TOJan Feb 16

TANKEROperator
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016
www.tankeroperator.com
Features:

Plenty more oil to ship

All change at the IMO
Q88 goes into voyage management
Damage stability verification
Tank coatings
Tank washing water analysis

the Republic
of the Marshall
Islands is the

for some of
the worlds

companies
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International Registries, Inc.

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Contents
04
Markets
Orderbook concerns
Unipec top charterer
06
Middle East Report

OPECdriven market
Robotic hull cleaning
Yards benefit from tanker repairs
12
Flag States
IMO amendments in place
Conventions rely on flag states
Operations
14 Commercial
Q88 diversifies
Up in the clouds
LTOPS celebrates
20
Anti-Piracy
Intelligent solution
PMSC listings
22 Technology
22 Damage Stability
24 IMO project go ahead
Planning station launched
Duplicate reporting
Performance optimisation
28 Fouling Prevention
Fuji enters market
Hempels new antifouling
New tank Coatings
33 Tank Services
Washing water analysis
Front cover - Qatar has ramped up its maritime offering in the past few years, which includes offering shiprepair at the giant Ras
Laffan harbour complex.
Perhaps better known as an LNG loading port, Ras Laffan now plays host to all types of vessels at the joint venture Nakilat-Keppel
Offshore & Marine (N-KOM).
Most notably, both N-KOM and Oman Drydock Co at Duqm are giving the previous big two - Dubai Drydocks and ASRY a run for
their money.
With large tankers back in vogue, the Middle East shiprepairers gamble in building huge facilities seems to be paying off.
January/February 2016
TANKEROperator
01
COMMENT
A lot to think about as we head

into 2016 not least political and
regulatory events
Continuing the theme of
Decembers comment, this year
has started off with large tanker
rates heading south, while product
tanker earnings headed north.
If you listen to the the doom mongers, there
could be a bloodbath to come later this year as
the newbuildings start to role off the production
line in greater numbers. And there are still
newbuildings being contracted on a regular
basis. I suppose somebody has to prop up the
ailing shipyards.
Exacerbating the problem is the fact that
there are currently very few scrap candidates,
as most of entire tanker fleet is relatively
young. In the moribund drybulk and
containership sectors, we have seen vessels as
young as 15 years being sold for recycling, as
rates continued to slide, primarily due to
overcapacity and a reduction in raw material
needs.
Will the oil still flow freely this year? While
the so called Implementation Day freeing up
Iran occurred over the weekend 16th-17th
January and there were rumours that Russia
will cut back on exports in a secret deal with
Saudi Arabia, the oil flow looks unlikely to
slow down in the near future, unless
geopolitical events get out of control.
Following the Iran agreement, millions of
barrels of oil could be released onto an already
saturated market from the 25 or so large
tankers storing the oil in the Gulf. There are
also huge infrastructure projects ready to get
the all clear, but at the time of writing it was
too early to tell what effect the lifting of
sanctions would bring. It will probably take
several months for most of the projects and the

oil to filter through.
Despite rates for large tankers coming off the
boil in mid-January, owners were still in a party
mood, illustrated by Euronavs Paddy Rodgers
who took a swipe at his companys share price
by claiming that everything in the garden was
lovely so why didnt the share price reflect this.
Ive never been convinced that shipping
companies should be run for the benefit of their
shareholders, although admitting that for some,
they are an important part of the finance
structure. In general, analysts havnt the faintest
clue about the vagaries of shipping with one or
two exceptions yet with one sentence, they can
influence the publics perception of a
companys performance and thus the share
price.
Will the price of oil fall to $10 per barrel as
some people are predicting? That would
certainly mark the end of E&P projects going
forward. What will happen to gas prices?
Anybody who knows the answers to these
questions, please respond to the Editor on the
back of a 50 note, as he might be in need of it.
Ballast water
Changing the subject, over at the IMO, the
great and the good have been counting up the
tonnage of vessels entered into those flag state
administrations who have ratified the Ballast
Water Convention to see if the magic number
has been reached to trigger the mad stampede
to fit equipment. Unfortunately, the answer
was - NO.
It seems that we are 0.44% short of the
required 35% of tonnage needed for
ratification to kick in, despite 47 countries

signing up. At the time of writing in midJanuary, one more medium to major size flag
state was needed to put us all out of our
misery. Step up Panama.
Vessel efficiency is still on everyones lips
but with the bunker prices falling in line with
the oil price, peoples attention has switched to
emissions control.
The software providers and equipment
manufacturers have changed their sales pitches
to show how their software/equipment can
monitor/save emissions. By and large the
owners and managers have, probably quite
rightly, bought into this, as there is seemingly
no lack of interest.
The BIMCO/ICS Manpower Report is due
to be published next month or so Im told,
which will probably make grim reading, as it
did when the last one was published. At a
guess, it will say that there is still a severe
shortage of officer material coming through, at
a time when the worlds fleet is expanding.
Returning to the IMO, the organisation has
continued its Asian theme by electing a South
Korean as its new secretary general. We wish
him well in the quest to bring everybody in the
industry and beyond together to promote this
years theme Shipping: indispensable to the
world, at a time when certain factions are
trying to promote unilateral regulations and
world tensions seemingly increase.
With over 90% of the worlds goods travel
by sea in more than 50,000 ships operated by
over 1 mill seafarers worldwide, I think that
you would agree that this needs some
TO
regulating.
TANKEROperator
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TANKEROperator January/February 2016
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INDUSTRY - MARKETS
Storm clouds ahead

Last year saw tanker owner returns at multi-year highs.
here were numerous surprises in
2015, not least the plummeting oil
price resulting in falling bunker
prices and boosting earnings,
Gibson Research reported in a newsletter.
Low oil prices stimulated the worlds
consumption, which, according to the IEA,
increased by 1.8 mill barrels per day.
Overall, last year was particularly favourable
for VLCC owners, Gibson said, as returns
gradually increased throughout the year, except
the seasonal downturn seen in August. For
example, VLCC earnings exceeded the
$100,000 per day mark at the beginning of
October for the first time since 2008.
The smaller sized crude tankers also showed
healthy returns.
At of mid/end of December, the long awaited
contango game on the back of an oversupply of
crude, had failed to materialise, as the curve did
not become sufficiently steep to justify the
associated higher freight costs.
Tonne/miles continued to grow, as higher
crude production and increased flows from the
Atlantic Basin to the East underpinned demand
growth. Simultaneously, MEG producers
aggressively defended their market share,
exporting oil both to the East and West.
After the northern hemisphere summer, we
saw Chinese economic volatility but despite
lower economic growth, China continued to fill
its strategic oil reserves. In addition, the
authorities increased crude import quotas for
the smaller teapot refineries, supporting
higher crude imports at the expense of fuel oil.
These factors also offered support to the VLCC
sector, Gibson said.

Last year also saw the agreement to lift
sanctions against Iran and the country will seek
to regain its market share, as the sanctions have
been lifted, possibly by early this year. As this
has now occurred, Iran could release millions
of barrels of crude and condensate onto the
market, much of which is currently stored on
tankers in the Gulf.
Despite several OPEC members voicing
concern over lower oil prices having an affect
on their national economies, the organisation
effectively removed the output ceiling at its
December Vienna meeting.
Products trades
In the products trades, increasing long haul
product exports out of new Middle East
refineries resulted in a notable increase in spot
fixtures for larger product tankers trading East
of Suez. In the West, the success of the US
refining sector, despite the recent turmoil seen
in the shale oil industry, supported trade out of
the US Gulf. Exports of clean products from
Russia also continued to grow.
In addition, the oil price volatility fuelled
arbitrage driven products trade, particularly in
the first half of 2015. However, with rising
products inventories worldwide, the clean
tanker market experienced greater downward
pressure in the later stages of the year, Gibson
said.
The tanker sector benefited from limited fleet
growth across most types during the past 12
months. Nevertheless, the size of the orderbook
did give cause for concern. Total orders placed
Rates (TCE at market speed)
up to the third week of December numbered

346, a level not seen since 2007.
Financing instruments have changed
dramatically over the past few years with much
greater involvement seen from private equity
and hedge funds, as traditional shipping banks
were forced to reduce their exposure to higher
risk investments.
However, with many stakeholders taking the
view that the tanker market has peaked, it is not
surprising to see many major investors cashing
in on their investments.
In addition, the malaise in the drycargo
markets has persuaded several owners to switch
orders to tankers, thus further swelling this
orderbook. The effect on tanker supply is
expected to be seen in the latter stages of this
year.
Thus what lies ahead for 2016 is an
interesting question with the year both full of
opportunities and threats, Gibson concluded. TO
***According to Gibsons latest figures there
were 642 VLCCs in service as of the middle of
December, 484 Suezmax/LR3s, 932
Aframax/LR2s, 413 Panamax/LR1s and 1,873
Handysize/MRs.
At the same time, there were 705 tankers on
order of 25,000 dwt or over, compared with 561
in December, 2014 and 183 tankers were
delivered, compared with 157 in 2014.
Perhaps of even more significance going
forward was that only 28 tankers of 25,000 dwt
or over were recycled last year, a figure which
included only one VLCC, compared with 74 in
2014, which included 12 VLCCs.
WS-TCE$/day
DEC 2014
Dec 2015
Low
High
VLCC (MEG/Japan)
67 - 75,250
86 - 119,500
29
92.5
Suezmax (WAfrica-UK/Cont)
90 - 50,000
79 - 48,250
50
135
Aframax (NSea-UK/Cont)
114 - 39,750
114 - 47,750
82.5
190
LR2 (MEG-Japan)
102 - 28,250
88 - 29,000
69
175
LR1 (MEG-Japan)
115 - 23,250
94 - 22,000
75
175
MR (UK/Cont-USAC)
191 - 32,750
120 - 19,750
97.5
202.5
Source: EA Gibson.
04
INDUSTRY - MARKETS
Unipec dominated
dirty spot fixtures
last year
Poten & Partners has published its listing of the Top 20 dirty spot fixtures for 2015.
nce again, Unipec remained the
largest dirty spot charterer in
2015.
Top spot is a position that Unipec is unlikely

to lose anytime soon, despite slowing oil
demand growth in China, Poten said in its
annual review.
The most significant upward movers in the
rankings last year were the Indian Oil Co
(IOC), up from 10th in 2014 to 4th in 2015;
Litasco (from 11th to 8th) and Bahri (from 23rd
to 12th).
Some of the large, established oil majors
dropped down the list. For example,
ExxonMobil fell slightly from 4th to 5th, while
BP dropped from 5th to 10th in the ranking.
A notable new entrant in at No 17 was
commodities trader Trafigura.
In the VLCC segment, Unipec continued to
be the dominant charterer with 511 reported
fixtures, more than four times the second
largest player in this segment -IOC - for which
Poten recorded 118 fixtures last year. IOC was
followed closely by Bahri (114 fixtures),
Reliance (111) and Petrochina (107).
Chevron continued to lead the pack in the
Suezmax segment, followed by Repsol (2nd)
and Unipec (3rd). The Chinese charterer had
moved up from eighth place in 2014.
The western oil majors were generally well
represented in the top of the Suezmax rankings,
with Chevron, Repsol, ExxonMobil, Shell,
CSSA (Total) and BP all listed in the top 10.
Turning to the Aframax segment, Vitol
overtook past leader Shell for the number one
spot. Similar to last year, this segment is where
the traders were best represented, as five of the
top 10 charterers were considered to be
international trading companies.
This year has started with a bang, Poten said.
In the first week of 2016, significant
gyrations in the stock markets were seen in
combination with falling oil prices and
increasing geopolitical tension.
This is shaping up to be another interesting
year in the oil and tanker market.

The above report was assembled from
market intelligence and reported spot market
activity. However, it may not provide a
complete picture of the market, due to the
private nature of many spot market fixtures,
Poten said.
Europe and Latin America.

