Issue 113

"Working efficiently, while reinforcing governance across the organisation, will ensure that we consistently perform well to deliver work that is valuable to our members and industry."

Director's Log 

June ExCom 89 was a success. It was wonderful to be able to host the Executive Committee at the OCIMF offices, with most attending in person. ExCom 89 showcased the great work the Secretariat and committees have been doing and I was able to share the fresh impressions I gained of OCIMF during my first six months. Better yet, I was able to communicate my vision for OCIMF going forward.

The OCIMF strategy was built with three strategic objectives and several related projects. Strategic objectives 1 and 2 were designed for building and implementing the strategy. We are now working in that strategy framework and have embedded specific actions in our organisational goals. Objective 3 is about improving operational efficiency. Over the next few years, we will focus our efforts on working efficiently to deliver our goals, keeping watch that we provide valuable work and avoid overly complicated solutions.

On the road to deliver the SIRE 2.0 project, we will continue to be agile and responsive. We will listen and learn to ensure a successful launch. This agile approach will form the basis of future OCIMF project management. In an ever-changing world, we will keep strengthening our data security, follow a risk-based approach, and strive to be thought leaders in our work, especially in support of climate action. Most importantly, we will build our OCIMF culture, developing inclusive habits, and insisting on demonstrating OCIMF values to support our mission.

ExCom 89 was an opportunity to set my vision in motion by stepping into strategy objective 3. Working efficiently, while reinforcing governance across the organisation, will ensure that we consistently perform well to deliver work that is valuable to our members and industry.

Until the next newsletter, I wish you a safe, healthy and happy August.

Karen Davis

Director OCIMF

International workshop on lessons learned takes place in Brazil

Clockwise from top: visit to the Angra dos Reis Terminal; visit to the full-bridge simulator in Transpetro's Academy; workshop participants; OCIMF's Filipe Santana speaks on the lessons learned panel.

OCIMF took part in an international workshop in June focussed on lessons learned in the operation of oil terminals.

Organised by the Society of Marine Oil Terminals and Monobuoy Operators (SLOM), a strategic partner of OCIMF’s, the workshop took place in the Brazilian capital of Rio de Janeiro and was attended by 12 oil companies and terminal operators, including many OCIMF members operating in the region.

OCIMF, SLOM and the Nautical Institute were present to support the discussions. A presentation given by OCIMF included discussion on human factors, the Marine Terminal Information System and Tanker Accident Database, and relevant books and information papers.

The two-day event from 23-24 June was also an opportunity to visit Transpetro’s central control room and the simulator centre at their offices in Rio. The day before, delegates visited the Terminal of Angra dos Reis, operated by Transpetro. These visits gave us an excellent opportunity to see on-site the application of OCIMF best practices, exchange experiences and address common challenges.

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

OCIMF attends Korean Register European Committee meeting

Korean Register held its 17th European Committee meeting in London on 4 July. The meeting’s purpose was to engage with the industry and present information on how new technology and ship-building activity is taking shape post-pandemic in South Korea.

The meeting was made up of key figures from the industry, including insurance and risk representatives, ICS, BIMCO, INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO and OCIMF. Discussions touched upon the challenges that the industry faces with crewing skills and supply of skilled seafarers, review of emerging technological solutions for building green ships, and development of environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics to support members.

At this meeting, OCIMF P&A Director Saurabh Sachdeva was granted membership of the Korean Register by Hyung Chul Lee, Chairman and CEO, welcoming OCIMF’s representation to the European Committee.

For more information and members’ access to the presentations, please contact Saurabh Sachdeva, P&A Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Together in Safety publishes Future Fuels Risk Assessment

Together in Safety (TiS) is a non-regulatory industry consortium connecting the maritime sector with the common purpose of working together to improve safety performance. TiS comprises shipping industry groups, including OCIMF, ICS, BIMCO, INTERTANKO, Intercargo, Interferry, Cruise Liners International, World Shipping Council, in addition to major shipping companies, Classification Societies, P&I insurance, and country representatives.

Recently, TiS published a Future Fuels Risk Assessment providing recommendations to the industry to assist in the safe deployment of future fuels. OCIMF was represented by the Engineering Expert Group in this workgroup and supported the series of hazard identification workshops with the purpose of identifying and prioritising recommendations. The study covered liquefied natural gas, hydrogen, methanol and ammonia. Supporting this work was a goal for 2021-2022 in OCIMF Environmental Plan.

