Surrounded by the Orkney Islands, Scapa Flow is a sheltered stretch of deep water with a proven safety record for ship-to-ship transfers. It is strategically located for easy access to the North Sea oil fields, and the new SafeSTS base enables operations handling all types of cargoes, with vessels up to VLCC, to take place all year-round.
In Panama the new SafeSTS base is again in a sheltered location within port limits near to the Pacific Ocean entrance to the Panama Canal. From here SafeSTS can handle all vessel sizes and all types of cargo and will provide invaluable support for the many oil and gas majors making use of the canal waterway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
SafeSTS Chief Executive Yvonne Gilchrist-Mason OBE is pleased that these new bases are now operational, saying:
“These new bases in Scapa Flow and Panama are in line with our goals and objectives for 2021. Setting up a new base is always a complex process, and at the moment it is being made more complicated by the varying international restrictions being imposed in response to the on-going pandemic. Despite this, we have a number of other bases in the final stages of planning, and I am confident that we shall have further exciting announcements to make over the coming months.”
From its headquarters in Diss in Norfolk, UK, SafeSTS now manages lightering operations from 16 locations around the world. All such operations are undertaken in line with Marpol Chapter 8 and the latest ICS/OCIMF ship-to-ship transfer guidelines.
All its POACs have undergone global training and are Marpol compliant, enabling them to work to the highest standards. They all have a detailed understanding of vessel dynamics, operability and logistics, skills which are underpinned with respect for the country and culture in which transfer operations take place.