The impact on product carriers will depend
on the relative competitiveness of the US Gulf
refiners. While the feedstock pricing advantage
will probably diminish, refiners still have
access to cheap gas and remain close to key
markets in Europe and Latin America.
US crude exports
Jones Act question
Addressing US crude oil exports, which started
The US lifting of the crude export ban will
on 31st December, Poten said that in the shortprobably be negative for the Jones Act market,
term, only ports in the US Gulf have the
which had received a boost from the coastwise
capability to load crude oil on vessels for
crude oil shipments in the past. However,
export.
these movements, which had already declined
Most facilities in this area only support
significantly last year, may disappear
TO
Aframaxes but some (such as Corpus Christi)
altogether, Poten concluded.
will be able to handle Suezmaxes in the future.
VLCCs may be used in the short term if the
economics
Reported % of Total
support reverse
2015
Total
Cargo
Dirty
2014
2015 No.
lightering in the
Rank
Charterer
(MT
000's)
Cargo
Rank
Fixtures
Gulf. Louisiana
1
Unipec
168,425
13.4%
1
809
Offshore Oil
2 Shell
62,003
4.9%
2
605
Port (LOOP) is
3 Vitol
55,908
4.4%
3
595
the only VLCC
4 IOC
48,761
3.9%
10
270
facility in the
5 ExxonMobil
45,711
3.6%
4
326
Gulf and is
6 Chevron
42,703
3.4%
6
360
considering
7 Petrochina
39,095
3.1%
7
211
starting to offer
8 Litasco
35,987
2.9%
11
345
loading services
9 CSSA
35,608
2.8%
8
323
by 2018 and
10 BP
35,383
2.8%
5
405
adding storage
11 Reliance
34,745
2.8%
9
165
capacity, but
12 Bahri
32,315
2.6%
23
117
reconfiguring
13 ST Shipping
31,108
2.5%
13
304
LOOP will take
time and
14 Repsol
29,308
2.3%
12
270
money.
15 Petrobras
26,870
2.1%
14
196
Initial crude
16 CNR
26,683
2.1%
15
245
oil exports from
17 Trafigura
23,265
1.9%
31
218
the US will
18 Clearlake
20,672
1.6%
20
264
probably take
19 Socar
19,671
1.6%
16
231
place on
20 PTT
18,345
1.5%
22
115
Aframax
Top 20
832,565
66.2%
6,374
vessels,
Others
424,540
33.8%
3,676
targeting shortTotal
1,257,106
10,050
haul markets in
TANKEROperator
Source: Poten & Partners

05
INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT
OPEC strategy
stimulates MEG
tanker market
Despite deepening dismay at falling oil prices, OPECs strategy of going for market share
at any price continues to underpin tanker demand and generate healthy returns for
owners, writes Paul Bartlett.
he OPEC strategy, spearheaded by
Saudi Arabia and supported by
other MEG producers, including
Kuwait and the UAE, is deeply
unpopular with some other OPEC members
but for the moment it still stands, even as oil
looks likely to fall through the psychologically
important $30 per barrel level.
The main aim of the strategy is to
marginalise tomorrows more expensive oil,
notably US shale oil and new reserves lying in
regions where the four Ds apply deep,
distant, difficult and dangerous. There is no
doubt that this objective is working.
Meanwhile, crude oil production in Saudi
Arabia, Abu Dhabi and other Gulf states
continues to rise as the producers go for
market share whatever the price.
Figures released recently by London
broking house Howe Robinsons head of
tanker research, Stavroula Betsakou, revealed
that crude production amongst Gulf countries
has risen from a low point of 21 mill barrels
per day early in 2009 to more than 25 mill
barrels per day today. Spot fixtures follow the
market closely, she said, and export volumes
will continue to climb.
Brokers expect some volatility in rates but
believe that VLCC spot earnings of around
$100,000 per day could well be sustained for
some time. This is partly as result of low oil
prices and rising crude demand, partly a result
of increasing tonne/miles, and partly a result
of the present contango in energy prices,
which is stimulating greater-than-usual crude
storage at sea.
The worlds dependence on Middle East
crude may be an unsettling fact for many, but
it is not about to change any time soon.
According to figures cited by Betsakou, the
US still relies on Gulf-produced crude oil for
about 20% of its requirements and the EU for
06
around 15% of its needs. However, the picture

to the east is dramatically different. China and
Japan both depend on Middle East crude oil
for between 80-90% of their requirements,
India 60% and South Korea 50%.
Refinery expansion
However, it is not only the crude shipping
market that is on a roll. Rapid refinery
expansion in the Middle East is also a catalyst
in stimulating long-haul products demand,
Betsakou pointed out. She listed a string of
new refinery projects, either planned or under
construction. Between now and 2020, she said
that an extra 2.5 mill barrels per day of
refinery capacity will come on stream in the
Middle East.
Recently completed projects include
expansion at the Ruwais refinery in Abu
Dhabi, a project that has doubled capacity to
more than 800,000 barrels per day. Meanwhile
Saudi Arabia has recently commissioned new
facilities at Yanbu Yasref (400,000 barrels per

day), and Jubail Satorp, also 400,000 barrels
per day.
Saudi is also building a new 400,000 barrels
per day refinery at Jizan, while Iraq has two
new facilities under construction the 150,000
barrels per day Maysan Iraq and the 140,000
barrels per day Karbala Iraq. The country is
also expanding capacity by 70,000 barrels per
day at Basrah Iraq.
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait is closing
its Shuaiba facility and reducing output at the
Mina al-Ahmadi refinery. But this reduction
will be more than offset by a new plant at Al
Zour, with a planned capacity of 400,000
barrels per day.
Other refineries planned or under
construction in the region include a 230,000
barrels per day plant at Duqm in Oman, a
200,000 barrels per day facility in Fujairah
and expansion at existing facilities in Sohar,
Oman and Sitra, Bahrain.
TO
An example of rapidly expanding shipping compnies in the area came late last year when
Oman Shipping Co (OSC) took delivery of the MRs Muscat Silver and Rustaq Silver. They
were the first in a series of 10 newbuilding sisters, all of which will be chartered to Shell
(STASCO) and will be managed by OSC subsidiary Oman Ship Management Co (OSMC).
Robotic hull cleaning

company targets
tanker sector
GACs Simon Dorans robotic hull cleaning system, HullWiper, is proving increasingly
popular amongst the owners of many ship types, including container ships, cruise vessels,
ferries and LNGCs, writes Paul Bartlett.
n little more than two years following
its 2013 Dubai launch, the Gulf Agency
Company (GAC) backed ROV-based
system has gone from strength to
strength, with service stations opening in
various key regions.
Now, the managing director of GAC
EnvironHull is keen to target the tanker
market. With operations in Dubai, Fujairah
(covering Khor Fakkan) and Singapore, Doran
and his team are well placed to do so. A
service station in Rotterdam is also being set
up and other HullWiper locations include
Jebel Ali, Valencia and Gothenburg.
Meanwhile the Norwegian Climate and
Pollution Agency has approved the system for
use around the Norwegian coast.
Dorans medium-term geographical plans
include new set-ups in Brisbane, Busan, Hong
Kong, Los Angeles, Panama, Shanghai,
Southampton, Suez and Tanjung Pelepas. The
service, he hopes, will be available around the
world.
Doran explained his tanker strategy. "To be
honest, we have not attended as many tankers
as some other ship types so far, he said, but
large flat hulls with large flat surface areas are
ideal and make our system very attractive
compared to alternatives.
We have key locations in the UAE at
Dubai, Fujairah and Khor Fakkan, and we plan
to target the rapidly expanding products tanker
sector exporting from this region with more
options as we in turn expand geographically,
he added.
The economics are compelling. Even though
the robotic process costs more, this is more
than offset by time savings. The process is
significantly quicker and can be undertaken at
the same time as a vessel is loading or
discharging.
In a demonstration to Chevron, an 8,000 sq
m area of vertical sides of one of the oil
majors vessels was cleaned in just seven

hours. Meanwhile, in a test independently
validated by Kyma Ship Performance
Analyzers, fuel savings of 80 tonnes per day
were achieved on board a previously badly
fouled LNGC.
Doran is himself an ex-diver and believes
fervently that human lives should not be put at
risk by undertaking such a menial task as
cleaning ships bottoms. He reflected with
clear dismay on diver casualties, which still
occur today despite the fact that several
robotic and diver-less systems, besides
HullWiper, are available.
However, HullWiper has some clear
differentiators. The system is transforming
what has been a time-consuming, labourintensive and dangerous procedure undertaken
by divers with brush carts into a fast, effective
and far more thorough fully automated
process, controlled from a service vessel
adjacent to the ship being cleaned.
Innovative aspects
The system has a number of innovative
aspects. A key selling point is the fact that
there is no physical contact between the
robotic device and a ships hull. It uses high
pressure water jets rather than brushes
allowing it to gain approved supplier status
or letters of accreditation from leading hull
coatings manufacturers, including
International, Jotun and Sigma (PPG).
Brushes, on the other hand, can damage the
surface of certain hull coatings which, as a
result, can lead to faster fouling.
HullWiper is also environmentally sound
because the underwater cleaning device, which
is 1.2 m wide and comprises three turntables
with four nozzles on each, captures all of the
waste material and marine growth so that it
can be disposed of ashore safely and
sustainably. In Fujairah, for example, it is
TANKEROperator
The unmanned HullWiper is now being

marketed to the tank sector.
burnt in the local cement factory and in Dubai,

it is used as landfill. There is even potential to
make the waste material into breezeblock-type
bricks for use in the construction industry.
Hull cleaning is banned in many ports and
in coastal waters to prevent potential damage
to the marine environment. But the fact that all
of the waste is captured means that HullWiper
can be used in ports and harbours, and at layby berths and anchorages, including the
Western Anchorage in Singapore. Indeed, the
Norwegians would not have signed the system
off if there were any potential danger to their
waters, Doran pointed out.
Doran noted the substantial number of
unfixed tankers, which wait for cargoes in and
around Gulf waters. Even at todays relatively
cheap bunker prices, a smooth hull still saves
fuel and potentially facilitates faster steaming
and in the current buoyant tanker market, that
definitely has a value.
TO
07
Repair yards attract

tanker traffic
Since the 1970s, shiprepair has formed an important part of the services offered to
tanker owners and managers in the Middle East.
here at least four shiprepair
companies with large facilities
capable of handling VLCCs located
at Ras Laffan, Bahrain, Dubai and
Duqm, Oman.
Tanker Operator took a look at one of the
newer repair yards set up about five years ago
in Qatar.
Nakilat-Keppel Offshore & Marine (NKOM), a joint-venture shipyard of Keppel
Offshore & Marine and Nakilat, continued to
see significant interest for its shiprepair
services in 2015, the company said.
The Ras Laffan-based shiprepairer has
undertaken more than 500 projects for
shipping, oil and gas companies during its five
years of operation. Among the shipyards
growing list of customers are Odfjell, Maran
Tankers, Diamond Shipping, Springfield
Shipping, Donnelly Tankers, Synergy
Maritime, Euronav, Dynacom Tankers, V
Ships, NYK Shipmanagement and many
others.
For example, Greeces Springfield Shipping
awarded N-KOM repair work on another two
vessels, the Suezmax Olympic Future and
Aframax Olympic Sky, following the
successful repair of the VLCC Olympic
Liberty in June, 2015. Routine drydocking and
repairs were carried out on both vessels.
N-KOM also won its first vessel repair from
Cyprus, with the arrival of Donnelly Tankers
LR1 Hafnia Arctic. This project was of
greater significance, as she was the first vessel
to dock in the shipyards new VLCC-size
floating dock, which measures 405 m by 66 m
and has a lifting capacity of 120,000 tonnes.
She was docked for emergency repairs to her
controllable pitch propeller (CPP) shaft.
As well as Springfield, the Greek market
was well represented in the early months of
2015, including tankers managed by Maran
Gas, Maran Tankers, TMS Tankers, Samos
Steamships, Sun Enterprises, Dynacom
Tankers, Chandris Hellas, Aegean Bunkering

and Consolidated Marine Management
(CMM).
Duct installations
There was a noticeable trend amongst the
Greek clients to install Schneekluth and
MEWIS ducts on their vessels. For example,
two Schneekluth duct installations were carried
out during the drydocking and repairs on TMS
Tankers Suezmax Vadela and Aframax
Myrtos. Other notable work carried out on
the vessels were HFO/MGO piping
modifications, turbocharger repairs at the
yards machinery workshop and extensive hull
blasting & application of Internationals
Intersleek coating.
MEWIS duct installations were carried out
on Euronavs Suezmax Fraternity and Maran
Tankers Suezmax sisters Maran Penelope
and Maran Poseidon. Key repairs carried out
on the Maran vessels included the overhauling
ASRY appoints new shiprepair manager

Bahrain-based ASRY has
recruited Charles Maher as its
new general manager (GM) for the
shiprepair division, effective 4th
January, 2016.
Maher brings more than 15 years of
corporate and hands-on technical shipyard
experience gained at Dormac Marine &
Engineering, Grand Bahamas Shipyard, and
Southern African Shipyards.
He leads ASRYs newly restructured
shiprepair division. Mahers appointment
overlapped with the outgoing shiprepair GM,
Magdy Sharkawy, who retires in February, to
ensure a comprehensive transition of the role
and a seamless client handover, the company
said
This new addition to the senior
management team, said ASRY CEO, Nils
08
Kristian Berge, will not only carefully pass

on ASRYs client portfolio to fresh hands, but
will also inject a new energy and vitality into
the process of attracting new customers.
Mahers previous experience, both corporate
as a new business development manager, and
technical with years of project management
experience, will no doubt build on Magdy
Sharkawys hard work and provide a strategic
advantage as ASRY continues to navigate the
global shipping markets ever-changing
conditions. We wish Magdy best of luck in his
retirement, and express the firms deep
appreciation for his decades of service.
Maher, a South African national, was
previously GM marketing new business
development at South African Shipyards. Prior
to that Maher was business development
manager offshore at Dormac Marine &
Charles Maher.
Engineering for several years, after over a

decade of project management experience at
Dormac and Grand Bahamas Shipyards.
Two Euronav Shipmanagement crude oil tankers - the VLCC Hakone and Suezmax Devon - undergoing repairs at N-KOM.
of the main engines and auxiliaries (including

turbochargers), overhauling of the cargo
pumps, valves and alternators, steel renewal
and propeller treatment, as well as hull
treatment and coating work.
Dynacom Tankers Suezmax Zouzou N
underwent her first special survey, which
included routine drydocking repairs, such as
propeller refit, cargo tank repairs and
overhauling of the vessels ABB turbochargers.
She was the third tanker from Dynacom to be
repaired at N-KOM since November, 2014,
with the fourth arriving during July, 2015.
There has been a significant increase in the
number of chemical tanker repairs carried out
at N-KOM in the past year. New clients
vessels, such as Unix Line (Singapore), Odfjell

Management (Norway), Diamond Shipping
(US) and V Ships (Norway), were docked.
Odfjell carried out its first drydocking at the
shipyard with the chemical tanker Bow Star.
The 49,487 dwt vessel underwent pipe
fabrication and installation for its bunker tank
conversion from HFO to MDO, ballast tanks
steel repair, cargo piping manifold
modification, cargo and bunker lines pressure
testing and complete servicing of its shaft
generator compensator motor amongst others.
Major steelworks were carried out on the
19,440 dwt Argent Blooms bottom plate
repair during her drydocking. In addition, NKOM completed afloat repairs on its first
Dubai Maritime Training Centre