The Future Fuels Risk Assessment can be found here.

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

IMO to celebrate 50 years of MARPOL

The IMO World Maritime Theme for 2023 will mark 50 years since the adoption of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and emphasise its ongoing commitment to protecting the marine environment. 

The convention was adopted in response to a number of tanker accidents, which similarly led to the founding of OCIMF in 1970 and our own efforts to drive higher safety and environmental standards for the tanker industry. 

Over the years, OCIMF has broadened its scope to cover all movement of hydrocarbons across tankers, barges, terminals and offshore. Our efforts are now being channelled to help safe decarbonisation of the maritime sector to achieve the net zero vision of our members and the IMO. OCIMF’s efforts to strengthen the new frameworks from a sound technical and operational standpoint are already well underway through our Environment Plan.

The MARPOL convention has evolved through the years. Some highlights include the requirement for oil/water separators on ships, phasing out of single hull oil tankers in 2010, the mandatory IMO Member State Audit Scheme in all MARPOL annexes and the introduction of the IMO 2020 global sulphur limit.

The adoption of the Initial IMO Greenhouse Gas Strategy in 2018 has set the policy framework for the development and adoption of further measures within MARPOL to enhance energy efficiency of ships.

More about the IMO theme can be found here.

For further queries, please contact Saurabh Sachdeva, P&A Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

OCIMF attends first General Assembly of the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance

OCIMF was represented at the first General Assembly of the Renewable and Low-Carbon Fuels Value Chain Industrial Alliance on 12 July. Over 200 delegates attended this new initiative created by the EU to bring together important stakeholders from manufacturing, supply, finance, users, and technology providers in the aviation and maritime sectors.

The aim is to unlock the potential of new solutions for low carbon future fuels through collaboration and to help drive development and penetration of energy efficient solutions for the transport sector. OCIMF P&A Director Saurabh Sachdeva shared with the delegates that no transition would be a success without seafarers’ safety and training being at the heart of their thinking. Any fuel solution needs to be safe to store, handle and transfer if it is to be used on board commercial and merchant vessels, especially as that ship or barge is a home for the seafarers for up to nine months.

The General Assembly sets the operational structures that will address the availability and affordability of renewable and low-carbon fuels, and will support the creation of a pipeline of investment projects.

The four Thematic Roundtables established at the General Assembly are:

• Feedstock and synergies between transport modes.
• Aviation.
• Waterborne transport.
• Access to funding and financing.

The call for membership to the four roundtables will be launched in September with a view to organise the constitutive meetings and the election of the chairs in the autumn.

For any further queries, please contact Saurabh Sachdeva, P&A Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Filipe Santana, Engineering Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. 

Global piracy and armed robbery report provides encouraging figures

The International Chamber of Commerce International Maritime Bureau’s (IMB) global piracy report for the first half of 2022 details 58 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships. This is the lowest total since 1994 – down from 68 incidents during the same period last year.

In the first six months of 2022, the IMB’s Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) reported 55 vessels boarded, two attempted attacks and one vessel hijacked.

The reduction in reported incidents is encouraging, but the IMB PRC continues to warn against complacency – vessels were boarded in 96% of the reported incidents. No crew kidnappings were reported during this period, but violence against and the threat to crews continues, with 23 crew taken hostage and a further five threatened.

Of the 58 incidents, 12 were reported in the Gulf of Guinea – ten defined as armed robberies and two as piracy. This highlights that the threat of Gulf of Guinea piracy and crew kidnappings remains.

OCIMF urges all seafarers to remain vigilant, report any suspicious activity to the authorities and adhere to BMP guidance. A copy of the report can be found here.
 
For more information, contact Russell Pegg, OCIMF Security Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

New adviser joins OCIMF

OCIMF is pleased to announce that Abhijit Aul will be joining as Risk and Regulatory Affairs Adviser in September 2022.

Abhijit has over ten years of experience as a marine engineering officer. He joined Lloyd’s Register in 2013 as an Engineer Surveyor, and since 2019 as Regulatory Affairs Lead. He has participated in EU-funded research projects and offers insight into technical and regulatory challenges introduced by new shipboard technologies, such as carbon capture and storage, and various low/zero-carbon fuels. He has advised flag administrations in developing the IMO interim recommendations for the carriage of liquefied hydrogen in bulk and the recent regulatory developments on the safety of ships using alternative marine fuels such as LPG, hydrogen and ammonia.

