21 October 2002
Our Ref.: DTL-22724/8660
Minutes
INTERTANKO Safety, Technical & Environmental Committee
ISTEC#21 Meeting
6th September 2002, Bratsera Hotel, Hydra, Greece
Attendees:
Mr. / Stavros / Daniolos / Minerva Marine Inc.Mr. / Jens / Eybächer / Rigel Schiffahrts GmbH & CO KG
Mr. / Mogens S. / Fynbo / A/S Dampselskibsselskabet Torm
Dr. / Timothy / Gunner / INTERTANKO Consultant
Capt. / Nikos / Kiriakakis / C/O Thomas Marine Consultants
Mr. / Takis / Koutris / Roxana Shipping SA
Mr. / Per / Laböm / Concordia Maritime AG
Dr. / Nikos / Mikelis (Chairman) / Paralos Maritime Corporation S.A.
Mr. / Stefan / Nystrom / Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Ltd.
Dr.-Ing. / Stephan / Polomsky / Transocean Shipmanagement GmbH
Mr. / Dragos / Rauta / INTERTANKO, Oslo
Capt. / A. / Sakai / Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Bulk Shipping (Eur) Ltd.
Capt. / Prabhat / Sharma / V. Ships Switzerland SA
Capt. / Howard / Snaith / INTERTANKO London Representative Office
Mr. / Bjørn / Sødahl / Concordia Maritime
Mr. / Bjarne / Thygesen / Consultant
Mr. / C.D. / Tseretopoulos / Thenamaris Ships Management Inc.
Mr. / Henrik / Von Platen / Saudi Maritime Holding Co.
Mr. / Tim / Wilkins / INTERTANKO London Representative Office
Guests
Dr. / John / Corres / Co-op Committee - Renewal of the Greek Short Sea FleetMr. / Robert / Frankland / ExxonMobil/IMT
Mr. / Lars / Mossberg / Marinvest AB, Chairman of the Vetting Committee
Dr. / Tor E. / Svensen / DNV
Apologies
Capt. / Nigel J. / Adams / V.Ships (UK) Ltd.Mr. / Nils Kristian / Berge / Laurin Maritime (America) Inc.
Mr. / Stamatis / Bourboulis / Ceres Hellenic Shipping Ent. Ltd
Mr. / Hamish / Cubitt / Anglo-Eastern Ship Management (UK)
Dr. / Paolo / d'Amico / d'Amico Societá di Navigazione SpA
Capt. / David / Sharp / Unicom Management Services (Cyprus)
Capt. / Mike / Shuker / Ceres Hellenic Shipping Ent. Ltd.,
AGENDA
1. MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING and STATUS OF LIST OF ACTION
2. ORGANISATION
2.1 Terms of Reference
2.2 Membership
3. GENERAL
3.1 Request to IACS to set up an Industry Technical Committee
3.2 Progress report on INTERTANKO/OCIMF/Class discussions
3.3 Conditions of Class (and Memoranda) used by Oil Companies as rejection criteria
3.4 Engine Room Fires: Oil Mist Detection (currently a UK submission at IMO for discussion)
4. MARINE AND SAFETY
4.1 Report from the Working group on Pilotage
4.2 VDRs
4.3 ISM Code: Update on the LAN initiative
4.4 Lifeboat Safety
4.5 OCIMF new recommendations for ships’ fitting for use with tugs
4.6 Maritime Security
4.7 USCG Campaign on oily-water separators
5. ENGINEERING
5.1 Air pollution from ships – US proposal & EU proposal
5.2 Marine Safety Data Sheet
5.3 VOC emissions from tankers, VOCON project
5.4 P/V Valves and Pres-Vac
5.5 Tank Level and Pressure Monitoring (TLPM)
5.6 Bunker Sub-Committee Report from meeting of 28 February 2002
5.7 Protection of Bunker Tanks
5.8 CRUMECON and CRUCLEAN
6. TANKER STRUCTURES
6.1 Coatings on cargo tanks
6.2 Generic versus ship specific corrosion allowances for existing ships
6.3 Newbuilding Awareness Guide
6.4 Newbuildings Policy and involvement with Class: Extended Guarantee / Net-Scantlings/Corrosion Margins
6.5 Means of Access
6.6 Discussions with ABS on ships with substantial corrosion when applying HBL or CAS
6.7 CASTOR and the new ABS rules
7. ENVIRONMENT
7.1 Sulphur Emissions and Emissions Trading
7.2 Environmental Committee Report:
· Ship Recycling – Assessment of costs for ‘green’ recycling
· Ballast Water Management – Update on MARTOB Project
· Anti-fouling Systems – Update on Guidelines for Survey & Certification and report on latest regulatory developments
· DNA Tagging Project - Report
8. NEXT MEETING
*******
The Chairman welcomed members present and particularly the guests attending the meeting: Dr. Tor Svensen of DNV, Mr. Robert Frankland of ExxonMobil/IMT, Mr. Lars Mossberg of Marinvest and Chairman of the INTERTANKO Vetting Committee and Dr. John Corres, previous ISTEC Member.