The Dubai Maritime City Authority
(DMCA), the government authority
charged with regulating, coordinating and supervising all
aspects of Dubais maritime
sector, has praised the operations
of the Dubai Maritime Training
Centre.
The centre was an initiative developed by
the Dubai Maritime Creativity Lab, which was
launched earlier by DMCA and its work
revolves around supporting the governments
efforts to introduce and position Dubai as a
safe and sustainable maritime hub via the
implementation of comprehensive set of
10
world-class workshops and training

programmes.
Amer Ali, DMCA executive director, said,
The workshops and training courses
introduced by the centre have been created
based on highly accurate and comprehensive
methodology, industry knowledge exchange
and the integration of theoretic maritime
education and practical training.
DMCA has initiated a wide-scale plan to
renovate and update training facilities and
provide it with the latest technologies and
equipment in order to achieve the objectives
for the optimal investment in human
resources,he said.
vessel from V-Ships (Norway) - the 40,354 dwt

product tanker Simoa. Key highlights
included extensive repairs carried out on the
main engine, boiler washing, overhauling and
re-tubing of the cargo tank heaters, drain
condensers, auxiliary engine turbochargers,
governors and seawater pumps.
The shipyard also completed repairs to two
other chemical tankers this year, on Odfjell
Asias 37,252 dwt Bow Riyad and the MR
Zouzou. In the shipyard for her third special
survey, Bow Riyad underwent routine
drydocking maintenance repairs, primarily for
her stainless steel cargo tanks and
turbochargers. Other jobs such as gas inlet
casing renewal, copper nickel pipes flange
renewal and cargo lines pressure testing were
also executed.
Looking at yard developments last year, as
mentioned N-KOM started operating its new
VLCC-size floating dock. This is in addition to
its two VLCC-size graving docks (400 m x 80
m and 360 m x 66 m), afloat berthing capacity
of 3,150 m and comprehensive workshops and
facilities in operation since 2011.
N-KOM also entered into an agreement with
Wrtsil last year, which now provides a wide
range of services on site at the shipyard, such
as main engine piston crown reconditioning
and chrome plating. Wrtsil is now a resident
sub-contractor at the facility, along with other
service providers, such as MAN Diesel &
Turbo, Wilhelmsen, Turbo Technik and
Cargotec, among others.
TO
Oman Drydock
announces busy half
year
Oman Drydock Co (ODC) has reported one of its busiest six month periods to date for
drydockings, conversions and repairs, following its launch in 2011.
DC deputy CEO Dr Ahmed Al
Abri, said the period July to
December, 2015 saw the shipyard
undertake a range of drydockings
taking the total number handled since it opened
to 375.
The work was completed for a wide variety
of clients including Maran Tankers, Dynacom,
SCI, Springfield, Synergy, Gulf Marine, Oman
Shipping, Maersk, Exmar, NYK, Red Sea and
Sea Traders.
All types of vessels were handled including
VLCCs, other crude and chemical carriers.
We are immensely proud of the work we
have done in the last six months, he said. The
complex range of contracts shows the worldclass skills, facilities and expertise that we
have. October saw ODC complete our third
major conversion of an OBO to a VLCC for
Springfield this year. These massive
conversions are right at the cutting edge of
shipyard engineering employing 500 men and
deploying the considerable expertise of our
Korean partner DSME.
The conversion works entailed removing
bulkhead covers and installing new swash
bulkheads and making the vessels multifunctional for more efficient loading. Between
the three conversions we fabricated close to 120
blocks between 50 and 80 tonnes. This enabled
us to build in larger portions, reducing on time

and cost. We believe this track record in
conversions sends a powerful message to the
shipping industry and can catapult us further
into the multi-billion global conversion
industry, he said.
Dr Al Abri said other important jobs in the
last six months have included applying an
epoxy tank coating to a product tanker to a tight
deadline and very high standard.
Work expansion
He also said that in 2016, ODC will be looking
to extend its work scope and offer specialist
services, such as complex painting, retrofitting,
modification, restructuring and the installation
of ballast water systems. He said ODC will also
be targeting the industrial and offshore sectors
for steel fabrication works.
ODC is a passionate, hungry, young
business with a massive appetite to grow and
build long term relationships with our clients.
We have built a solid track record in the last
few years and the business has real momentum
behind it which customers can see that when
they visit us. We have world class facilities,
truly some of the best in the world and we are
tackling issues that have slowed operations in
the past, such as visa and customs bureaucracy.
In addition, we are expanding our supply
ODC has played host to several large tankers recently in its two large graving docks.
TANKEROperator
ODCs Dr Ahmed Al Abri.
chain building strong alliances with a broad

cross section of companies including welders,
blasters and engine suppliers and we have
recently appointed experienced sub-contractors
from Romania and Singapore for painting and
steel work. Moreover, we are improving the
truck, rail and logistics access to Duqm. All
these factors make us much more desirable to
customers, he said.
Dr Al Abi said ODCs unique selling points
give it a distinct identity and competitive
edge.Our geographical location thrusts us into
pole position for the Asia to Europe shipping
route as well as the East African and Indian
offshore industries. The convenience we can
offer means shipowners can save time and
money by not having to deviate course by
having to go through the Strait of Hormuz.
Furthermore, our size is a massive
advantage for a wide range of engineering
projects. We have two giant drydocks and can
accommodate ships of any size and our 2.8 km
dock is the longest in the Middle East. And if
circumstances dictate, we still have the space
and planning permission to double in size
again. Moreover, our climate provides the
perfect weather conditions for painting and the
10,000 cu m capacity slops and sludge terminal
can save up to three days sailing time since we
can deal with everything on site."
TO
11
INDUSTRY - FLAG STATES - IMO
Assorted
amendments and a
new secretary general
For flag states and other shipping stakeholders, a number of important amendments to
IMO treaties came into force on 1st January, 2016, the same day as the unveiling of a
new man at the helm.
hese included new requirements
for verification of compliance,
making audits mandatory under the
IMO Member State Audit Scheme.
Other amendments entering into force
included SOLAS amendments to require inert
gas systems on board new oil and chemical
tankers of 8,000 dwt and above; the latest
amendment to the International Maritime
Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code;
requirements for stability instruments on
tankers and new testing requirements for lifejackets.
Amendments to a number of treaties
covering safety, training, prevention of
pollution, load lines, tonnage measurement
and collision prevention made the audits under
the Audit Scheme mandatory for all IMO
member states from the beginning of this year.
Up to 25 member state audits per year are
expected under the scheme, which aims to
provide a mechanism by which member states
can be assessed, in order to determine to what
extent they are implementing and enforcing
the applicable IMO instruments by identifying
areas in need of improvement, as well as areas
of good practices.
The idea behind the scheme is to support the
enhanced implementation of IMO instruments,
as the scheme will provide member states with
an overview of how well they are carrying out
their duties as flag, coastal and port States,
under the relevant IMO treaties.
This process will also feed into IMOs
extensive technical co-operation programme,
to provide targeted assistance and capacitybuilding to states, as well as to the
organisations regulatory process.
The treaties amended are:
SOLAS 1974;
STCW 1978 and STCW Code;
MARPOL annexes I through to VI;
Protocol of 1988 relating to the
12
International Convention on Load Lines,

1966 (LL PROT 1988);
International Convention on Load Lines,
1966 (LL 1966);
International Convention on Tonnage
Measurement of Ships, 1969 (TONNAGE
1969);
Convention on the International
Regulations for Preventing Collisions at
Sea, 1972 (COLREG 1972).
Other SOLAS amendments to enter into force
on 1st January, 2016, included:
Amendments to SOLAS regulations II-2/1,
II-2/3, II-2/4, II-2/9.7 and II-2/16.3.3, to
introduce mandatory requirements for inert
gas systems on board new oil and chemical
tankers of 8,000 dwt and above, and for
ventilation systems on board new ships;
plus related amendments to chapter 15 of
the International Code for Fire Safety
Systems (FSS Code) on inert gas systems.
Amendments to SOLAS regulation II-1/29
on steering gear, to update the requirements
relating to sea trials.
Amendments to SOLAS regulation II2/13.4, mandating additional means of
escape from machinery spaces.
Tanker interest
Of particular interest to tanker owners and
managers, mandatory carriage requirements
for a stability instrument for oil and chemical
tankers entered into force under amendments
to MARPOL Annex I, the Code for the
Construction and Equipment of Ships carrying
Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (BCH Code),
the International Code for the Construction
and Equipment of Ships Carrying Dangerous
Chemicals in Bulk (IBC Code) and the
International Code for the Construction and
Equipment of Ships Carrying Liquefied Gases
in Bulk (IGC Code).
In addition, the completely revised and
New IMO head Ki-tack Lim.
updated International Code for the

Construction and Equipment of Ships Carrying
Liquefied Gases in Bulk (IGC Code) entered
into force on 1st January this year with an
implementation/application date of 1st July,
2016. These amendments were developed
following a comprehensive five-year review
and were intended to take into account the
latest advances in science and technology.
The 1st January also heralded a change of
secretary general. South Koreas Ki-tack Lim
was elected by the 114th session of the IMO
Council in June, 2015 for a four-year period,
which was endorsed by the IMO's Assembly at
its 29th session in November, 2015.
Lim is the eighth elected IMO secretary
general and replaced Koji Sekimizu who has
retired.
In his New Year address, Lim said that the
IMO faces an array of issues; My vision is
one of strengthened partnerships between
developing and developed countries, between
governments and industry, between IMO
member states and regions.
I will also endeavour to strengthen
communication between the maritime industry
and the general public, I see IMO acting as a
bridge between all these stakeholders in what I
have referred to as a voyage together, he
TO
said.
INDUSTRY - FLAG STATES
Large flag states

influence IMO
conventions
According to unconfirmed reports, Panama is set to ratify the Ballast Water and Ship
Recycling conventions.
his could occur before this issue is
published and in the case of Ballast
Water, would result in the
conventions ratification. However
on 15th January, the IMO issued a statement
saying that the amount of tonnage needed for
ratification - 35%- had not been reached.
The IMO said in a statement that following
the spate of ratifications in November, 2015,
the organisation and its partner IHS Maritime
& Trade have been verifying the tonnage
figures to ascertain whether or not the
conventions final entry-into-force requirement
had been met.
Although that process was not yet complete,
and would continue for up to three more
weeks, IMO has confirmed that the November
ratifications did not trigger the conventions
entry into force.
Some 47 countries have now ratified the
convention, substantially more than the 30
required, but their combined fleets comprise, at
most, 34.56% of global tonnage, just shy of
the 35% required.
IMO secretary general, Ki-tack Lim, said,
The recent ratifications have brought the
BWM Convention so very close to entry into
force. While we cannot predict exactly when
that will happen, I would urge countries that
have not done so to ratify the BWM
Convention as soon as possible so that we can
establish a certain date for entry into force, and
also so that it is widely accepted when it does.
In particular, those countries with large
merchant fleets that have not done so, are
requested to accelerate their processes to ratify
the Convention.
He also said that shipowners had been urged
to install the necessary equipment and
establish operational procedures in accordance
with IMO regulations and standards, so that
the Convention can be implemented rapidly

and effectively upon entry into force.
Amendments to the Convention, to be
implemented after it enters into force, will be
considered at the next MEPC meeting, due in
April of this year.
Ratification by Panama, the worlds largest
flag state, would leave no doubt that the
tonnage had been exceeded by a considerable
margin.
The second largest flag state is Liberia,
which had more than 3,900 vessels entered of
over 131 mill gt towards the end of last year,
representing 11% of the worlds ocean going
fleet. According to the US Maritime
Administration, Liberian flagged vessels carry
more than one-third of the oil imported into
the US.
fleet largely due to the growth of the drycargo

vessels coming out of Greece and today
remain the number one vessel type in the RMI
Registry with an average age of 6.3 years old.
Greek owners accounted for over 25% of
all vessels registered between 1st January
30th September last year, representing 92
vessels and over 4 mill gt entering the RMI
Registry during that time.
According to the Greek Shipping & Finance
November 2015 issue, the registry holds the
top position among flag states with the Greek
merchant fleet in terms of numbers, with an
almost 14% increase from March to
November, 2015 of Greek owned vessels
registered in the RMI. The report also said that
the RMI fleet in the Greek market totalled 913
vessels of over 70 mill dwt.
Greek top spot

