Issue 68

"We continue to deliver publications on an almost monthly basis – the fruits of both our members’ and the Secretariat’s hard work over the past couple of years. This month you will see a newsletter article on the latest information paper, A Guide to Best Practice for Navigational Assessments and Audits."

Director's Log

You may remember that I used the phrase ‘committee season’ in a previous newsletter. Well, October has seen us well and truly immersed in that season.

Not only have we had our General Purposes, Ports and Terminals and Offshore Marine committee meetings, but we have also participated in the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) Tripartite Shipbuilding Forum and a sprinkling of other meetings. We held a very successful Regional Marine Forum in Quito, Ecuador and are preparing for the next one in Dubai. You can read more about each of these activities in the newsletter.

We continue to deliver publications on an almost monthly basis – the fruits of both our members’ and the Secretariat’s hard work over the past couple of years. This month you will see a newsletter article on the latest information paper, A Guide to Best Practice for Navigational Assessments and Audits.

From my own perspective, while being closely involved in many of the above, I have also been preparing for our upcoming Executive Committee (ExCom) meeting in November. I do admit experiencing a warped sense of enjoyment at the hectic schedule of deadlines we have had lately, but am nevertheless looking forward to a less challenging period starting in late November.

When looking back at how busy we have been, it struck me that recognition isn’t always bestowed on those who deserve it. I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the Secretariat members behind the scenes: those who our members and external parties don’t often see, but who do all the hard work to keep OCIMF running on a daily basis, and during busy times take on additional burden to make OCIMF a success. Indeed, without their dedication and support, OCIMF would not be able to function. So I want to personally thank the staff in our accounts, HR, publishing, programmes, IT and office administration teams for a job well done.

I wish you a safe November.

Rob Drysdale
Director OCIMF

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New information paper released

OCIMF has released a new information paper, A Guide to Best Practice for Navigational Assessments and Audits.

Navigational assessments and audits help vessel owners, operators and Masters to identify areas for improvement and increase safety. They also assure companies that high standards of navigation and watchkeeping are being maintained.

While a wide range of navigational assessments are used in the industry, there is no common standard, and a lack of available guidance means that audits and assessments can vary in quality.

This information paper gives guidance on how to conduct a good navigational assessment, including:

• How assessments should be designed.
• Why assessments are carried out.
• Who should carry out assessments.
• How an assessor should conduct assessments.
• How the results can be used to identify trends and training requirements.

The paper also features a template that companies can use as a guide when developing their own navigational assessments.

Read A Guide to Best Practice for Navigational Assessments and Audits

Middle East Regional Marine Forum: agenda announced

The agenda for the Middle East Regional Marine Forum on 14 November in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is out now.

The theme for this regional marine forum is ‘Mooring safety at the ship/shore interface’, and the forum will be held after ENOC’s Marine Conference on 13 November.

Presentation topics will include:

• Updates on OCIMF publications (ISGOTT, Cargo Guidelines for F(P)SOs, Guidelines for Offshore Tanker Operations and Effective Mooring).
• Maritime security issues.
• Saudi Aramco Automatic Tanker Vetting System (ATVS).
• OCIMF compliance (Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE), Offshore Vessel Inspection Database (OVID) and barges).
• Creating a culture of intervention: the key to a strong safety culture.
• Ship operator's view of vetting and SIRE.

The regional marine forum is open to both OCIMF members and non-members. There will also be an evening reception on 13 November for all attendees. The full agenda, speaker biographies and more information are available on the OCIMF website.

South and Central America Regional Marine Forum

The South and Central America Regional Marine Forum was held in Quito, Ecuador on 1–2 October.

Day one featured a members-only session with presentations on barge strategy, piracy, security and regional issues, followed by an evening reception for all forum attendees.

Day two was open to both members and non-members and included presentations on OCIMF publications, updates on OCIMF programmes and working groups, best practice and lessons learned from incident sharing.

The forum also provided valuable opportunities to discuss local issues, such as the difficulties of barging in rivers with changing geographies and the challenges of promoting best practices among local authorities. These discussions and the questions raised will help OCIMF plan future work.

The Sociedad Latinoamericana de Operadores de Terminales Marítimos Petroleros y Monoboyas (SLOM) Jornada followed on 3–5 October.

Thank you to all presenters from Marine Information Solutions (MIS), Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF), Petrobras and the Nautical Institute, and special thanks to SLOM for their help organising the forum.

