Other companies talking with Tanker Operator said categorically that there should be no deviation from OCIMF’s guidelines, which are what all STS operators should comply with.
Operators must also get major oil company approval by means of vetting, as the base for equipment compliance, office for procedure compliance and offshore for the mooring Master’s competence.
Nobody can afford not to follow the guidelines to maintain their reputation, or that of their companies, or to maintain their reputation in the industry.
The STS industry is small between tanker owners and charterers (oil majors and traders) and does not need to be policed by an individual private company, as the relationship between the STS operators and customers is usually very good, one company said.
“At the end of the day, we are in a commercial business dealing in an industry with a very strong safety record historically, being handled hopefully by experts and experienced people in the field, as one major incident could affect the whole industry, which I am sure all the operators are aware of,” a company spokesman said.
“In the modern era, we have the ability to have people better trained by the use of simulators, but this must not be a substitute for the real thing, as nothing will replace experience,” he said.
Too much emphasis is put on the so called mooring Master/superintendent, or POAC, one respondent said. It is a matter of team work between the ships’ Masters and whatever the hands on person is called, be it a mooring Master, STS superintendent, or POAC. The ingredients for a safe operation are having the right people and the OCIMFrelated correct well maintained and certified equipment.
The optimum is that the client trusts the operator to handle the STS requirements, based on historical relationships. However, any shipowner who does not have a historical relationship with an operator feels he, or she might need the assurance of analysis, etc.