In third pace is the Republic of the Marshall
Islands (RMI), which in November last year,
announced that it had reached the number one
spot in the list of foreign flags preferred by
Greek domiciled shipowners in terms of
deadweight tonnage.
International Registries, Inc and its affiliates
(IRI), who provide administrative and
technical support to the RMI Maritime and
Corporate Registries, have been cultivating
deep ties to the Greek shipping community
since IRIs formation, it said. As a result,
Piraeus is now the largest IRI office outside its
headquarters in Reston, Virginia.
Greek shipowners have been the largest
shipowning group in the registry in terms of
gross tonnage since the third quarter of 2009,
said Theo Xenakoudis, director, worldwide
business operations for IRI, speaking last
November. Three years later in 2012, the bulk
carriers outnumbered the tankers in the RMI
Customer service
Communication and customer service are a
couple of the reasons for the increase in Greek
owners flagging their vessels in the RMI, the
registry claimed. The RMI registry leads not
only in numbers, but in the excellence of its
service to its customers, said StealthGas
Harry Vafias who had moved five more LPG
carriers into the RMI fleet by November last
year.
According to figures produced by IRI, at the
end of last year, the flag state administered
3,703 ships of 128 mill gt.
Out of this total were 1,020 tankers of 44.6
mill gt or 28% of the total tonnage entered,
which is the second largest segment behind
drybulk carriers. In addition, the Marshall
Islands boasted 156 gas carriers of 11 mill gt.
With the amount of tankers due for delivery
in the next few years, the flag state figures will
likely increase still further, both in terms of
numbers and tonnage.
TO
TANKEROperator
13
INDUSTRY - COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS
Q88 expands into

voyage management
systems
The innovative questionnaire database Q88.com, now used by around 75% of the tanker
industry, can trace its history back to the start of the Heidmar tanker pool in 1998.
ue to the number of vessels in the
pool, the managers soon realised
that they needed a method of
automating the operations and
chartering departments functions.
This resulted in Fritz Heidenreich creating a
program containing five to six questionnaires.
As the program evolved, it was put onto a
website and more pool participants became
interested in the idea.
During the dotcom bubble, Heidenreich had
the idea of creating a website that could be
launched across the tanker sector of the
shipping industry. The next question was what to call it.
Already in discussions with Intertanko,
Heidenreich decided on Q88.com and in 2001,
the new website was launched under the
Heidmar umbrella. To kick start interest, it was
offered free for six months.
Following a consolidation period, he started
Heidenreich Innovations in 2008, with
Q88.com as its core offering, as a standalone
company. The company was later renamed Q88 LLC.
Working closely with Intertanko, in 2003,
the organisation launched Version 2 of its
Questionnaire 88 together with Q88.com.
Subsequently, Version 3 was launched in 2008
and Version 4 last year.
As more and more tanker companies signed
up to the service, Heidenreich decided to open
an office in Singapore in 2010 to be followed
by London last year. He explained to Tanker
Operator that these moves were made to be
nearer clients to support their needs and also
said that ideally, he would like to open
premises in Athens, Hong Kong and Tokyo at
some stage in the future. An extra sales person
was recently added to both the London and
Singapore offices.
Today, the company claims to have signed
up around 75% of the tanker industry involving
around 7,500 vessels and almost 600
owners/operators. If you are involved with
14
shipping oil then you should be a Q88.com

customer, Heidenreich said. In addition, oil
majors, brokers, agents, terminals, lawyers and
P&I clubs, among others, have also signed up
to the website. A client must commit to the
website for at least six months and the
company regularly receives feedback from
users.
On the back of Q88s success, the company
continued to expand and in 2008 bought
Norwegian concern Milbros Software and
integrated the information contained in
Milbros software applications into Q88s
offerings.
Milbros contains details on over 12,000
chemical cargoes and is continuously updated
with new regulatory and safety information
along with all the necessary tank cleaning
steps. The company has also launched
Q88Dry.com website to serve the drybulk
sector. A couple of years ago, prolific drybulk
charterer Cargill signed up and Glencore joined
last year.
In 2013, the company launched an offline
version of www.Milbros.com, which was
designed to be installed on vessels with or
without Internet or on laptops for office staff
when travelling. Easy link ups via the internet
or e-mail allows continuous program updates.
Last year, www.Q88.com was further
enhanced by the addition of a vetting analytics
module, which can be used by owners to
monitor and analyse their vetting performance,
whether looking at fleets, vessels, VIQ
chapters, changes over time or repeating
questions.
Voyage management system
What could become the feather in Q88s cap
was unveiled in 2014. This is an online voyage
management system -www.Q88VMS.com.
Q88VMS is claimed to be a state-of-the-art
voyage management system specifically
designed for the tanker industry.
At the time of its launch, Heidenreich, said,
Q88 LLC founder Fritz Heidenreich.
We have spent the last 18 months working on

this new platform and we are confident that it
will significantly speed-up decision making on
fixing voyages, centralise all voyage related
communications, improve the bottom line and,
above all, ensure that everyone has access to
the latest information about the fleet.
Q88VMS is a web-based platform for
managing all voyage related information. By
providing a centralised platform for
commercial managers to access and manage all
voyage data. Q88VMS is claimed to
significantly increase the efficiency and
accuracy of maintaining this information.
The VMS helps commercial managers
improve tanker chartering decisions and
voyage results by creating visibility of all
evolving financial and operational voyage
elements to internal stakeholders, the company
said.
All chartering and operations processes are
maintained within one hosted application
available on subscription basis eliminating
the need to switch between multiple
applications to view or execute voyage
transactions. Instant computation of what-if
scenarios and voyage alternatives with their
The next generation of voyage management systems.

The Q88VMS Difference
The First of Its Generation
Cloud-based Q88VMS offers the tanker industry an intuitive voyage

management system tailor made for tanker chartering and operations.
Imagine a system that enables Chartering, Operations, Post-Fixture
and Management to operate in their natural, intended roles. Thats the
system we built, for you. Some of the worlds leading tanker owners and
operators have already made the switch to Q88VMS. Find out why today.
Q88VMS is designed with the end user in mind. Built by people

with tanker chartering and operations experience and using todays
technology, Q88VMS understands what each department involved in
the voyage process deserves in a system. The result is a system years
ahead of the competition, a system that transcends expectations and
takes your company to new heights.
USA +1 203 413 2030 | UK +44 20 3773 5035 | Singapore +65 (66) 22 5324 | sales@q88.com | www.Q88VMS.com | A Q88 Solution

impact on voyage TCE and P&L allow
chartering to evaluate and pursue commercial
opportunities that best suit the companys
interest.
Any adjustment to the voyage costs made
during the voyage operations are immediately
visible to operations, management and other
key stakeholders with access permission. Users
benefit from instant overviews of the latest
financial trends, while the report generator
allows users to create reports on any
performance data stored in the database.
Automatic tracking of uninvoiced freight and
other revenue, plus unpaid invoices, reduces
the risk of errors and omissions and helps
improve cash flows, the company said.
Q88 has produced a White Paper on the
subject, which said that cloud-based Q88VMS
offers the tanker industry an intuitive voyage
management system tailor made for tanker
chartering and operations. It explained that it
believed that a voyage management system
should serve the needs of chartering and
operations, but not force them into rigid
workflows whose only goal is to collect data.
When evaluating which VMS best meets a
companys needs, the check-list mentality of
what features the product does and does not
have, should be avoided, the paper said. Any
good VMS should have all of the modules
needed for a company to operate efficiently.
From voyage estimates and actuals, inserting
bunker stems and port calls, to reporting, most
VMS on the market today offer these
functionalities. However, search for a system
with features that enable work to be undertaken
without disturbing the natural workflow, the
paper advised.
Work processes in chartering, operations,
accounting and other departments are often
dictated by a more traditional VMS workflow,
which has been designed for control purposes.
A system that blocks a user from doing
something until the previous step has been
completed, forces people to work outside the
system or at best to delay data entry until every
piece of information is gathered. With
Q88VMS users enter whatever is known, when
it is known, in whatever order is natural to the
user, the paper explained.
This results in information that can be shared
quickly and easily, meaning that decisions can
be made faster with more precision. The paper
outlined what a next generation VMS should
look like, thus Flexible.
User friendly.
Intuitive.
Mobile.
Cloud based.
16
An open flow of information
Shared cargoes
quoted
Estimates
Automated open
positions
Voyage emails &

electronic files
Voyage with
economics
Reporting
The VMS system built for todays industry.
Collaborative.
Easy implementation and version upgrades.
Integrated with other systems.
For chartering functions, this fast moving
sector calls for a VMS to help guide
commercial decisions. By providing instant
global positions of a companys various fleets,
calculating arrival & departure times and
calculating TCE rates for prospective voyages,
VMS have become prerequisite for shipping
companies.
While these features are of importance,
inputting all the necessary information required
to pass a voyage on to the operations
department once fixed takes a large amount of
charterings time. Instead, a system should
allow chartering to easily quote any market
cargo and share it with the organisation,
without having to open a new page and while
remaining on the phone with the counterparty.
For the operations department, the new VMS
allows this function to work far more
efficiently than by using more traditional
systems. Once a vessel is fixed, it is the
responsibility of the operators to ensure that
the desired voyage results come to fruition. By
using Q88VMS, operators can start working on
a voyage immediately. They are able to enter
information into the system when it comes in,
without being constrained to a specific required
workflow. This allows the necessary voyage
orders to be circulated sooner while increasing
transparency.
With a built in voyage email system,
operators can instantly post noon and arrival
messages directly from their emails into
corresponding voyages, issue invoices,
calculate demurrage claims all within
Q88VMS.
For management, simple, intuitive and
customisable for each departments specific
needs, reporting can be generated from the
wealth of data that is acquired from the start of
each fixture through to the close of the voyage.
Management needs a business intelligence
(BI) tool that fits its style. This includes
management by exception and the ability to
quickly and easily see overview trends, then
drill down deeper into data with one click. Any
data can be incorporated into stakeholder
reports, or integrated into other business areas.
By being Web-based, VMS enables all the
departments involved to work off the same
central data. Double-keying is virtually
eliminated, as everybody uses the same reliable
distances, port information, bunker grades and
vessel particulars and the various departments
activities are accessed from the same place
for example, they can combine voyage
economics with voyage emails and trigger the
same task list.
Q88VMS designer, vice president of
research, Richard Abrahams, joined Q88 in
2012 and is responsible for the development
and management of the VMS platform.
Abrahams and his development team have
spent the past three years building the system
with an architecture that is very different to
competitor offerings.
Prior to Q88, Abrahams held a number of
positions within the maritime and oil industries.
For example, he spent 16 years in oil trading,
operations, demurrage and chartering with BP
and PDVSA. Most recently, he spent 12 years
with Heidmar as IT director, working with
Heidenreich to develop the internal voyage and
pool management system.
TO
Vessel allocations to
go up in the clouds
Launched under an European Commission funded project, CLOUD-VAS is a cloudbased vessel allocation decision support tool to help oil and gas companies
with their chartering requirements.
LOUD-VAS is claimed to be the
only cloud-based solution that will
be on the market to enable large oil
& gas companies and shipowners
make quick decisions on which vessels to
charter.
The new tool is aimed at the timechartering
element. By entering the ship and port details,
the system will suggest the best vessel option
for the chosen route. The original data is
entered manually.
A spokesperson for the project explained;
Our main target group is large oil & gas
companies, who manage their own fleet and
sign timecharter agreements with shipowners
for the transportation of billions of tonnes of
crude oil and refined products on an annual
basis.
To give some examples, BP manages 56 of
its own vessels but has 115 on timecharter from
shipowners. French concern Total has a
chartered fleet numbering 46 ships and
concludes some 3,000 charter agreements
annually. Vessel data will be entered manually
and added to the vessel pool data base.
After thorough research, there were no
competitor solutions on the market available yet
that can fully be compared with the CLOUDVAS solution, but merely substitutes that are
comparable to a certain degree, she claimed.
Explaining further, she said; Vessel
allocation for operators is a time consuming
and complex process. The aim of the CLOUDVAS project is to develop a vessel allocation
decision support system that is able to
automatically evaluate the required parameters
and criteria, major and minor, which affect the
selection process.
The project will develop a novel
mathematical model and metaheuristic
optimisation solver (METSOL) for vessel
allocation in shipping by considering vessel
timecharter rate, vessel capacity, fuel
consumption, vessel speed, routing and other
parameters, such as port times and frequency
18
requirements of the vessels.

The solver will optimise for the first time
economic and environmental objectives in the
vessel application problem (VAP), including
costs and fuel emissions, simultaneously. The
METSOL will be implemented into the
CLOUD-VAS software platform and will
together form a complete cloud-based vessel
allocation decision support system, she
explained.
Problems highlighted
The project was started with a a major oil &
gas company, which highlighted problems with
vessel allocation calculations when using an
existing commercial solution. Problems
identified included the high error risk during
the manual calculations and the fact that these
operations were rather time consuming. Given
this as a base, project co-ordinator
PROMATECH started to collaborate to develop
a linear programming model for the
optimisation of vessel allocation methods.
The unnamed energy company will be acting
as a pilot customer on which the CLOUD-VAS
results will be thoroughly tested. After
finalising the project, the energy company will
operate the system. It should also be taken into
account that the previous commercial software
VPARS (voyage performance analysis reporting
system) has already been marketed and is
currently in use.
The problem we are facing at the moment is
that we know how our client is dealing with
vessel allocation problems and we arent sure
how other large oil & gas companies are
solving it. During market research, we faced
big challenges, as we couldnt reach these
companies and learn how they dealt with VAP.
Moreover, we couldnt present ourselves or our
project as the sector is very challenging and
reserved. We are looking for opportunities how
we can present and position ourselves in the
market, the spokesperson said.
Current vessel allocation methods are based
on linear, non-linear, integer, stochastic and

global programming solutions, which perform
well but are complicated to use and not
protected by user access rights packages,
meaning that data changes can be made by
almost anyone often leading to significant time
and monetary losses. They also do not consider
environmental impact and fuel emissions during
the allocation phase as an explicit objective.
The projects aim is to make CLOUD-VAS
the first cloud-based software as a service
(SaaS) and vessel allocation decision support
system, which will be commercially marketed
to oil & gas companies, tanker pools and large
shipowners who wish to optimise their vessel
allocation to multiple routes.
Stand alone
Initially CLOUD-VAS will be operated as a
stand-alone SaaS.
The projects co-ordinator is Turkish research
& development concern PROMATECH and it
officially began on the 1st June, 2015. The final
results are expected in June, 2017.
Founded in 2010, PROMATECH is an R&D
company based in Istanbul, providing
technology, developing engineering solutions
and services to the maritime and shipbuilding
industries.
CLOUD-VAS will be made available to the
charter market as a cloud-based SaaS solution
on a subscription basis. It will also be used as a
tool by PROMATECH to offer vessel allocation
consultancy services.
Once established, it will be marketed to
chartering consultancies and broking houses.
The CLOUD-VAS project is part of the ECs
Horizon 2020 initiative.
As mentioned, the project started on 1st June
last year and is expected to be completed by 1st
June, 2017.
It is estimated to cost 1.8 mill of which the
EC is contributing 1.26 mill as part of the
ECs small business innovation research for
transport programme.
TO
LTOPS to celebrate
25th anniversary
London Tanker Operations group (LTOPS) will be celebrating its 25th annual get
together at the end of this month.
TOPS was formed in the early
1990s and held its first event in
1992. Only those working directly
for a shipowners, shipbrokers or oil
company/oil trading company in the
operations or demurrage functions are eligible
to attend, plus special guests.
The group was formed with the sole purpose
of organising an annual get-together of the
great and good in the tanker industry - a
chance to meet and mingle with colleagues
over a drink at an otherwise bleak time of
year.
The annual meetings have gone from
strength to strength with up to 800 people
regularly attending from all over the world.

