipe Santana (OCIMF Engineering Adviser)

The Environment Committee (EC) held its 8th meeting in El Segundo, California, hosted by Chevron. The committee discussed several important topics related to OCIMF's Environmental Plan, covering the four OCIMF strategic pillars: publications, programmes, advocacy, and members' collaboration.

Topics addressed during the meeting include:

Reflections on the outcome of the greenhouse gas intersessional working group (ISWG-GHG 16) and Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 81).
Updates on completed, ongoing, and soon-to-start IMO correspondence groups on alternative fuels, methane and nitrous oxide tank-to-wake emissions, and onboard carbon capture.
Revision of IMO’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII).
Update on EU and CARB work programmes and the impact of their outputs.
Prioritisation of EC advocacy engagement for IMO, EU, and CARB issues.
Presentations on Fuel EU pooling mechanisms from Mærsk McKinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping and environmental activities from the Western States Petroleum Association.
Environmental review of the Barge Inspection Questionnaire.
Outcome of the environmental review of the Tanker Management Self-Assessment.
The revision of OCIMF GHG and Air Pollution Position Paper.
Update on the progress of working groups developing publications under EC's direction.

The EC started reviewing OCIMF’s Environmental Plan to ensure that its medium- and long-term actions address the critical elements necessary for the marine industry to reach the IMO targets and intermediary checkpoints safely and to which OCIMF could add the most value.

Next meeting: September 2024 (London)

For enquiries, contact Filipe Santana, OCIMF Engineering Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ship to Ship Transfer Guide Working Group

The Ship to Ship Transfer Guide Working Group held its sixth meeting on 5–7 March at the ICS offices in London, preceded by a Steering Group meeting at the OCIMF office on 4 March. The Nautical Adviser, Project Support consultant and the working group lead provided participants from OCIMF and co-authors ICS, CDI and SIGTTO with a status overview and an update on work undertaken since the last meeting. Detailed discussions took place over ongoing work. Topics included:

The work plan and project timeline.
Status overview and update on each sub-team's draft text reviews – document handling and editing.
The Comments Register – ensuring all comments were looked at and addressed as necessary.

Working group members used the opportunity to raise questions and clarify any uncertainties that were present.

The next meeting will take place online in mid-April. For further information, contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Onshore Power Supply Working Group

Chair: Jeff Bayham (ExxonMobil)
Vice-chair: Robert Bridges (TotalEnergies)
Secretary: Filipe Santana (OCIMF)

The tenth Onshore Power Supply (OPS) Working Group meeting was held in La Palma, California, hosted by Marathon Petroleum. The group had the opportunity to visit berth 121 in the Port of Long Beach, which was the first berth for tankers ready for onshore power supply. Key points discussed during the meeting include:

Nominal current per connection requirement.
Type of connectors.
Cable design, lifting and handling.
Scalable number of cables and ship's inlets and associated safety measures.
Cable tension and movement monitoring.
Frequency conversion.

The OPS WG is now in the final stages of drafting an information paper, intending to publish in Q3 this year.

For enquiries, contact Filipe Santana, OCIMF Engineering Adviser This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Emissions Capture and Control Working Group

Chair: Vineet Plaha (Chevron)
Vice-chair: Eric Harrier (ConocoPhillips)
Secretary: Filipe Santana (OCIMF)

The third Emissions Capture and Control (ECC) Working Group meeting was held in La Palma, California, hosted by Marathon Petroleum. The group had the opportunity to visit two ECC barges that serve container ships in the Port of Los Angeles. During those visits, the group discussed technical and safety aspects associated with the operation of ECC systems, which provided important insights for developing the guide.

Topics discussed during the meeting include:

Design and operation of the ECC barge in the proximity of hazardous atmospheres and safe positioning of ECC collector.
Barge's manoeuvring and position-keeping, including emergency scenarios, and tanker emergency departure from the terminal.
Competency and training of ECC personnel, manning requirements and human factors.
Risks associated with hazardous substances on ECC barge.
Potential impact of ECC on ship's machinery.
Collector and crane design and compatibility.
Barge design verification.

The group intends to produce an interim paper this year containing guidance on these topics.

The ECC Working Group will meet again in May virtually.

For enquiries, contact Filipe Santana, OCIMF Engineering Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

IMO news

48th session of the IMO Facilitation Committee (FAL 48)

FAL 48 was held at the IMO headquarters from 8–12 February 2024. The following summarises some of the key discussions that are relevant to OCIMF.

Maritime Single Window and data exchange

Revised IMO Compendium on Facilitation and Electronic Business: 6th revision includes new data on ‘noon reporting’.
Traction gained on proposed IMO digitalisation strategy to implement the maritime single window platform.

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)

Approval of revised road map for MASS in relation to the Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic (FAL Convention).
Further discussion on the role of Master and the Remote Operations Centre (ROC).

Future work outputs

Proposed revision of training requirements for shore-based mooring personnel.
Proposal to revise and expand the definition of ‘key workers’.
Proposed updated guidelines on electronic certificates.

Members can find further details in OCIMF AFM – 23/24 – IMO FAL 48 Summary Report for Members, dated 24 April 2024.

111th session of the Legal Committee (LEG 111)

The following summarises some of the key discussions which took place during LEG 111 at the IMO headquarters from 22 to 26 April 2024.

Seafarer welfare

Finalisation of guidelines on fair treatment of seafarers detained on suspicion of committing crimes: to be considered further by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) ahead of adoption.
Abandonment of seafarers: Establishment of an ILO/IMO Task Force to address an increasing year-on-year rise in number of abandonment cases.

Fraudulent ship registration and registries

Consideration of the report highlighting the impact of fraudulent ship registration to safety, environment and well-being of seafarers and proposing mitigating measures.

Insurance, liability and compensation for pollution-related damage

Approval of guidelines for accepting insurance certificates and companies, financial security providers and Protection and Indemnity (P&I) clubs.

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)

Approval of a draft road map for MASS Code development under the purview of the LEG.

For further information please contact Abhijit Aul, OCIMF Risk and Regulatory Affairs Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Issue 134

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