Please join us in welcoming Abhijit and wishing him every success in his new role at OCIMF.

Harmonised Vessel Particulars Questionnaire new edition launched

OCIMF and Chemical Distribution Institute (CDI) worked closely to develop the new 6th edition Harmonised Vessel Particulars Questionnaire (HVPQ6), which has been available to members and industry since 4 July.

Since then, over 800 new HVPQ6 documents have been created and over 575 published. The HVPQ6 versions now account for 5.24% of all published HVPQ documents within SIRE. The graph below shows the progress in the first three weeks since the launch - green represents new HVPQ6 documents. 

The transition from HVPQ5 to HVPQ6 will take six months, and a number of measures ranging from technical support to operational guidance have been provided to help the industry manage the change. The transition will be completed on 9 January 2023, after which submissions of HVPQ5 to either CDI or SIRE databases will no longer be possible. The development of the newly revised HVPQ6 document demonstrates OCIMF's continual engagement and cooperation with our sister industry organisations.

For support and queries please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Meeting reports

Environment Committee

• Intersessional meeting: 20 July 2022 (virtual)
• Chair: Sebastien Roche (TotalEnergies)
• Vice-chair: Holly Thomas (Woodside)
• Secretary: Filipe Santana (OCIMF Engineering Adviser)

The Environment Committee (EC) met virtually for an intersessional follow-up on the progress of the environmental goals for 2022-23. The meeting covered updates on EC actions covering the four OCIMF strategic pillars – publications, programmes, advocacy, and member collaboration. The group discussed the progress of the following goals, among others:

• Information paper on the use of onshore power supply.
• Information paper on the use of emissions control technologies.
• Information paper on the risks associated with shaft/engine power limitation, minimum power guidelines and speed reduction zones.
• Review of the Offshore Vessel Inspection Questionnaire (OVIQ3) on environmental barriers, strengthening barriers related to GHG and air pollution reduction.
• Discussion about Volatile Organic Compounds on the IMO Pollution Prevention and Response Sub-Committee.
• Engagement in the Marine Fuels Life Cycle Assessment Correspondence Group.

The group also started planning the following meeting, which will be in person.

Next meeting: 29 September 2022 (London)

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

Structures Expert Group

• 7th meeting: 22 July 2022 (virtual)
• Lead: Rabinder Manku (BP)
• Secretary: Filipe Santana (OCIMF Engineering Adviser)

The Structures Expert Group (SEG) provides subject matter expertise in naval architecture and civil engineering to the OCIMF Publications and Advocacy Committees. SEG focuses on key areas on terminals, tankers, offshore vessels and barges, which include:

• Design, construction, maintenance and repair of vessel structures.
• Design, construction, maintenance and repair of structures of marine floating systems.
• Structural integrity and coating of hull, superstructure and external weather decks – including ice strengthening.
• Design, construction, maintenance and repair of structures at the marine terminal and offshore interfaces.

During the meeting, the SEG discussed the progress of reviews and revisions of publications in alignment with the OCIMF Publications Plan. Additionally, updates on the expert group work overview and external activities were provided. Finally, the group planned future work, which includes supporting two new publications being produced as part of the OCIMF environmental goals.

Next meeting: October 2022 (TBC)

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

Nautical Expert Group

• 6th meeting: 12 July 2022 (virtual)
• Lead: Nitin Malik (Chevron)
• Co-leads: Ken Fernandes (Cepsa) and Ola Olubowale (Viva Energy)
• Secretary: Kevin Coelho (Nautical Adviser)

The Nautical Expert Group met virtually for its sixth meeting in July 2022. The topics listed below were discussed and progressed:

• The Communities of Practice (CoP) Champion updated the team on the various topics of discussion and the level of engagement. There is ongoing work within the secretariat to modify this platform to enable a better experience for the end user.
• The joint industry suite of videos, ‘The Missing Link’, which was released in May, has received a lot of praise from industry. An article was posted in the June newsletter.
• A review of the Publications Plan – documents that fall under the Nautical Expert Group. Good progress has been made so far, with two more documents currently being worked on.
• A presentation on human factors was given by a guest speaker from the World Maritime University along with the chair of the Human Factors Committee, which was well received.
• The Secretary briefed the group on mapping of maritime risks and tying this back to the bow ties.
• The Secretary briefed the team on the need for greater collaboration between the expert groups. Towards this, there will be separate meetings where the Chairs/Leads meet and collaborate.