This years event will be held on 29th
January at the regular venue of the Honourable
Artillery Company HQ in the City Road,
London.
One of the sponsors is Hub Software
Engineering (HubSE), which manages claims
management systems (CMS) for those
struggling with the vagaries of demurrage.
CMS is not only about calculating claim
values but also about managing the complete
demurrage portfolio, understanding exposure,
concentrating on high-value claims, taking the
right action, etc, the company claimed.
With expertise in demurrage and the issues
TANKEROperator
The Honourable Artillery Company HQ.
surrounding demurrage, HubSE can provide True global business demurrage expertise.
Understand of how demurrage works.
Knowledge that demurrage analysts often
work with a bolt-on systems, primarily
aimed at another part of the business.
TO
19
INDUSTRY - ANTI-PIRACY
Intelligence solution takes off

TSG IT Advanced Systems, a
subsidiary of the Ness Group has
announced that a Southest Asian
company has opted for its realtime maritime intelligence solution
- 2C.
This system provides situational awareness
of maritime environments to support counter
piracy, exclusive economic zone (EEZ)
protection and coastal surveillance missions.
2C is a system for detecting, identifying, and
sending automatic alerts outlining potential
threats at sea. Based on sophisticated
algorithms, including elements of artificial
intelligence, the system learns the routine at
sea, integrates that knowledge with existing
databases, and automatically triggers real time
alerts about unusual events.
It can connect with existing command and
control systems, or create an independent
marine image by integrating various types of
sensors. The system is easily programmed and
can be adapted to required missions in a variety
of locations.
According to Ofer Burin, SVP group
manager, "More than ever before, the sea is
bursting with illegal activities oil theft, illegal
fishing, smuggling, ships being overtaken by
pirates, illegal immigration and various other
types of hostile activities. At the same time, a

vast amount of routine trade and traffic is
taking place.
It has therefore become increasingly
important to efficiently and accurately examine
all these maritime events. 2C was developed to
answer this need for an automated system that
will be able to correctly analyse today's
complex marine environment and enable the
most effective management of maritime
forces, he said.
The system prioritises suspicious targets
according to incrimination level and sends
alerts accordingly.
Maintaining historical data for future
analysis, the 2C system also generates statistical
and analytical reports, providing the user with
valuable insights about the nature of activities
(whether legal or not), allowing better
TO
allocation of resources.
Real time alerts are automatically triggered.
Linking PMSCs with potential clients

An online tool to help
shipowners/managers choose the
most cost-effective private
maritime security company
(PMSC) has gone live.
This online programme, called Marsec
Manager, was unveiled by Bastion
International, a maritime security brokerage
company offering security solutions to
shipping companies.
Marsec Manager enables users to compare
different PMSCs in terms of pricing and what
they can offer before deciding which security
solution is best for them.
Bastion has already signed up 25 PMSCs to
the service since opening the security site in
November. This was done to ensure that
shipping companies could begin trading on the
platform immediately when they create their
accounts.
Sean Busuttil Cordina, Bastions managing
partner, said: Marsec Manager enables
20
company security officers to know what is

available on the market. The market is very
competitive at the moment; we see significant
gaps between PMSCs pricing. Armed guard
teams are becoming smaller and shipowners
are expecting an even better service at lower
rates.
Marsec Manager gives users the option for
both quality and pricing. Users can see all the
PMSCs who are offering services, compare
quotes between them, view testimonials about
their service and determine the best solution
for their vessels,he said.
The program can be easily navigated by a
shipping company looking for a PMSC via the
central dashboard. Users can access the
PMSCs profile, see biographies on the
companys security team members, request a
quote or send them a message.
When the security company logs in, it can
see any requests for quotes it has received, as
well as track the progress of previous quotes.
The integrated calendar also monitors

embarkations and disembarkations of armed
guards for all companies individually. User
accounts for other company members to
access the program may also be created.
The free online tool also offers the
important feature of privacy on all
negotiations. PMSCs are not able to view
competitors profiles and pricing, while
contact through the messaging system may
only be initiated by the shipping user to avoid
companies receiving a number of offers or
promotional messages each day. The program
is also claimed to be easy to use for both
shipping companies and participating PMSCs.
A detailed notification list keeps users up to
date on their accounts at all times. Security
companies will be instantly notified when
they receive a request for a quote by email
with the same applying for shipping
companies when quotations are received in
return.
TO

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TECHNOLOGY - DAMAGE STABILITY
Damage stability
compliance
verification now
mandatory
One of the major regulatory concerns for tanker owners and operators this year is
conforming with the amendments to MARPOL Annex I Ch.4, the IBC/ BCH Code and
the IGC/GC Code concerning damage stability compliance verification,
which came into force on 1st January, 2016.*
any tankers particularly those
contracted for construction prior
to July, 2005 will require
updates to existing stability
documentation and/or any systems on board,
which are used to assess stability compliance.
These now require formal flag administration
approval.
In many cases, the most cost-effective
approach is to update (where possible) any
existing loading computer system (LCS).
However, not all systems can meet the new
standards required and a new LCS may need to
be installed. While all options will require
capital expenditure, selecting the right LCS
could offer significant added benefits.
Owners, operators and seafarers need to be
aware of their existing systems compliance
status and documentation for each ship in their
fleet and be aware they may need to invest
promptly to meet the regulations.
There are a limited number of suppliers of
suitable LCS systems and many tankers may
need to be upgraded. As the deadline has
passed, timescales are now critical particularly
as the work requires both preparation of the
LCS and formal approval by class or flag.
The impact of these regulations has generally
been understated, however, the significance of
complying with the amendments is now being
recognised more widely.
This article identifies ways in which this
regulatory necessity may provide benefits rather
than simply being another burden on budgets
and indeed generate a positive return on any
investment needed.
Class Societies have issued advice to
owners and operators concerning the impact of
these new regulations.
22
The new requirement is retroactive and

applies to both new and existing ships, as
follows:
Ships constructed on or after 1st January,
2016 at delivery.
Ships constructed before 1st January, 2016
at the first renewal survey on or after 1st
January, 2016, but no later than 1st January,
2021.
DNV GL has advised that ships carrying on
board stability instruments already approved
and certified by a recognised organisation and
capable of verifying both intact and damage
stability to a standard acceptable to the
administration, may continue to use the
equipment but that it is the responsibility of
each manager to ensure that his/her vessels are
compliant within the due date.
On board documentation
Before the new regulations entered into force,
most seafarers, ship operators and owners
would have been aware that their ships have
on board documentation to confirm
compliance with the appropriate statutory
stability requirements. This is normally
provided by a Stability Information Booklet
(SIB), formally approved by the relevant flag
administration.
The content of a SIB can vary considerably.
It will include a range of standard loading
conditions but, depending on the vessel, these
could cover a multitude of different loading
scenarios or just a handful. Over a ships
lifetime, her operational profile may vary and
therefore even an approved SIB should be
reviewed to ensure it remains relevant to the
way the vessel is currently operating.
For vessels carrying fluid cargo, the issue of
damage stability is complex. The behaviour of

the vessel can change significantly depending
on the density of the cargo being carried and
the filling level in each compartment. A small
change to the fluids on board can have
significant effect on whether compliance is
maintained.
Vessels which operate consistently on the
same route with the same cargo and therefore
repeatedly adopt the same loading conditions
could operate based on the SIBs content. But
where this is not the case, to provide sufficient
loading conditions in a SIB to cover all loading
possibilities is usually prohibitive in terms of
cost and volume of paperwork.
Some tankers are provided with damage limit
KG/GM curves in their approved stability
documentation. These provide some flexibility,
but to make them practical to apply they tend to
be derived in a conservative manner. As a
result, for some ships the use of limit curves
can restrict operability.
Strength limits
Beside the stability compliance issues, for any
loaded condition there is also a requirement to
demonstrate compliance with class society
strength limits. Since the 1970s, this has been
accomplished by the fitting of a computer
loading instrument on board. The use of these
on board systems has now extended to also
cover stability aspects and reliance is now
placed upon these computerised tools in
recent regulations.
However, it is important to be aware that the
formal wording of regulations states that any
approved on board LCS does not replace the
SIB, but is a supplement to it. A key point to
note here is that the LCS should be approved.
TECHNOLOGY - DAMAGE STABILITY

For many years, it has been the case that a
loading instrument/LCS has required formal
examination and approval by class before it
can be used on a specific ship for strength
compliance checks. However, the approval of
any stability checks provided in those systems
was not a requirement until now.
In 2005, IACS began to address the issue of
approval through Unified Requirement (UR)
L5. For a vessel contracted for construction
after July, 2005, it became a class requirement
for any stability function provided in a LCS to
undergo formal approval. Moreover, the
included stability functions would need to
cover all the aspects of stability compliance
relevant to the ship. This requirement was
subsequently echoed by IMO in the 2008 Intact
Stability Code.
However, neither the IACS or IMO
requirements require mandatory inclusion of
stability checks. Consequently, while the
majority of recently built vessels are likely to
have an LCS, which is formally approved for
use for stability verification, some vessels may
have been provided with an approved LCS,
which only covers strength aspects.
In 2010, the Paris MOU undertook a
Concentrated Inspection Campaign (CIC) and
this found that some tankers were operating
with loading conditions, which did not meet the
relevant damage stability regulations. If found
to be non-compliant with the amended
regulations, there are a number of ways in
which a vessel could meet these regulations,
depending on existing documentation, systems
and ship operational profile.
The simplest approach is to operate only to
the approved loading conditions in the SIB.
However, this is rarely practical. Any new
loading conditions would require formal caseby-case approval from class and flag, which
involves time and expense.
Alternatively, a range of additional loading
conditions could be added to the SIB, or a set
of wide-ranging limit KG/GM curves could be
developed. But there may still be limitations.
Either way, a computer model of the vessel will
be needed to generate the new data.
The most effective solution would appear to
simply have the computer model on board, to
allow new conditions to be generated and
verified as needed. This is the role of an
approved Type 3 LCS. In this respect, LR
advised that: To avoid complications
associated with developing suitable KG/GM
limit curves and their potential restriction on
operational capacity, we strongly recommend
that Type 3 stability software is fitted on
board.
To ensure they meet the amended
YES
YES
No further action formally

necessary unless benefits can
be seen in procuring efficiency
and operational support tools.
YES
Do you have an approval

certificate for the on-board LCS
(from Flag or designated Class)?
YES
Does the certificate confirm

that the on-board LCS is approved
for carrying out damage stability
calculations?
NO
NO
Many old LCS systems

performing stabilityy calculations
are unapproved for that scope.
Approval is now mandatorryy. Some
older systems may not meet current
standards and a replacement
Type 2 or TTyype 3 LCS may be needed
(or updates made to the
SIB conditions/limit KG/GM curves).
Approval is now mandatory.

Some older systems may not
meet current standards for
damage stability calculations
and a replacement Type 2 or
Type 3 LCS may be
e needed
(or updates made to
t the SIB
conditions/limit KG/G
GM curves).
regulations, all vessels will require a thorough

review of systems on board and in many cases
for older tankers, there might be a need to
procure a new LCS system. While initially this
might be viewed as regulatory-driven additional
expenditure, it does provide an ideal
opportunity to add value to the systems on
board, and in many cases promote opex
savings.
Integrated systems
Trends in on board software development are
moving towards an integrated system. For
example, use of a full 3D model in an LCS
enables the cargo deadweight to be maximised
and tools within the LCS could allow detailed
cargo load and unload planning optimisation
to minimise port time: more maximised cargo
deadweight, minimised port costs.
These tools can also provide a means to
perform complete voyage planning,
incorporating trim optimisation and ballast
water exchange planning in conjunction with
weather routing and associated speed/fuel
optimisation.
Therefore, if an LCS is the preferred solution
it should be seen as an investment rather than a
cost, as the long term benefits of a quality
system, set up optimally for each ship in the
TANKEROperator
YES
fleet, could far outweigh the initial expense.

To form a core element in an integrated
solution and to meet the new regulations,
QinetiQ International Maritime Consultancy
and Software, part of the QinetiQ Group has
developed the SeaWeigh LCS.
SeaWeigh is based on a full 3D model of the
vessel, and is compliant with the latest
standards for stability assessment. It has been
used extensively on naval vessels, and has
gained LR class approval.
The system has been designed to offer more
than just the means to confirm damage stability
compliance. A sophisticated routine for efficient
voyage planning can be planned and the
package incorporates a range of other practical
tools.
QinetiQs system is supported by a dedicated
team of naval architects and software
developers. Ongoing developments within
SeaWeigh have been influenced by input from
major tanker operators and on board system
TO
suppliers.
*This article was taken from a paper written by
naval architect Philip Royal who joined
QinetiQ in 2014 to support and promote the
development of the SeaWeigh LCS system.
23
TECHNOLOGY - EFFICIENCY
EC funding gives
IMO energyefficiency project the
go ahead
A network of regional maritime technology co-operation centres is to be established
through a 10 mill funding contribution provided by the European Commission (EC).
n ambitious IMO project to
establish a global network of
maritime technology co-operation
centres (MTCCs) in developing
countries is to go ahead thanks to the EC
funding.
This IMO energy-efficiency project is part
of the EC's broader climate financing portfolio
aimed at helping less developed countries take
climate actions in specific fields or sectors,
such as shipping.
The projects aim will be to help beneficiary
countries limit and reduce greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions from their shipping sectors
through technical assistance and capacity
building.
The four-year project will target five regions
- Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America
and the Pacific. These regions have been
chosen for their significant number of least
developed countries (LDCs) and small island
developing states (SIDSs).

