Features: - Tanker Operator

INDUSTRY - INTERTANKO PROFILE
Intertanko’s md Peter Swift thought that
joining together was the way ahead.
Managing director Peter Swift said that
gathering collective expertise, such as the
Round Table initiative, which includes
Intertanko, IACS, OCIMF, among others, is
the way ahead. By joining together, an
environment and agenda is thus created to
approach other industry bodies. For
example, the right dialogue with the right
people was needed.
One example of industry joining together
to promote safety was the case of the
Common Structural Rules (CSR), which was
developed by Intertanko and OCIMF and
taken on to its final conclusion by IACS. A
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has
also been signed with the ITF and another
with IMPA as there was increasing pressure
today on supply chains.
Westgarth said the biggest problem
confronting the industry today was the
human element. There has been an increase
in groundings, fires and explosions and
machinery incidents during the past
few years.
Intertanko admitted it did not know the
reasons for the increase in incidents but that
a review was underway. As for engine
failures, this could be caused by fuel
switching due to the increasing number of
areas where vessels have to switch to low
sulphur fuel oil (LSFO).
There is also the question of LSFO quality
and also on engine reliability, especially in
those vessels built in new yards, mainly
in Asia.
Workshop
Following the review, there are plans for a
workshop next year involving various sectors
of the industry, including insurance interests,
shipowners, class societies and others to share
the analysis and learn from it.
““All vessels should be fitted with [a Tanker
Efficiency Management Plan] which is aimed at
setting out all of a tanker’s operational elements
enabling benchmarking to take place within
a fleet and even between sister vessels.”
”
November/December 2009 TANKEROperator 07