Next meeting: February 2023 (virtual) with a possible intersessional meeting before the end of this year.
 
For enquiries, contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ship to Shore Interfaces Expert Group

• 6th meeting: 13 July 2022 (virtual)
• Lead: Bharat Bhatia (Shell)
• Co-leads: Mohammed Majdali (Aramco) and Mohd Hanafi (MISC)
• Secretary: Kevin Coelho (Nautical Adviser)

The Ship to Shore Interfaces Expert Group met virtually for its sixth meeting in July 2022 to discuss various agenda items including the ones listed below:

• The Communities of Practice (CoP) Champion updated the team on the various topics of discussion and the level of engagement. There is ongoing work within the Secretariat to modify this platform to enable a better experience for the end user.
• A review of the Publications Plan – documents that fell under the Ship to Shore Interfaces Expert Group. Good progress has been made, with a high-level review of two more documents taking place currently (Manning at Conventional Marine Terminals and Marine Terminal Management and Self Assessment)
• The expert group members met in May to discuss how the Marine Terminal Particulars Questionnaire 2nd edition (MTPQ2) and new Vessel-Berth comparison tool (VBCT) were performing in the MTIS programme platform. A lot of time was spent on the MTIS update by the vendor and expert group members. A good amount of work is being done in the background to improve this platform. The chair encouraged the team to continue promoting the use of MTIS within their organisations.
• It is worth reiterating that members of this group who have supported the SIRE 2.0 project team in developing the tablet promotion strategy, are currently promoting and enabling tablet acceptance within their organisations for future use.
• A guest speaker from the World Maritime University gave a presentation on human factors, along with the chair of the Human Factors Committee. This was well received by the group as well as the presenters.
• The Secretary briefed the group on mapping of maritime risks and tying this back to the bow ties.
• The Secretary briefed the team on the need for greater collaboration between the expert groups. Towards this, there will be separate meetings where the Chairs/Leads meet and collaborate.
• The expert group welcomes a new nominee, Ng Yeow Kiat from ExxonMobil, who replaced outgoing rep James Stephens. The expert group would like to thank James for his contributions and wish him well for the future.

Next meeting: February 2023 (virtual/face to face) with a possible intersessional meeting before the end of this year.
 
For enquiries, contact Kevin Coelho, OCIMF Nautical Adviser, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ship-to-Ship Expert Group

• 6th meeting: 14 July 2022 (virtual)
• Lead: Patricia Clarke (Aramco)
• Co-leads: Hemant Berry (Ampol), Bill Kappelman (Chevron)
• Secretary: Kevin Coelho (Nautical Adviser)

The Ship-to-Ship Expert Group (STSEG) met virtually for its sixth meeting in July 2022. The following topics were discussed and progressed:

• The Communities of Practice (CoP) Champion updated the team on the various topics of discussion and the level of engagement. There is ongoing work within the secretariat to modify this platform to enable a better experience for the end user.
• A review was undertaken of the Publications Plan – documents that fall under the STSEG. Good progress has been made so far, with a high-level review of one document to be worked on in the coming months, the Ship to Ship Transfer Guide. This is a joint publication with CDI, ICS and SIGTTO, who have been consulted to participate in the review.
• It was noted that the information paper Mooring Load Analysis during Ship to Ship Transfer Operations was published in May 2022.
• The group discussed how OCIMF can best engage with the Regional STS Forums. This is currently being worked on and the plan will be finalised soon towards resuming this key relationship.
• A guest speaker from the World Maritime University gave a presentation on human factors, along with the chair of the Human Factors Committee. This was well received by the group as well as the presenters.
• The Secretary briefed the group on mapping of maritime risks and tying this back to the bow ties.
• The Secretary briefed the team on the need for greater collaboration between the expert groups. Towards this, there will be separate meetings where the Chairs/Leads meet and collaborate.

Next meeting: Feb 2023 (Virtual/face to face if confirmed to be working on publications, TBC) with a possible intersessional meeting to take place before the end of this year.

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