At the projects core will be the forming of
five MTCCs, one in each designated region.
These will have a strong regional bias,
becoming centres of excellence for promoting
the uptake of low-carbon technologies and
operations in maritime transport.
Each MTCC is expected to be controlled by
an existing institution with a credible standing
in the region. These host institutions will be
selected through an open process of
competitive bidding against a set of criteria
and project deliverables.
The project will be co-ordinated by IMOs
Marine Environment Division through a
dedicated unit at its London headquarters and
the agreement to fund the project was signed at
the end of last year.
MTCCs will act as focal points for the
following activities:
Improve capability within maritime
administrations, port authorities, other

relevant government departments and
related shipping stakeholders to facilitate
compliance with existing international
regulations as well as any potential future
energy-efficiency measures.
Enable participating countries to develop
national maritime energy-efficiency
policies and measures and become
signatories to MARPOL Annex VI.
Promote uptake of low-carbon technologies
and operations in maritime transport
through pilot projects, thus creating an
enabling environment for energy-efficient
practices in shipping.
Establish voluntary pilot data-collection
and reporting systems to support
shipowners and maritime administrations
and feed experience and understanding of
these systems into debates and decisionmaking processes at IMO.
Chemical Ta
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anker
Seminar fo
or Shipping Profe
essionals
15-16 March 2016 in Copenhagen
n
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w
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ankers and their c
cargoes
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The results of capacity-building activities and
pilot projects run by the MTCCs will be
widely disseminated within the international
maritime community, the IMO said.
Valuable insight
As a result, the project will enhance capacity at
national and regional levels in all aspects of
maritime GHG emission reduction and energy
efficiency and offer valuable insight of local
experiences on the uptake of energy-efficient
technologies and operations, data collection
and relevant project planning and management.
The overall results of the project are
expected to include:
Greater uptake of energy-efficiency
technologies and operations by shipowners
and operators.
Improved capacity within public
administrations to implement and enforce
relevant existing and future international
rules for ships energy efficiency.
More participating countries becoming
signatories to MARPOL Annex VI.
Participating countries developing,
implementing and enforcing related
national maritime energy-efficiency

policies.
The concept of a global network of MTCCs to
accelerate capacity building and technology
transfer in the maritime field was highlighted
by IMO during the two-day inaugural FutureReady Shipping Conference, a joint IMOSingapore international conference on
maritime technology transfer and capacity
building, held in Singapore on 28th-29th
September, last year.
IMO is also executing a two-year project to
build understanding and knowledge of
technical and operational measures to lead
maritime transport into a low-carbon future.
This joint global environment facility
(GEF)/IMO/United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) Global Maritime Energy
Efficiency Partnerships Project (GloMEEP) is
also focusing on developing countries, where
the worlds fleet is increasingly based.
Training the trainers
***Meanwhile, a complete package of training
materials on IMOs energy efficiency
requirements is now available to download
free of charge from the organisations website.

The package, including presentations,
posters, exercises and assignments, will be of
interest to anyone wanting to understand how
to implement the regulations in Chapter 4 of
MARPOL Annex VI and what the technical
and operational implications are for ship
designers, shipbuilders, companies and
seafarers.
The course has been designed to train
individuals to become trainers to encourage the
development of a pool of people who can
participate in capacity-building activities under
either the auspices of IMO technical cooperation activities or in any other formal
education and training scenario.
The package includes a trainers manual and
modules on:
Climate change and the shipping response.
Ship energy efficiency regulations and
related guidelines; From management to
operation.
Shipboard energy management.
Ship/port interface for energy efficiency.
Energy management plans and systems.
TO
B ROW
R O W N , SON
S O N & FERGU
F E R G U SON
S O N L t d.
d.
M A N UA L OF
OI L TA NK
K ER
OPER ATIO
ONS
DR. RAYMOND SOLLY

In co-operatioon wiitth
CAPTAIN QUENTIN COX

andd
JOHN ONSLOW
BROWNS NAUTICAL ALMANAC 2016 EDITION

PUBLICATIO
T ON DATE
T 1ST OCTOBER 2015
Browns Nautical Almanac is arrangeed in numbered parts for ready referenc
e e as follows:
I. Astronomical data in daily use by na
n vigators, with explanations of its use.
IIII. Nautical
N ti l Tables
abl and
d Methods
th d .
III. Tide Tables
a
for Home and Foreign Waters, predictions have been comp
piled by the mostt
reliable authorities as acknowledg
ged; The Tidal Constants for British Isles an
nd Foreign Ports.
IV
V. Coastal Courses and Distances arou
und the British Isles. Courses are given in Correct Magnetic
(2015) and in True (3-gure) notation,
t
distances are to the nearest mile; Taable of Courses
and Distances around the British Issles, North Sea, English Channel and the Baltic Ports.
V. Distance Taables giving a world-wid
de coverage of total distances from the principal ports of
Britain, U.S.A. and Canada, to all im
mportant ports of the world; Numerous other tables giving
inter-port distances in important ar
a eas.
VI. Miscellaneous Infforma
o
tion: Legal, Teechnical and General.
VII. Lights, Beacons and Buoys of th
he British Isles, including ire and the Channel Islands;
Pilotage information.
2016
Distriibutors in
n over 30
countriies worrldwide
l
.
webbsitte:
e www.skipper.co
. .uk
.uk
e
e-mail:
mail:
:
info@skip
ippe
r
.co
.
co
uk
A mass of Valuab
aluablee inf
information
formation for the M
Merchant
erchant Navy,
Navy,
y, Yaach
achtsmen,
tsmen, Shipper
Shipperss, Shipping Oces,
Oces, etc.
etc.
telephone:: 0141 883 0141
Used
U
sed round
round the w
world
orld every
every da
dayy thr
throughout
oughout the year.
yearr.
G51 4DA
P rooviding Nauttiiccaal
publiccaattions
i ffor over
1880 yearrs.
TANKEROperator
25
GNS launches new voyager

planning station
Global Navigation Solutions (GNS)
has launched a new version of
Voyager Planning Station (VPS).
The latest version of VPS has been
enhanced to make it easier to use with third
party solutions including Applied Weather
Technology (AWT) weather routing software
and SAM Electronics ECDIS.
The AWT link allows users to exchange
files between GNS Voyager and AWTs Bon
Voyage software to optimise routes for
weather and tides.
For SAM Electronics ECDIS, this has
enhanced compatibility with GNS Voyager,
enabling routes to be created in VPS and then
loaded into the SAM ECDIS route file format
without manual re-keying.
This latest version of Voyager also includes
the extension of its updating services to
include Admiralty Digital Radio Signals titles

that were released by the UKHO last year,
enhancements to Voyager weekly update
process to make it even easier to manage
paper and digital chart corrections and access
to Voyager Instant Permit, which enables
vessels to get on board access to global ENCs
usually within 10 minutes of making a request.
VPS incorporates:
Support staff available 24/7 across the
world, the most extensive service offering
claimed.
Solutions to help customers manage ENCs
in a cheaper more efficient structure.
More ways to purchase and manage chart
and publication inventories.
Since 2012, GNS has brought together 10
companies through a series of acquisitions,
and has created a single group with a vision to
be the best in the industry and a global

network, which includes the UK, Germany,
Greece, Singapore, China, Australia and the
US, the company said.
With effect from this month, all the group
companies will work solely under the GNS
brand, bringing together all 275 employees in
every GNS location.
GNS now supplies around 9 mill digital and
paper charts and publications to more than 300
shipping companies around the world, making
GNS the leader in this market, it claimed.
Paul Stanley, GNS CEO, commented: It
gives me huge pride that GNS supplies more
charts and publications to more vessels than
anyone else in the world. We are also proud to
be at the forefront of the maritime industrys
move to digital navigation.
TO
AWT tackles duplicate reporting at

sea
Applied Weather Technology (AWT)
is aiming to relieve the burden on
seafarers by eliminating the time
consuming problem of duplicate
reporting at sea.
Currently, seafarers are submitting duplicate
noon reports throughout the period of a voyage
to multiple stakeholders and service providers.
Reporting during a trip can be a lengthy
process. A range of voyage partners, charterers,
shipowners, shipmanagers and agents, as well
as service providers, are all reliant on voyage
updates and thus the reporting becomes
repetitive and can lead to errors, Richard
Brown, AWTs vice president products and
services said.
AWT, in collaboration with Veson Nautical, a
provider of commercial maritime management
and trading software solutions, has claimed to
have eliminated repetitive reporting by using
Vesons patented Veslink solution. An added
benefit of this system is that it eliminates the
need to submit data via AWTs data reporting
system (DRS2), therefore enabling data
reporting from ship to shore more efficiently.
When connected with other business systems,
Veslink streamlines data entry into those
solutions. For example, Veslink integrates with
the Integrated Maritime Operations System
26
(IMOS).
Implementing Veslink for AWT is easy to
accomplish, with only one authorisation that
eliminates the burden of continuous reporting
and sending multiple reports containing the
same data.
This partnership also includes ship
monitoring information that allows for multiple
uses within AWT to perform key services,
including weather routing, AWTs SmartWatch
performance analysis and management service
and the fleet decision support system
(FleetDSS), a customisable fleet management
system.
Veslink allows for a continuous reporting
schedule that is automatically generated and
sent directly to AWT throughout a vessels
voyage. These reports are uploaded directly to
the AWT system, allowing weather advisories
and data access from AWT to be moved to the
forefront where the priority should be, giving
accurate voyage data processing advice, Brown
said.
By eliminating redundant processes, the
companies claimed to have streamlined the
work flow on board the vessel.
According to Per Ostman, manager of
strategic relationships at Veson Nautical, The
collaboration between AWT and Veson Nautical
has already added measurable value to our

common clients, and were very excited with
the continued partnership. Weve worked
together at a functional level to adjust both the
AWT and Veson systems in order to streamline
and optimise data collection on board vessels,
and we have co-authored documentation to
assist voyage operators together, were
making the process smarter, end-to-end.
Last December, Veson Nautical, announced
that its Veslink solution was now available to
all shipping companies as a robust standalone
platform.
Veslink can now be implemented with IMOS
or with in-house or other systemsor it can be
used if there is no other system in place.
Agya Garg, Veson Nauticals product
manager, said, Simply put, Veslink enables
shipping companies to collect, analyse, and
share maritime data. Until now, it only has been
implemented alongside IMOS. But weve seen
a growing demand for Veslink from prospective
clients who use a variety of other solutions. So,
in keeping with Veson Nauticals philosophy of
continually innovating our solutions to address
todays shipping needs and anticipate
tomorrows challenges, we are now delighted to
provide the benefits of Veslink to any maritime
shipping company.
Veslink was designed to help shipping
companies manage voyage operations and
reporting more efficiently by enabling data
collection from ship to shore through its
forms feature, facilitating the sharing of data
with partners through its network capabilities,
providings distances and live data, such as
weather or bunker prices through its maps,
and aggregating data to depict the combined
performance of all vessels in a fleet through
performance reporting and analytics.
Veslinks key features are:
Vessel Forms: Eliminate error and duplicate

entry with easy-to-use, standard vessel
forms.
Fleet Map: Visualise and act on your fleet
status.
Distances: Quickly calculate nautical
distances in Veslink.
Performance Reporting: Spot trends in fuel
consumption, distance, speed, etc.
Integration: If required, integrate Veslink
with IMOS or other systems to share data
in real time.
Advanced Maps: Overlay weather

information and extended nautical charts
into a fleet map, to validate reports and
make proactive routing decisions.
Agent Portal: Incorporate agent nomination
and form submission into the everyday
Veslink work flow.
Form Designer: Design custom forms and
fields to capture any data unique to a
specific business. Custom forms can be
shared with business partners.
TO
Seeking performance optimisation

Fuel efficiency is a key to
decreased operational costs in the
marine business.
Fuel efficiency solutions offer an opportunity
to improve long-term competitiveness and
sustainability, leading power group Wrtsil
claimed.
Larger and more fuel-efficient vessels have
entered the market but with an asset lifespan of
2030 years the key to competitiveness for
many ship operators is the existing fleet.
Since June, 2014, crude oil prices have
decreased by more than 50%. Prices are
expected to increase only slightly, if at all, this
year with a recovery starting in late 2016 or
early 2017.
Even though competition in the marine
market remains strong, decreased fuel prices
might offer some flexibility for
strategic investment decisions,
the company said
Safety, reliability and
efficiency can be achieved
through upgrades to meet
modern standards. Modernisation
also brings a second benefit. It
helps to comply with many of
the upcoming environmental
requirements.
It is crucial to look into the
vessels full lifecycle. The design
and condition of the engine and
propulsion systems and how they
are operated have a direct
connection to fuel consumption.
Proper maintenance is also
among the main areas where fuel
efficiency can be improved.
In the merchant business, fuel
efficiency is the most significant
factor affecting operational
performance.The choice of fuel
matters, of course, but regardless
of what fuel is used, knowing the true condition

of the vessel is always the starting point, said
Andreas Wiesmann, general manager, sales &
innovation, 2-stroke services, Wrtsil.
Based on the feedback received by the
company, propeller modifications and
propulsion upgrades are among the solutions
that are appreciated by marine operators. For
commercial vessels, slow steaming continues to
be a crucial topic. However, slow steaming
without modifications increases risk of engine
fouling and excessive component temperatures,
which highlights importance of upgrade
solutions.
Digitalisation
Digitalisation is fundamentally changing the
way maintenance services are conducted as the
TANKEROperator
utilisation of data and analytics are providing

enormous opportunities to meet current
challenges. For example, available information
can help secure and optimise operations as well
as predict the maintenance need well in
advance.
Making use of digitalisation, Wrtsil has
launched Wrtsil Genius services. These
consist of solutions and services, which are
designed to optimise, for example, an
installations energy efficiency, or even the
management of an entire fleet.
This will be undertaken by integrating
advanced dynamic voyage planning, ship
efficiency advisory services and energy
analysis, as well as extensive condition
monitoring of the main equipment into one
consolidated solution.
TO
27
TECHNOLOGY - FOULING PREVENTION
Fuji enters the coatings market

