Monthly Bulletin October 2013

Uni-Tankers versus Vetting 3

Most Observed observations during SIRE inspections 4

Q&A Department 6

Nautical Department 7

Technical Department 10

Most Significant vetting observations since last Bulletin 10

Average number of High Risk observations during SIRE/CDI inspection 11

And Finally :-) 12

AGENDAPURPOSETo give information regarding ongoing matters within the Company to office staff as well as to crew & officers on-board vessels technically managed by Uni-Tankers A/S

VETTINGUni-Tankers definition of the term “Vetting”:

Vetting is everything which happens between two consecutive inspections – both ashore as well as afloat.

P & CThis bulletin to be kept Private & Confidential.

M/T Amak Swan

Now a beautiful Swan in the Uni-Tankers Group family.

UNI-TANKERS A/S | Turbinevej 10 | DK-5500 MiddelfartPhone +45 8861 8861 | Fax +45 8861 8860 | www.uni-tankers.com

Latest received Bulletin is always to be discussed at the monthly Safety meeting as well as prior to every vetting inspection.

In case of comments/questions to this bulletin please feel free to forward same to marinestandard@uni-tankers.com

. . . AND

There is no such thing as a stupid question – there are only stupid answers… :-)

REMEMBER . . .

Uni-Tankers versus Vetting

Observation on the fire-line isolating valves is raised to High Risk.

During 2 external inspections the past year, it has been discovered that the isolation valves on deck for the fire-line were not set appropriate, one was closed and another one was defect.

Also during internal inspections it has been observed that the isolation valve for the deck house was closed. Reason for this; according to the crew, is that it has been left closed after greasing or test. The vessel’s crew must ensure that the isolation valves are set in correct position after greasing/test/maintenance.

Most observed observations during SIRE inspectionsPeriod: 01-01.2012 until present

Observation 12.6 - Is the general condition of service

pipework satisfactory and is it free

from significant corrosion and pitting

and soft patches or other temporary

repairs?

Observation 2.1 - Are all the statutory certificates

listed below, where applicable, valid

and have the annual and intermediate

surveys been carried out within the

required range dates?

Observation 3.9 - Where the vessel carries chemicals,

has a formal program of regular and

appropriate medical examinations for

personnel been implemented?

Observation 11.11 - Does the operator subscribe to a

fuel, lubricating and hydraulic oil test-

ing programme, and is there a proce-

dure in place to take into account the

results?

Observations made under this header usually reflect areas of rust or general lack of maintenance having been carried out over a larger area. The need for following a maintenance/painting plan for the deck and accommodation is therefore essential in avoiding guests to the vessel (Vetting inspectors, PSC Officers etc.) to get the impression that this vessel is poorly managed.

The observations which are raised under this item mainly concerns misplacements of certificates or non-received originals being available onboard.Prior to an inspection, it must be ascertained onboard that originals of all statutory certificates are available as a majority of Inspectors are keenly verifying the certificate file during an inspection. In situations where an original is missing, Technical Department and HSQE depart-ment is to be contacted for clarification.

When conducting a SIRE inspection on a vessel which handles chemi-cals, there is a desire to have such a formal program in place however due to the variety of chemicals being handled – and thus the different properties of same – it is not possible from a practical point of view to create a reliable and robust program, which will catch abnormalities timely enough. As such, there is a standard answer available to obser-vations made under this item.

It is becoming more and more apparent that there is a general issue with lub oil samples. Same are not taken correctly and in cases where a subsequent analysis has been received, there is no evidence avail-able that a “caution” has been addressed. In order to minimize obser-vations under this item, samples must be appropriately drawn from the machinery in question and the sample must be visually inspected by the C/E prior to landing ashore. If any sediment is present in the sample, a new must be drawn. If the subsequent analysis report reveals a “caution” on one or more specifications, then documenta-

Observation 4.36 - Is navigation equipment appropriate

for the size of the vessel and in good

order?

