STS Drills

exercises on crew preparedness and competency

A. Introduction

The human element is a critical parameter for the safe and effective implementation of an STS Operation. During the planning phase, senior officers should have the knowledge and capacity to assess the incurred risks, based on industry requirements. DYNAMARINe offers Ship-to-Ship drill exercises designed towards verifying mariner’s preparedness. Senior officers should have the capacity to assess critical STS elements and other factors, based on the STS PLAN and latest OCIMF guidelines.

The exercises are prepared on a ship/fleet specific basis and may be arranged before advance notice. The duration of the above individual exercises is between 30 – 60 minutes. A Drill comprises of several exercises from 3-6, depending on the available time of Master and senior officers. OnlineSTS.net will retain records for the drill completed for each participating officer, linked with his unique onlineSTS.net ID. Records are available at officer’s STS certificates.

Currently, the following exercises are available during the STS Drills.
Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Assessment of the Joint Plan of Operations

The Assessment of the provided Joint Plan of operation (JPO) as submitted from the Service Provider on the basis of OCIMF and STS Plan requirements.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Vessel compliance with industry requirements and responsibilities arising from latest OCIMF Guidelines

The aim of this exercise is to provide the steps towards a proposed verification for determining the level of vessel?s compliance based on criteria included at latest ICS/OCIMF/SIGTTO/CDI STS guidelines edition 2013.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Assessment of STS equipment and POAC qualifications

The Assessment of the provided certificates of the STS equipment that will be utilized for the STS operation and the assessment of the qualifications of the Mooring Master.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Mooring lines and rigging

To become familiar with the assessment of the mooring plan of the STS operation on the basis of industry guidelines, when this is submitted by the service provider along with the joint plan of operations (JPO).

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Adjustment of Brakes on mooring winches

To become familiar with the proper adjustment of mooring winch brakes in order to ensure that mooring lines will be equally loaded on both participating vessels without damaging the mooring gear apparatus.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Fender Selection & assessment of hose length on the basis of checklist No. 1

To become familiar with the assessment of Fender Selection and hose length calculation in order to be able to evaluate when those are mentioned at the joint plan of operations (JPO) as submitted by the service providers.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Fender Rigging

To become familiar with the Rigging of Primary and Secondary fenders according to vessel description and industry guidelines.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Risk Assessment

To become familiar with the Risk assessment provided by the Service Provider and revert if same fulfils the requirements of latest OCIMF guidelines with respect to the captioned STS operation.

The risk assessment delivered by the STS service provider should be assessed by the Master and hazard identification along with risk mitigating measures should provide an input to the risk assessment developed by the vessel.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Assessment of checklist No. 3

Completion of checklist No. 3 should take place after an assessment that fendering is according to the JPO and industry guidelines.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Approaching and initial contact of the manoeuvring vessel

To become familiar with the assessment of approaching velocity and angle.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Incident investigation

To become familiar on the significance of elements that have to be taken into account when drafting a report after an STS incident.

Masters should be aware of the OCIMF and STS plan procedures prior to an STS operation and whether both involved vessels as well as the service provider, comply with industry guidelines.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Practical and theoretical aspects of an STS operation

Questions and brief case studies where it is requested from the participants to assess their knowledge on the basis of several STS related publications, accompanied with their experience.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency New Mooring Plan Assessment

Different sample mooring plans are submitted where Master and participating officers will have to assess and provide additional comments / remarks.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Incident investigation - Problem Question

Through this STS Drill, crew proves understanding of essential aspects surrounding an effective STS incident investigation. Master should be able to evaluate the utility of the information requested by the DPA to provide efficiently his support towards identifying the causes attributable to the incident or near miss.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Multiple Mooring Line Failure

Case study scenario where multiple mooring lines break down. Participant should identify factors and explain all essential immediate actions required once encountering an incident like this.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Fender Rigging Scenario - Trim Assessment

Fender Rigging will have to take place on the basis of ship specific data and arrangement of fender with respect to the parallel body of the vessel. Master should assess the correct position of primary and secondary fenders before and after the STS operation.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Short STS operation scenarios

Though the provided STS Drill, a series of topics are briefly presented in the form of 4 case studies. These scenarios focus on different aspects. The objective of the exercise is to briefly touch upon a wide range of scenarios that may be encountered during an STS operation

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency STS Bow Tie Assessment

The bow tie methodology is a visual and valuable tool that seafarers use to analyze and manage risks associated with their tasks. The exercise involves filling out the missing pieces on the diagram from the dropdown list that resembles a bow tie, with the hazard in the middle and the causal factors and consequences on either side.

Ship to Ship Drill - Exercises on Crew Preparedness and Competency Practical and Theoretical Considerations During STS Operations

Through the provided information, a set of questions and brief case study are presented. It is requested from the participants to assess different topics, on their accuracy, on the basis of several STS related publications, accompanied by their experience.

B. The purpose of such exercises

The human element is directly associated with the level of the preparedness and the perception of hazards from senior officers involved in the planning, decision making and successful execution of an STS operation. Furthermore, the level of preparedness while reporting an incident is also important for the ship owner and such exercises provide an added value to the seafarer.

The STS exercises-drills, offer to the shipowners and their managers the opportunity to measure the level of preparedness of their crew and build up confidence of their crew performance.

Furthermore, such exercises may be registered at ships’ Safety Management System and recorded at TMSA. Almost all tanker vessels fulfil OCIMF requirements as mentioned at Q88 or VPQ relevant sections. However, such vessel compliance reflects apart from the cargo gear specification, the level of company policies implementation as those are reflected at the STS plan or at the latest OCIMF guidelines. This is amongst the contractual requirements between the vessel owner and the charterer.

C. How the drills take place

Drills are conducted between DYNAMARINe and the vessels via interactive messages. Managers are kept in cc during the whole process. Drills have to be prepared in advance. In this respect we need to receive documents for individual vessels as noted at section F.

D. Appraisal

After the completion of the drill an appraisal is returned to the Master. Appraisal records are kept also online for clients review.

E. The value of onlineSTS.net

Performing such exercises through the onlineSTS.net service of DYNAMARINe, enables shipowners to take advantage of the expertise in due diligence actions attained from real cases from numerous STS risk assessments. The assessment of exercises by onlineSTS.net TEAM, after completion, requires knowledge and skills in order to produce a simplified, however valuable understanding to the seafarer.

F. Required data

For preparing the exercises we shall need the following documents for each vessel:
  • The approved STS Plan
  • Q88 or VPQ
  • Mooring arrangement
  • General arrangement
  • IMO crew list
  • Fender Selection & assessment of hose length on the basis of checklist No.1

G. Further Information

Please contact us to organise a trial STS drill or request further information.

H. Cost

Drills are offered with a minimum of four exercises. There is a possibility of arranging block deal agreements on an annual basis. Discounts are available for onlineSTS.net member vessels. For further information on costs please contact us.
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