The full agenda, speaker biographies and photos from the events are available on the OCIMF website. Forum attendees will be asked for feedback to help develop next year’s forums.

IACS Tripartite Shipbuilding Forum in Seoul

Senior Technical Adviser Dave Wall and Technical Adviser (Engineering) Ricardo Martinez represented OCIMF at the Tripartite Shipbuilding Forum in Seoul, South Korea.

This annual event brings together industry associations representing shipowners, shipyards and Classification Societies to discuss the design, construction and operation of new and future ships.

This year’s agenda included sessions on decarbonization, human-centred design, design safety and digitalisation. OCIMF delivered a presentation as part of the human-centred design session highlighting the importance of the human element in ship design, particularly mooring arrangements. It highlighted the industry’s move towards human-centred design principles, a systems approach to mooring equipment and arrangement and a holistic view of the selection, inspection and maintenance of mooring lines.

There was a great deal of discussion and interest in this session and it is likely to be featured again at next year’s event.

The next Tripartite forum will be in Japan in autumn 2019.

Contact Ricardo Martinez, Technical Adviser (Engineering), at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions.

Marine Terminal Information System update

The Marine Terminal Information System (MTIS) was launched in 2011 as a way to improve ship-to-shore safety management and improve communication streams between ship and terminal operators.

Over 2017, MTIS underwent an extensive review. Registered terminal operators were invited to provide OCIMF with feedback and comments about their involvement with the programme and changes they felt could improve the service. At the start of May 2018, OCIMF launched the updated MTIS.

Key changes

• New look MTIS website and account page – improving navigation and user friendliness.
• Streamlined registration process – reducing the time required to join MTIS.
• Berth details form – supporting users in entering their berth details.
• Help Centre – supporting users with 24/7 access to MTIS questions and queries.

Continuous improvement

MTIS will undergo further development over 2018 as OCIMF look to continue making improvements to global ship-to-shore safety management.

You can help

A campaign is now in progress to further promote MTIS throughout the industry. You can help by:

• Forwarding this newsletter to relevant contacts in your network.
• Encouraging registration on the MTIS programme page.

IMO MEPC 73 update

The 73rd session of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) was held at IMO Headquarters from 22 to 26 October 2018.

It is one of the most important IMO meetings in the calendar. The OCIMF IMO Delegation included Alexandra Ebbinghaus from Shell, Andrew Smiley from Koch and Robert Szymeczko from BP.

Some of the key points discussed are summarised below. A full report will be circulated to members shortly.

Implementation of Sulphur 2020

The MEPC did not approve:

• A proposal for an experience building phase to mitigate fuel quality and availability issues.
• A proposal to defer prohibition of the carriage of non-compliant fuel oil.

The MEPC supported the joint industry project by OCIMF and other organisations on guidance on potential safety and operational issues related to the supply and use of max. 0.50% sulphur fuels.

The MEPC approved guidance for developing a consistent ship implementation plan.

Fuel oil quality

Ship operators and charterers were recommended to follow the best practices in MEPC.1/Circ.875. The MEPC approved an addendum to this circular.

Further guidance for Flag and Port States will be developed for approval at MEPC74.

Reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions from ships

The MEPC approved the report from the Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emission from Ships, which includes:

• Actions for delivering the initial IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships from 2018 to 2023.
• Short, mid and long-term measures, including bringing forward the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) implementation date for certain types of ships, making parts of the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) mandatory, a cap on speed, and economic incentives.

Energy Efficiency Design Index review

The current Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) Phase 3 parameters for tankers of starting year 2025, the 30% required reduction rate and the reference line were retained and will be further considered at MEPC 74.

Members should contact Sam Megwa for more information or any questions.

Introduction to MTIS for Spanish speakers

SLOM are hosting another webinar in Spanish introducing the Marine Terminal Information System (MTIS) on 29 November at 09.00 Colombia Time (COT)

The committee received regional operational updates from a director of the Interregional Coordination Centre in Cameroon on progress with the Yaoundé Code of Conduct. After launching BMP5 and Guidelines to Harden Vessels the group is now focussing on producing a hull vulnerability information paper and reviewing guidance for the Gulf of Guinea.

To join, please fill in the form using the button below and send to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Register for the MTIS webinar

Witherby eBook reader survey

Witherby Seamanship are collecting feedback on the current version of their Seamanship Library eBook reader and would welcome comments from OCIMF members. The survey takes approximately ten minutes to complete.