On behalf of all attending the meeting, the Chairman expressed deep appreciation for Mr. Nikos Kiriakakis’ kind support and efforts in organising this meeting in Hydra.
1. MINUTES FROM THE LAST MEETING and STATUS OF LIST OF ACTION
Approved as circulated.
2. ORGANISATION
2.1 Terms of Reference
The Committee agreed to the following changes in its Terms of Reference:
Membership:
- increase its membership from 18 to 25
- clarify that membership is renewed after 2 years by the Committee itself
Duties and Responsibilities:
- amendments to the text of paragraph 9.1 to better define the procedure for selection of items for the ISTEC agenda.
The amendments are given in italics in Annex 1 of the Minutes.
Follow up: The Secretariat should submit the amended TOR to the Council for approval.
2.2 Membership
The Committee agreed with the following nominations for ISTEC membership and recommended their approval by the next Council Meeting:
Mr. Stamatis Bourboulis of Ceres Hellenic Shipping Ent. Ltd.,
Mr. Per Labõm, Concordia Maritime
Capt. Akihiko Sakai, NYK Bulkship (Eur) Ltd. (who replaces Capt. Tateyama),
Capt. Prabhat Sharma of V. Ships Switzerland S.A,
Mr. Bjorn Sødahl of Stena Bulk AB,
The Committee noted that the Terms of Reference allow multiple participation in ISTEC from the same company. Although this should not become a rule in ISTEC, the Committee did not find it necessary to disagree with such a multiple membership at this moment, provided there is sufficient contribution from each representative being member in ISTEC.
The Committee has reviewed its existing membership and, the following remarks were made:
- Expressed appreciation for the activity and input from Mr. Gerasimos Avlonitis, Avin International; Reidar Pederson, Red Band and David Sharp, Unicom Management Serv., whose Membership period have expired. The Secretariat would follow up with letters as appropriate.
- Requested clarification from V. Ships whether the Company wishes to be represented by three persons, i.e. Nigel Adams, Kurt Burkart and Prabhat Sharma. It was acknowledged that, with the size of the V.Ships’ operations, there could be a benefit to have more than one representative. However, due to the fact that Nigel Adams and Kurt Burkart were not able to attend, the Committee requested the Secretariat to clarify the matter.
- Expressed deep appreciations to Nikos Kiriakakis, David Penny and John Corres for their contributions to ISTEC and regret they had to depart the Committee because of change of their employments and activities. The Committee invited them to consider re-election when appropriate.
Finally, the Committee has been informed that Capt Dimitrios Kosmas, Marine Manger of European Navigation (Tanker Division) Mr. Ivanov from Novoship would be nominated for Membership at the next ISTEC meeting. The Committee looks forward to welcoming them to the Committee.
Follow up:
a. Send letters to outgoing ISTEC members
b. Invite V.Ships to clarify membership to ISTEC
c. Send letters to Capt Kosmas and Mr. Ivanov inviting them to attend the next meeting.
3. GENERAL
3.1 Request to IACS to set up an Industry Technical Committee
ISTEC agreed to:
a. Recommend INTERTANKO Members to ensure a strong and active representation in Class Societies’ Technical Committees.
b. Recommend that INTERTANKO promotes the establishment of an IACS Industry Technical Committee as the permanent link between IACS and the ship owning industry. The IACS Technical Committee could use the same model on which individual Class Societies have set up their Technical Committees.
ISTEC discussed this matter at length and there was a unanimous agreement that the consultation and the dialogue between shipowners and IACS needed significant improvement. An IACS Technical Committee would be a good vehicle for such a formal liaison.
ISTEC also considered possible problems or drawbacks in setting the IACS Technical Committee (as indicated before by Class representatives) such as:
a. perception of Class losing its necessary independence of action (shipowners might pressure IACS to “lighten” their regulations),
b. too large participation to such a Committee and thus inefficient activity,
c. the danger that the proceedings would be decided by policies rather than technical details.
ISTEC recognised the potential risks linked to these aspects and firmly agreed that the IACS Technical Committee should not be above the role of individual Class Societies and not become the Board of IACS. On the other hand, most of these concerns are only in theory, since reality has demonstrated that for quite some years, the shipowners were actually putting pressure on Class to strengthen and not to minimise their inspection and their regulations. It was also noted that, over the last two years, there have been a number of specific occasions where IACS has responded to calls from the industry to meet and to discuss imminent developments or proposed new initiatives, such as Condition Assessment Scheme, INTERTANKO/OCIMF Aide Memoire issues, and the IACS initiatives for bulk carrier safety.