Developing a coating that resists
fouling, but does not pose a risk
to the environment
or human health is very
challenging.
Until recently, one alternative approach to this
problem relied on anti-fouling coatings
containing toxic biocides applied to the
surfaces in order to kill the marine growth.
Unfortunately, all of these coatings are toxic
and legislation issued by the IMO decreed that
use of coatings containing Tributyltin is now
banned. In addition, other coatings
formulations containing copper are under
increased regulatory scrutiny.
Following a few years of testing on vessels
hulls, FUJIFILM Hunt Smart Surfaces has
entered the commercial market with its
DUPLEX fouling release system technology,
which is claimed to be an effective and
environmentally friendly alternative.
The DUPLEX solution is a US Navy
patented non-toxic system that causes marine
organisms to release from it's silicone-based
28
coated surface. DUPLEX was specifically

formulated for use on ships and has proved
effective in reducing fuel and maintenance
costs.
Five year operation
DUPLEX has been formulated to last for five
years or more depending on the vessels
operational pattern. In trials, the coating has
provided vessels with optimal hydrodynamic
efficiency throughout the life of the coating.
Not all fouling release technologies are
equal. For example, conventional systems can
be vulnerable to wear and tear from debris in
the water or from contact with other
structures. The DUPLEX system is claimed to
be more durable than other fouling release
coatings, providing steady long-term
performance.
In addition, the DUPLEX Tie Coat formula
incorporates nano technology for unique
synergy of four layers - two epoxy anticorrosion layers and a tough protective
silicone topcoat, all of which are effectively
interlocked by a unique thermoplastic

elastomeric tie coat layer that forms a
molecular covalent bond.
The synergy among the four coats creates
superior adhesion, the company said. The
system layers specific dry film thickness
(DFT) is as follows:
One layer of anti-corrosive epoxy (6 mils
DFT).
One layer of anti-corrosive epoxy (6 mils
DFT).
One layer of tie coat (150 microns DFT).
One layer of surface coat (150 microns
DFT), which incorporates the companys
proprietary silicone oil.
This patented solution unites durability,
longevity, cleanability and cost-effectiveness
in a single product and offers:
Non-toxic, environmentally friendly.
Maintenance savings.
Reduced fuel consumption.
Superior release.
Efficient release range.
Easy to apply.
TO
Protecting ships
systems
What is a marine growth preventive system (MGPS)?
hile sailing, ships require the
use of seawater, which will
circulate around the vessels
system and be discharged into
the sea after use.
However, along with the seawater comes
marine organisms, which will deposit
themselves within the ships system and
flourish over time if left unattended.
In this article, Cathodic Marine Engineering
discusses the various cause and effects of
marine growth, as well as effective counter
measures which can be taken against it.
Seawater causes marine growth/fouling, as
amongst its natural marine life are macro and
micro organisms, such as sea worm, molluscs
barnacles, algae, hard shells like acorn
barnacles, etc.
Marine fouling can result in multiple large
clusters of marine organism growth within the
ships piping, where the conditions provides an
appropriate environment to grow and thrive.
As the marine organisms flourish they block
and thus narrow the passage of cooling water
in the ships system.
To prevent or reduce the formation of marine
growth within a ship, an MGPS can be
deployed.
An MGPS operates by electrolysis, which
involves the use of copper, aluminium and
ferrous anodes. The system consists of a
control unit, which supplies impressed current
to anodes. The copper anode produces ions,
which are then carried by the seawater into the
TANKEROperator
piping and machinery system.

These anodes are normally fixed in pairs in
the main sea chests and can also be fitted in
sea strainers or reactions tanks where vessels
do not have drydocking schedules like FPSOs
& FSOs.
Impressed current also causes the
aluminium/ferrous anode to produces ions,
which spread over the system and form an anticorrosive film over the pipes, heat exchanger,
valves, refrigeration, AC units and various
parts of the ships internal system, thus
eliminating corrosion in the pipelines.
Typically, MGPS have a design life which
coincides with the vessels drydocking
schedules and thus will not need replacing
between dockings.
TO
29
Hempel releases new

antifouling-joins
DNV GL
Building on its Hempasil range of fouling release systems, marine coatings manufacturer
Hempel has launched a new antifouling with the aim of delivering optimal fuel savings
and return on investment.
he new Hempasil X3+ is a biocide
free, two-component, fouling
release coating with a high solids
content that is claimed to give
clean hulls for longer periods.
The company claimed that Hempasil X3+
creates a smooth, low energy surface with
unique fouling release properties. Its hydrogel
micro layer prevents fouling organisms from
firmly sticking to the hull while retaining the
self-cleaning properties of silicone.
It is completely biocide free and has no
impact on the marine environment, Hempel
said and is based on hydrogel technology,
comprising a network of advanced polymer
chains, which absorb high amounts of water (to
a level of more than 99%), to create a waterlike boundary layer.
This layer effectively tricks the fouling
organisms into believing the hull is a liquid
and not a solid surface and this minimises
protein and bacterial adhesion.
Announcing the launch, Henrik Dyrholm,
Hempels group product manager, said: This
innovative new coating has been developed in
consultation with our customers to offer an
additional choice for owners and yards and to
deliver optimal fuel savings. Due to its high
efficiency, Hempasil X3+ will significantly
reduce the carbon footprint of a vessel making
it the ideal choice for environmentally aware
shipowners, who want the best for the
environment and their business. Our innovative
hydrogel technology gives an additional layer
of protection that remains present and stable
over time to provide optimal fouling
prevention and performance.
Co-operative agreement
In another move, at Decembers Marintec
China exhibition, Hempel and DNV GL signed
a co-operative agreement to improve
30
measurable fleet performance.

This agreement is aimed at bringing
customers clear, comprehensible and verifiable
analytics to track and assess hull and propeller
performance, for reduced fuel costs and a
smaller environmental impact.
We are very pleased to be able to work with
Hempel to bring their customers ECO Insights
state of the art hull degradation analytics,said
Torsten Bssow, DNV GLs head of fleet
performance management. This data will not
only give their customers transparent and
verified data with only a few simple
measurement inputs, it will also give Hempel
access to advanced analytics for the further
optimisation of their coatings.
Weve already seen the benefits our
customers have gained from having real fleet
performance analytics easily available
especially in the area of hull and propeller
performance and wed like to welcome
Hempel customers to the ECO Insight
family,he said.
The potential for improvements in hull and
propeller performance on the energy efficiency
of vessels is significant, with estimates of
potential savings in the range of 10% in terms
of fuel and greenhouse gas emissions savings.
At Hempel we place great importance in
being close to our customers and providing the
best individual service. With the data analysed
by DNV GL, we will be able to optimise our
customers fuel performance, improving hull
performance matching specifications precisely
to individual needs and trade, drydock intervals
and technical service in dock.
This will benefit our customers and support
their businesses being more efficient in their
operations. So far, we have been very pleased
to co-operate with DNV GL and we look
forward to working even closer with their staff
from now on, said Christian Ottosen,
Hempels group vice president marine

marketing at the time of the announcement.
In addition, by tapping into more ship
specific data - beyond what is used to calculate
performance - ECO Insights analytics can be
used to further customise paint specifications
up front and to pro-actively manage
performance once the ship enters service.
Since the joint agreement was signed,
Hempel has had several customers signing up
for this service, the company said.
In conversation with Tanker Operator,
Ottosen further explained; We initiated this
programme with DNV-GL, not because DNV
GL is a class society, but because they have
developed and built a strong fuel monitoring
department, which includes a range of models
for such assessments, and actively supports the
shipping industrys goal in becoming more
efficient when it comes to fuel performance.
We are utilising DNVGL as our
consultants and applying their expertise within
fuel performance monitoring to provide a
service to our customers by focusing on how
the hull coating can contribute even more to an
individual owners fuel performance. This is
achieved by monitoring the fuel performance
for their fleet, benchmarking our different hull
coating solutions in order to support our
customers in improving fuel performance, by
developing improved specifications based on
detailed in-depth knowledge about the fuel
performance versus trade, age type, etc, as well
as using this information for the further
development of fuel efficient hull coatings.
Hempel will undertake this regardless of
which class society our customers are using,
and the agreements are made between Hempel
and owners, with DNV-GL acting as our expert
consultants.
Simultaneously, we have built a reputation
as a centre of excellence within our R&D

department by providing our customers with
regular feedback and proposing constructive
ideas for changes to improve fuel
performance, he said.
He acknowledged that not much can be
achieved with a tankers basic hull design but
said; However, the hull coating is a main
contributor to fuel performance for vessels, so
there is a lot to be done for the specification
and choice of the right hull coatings for
specific vessels and trade. We can even provide
detailed tailored specifications, and with time
we can develop tailored products suited for
changes in trade patters we already have
examples of this.
This is Hempels contribution to improve
the ships total efficiency, and as mentioned hull
coatings are a significant contributor to fuel
performance efficiency on a ship, he said.
take into account the flexibility needed for

different and variable trade patterns, long idle
periods, etc, with our product range
Hempaguard, which is based on our
revolutionary Actiguard technology a
combination of low friction silicone, and a
balanced biocide package, he said.
Finally, he said that Hempel will use the
results gathered from the ECO Insight solution
to further develop the product portfolio and
technologies, as well use this knowledge,
together with customers, to develop more new
products.
He claimed that Hempel already had several
examples of this but could not reveal details at
this point in time.
Antifouling sales
Since 1998, Hempel has sold 100 mill litres of
Rapid ROI
Turning to the falling bunker costs and the
possible affect on owners/operators thinking,
Ottosen said: Even though bunker costs have
decreased significantly over the last year or so,
hull coatings specifications can still contribute
with a positive and rapid return on investment
(ROI) by choosing the right hull coating. ROI
may be increased from four months to 10
months, and by choosing the right tailored
solution, even with the low bunker values of
today, it is still a saving and will contribute to
an owners profitability and overall
competitiveness.
He said that by using ECO Insight, the result
will be a major plus for optimising the hull
performance and to tailor more detailed hull
coating solutions everything from choosing
the hull coating itself, to preparing for the
drydock work, to the technical service and
training.
For us it is not a matter of software, it is a
matter of systematically collecting data
analysing this information and evaluating this,
together with the owner, to conclude on what
we mutually can do to improve and optimise
fuel efficiency with hull coatings. Customers
will also be provided with information on the
vessels performance versus the world fleet, he
explained.
As for regular hull and propeller cleaning
Ottosen was of the opinion that depending on
the trade patterns, idle periods, mechanical
damages, etc, for some vessels cleaning might
be a solution, however, Hempel aims for hull
coating solutions that last and keep to what
was promise in terms of a clean efficient hull
for the given drydock interval, based on mutual
evaluations.
We already have products in the market that
TANKEROperator
micro-fibre based antifouling paint - the

equivalent of coating 45,000 vessels.
Four years before, Hempel had gained the
patent for the micro-fibre antifouling
technology in its NAUTIC TIN-FREE 8190C
product.
Today, this exclusive technology is
incorporated in all Hempels fouling prevention
products. The technology involves introducing
an internal skeleton of fibres into the paint to
enhance its mechanical strength in the same
way that steel rods can be inserted into
concrete to reinforce a physical structure.
The company claims to be the only coatings
manufacturer to use micro-fibres in its paints
and it is now also being used in other Hempel
products, such as epoxy cargo tank paints and
other anticorrosive coatings.
TO
Over 500 Tankers Worldwide Have Used

MarineLine Cargo Tank Coatings
Compare MarineLine
cargo tank coating to any
conventional phenolic epoxy
or zinc silicate coatings and
expect a major difference in
enhanced corrosion protection
and versatility. More than 500
tankers worldwide have relied
on MarineLine.
Advanced Polymer Coatings

Avon, Ohio 44011 U.S.A.
+01 440-937-6218 Phone
+01 440-937-5046 Fax
www.adv-polymer.com
31
TECHNOLOGY - TANK COATINGS
Tank coatings
investments revealed
New tank coatings have been unveiled recently by Hempel and PPG.
s a replacement for its successful
Hempadur 15400 tank coating,
Hempel has launched Hempadur
15460.
This high-grade product was specifically
designed as a tank coating for chemical
carriers and is based on amine adduct cured
epoxy technology. This is claimed to deliver
outstanding resistance to continuous
immersion in a range of chemicals, including
crude oil up to temperatures of 80 deg C.
The company said that Hempadur 15460
delivers a range of benefits, including:
A two coat system, which reduces
expensive application times.
Higher volume solids with reduced solvent
emissions.
Low cargo absorption and retention
meaning quicker cargo turnaround and
greater flexibility.
Higher cross-linking density giving
improved chemical resistance.