Complete the survey now

OCIMF principal committee updates

General Purposes Committee (GPC)

87th meeting: 10–11 October, London

Patrick Joseph (BP) stepped down as Chair of the GPC after three years of distinguished service. Jeremy Hudson (Shell) was confirmed as the new Chair and Jon Evans (IMT) as the new Vice Chair.

The GPC made several key decisions at the meeting, including:

• Establishing an interim task force to review actions proposed by members on the Sanchi and CF Crystal incidents.
• Reviewing the SIRE Focus Group membership to increase its numbers and diversity.
• Developing an OCIMF inspection scheduling portal to monitor practices and trends.
• Approving forthcoming publications:
  • Behavioural Competency Assessment and Verification for Vessel Operators (joint OCIMF/INTERTANKO information paper).
  • Sharing Lessons Learned from Incidents (joint OCIMF/INTERTANKO information paper).
  • The Guidelines on Cyber Security Onboard Ships.

Ports and Terminals Committee (PTC)

89th meeting: 17–18 October, Houston, USA (hosted by Hess)

The PTC discussed updates to the International Safety Guide for Oil Tankers and Terminals (ISGOTT) revision project:

• The committee agreed to include outside expertise as needed.
• Work by the EN1765 working group will directly feed into the ISGOTT working groups.
• The aim is to achieve 65% project completion by the next PTC meeting in April 2019.

The PTC reviewed the work of the following focus groups:

• The Marine Structures and Civil Engineering Focus Group (MSCEFG) is making progress in several Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses (PIANC) work groups.
• The Marine Terminal Focus Group (MTFG) found positive results after implementing the new MTIS website.
• The Ship to Ship Focus Group (STSFG) expects to complete the STS Hose Guide by the next PTC meeting. The STS Service Provider Self Assessment is also progressing well and is due to be completed in April 2019.

The PTC also discussed updates on forthcoming publications, approved the 2019 budget, and created two new working groups to review older documents. Members gave two presentations: virtual training of terminal operators, and pilot ladder incidents and improvements.

Next meeting: 9–10 April 2019, London, UK

Offshore Marine Committee (OMC)

17th meeting: 17–18 October, Singapore (hosted by ConocoPhillips)

The OMC agreed terms of reference for a new working group to review the OVID training and accreditation programme, as well as for two forthcoming publications: FP(S)O Heading Control and Station-Keeping Guidelines and Ballast Water Management for Offshore Units. The committee also discussed the review of Offshore Vessel Management and Self Assessment (OVMSA) and the involvement of vessel operators, and recommended input from International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) members.

The OMC heard presentations from:

• The Marine Technology Society’s Dynamic Positioning (DP) Committee on DP, including the various DP operator accreditation and certification schemes, as well as recent developments in DP subject matter expert competence assurance and certification.
• The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), who provided an introduction to their association.
• Shell on their Stabilised Gangway Project (SGP), which entails pulling together general functional specifications to regulate and assure the use of stabilised (motion compensated) personnel transfer systems in the offshore environment.

Next meeting: 2–3 April 2019, San Ramon, USA (hosted by Chevron)

OCIMF meeting updates

Marine Structures and Civil Engineering Focus Group

6th meeting: 4 October, London, UK

The focus group received updates from their representatives serving on British Standards Institute (BSI) and PIANC industry working groups and an update on the revision of Design and Construction Specifications of Marine Loading Arms. The group will continue its strong engagement with BSI and PIANC industry working groups and other civil engineering groups.

Next meeting: 21 March 2019, London, UK

North American Inland and Coastal Barging Focus Group

14th meeting: 3–4 October in Houston, USA (hosted by Martin Marine)

The focus group discussed:

• Preparation work for reviewing and updating the Barge Inspection Questionnaire (BIQ) and the Barge Particulars Questionnaire (BPQ) to meet regulations and following changes in the industry.
• Preparation work for the next SIRE CAT3 Inspector training due to be held in April/May 2019.
• The development of a North American inland and coastal barge operators seminar.

Next meeting: 12–13 March 2019, New Orleans, USA

2019 SIRE New Inspector course dates

New course added: CAT3SA, 26–28 March 2019, Argentina

For applicants who will inspect in South America. Observer places are available for current CAT1 & CAT3 Inspectors who inspect within this region.

CAT3 North America courses dates for 2019 will be announced later in the year. Registration will be possible once the dates are confirmed.

SIRE New Inspector courses

SIRE Refresher courses

ECDIS courses

All courses will only run if there are enough attendees. For more information on how to register please visit the SIRE programme page.