POAC AND SERVICE PROVIDER ASSESSMENT SURVEY BY MASTERS

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This article presents the findings of a survey that took place during July and August of 2014. Roughly 200 vessels took part and reported on this survey from various companies that were invited to participate. The companies were either members or non-members of the onlinests.net service of DYNAMARINe.

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The purpose of this survey was to define, to the best possible and practical extent, the level of implementation regarding the requirements of chapter 6 of the IMO Manual on oil Pollution and Prevention. Furthermore, criteria associated with the quality, reliability and efficiency of the Service Providers according to paragraph 2.5 of the latest OCIMF/ICS/SIGTTO/CDI publication were examined.

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Statutory and commercial requirements, as those denoted by the latest OCIMF/ICS/SIGTTO/CDI publication, aim towards the establishment of safer standards as well as prudent practices in Ship-to-Ship Operations for all stakeholders. Each stakeholder contributes with his responsibility and obligation to the correct implementation of statutory requirements.

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Proper and fair consideration should be addressed to the factors that affect the implementation of procedures both prior, during and after the completion of the Ship-to-Ship transfer operation. Such factors consist of, but are not limited to the following: the policies of cargo owners who audit and hire the service providers, the procedures of service providers while providing relevant STS information to the Masters and finally the extent to which the Masters are permitted to implement the policies of their STS Plan, without withholding the commercial need of an STS operation.

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The statistics seen below speak for themselves and the onlineSTS.net team considers that each stakeholder should reach their own conclusions. 63% of the Masters that provided their feedback claimed to have extensive experience in STS Operations, on a worldwide basis, whereas the other 37% claimed to have moderate experience.

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Figure 1

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Figure 2

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Figure 3

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Figure 4

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Figure 5

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Figure 6

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Figure 7

DISCUSSION

An obvious and unsettling conclusion is the fact that a large percentage of the Masters claimed that they are not informed of the qualifications of the POAC or whether the POAC complies with the latest MARPOL requirements. All the same, it seems that the qualifications of POAC are only provided to 20-25% of the STS Operations. This small percentage reflects the actions of prudent Service Providers and/or their contractors.

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Slightly increased due diligence actions from the service providers are also depicted by the statistics in Figure 3. Although some Service providers are confident with the level of their expertise and implemented procedures with respect to the certification of the STS equipment, they unfortunately do not provide such information to the Master and therefore do not allow the Master in return to exercise the expected due diligence.

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The percentages shown in Figure 4 reflect the quality related policies of the service providers with respect to their provided services. Again, the rate of prudent compliance in this respect is about 25%, i.e only 1 out 4 STS Operations involves a service provider that adopts such quality policies. The remaining STS operations refer to service providers that either partially apply, or do not apply at all (1 out of 3) to such post quality feedback procedures. The same comment applies to the statistics presented in Figures 5 and 6 accordingly.

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Finally Figure 7 presents the statistics of the Masters who used their overriding authority during an STS operation with respect to POAC advice.

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The proper implementation of statutory regulations according to MARPOL chapter 8 of ANNEX 1, is an obligation of all STS stakeholders to the extent of which their duties and responsibilities address their involvement. Although the Masters and their Technical operators bear the burden of ensuring SAFETY at STS Operations, they should be allowed access to the appropriate information that is involved in a due diligence process for risk assessment and risk mitigation. All STS stakeholders should effectively assist the Masters on a proactive basis, towards providing all necessary information as per industry and statutory requirements.

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The onlineSTS.net service of DYNAMARINe aims to establish procedures for prudent management of STS Operations by adopting practices towards effective management of information. This in turn will allow its members to ensure safety and perform proper and detailed planning without hindering the commercial value with excess logistics.

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COMPANIES THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE SURVEY (In Alphabetical order)

We would like to thank the following companies for their participation in the survey:

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• ANDRIAKI SHIPPING CO LTD.

• ATHENIAN SEA CARRIERS

• BERNHARD SCHULTE SHIP MANAGEMENT CYPRUS

• BERNARD SCHULTE SHIP MANAGEMENT UK

• ENESEL SA

• EURONAV SHIP MANAGEMENT GREECE

• EURONAV SHIP MANAGEMENT SAS

• IONIA SHIP MANAGEMENT

• GRACE SHIP MANAGEMENT

• MARAN TANKERS MANAGEMENT INC

• MEDCARE SHIPPING S.A.

• THENAMARIS (Ships Management) INC.

• VELA INTERNATIONAL MARINE LTD

• WALLEM SHIP MANAGEMENT

• WESTERN SHIPPING PTE LTD

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