Inspections on Board Oil Tankers

Luka Grbić,Jelena Čulin,Toni Bielić

doi:10.31217/p.32.1.13

Abstract

Oil tanker inspections have an important role in enhancing safety and minimizing the risk of oil pollution. However, research has indicated that inspection items are overlapping among inspection regimes observed in a given time span on board oil tankers, thus making negative impact on ship safety, unnecessarily consuming shipboard human resources and having adverse economic effects. In this paper, current inspections performed on board oil tankers have been presented, including duration, intensity and average costs, directly or indirectly paid by shipowners. Our analysis of surveyed components by all regimes has showed that it is possible to reduce critical inspection parameters without compromising safety by introducing a unified inspection method. A content of such inspection, consisting of 529 components, has been presented. Performing the proposed inspection method and sharing its results among interested parties of oil tanker safety regime has been suggested as a measure that could improve oil tanker safety and pollution prevention.

Highlights

A huge potential to pollute the marine environment as a result of accidents has been a cause of continuous concern for oil tanker safety and pollution prevention
Research has indicated that inspection items are overlapping among inspection regimes observed in a given time span on board oil tankers, making negative impact on ship safety, unnecessarily consuming shipboard human resources and having adverse economic effects
The aim of this study is to present the current safety regime for oil tankers and propose the content of unified inspection regime, which could contribute to the improvement of safety and pollution prevention

Summary

Introduction

A huge potential to pollute the marine environment as a result of accidents has been a cause of continuous concern for oil tanker safety and pollution prevention. Even inspections performed by PSC officers from port states belonging to another Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are not considered as sufficient and vessels are inspected repeatedly. Such over-inspection of oil tankers can have negative effects [5]. The aim of this study is to present the current safety regime for oil tankers and propose the content of unified inspection regime, which could contribute to the improvement of safety and pollution prevention.

Analyses of Inspection Regimes

Suggestion for Improvement

Findings

Conclusion