AWP provide the inspectors newsletters as a channel for sharing both our inspectors observations for the wider community to learn from our experience and knowledge with the common goal of enhanced safety and operational awareness onboard.

Please find attached OCIMF latest information paper, Recommendations on Usage of ECDIS and Preventing Incidents, which provides guidance to enhance policies and procedures regarding the safe use of Electronic Chart Display and Information Systems (ECDIS).

With more vessels using Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) for primary or secondary navigation, there have been several significant navigational incidents over the last decade where one of the contributing factors has been ECDIS-related. Recommendations on Usage of ECDIS and Preventing Incidents takes into account ECDIS-related navigational incident findings and safety-related observations from OCIMF’s Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE). To provide practical support and guidance, the information paper draws upon this analysis to provide recommendations for improving ECDIS-related practices and preventing ECDIS-related navigational incidents.

Key chapters in the information paper cover ECDIS carriage requirements, ECDIS training and familiarisation, passage planning and alarm management.

This edition of our newsletter includes the following topics;

- Fire-Fighter Communication
- Training of DP Personnel
- Donning of BA Sets
- Dry Powder Extinguisher Expiry Dates
- Ballast Loading Rates

OCIMF and ICS together with the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) have worked together over the past two years to revise and update the International Safety Guide for Tankers and Terminals (ISGOTT 6).

This Sixth Edition encompasses the latest thinking on a range of topical issues including gas detection, the toxicity and the toxic effects of petroleum products (including benzene and hydrogen sulphide), the generation of static electricity and stray currents, fire protection and the growing use of mobile electronic technology.

The carriage of methanol in bulk is becoming common in the offshore oil and gas industry, and although there is technical documentation on methanol handling, guidance for offshore carriage by sea is limited. Methanol is a hazardous chemical with significant toxic, flammable, and reactive properties that can adversely affect human health and the environment when not properly handled. This information paper from OCIMF and the Maritime Safety Forum (MSF) provides guidance for the safe loading, carriage and discharge of methanol by offshore support vessels.