Please urgently confirm your clearance (approval) on the nominated vessel for STS! (Ship-to-Ship)

Clearance requests addressed to shipowners on nominated vessels is standard practice from charterers when they plan ship-to-ship transfer (STS) operations. This practice ensures that shipowners can decide on the suitability of nominated vessels and revert with their consent or rejection. Such clearance requests need to be diligently treated by tanker operators, justified on facts and procedures, since they provide a level of assurance on the compliance of the nominated vessel(s).

Verification of nominated vessels can include a wide range of criteria such as the mooring arrangement and general vessel characteristics; however, vessel suitability can also be assessed through statutory status, classification records, insurance cover, and the past records of the tanker operator and crew experience.

The level of due diligence that a tanker operator has to exercise during clearance of nominated vessels is subjective and has not been specified. It depends on expertise, established STS policies and the availability of his resources to do so.

Liability concerns, have unreasonably led some tanker operators to request numerous documents and/or certificates, in an attempt to ?screen? nominated vessels. The lack of consistency confuses charterers since the different requirements from tanker operators complicate the ?fixing? of vessels. The existence of established ?STS Clearance Policies? together with standardization of the ?Operational STS Policies? from tanker operators, provides a solution towards accelerating the clearance process. That will reduce the work load of the staff ashore while protecting their interests and reputation.

The due diligence for each tanker operator is subjective and depends on the practicable possible standards that are determined by either:

• statutory¹ requirements
• terms of insurance covers
• industry and commercial criteria
• provisions of charter party²

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Commercial complications can arise, should a master declines a vessel for an STS transfer, once this has been ?prior cleared? by his tanker operator. The master will have to present strong grounds that are associated with safety issues which were not evident during the clearance by the operators.

Safe conduct of STS Operations requires proper planning and prudent risk management from tanker operators. The Shipowner and his master need to have confidence in the competence of the service provider that has been assigned by the charterer or the cargo owner.

The Achilles heel in Ship-to-Ship transfers is the fact that there is no direct contractual commitment between the involved parties; i.e both vessels and the service provider. As the contract is between the involved parties and the charterer(s), the only ?tool? that provides assurance for safety is the justified exercise of due diligence. In this respect the onlineSTS.net service of DYNAMARINe provides such turnkey solutions for all STS participants.

The majority of STS transfers take place according to the OCIMF/ICS/SIGTTO guidelines. This is a contractual commitment between the charterer and shipowner as well as between the charterer and the service provider. The charterer thus, is the STS stakeholder that provides the assurance that the STS transfer will take place in accordance with the current STS guidelines. Shipowners and Service providers have to comply; however shipowners are the only ones that provide the assurance on the basis of safety. For this reason the charterer has to exercise his due diligence to the best possible extent towards the selection of the service provider.

Ship-to-Ship transfer operations are in the foreground, with the new STS guidelines published in November 2013 by OCIMF/ICS/SIGTTO. The new STS guidelines present a consolidated edition for Oil, Chemical and Gas Carriers involved in STS Operations and embody the regulations of new Marpol chapter 8 of Annex 1 that was implemented on April 1st, 2012.

Although there are practical as well as other important differences in the new guidelines, they have to be dealt with due care by tanker Operators. The existing STS Plans, already approved by the flag administrations before 1st April 2012⁴, may not have to be amended but should be now comprehensively reviewed in the light of the new guidelines since almost all charter party STS clauses⁵ make reference to the ?Latest STS industry guidelines?.

Although Ship-to-Ship transfer operations have proven to be safe operations, shipowners, tanker operators and other STS stakeholders should not rest only on the reputation level of involved parties. The number of STS operations has increased more than 1000% since 2001 and the probability of a serious accident with evident damages to the environment, the ships and hence to the reputation of involved parties is high.

Tanker operators endeavor to adopt STS Policies at a level which is comprehensive to their shore operators and simultaneously attractive to their commercial profile; however they should consider to have their procedures in-line and above to the best possible practical standards as determined by the up to date requirements, in order to support their reputation and exposure.

Continuous, justified and prudent exercise of due diligence from STS stakeholders is the only key towards maintaining high standard levels and onlineSTS.net service of DYNAMARINe aims towards this direction.

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OnlineSTS.net Team

info@onlinests.net

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