Developed specifically with customer
requirements in mind, Hempadur 15460
incorporates a high cross-link density
technology, which creates an internal matrix
giving added advanced chemical resistance
and low cargo absorption and retention.
In addition, this new pure epoxy tank
coating exhibits a high glass transition
temperature (known as Tg ) that provides high
temperature resistance, improved abrasion
resistance, extended maximum re-coating
intervals and a hard, smooth and glossy
surface for easy cleaning.
Hempels global product manager, Michael
Aamodt, said:To deliver the best results, we
need to constantly challenge ourselves and our
products. Hempadur 15400 is a great product,
but to meet our customers needs for greater
protection, added flexibility and reasonable
price, we developed Hempadur 15460 as a
high-grade replacement.
This new tank coating is FDA compliant
for the carriage of liquid foodstuffs and has
been developed specifically to resist all oil
product cargoes, including clean petroleum
products (CPP), dirty petroleum products
(DPP), crude oil, benzene, ketones, fats, and
caustics.
Through continual investment in R&D, we
are able to bring new products to market, such
as Hempadur 15460, to support our customers
and their business, he said.
Hempadur 15460 does not use toxic
products and can be used to coat all liquid
cargo tanks. It is also suitable for grey and
black water tanks, mud and brine tanks,
refrigerated seawater fish tanks and other
vessel tanks.
Aamodt confirmed to Tanker Operator that
the coating is compatible for IMO III product
tankers. It is also compatible to a number of
PHENGUARD PRO is claimed to be suitable for both IMO II and IMO III type tanks - see page 33.
32
TECHNOLOGY - TANK COATINGS

cargoes carried by IMO II tankers and some cargoes carried by IMO I
tankers. Hempels online cargo protection guide gives the total
resistance list for the product at
https://webapp.hempel.com/hempelcpg/Default.aspx
He also affirmed that when applied, the new coating gives a smooth
and hard surface that is easier to clean.
We have made several trial applications in tanks on vessels that
operate with product cargoes and we will follow up on their
performance. Our R&D department has spent years on developing and
testing the coating to safeguard excellent chemical resistance for its
use, Aamodt told Tanker Operator.
He also claimed that the new coating would have a longer life span
as its chemical resistance is improved by the higher crosslink density.
The new coating can be applied by using standard airless spray
equipment down to 5 deg C, and it does not need any post-curing or
elevated temperature after application.
PPGs PHENGUARD PRO
Turning to PPG Protective and Marine Coatings, this company has
unveiled PHENGUARD PRO.
For shipyards and at installation, the coating system provides
potential efficiency gains of over 20%, compared to traditional threelayer coating systems, while for owners/operators it provides the
widest chemical resistance and the longest carriage time on the market
of more than 3,400 cargoes, delivering maximum flexibility to the
product tanker trades, PPG claimed.
PHENGUARD PRO is described as a new premium tank coating
solution that has been specifically designed for use on IMO II and III
chemical/product tankers typically in the 30,00060,000 dwt range.
Sijmen Visser, PPGs global marketing manager marine,
said:PHENGUARD PRO is truly a game changer for the product
tanker market offering shared benefits to both the shipyard and
owner/operator by combining over 20% efficiency gains on
application at newbuild and/or maintenance with trusted and proven
performance for the owner.
Based on our 40-plus years track record on more than 1,500
vessels with this product technology, PPG has again delivered a top
quality product that also represents best value to all stakeholders in the
IMO II/III product tanker segment, he said.
Visser said that PPG had identified market demand in the IMO II/III
product/chemical tanker segment for a two-layer phenolic epoxy
system that offered maximum cargo flexibility with improved
efficiency at installation at both the newbuilding and refurbishment
stage.
PHENGUARD PRO is specifically suitable for use in IMO II and
IMO III product and chemical tankers. PHENGUARD PROs unique
formulation contains just two layers of 125 microns (5.0 mils) rather
than the standard three layers of 100 microns (4.0 mils). The coating
will facilitate shipyards in lowering their total operational costs as its
application typically takes three days less to apply than traditional
three-layer systems.
It is resistant against most of the IMO cargoes carried in IMO II
and IMO III type of product tankers, he claimed.
Easy to clean
The new coating also provides a very smooth finish that is easy to
clean, thus saving time and labour at cargo switching and tank
cleaning. Shipowners can also benefit from well-documented guidance
and procedures for cargoes requiring pre-wash, thus extending the
coating life.
TO
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TECHNOLOGY - TANK SERVICES
Responsible cargo
tank cleaning
washing water
analysis (Part 1)
In my previously published article entitled Preparing Chemical Tankers for Cargo
Operations, the key discussion points were centred on the wall wash inspection and how
it essentially has two very distinct purposes.*
hese are1) To allow load port surveyors to
determine cargo tank suitability
prior to loading chemical cargoes.
2) To allow vessels to monitor tank cleaning
operations both to a visually clean and
chemically clean standard.
The main concerns raised, covered the
weaknesses and flaws associated with the wall
wash inspection process per se, which
undoubtedly influence the validity and
veracity of the results to such a degree that
one has to ask whether the process actually
justifies the means? Particularly when one
considers the growing number and
increasingly demanding, pre-loading
inspection specifications being implemented
by cargo interests, prior to loading more and
more chemical cargoes. Even more so, when it
is accepted and understood that each time a
wall wash sample is undertaken, at least one
person is exposed to one of the most
dangerous aspects of the oil/chemical
business; namely confined space entry (CSE).
The title of this discussion, split into two
parts, reflects the relationship between the
wall wash inspection and the extreme dangers
of CSE and aims to present washing water
analysis as an alternative, more responsible,
cargo tank inspection process. A process that
is primarily and inherently safer because it
significantly reduces the need for CSE during
tank cleaning operations, but at the same time,
a process that also provides far more
representative data relating to the cleanliness
of the cargo tanks and cargo lines, which is
something the wall wash inspection can never
achieve.
34
freed and dried.

We all have a responsibility of duty and care
and if the primary requirement for a vessel to
pass a wall wash inspection is commercial
benefit, then surely alternatives to the wall
wash inspection must be more aggressively
investigated?
The basics
The principle is very simple. All cargo tank
cleaning processes are a series of steps that
when combined together, are designed to
successfully remove traces of previous cargo
from the surface of any given cargo tank.
Each cleaning step has a defined role that on
its own, may not necessarily remove all of the
previous cargo, but when combined with other
cleaning steps, will allow for its complete
removal. Knowledge of which tank cleaning
operations require the use of elevated or
ambient washing water temperatures and/or
cleaning chemicals and which prior cargoes
may still be retained in the lining of the cargo
tank after completion of the tank cleaning
operation, is needed, but the vessels owners
have always been responsible for acquiring
this knowledge and expertise and this
responsibility does not change.
The success of any tank cleaning operation
is directly related to knowing that each step of
the process has been successfully executed.
Until now, identifying the presence (or lack
of) of trace levels of the previous cargo on the
surface of the cargo tanks, has only been
possible using human entry in conjunction
with either a visual or wall wash inspection,
after the tank cleaning step has been
completed and the cargo tank suitably gas
By using a scanning UV spectrophotometer,

such as the L&I WAVE II, to scan washing
water samples in the UV region of the light
spectrum, it is now possible to accurately
identify trace levels of previous cargo residues
in the washing water; meaning that when the
washing water no longer contains these
residues, the cargo tank can be considered as
clean.
As already alluded to, it should be
understood that the early steps of many tank
cleaning operations are unlikely to completely
remove all traces of the previous cargo, so the
key to a successful operation is to identify
when each cleaning step is complete, before
moving on to the next, recognising that each
of the steps do have a limitation.
Interpretation of the washing water data
allows the vessel to clearly identify the point
at which each cleaning step is no longer being
effective, which is the trigger to initiate the
next cleaning step; all of this, without having
to put people inside the cargo tanks.
The process of monitoring all cargo tank
cleaning procedures essentially becomes a
live operation, without the need to stop
cleaning, cool down/gas free the cargo tanks
and expose a crew member to CSE in order to
carry out a visual or wall wash inspection.
Experience has already demonstrated that
monitoring tank cleaning operations in this
manner, generates significant time savings on
tank cleaning procedures that have been
historically used with good success.
For example, if a tank cleaning step
suggests washing for four hours with hot water
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TECHNOLOGY - TANK SERVICES

and after four hours cleaning with hot water,
the cargo tank is determined to be clean (by
visual or wall wash inspection), why should
the efficiency of that specific cleaning step be
questioned, because it has clearly been
successful?
But what if the same level of cleanliness
could be achieved after only two hours of
cleaning with hot water?
In the absence of using washing water
analysis, the only way of checking would be
to stop the cleaning after two hours, cool
down, force ventilate until the cargo tank was
gas free/dry and inspect. If it was then
subsequently identified that the cargo tank was
not clean and required additional cleaning,
more time and more personnel would be
required to re-start the process, heat the water
and cargo tank back up to temperature and
continue the cleaning.
In other words, visually checking that a four
hour cleaning step is actually effective, may
end up taking six or eight (or more) hours to
complete, meaning there is no real advantage
in trying to optimise any tank cleaning
procedures, using the visual/wall wash
inspection techniques.
Dynamic process
In direct contrast, washing water analysis is a
dynamic process that takes a maximum of a
couple of minutes from drawing the sample,
analysing it and comparing it with the
previous sample in order to see if the cleaning
is complete or whether the cleaning step needs
to be changed; during which time, tank
cleaning proceeds as normal.
The benefits are immediate and quite
obvious:
Optimised tank cleaning procedures, which
directly leads to -
Significantly reduced man entry into the

cargo tanks.
Preservation of crew rest hours.
Real time savings.
Reduction in fuel (and often cleaning
chemical) consumption.
Removal of over-cleaning which is proven
to accelerate the wear and breakdown of
the vessels hardware, including but not
limited to, cargo tank coating, pumps and
lines.
The considerable reduction of CSE has
massive safety implications that run through
the core of this discussion, but it should be
noted that this benefit also has a very positive
influence in the management of rest hours for
the seafarers.
Monitoring tank cleaning by physical cargo
tank entry is not only dangerous, it also takes
a great deal of time and when tank cleaning
operations are often managed by the vessels
Chief Officer and a very limited number of
crew members, the effective use of all the
personnel is critical. As noted, analysis of any
washing water sample takes only minutes to
complete, which creates more time for
executing tank cleaning step changes, (shifting
of tank cleaning machines and hoses,
connecting and re-connecting lines and
flanges, etc), which have to be carried,
regardless of how the cleaning is being
monitored.
This ability to positively influence the
efficiency of procedures during tank cleaning
is also significant, because it has to be
recognised that no two tank cleaning
procedures are the same, even if the same
vessel is cleaning from the same last cargo.
The influence of earlier prior cargoes, the
temperature of the washing water, the size and
type of the cargo tank, the condition of the
lining, the functionality of the tank cleaning

equipment, etc can all vary from one day to
another, yet the washing water analysis
remains constant.
A spectrophotometer only sees what it sees,
and if there is a higher concentration of
benzene in the washing water one day
compared to the same cleaning another day,
there is always a reason for this, which
actually enables the vessel to identify potential
problems that may otherwise go unnoticed.
At this point, it should be at least
acknowledged that this deviation from
industry accepted tank cleaning guidelines
could create legal challenges in the future,
particularly in the event of arbitration where
the tank cleaning on board the vessel is
generally accepted as being the best indicator
of conformance with the requirements of a
diligent crew.
The industry accepted guidelines are just
that -guidelines - and in the authors opinion,
any vessel monitoring tank cleaning by means
of washing water analysis should not be
penalised, if the cleaning carried out is
somehow construed as being less than one of
the published guidelines.
That said, the fact that washing water
analysis gives the vessel the ability to confirm
that the cargo lines are also free from the
previous cargo, could actually be seen as a
proactive step to reduce the risk of cargo
contamination, meaning washing water
analysis could become more of a legal norm in
TO
the future?
*This is the first part of an article written for
Tanker Operator by Guy Johnson of L&I
Maritime (UK). The second part will be
published in the March issue of Tanker
Operator.
Our changing relationship with the oil industry

Metropolitan Hotel, Athens,
Wednesday April 13 2016
SPEAKERS INCLUDE:
Dimitris Lyras, director, Lyras Shipping
Martin Shaw, Managing Director, Marine Operations and
Assurance Management Solutions
Captain Andrew Cassels, Director, Oil Companies
International Marine Forum
Produced in association with
TANKEROperator
Further information and registration
http://bit.ly/TOAth16
36

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Plenty more oil to ship

    

International Registries, Inc.

tel: +1 703 620 4880

Middle East Report

A lot to think about as we head

several months for most of the projects and the

ratification to kick in, despite 47 countries

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

Dont you need a complete solution?

Industry Leading Content

Licensed news, spo

A new comprehensive customer

Storm clouds ahead

sector, Gibson said.

Rates (TCE at market speed)

up to the third week of December numbered

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

Top spot is a position that Unipec is unlikely

year in the oil and tanker market.

Europe and Latin America.

Source: Poten & Partners

INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT

around 15% of its needs. However, the picture

facilities at Yanbu Yasref (400,000 barrels per

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT

Robotic hull cleaning

majors vessels was cleaned in just seven

The unmanned HullWiper is now being

burnt in the local cement factory and in Dubai,

INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT

Repair yards attract

Tankers, Chandris Hellas, Aegean Bunkering

ASRY appoints new shiprepair manager

Kristian Berge, will not only carefully pass

Engineering for several years, after over a

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT

of the main engines and auxiliaries (including

vessels, such as Unix Line (Singapore), Odfjell

Dubai Maritime Training Centre

world-class workshops and training

vessel from V-Ships (Norway) - the 40,354 dwt

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

INDUSTRY - MIDDLE EAST REPORT

us to build in larger portions, reducing on time

ODCs Dr Ahmed Al Abri.

chain building strong alliances with a broad

INDUSTRY - FLAG STATES - IMO

International Convention on Load Lines,

New IMO head Ki-tack Lim.

updated International Code for the

TANKEROperator January/February 2016

INDUSTRY - FLAG STATES

Large flag states

the Convention can be implemented rapidly

fleet largely due to the growth of the drycargo

Greek top spot

INDUSTRY - COMMERCIAL OPERATIONS

Q88 expands into

shipping oil then you should be a Q88.com