Ship-to-ship transfer operation ship-to-ship transfer operations are
complex and involve risks for the safety of the personnel possible pollution of
environments and damage to ships
ships maneuvering alongside dangerous mooring situations and cargo that if
spilled is harmful to the environments requires that all crew are well prepared
and up to their tasks to ensure a successful operation
this course in ship-to-ship transfer operations will give you an overview of
the steps and main tasks involved in the operation
the safety considerations to be made the different roles required teamwork
and communication
the operational procedures and principles outlined in this course are
based on ship-to-ship transfer guide petroleum and ship-to-ship transfer
guide liquefied gases issued by ICS oakum and sick tow
we will now appoint you as STS superintendent training
we'll be assisting the Marine Superintendent Peter Y Anson
who is to take over the overall advisory control of a ship to ship transfer
operation you have a meeting with Peter Y Anson where he will brief you on the
assignments so you could say that you will also be learning by doing hi you
must be Nick Carter our new superintendent trainee
welcome to TB fender service
I understand that this is your first real STS operation so I will make sure
that you'll get a good and solid initiation to STS transfer
actually we are already in a hurry because we have an appointment with your
disembarking master on the ship at 10 o'clock so my suggestion is that we
quickly run through the overriding issues and you get the remaining
briefing on our way in the helicopter if that's okay with you
great please take a seat first of all let's be sure that we have the same
understanding of the terms in this operation
please match these descriptions to the headlines to the left just keep the list
close to you if you can't memorize it all
we'll be plenty of lists and procedures to attend to
in fact the next is already on the way and it addresses the distribution of
roles I have already mailed you copies of the
documents from the organizers the oil companies regarding the charter of motor
tanker Rio and Mary and the contract with me as superintendent
they have also said the STS transfer checklist number one which is handled
satisfactorily and approvals from the local authorities
as you know each master is responsible for his own ship but it is strongly
recommended that a ship to ship operation is performed under the
advisory of one person being in overall control to avoid misunderstandings and
conflicting actions
the appointment of this person must be mutually agreed between the two ships
and there shall be no doubt on who will have this position
the ship operator has appointed me to be in overall advisory control of the
operation as I'm an STS superintendent and the most experienced
I would like you to assist me this time and help me solve some of the tasks
that will give you some experience for the next time where you might be in the
hot seat you can use these as inspiration in your further work
finally let's take a look at the timetable it's pretty close as I already
mentioned the time is now 7 a.m. both ships arrived late yesterday and are
waiting in the area at 8:00 sharp we should be on the merry and introducing
ourselves to the master we then have four hours to do the
preparations and check the safety situation before we make the final
agreements with the Rio and start the operation at 12 o'clock
we should meet the Rio and be ready for runnin and mooring
and the whole moring operation is scheduled to be finished around 2 p.m.
it will then take between 30 to 35 hours to transfer the 85 thousand metric tons
from the Mary to the Rio including crude oil washing and stripping
okay ready for action if we want to follow the plan we have to
leave for the helicopter now just follow me now look this is where the action is
going to take place I don't know if you are familiar with this area but it's a
very important location for our STS operations and as you can see we are not
the only company which favors this spot there is a shortage of suitable
terminals in the region so STS transfers are crucial in order to make an
effective distribution for the most part cargos are collected on bigger tankers
to be sailed to the US and other major markets by the way I don't know if you
are acquainted with the MARPOL annex one regulation with regard to STS transfers
at sea well according to MARPOL annex one
regulation any oil tanker involved in STS operations should have an approved
and ship specific STS operation plan onboard all STS operations are to be
recorded in the oil record book the person in overall advisory control of
STS operations should be qualified to perform all relevant duties and the
appropriate authorities are to be notified at least 48 hours in advance of
any STS operations you can read more in this paper
look the ships under us are engaged in various operations
if you tell what kind of operations you see yes that's correct
here in transfer Bay the conditions allow all three methods of STS transfer
but the mostly used STS transfer is with both ships under way as you have much
better control of a ship when making speed through the water in more
constrained waters it can make good sense to do the operation with one ship
at anchor this operation is basically the same as for berthing to a jetty it
is primarily used in connection with established ship these big tankers
mostly large LPG carriers are contracted for a period and remain its anchor where
they receive cargo from overseas trading ships and discharge cargo to smaller
ships for distribution to local terminals maneuvering alongside a ship
at anchor demands favorable weather sea and current conditions and should be
assisted by tugboats and such operations should never be carried out when current
is changing double banking is the most risky method firstly it is difficult
manoeuvring three ships at a time further if an accident arises there will
not be crew enough for managing it so in general it's not recommended we will
perform running and more with both ships underway and carry out the cargo
transfer with the Rio at anchor and as we speak of it there's our good ship the
Mary she looks okay from here well let's see when we are on board