ISTEC also expressed concerns that shipowners’ representatives in different Societies’ Technical Committees seemed to lose the ability to be more actively involved in the Class rulemaking developments. Therefore, INTERTANKO should circulate an awareness message to its Members and invite them to be better and more actively represented in these committees.
Follow up: report the outcome to the Council meeting.
3.2 Progress report on INTERTANKO/OCIMF/Class discussions
ISTEC took note of the report and made recommendations that few other issues could be added to the Aide Memoire. These additional items are:
- oil majors’ policy related to tanker’s condition of class
- lifeboat safety and
- minimum thickness and corrosion margins for ships in service,
as discussed under other agenda items of this meeting.
Follow up: inform OCIMF on the outcome and seek to add the issues above to the INTERTANKO/OCIMF Aide Memoire.
3.3 Conditions of Class (and Memoranda) used by Oil Companies as rejection criteria
ISTEC agreed that oil majors’ vetting policies to deny contracts to ships with “condition of class” (CC) is wrong and damaging. CC is a good system through which Class could follow up ships and their equipment. Stigmatisation of CC by oil majors’ vetting policies damages the whole CC system and not only for tankers. It was suggested that INTERTANKO, OCIMF and IACS should discuss the matter and find a solution to repair the damage. The dialogue should also consider how other terminologies are more negatively perceived than their actual meanings, such as “substantial corrosion”.
ISTEC and guests discussed the possibility of changing the name of CC and “substantial corrosion” but there was no consensus on whether such a change of name would be perceived even more negatively.
Follow up: inform OCIMF and IACS on the discussion and suggest to add this issue to the INTERTANKO/OCIMF Aide Memoire on Class.
3.4 Engine Room Fires: Oil Mist Detection (currently a UK submission at IMO for discussion)
ISTEC considered the UK submission to MSC 75 and disagreed that installation of oil mist detection equipment would be the most efficient measure and, in the light of alternative measures and pending regulations, it would make any significant safety progress. The drawbacks of such a detection system could be on the reliability of such systems, on unnecessary false alarms. Ships have enough monitoring devices and oil mist detection equipment might be needed only after some other measures are first implemented.
The SOLAS amendments to Regulation II-2 Part A, reg. 15.2.9-15.2.12 “Protection of fuel oil lines” will apply to all tankers as from 1st July 2003 and would require that (for easy reference, an extract from the text of this rule is quoted herewith):
“. . . High pressure fuel delivery lines between high pressure fuel pumps and fuel injection be protected by a jacket piping system capable of containing fuel from a high pressure line failure . . . . . The jacket piping system shall include a means of collection of leakages and arrangements shall be provided for an alarm to be given of a fuel line failure.
Hot surfaces exceeding 220° C shall be properly insulated and fuel lines shall be screened/protected to avoid oil leaks on the hot surfaces, machinery air intakes or other sources of ignition.”
This would in practice mean that these fuel lines will be double skinned for new and existing tanks by the time the suggestion from UK might be considered.
ISTEC also stressed that the primary means of avoiding fuel leakages were:
- better survey procedures for insulations
- standards for repairs of insulations
- engine room equipment thermal images which would indicate where extra measures should be considered (Class Societies offer such a service)
Finally, ISTEC would consider further whether a better approach on all this is to have an extra-fire notation as a mandatory Class rule.
Follow up: INTERTANKO should consider all aspects and comment accordingly at MSC 76.
4. MARINE AND SAFETY
4.1 Report from the Working group on Pilotage
The Committee noted the report of current work by the Pilotage Working Group including the EU ports Directive and the de-regulation of Pilotage in Europe, ongoing dialogue with IMPA and the APA, and the current progress with the Pilotage best practices booklet in conjunction with OCIMF and ICS. Interest was expressed by ; -
Capt. Prabhat Sharma of V.Ships Switzerland,
Mr Mogens Fynbo of A/S Dampskibsselskabet Torm.
The PWG Secretary reminded the Committee that the PWG had decided at its last meeting not to actively recruit additional members to the group but would accept new members that had an interest and would participate in its work. Accordingly, it was agreed that the new members’ details would be circulated to the PWG members and included in the mailing group for the PWG work. An update was also given regarding the current liability study by Ambrose Rajadurai, in that stage 1 was completed (which related to a study of Pilotage law in Australia) and that stage 2 a wider study of Pilotage law in the UK was ongoing. It was also reported that the PWG and decided “not” to broadcast the results of this study at the current time via the INTERTANKO web site, due to sensitive relationships with the Pilots and current work regarding the Pilotage best practices publication.