Observation 5.1 - Has a safety officer been designated

and trained to undertake this role?

Observation 5.24 - Are enclosed space entry procedures

in accordance with the recommenda-

tions of ISGOTT and OCIMF guide-

lines?

Observation 5.80 - Are accommodation ladders, gang-

ways, pilot ladders and pilot hoists,

where fitted, in good order?

Observation 11.15 - Is a planned maintenance system

being followed and is it up to date?

Observation 4.24 - If the vessel is equipped with an

Electronic Chart Display and Informa-

tion Systems (ECDIS), are the Master

and deck watch keeping officers able

to produce appropriate documenta-

tion that generic and type specific

ECDIS familiarization has been under-

taken?

tion must be made available to confirm that this “caution” has been discussed with office and an action plan has been made up in coop-eration with the technical superintendent.

Faulty equipment on the bridge must be brought to the attention of the technical superintendent and a deficiency report – including risk assessment – must be made up and forwarded to the office. This procedure must be followed at all times and not only when a vetting inspection is being expected.

The vessel’s Safety Officer has not the needed training to undertake this role.The Safety Officer must as at least be holder of the “Danish §16 course” or “Accident & Incident Investigation Certificate” if not to con-duct the Seagull CBT “Safety Officer Course” as described in the June 2013 Bulletin.

As a general rule, all observations are initially considered as High Risk observations under this item – irrespective of what the observation actually concerns..All endeavors to comply with Company Management System ch 7.17.2.1 and onwards. It must also be ensured that crew is aware of all precautions which are taken/required when entering enclosed spaces.

Accommodation ladders and gangways are to be regular inspected and marked in accordance with MSC.1/Circ.1331 (11. June 2009). In addition to this, any defects / Abnormalities noted during an inspec-tion must be appropriately attended to without delay. Copy of the aforementioned MSC circular is available upon request and it goes without saying that when no request is received, the circular is well implemented onboard a vessel.

Records being entered into the PMS shall be as correct and detailed as possible. Conflicting and misleading information being entered will not serve any good for anyone during subsequent inspections hence every effort must be made to ensure that records in the PSM is as detailed and correct as possible.

Observations are increasing under this item in connection with the deck officers being unable to provide shorebased evidence that the generic ECDIS course follows the guidelines laid down in the IMO model 1.27 course (Min 40 hours duration of generic ECDIS course). The reference to the IMO model course is included on all new course certificates however for obvious reasons, the course certificates is-sued earlier does not have this reference. Crewing department is working on this issue and in connection with refresher courses the correct reference will be made on all certificates.

Q & A Department

MLC

As you all aware of, and as communicated via mail recently by our Quality Manager, all our ships within the Uni-Tankers fleet are now in compliance with the MLC code in terms of having the re-quired MLC certification in place on board.

We would like to use this opportunity to complement all our Captains and crew involved in MLC on the great jobs done on the preparation and the performance of all the MLC Surveys with the attending GL MLC Surveyor, - jobs most well done with a favorable outcome.

As informed in mail some observations were made during the MLC surveys, which we all need to continue working on, - details on made observations please see said latest “MLC update mail” 15th October from HSQE Section.

Important matter we continue having focus on the MLC and the associated documentation as along the way next steps will be the various Port States Inspection at the ports will involve / add MLC documentation into the “normal Port State Inspection regime” visiting your good ships during port calls. Key matter that ship’s Captain is in a position able to present and explain his ship’s MLC certifi-cation and full documentation upon Port State Inspection Officers request.

No all “Sea Nations” have yet implemented the MLC code – remaining part of this year 2013 and some of 2014 will be considered as an “interim period of time” until “all” countries have made full implementation and enforcement.Please see “MLC Country List” on details on the individual countries as forwarded from HSQE Sec-tion on the 14th October 2013 holding said “Country List” and a short “MLC Port State Inspection guideline”

Ships Safety Meeting Review: In order to improve and strengthen our Companies documentation on the MLC matters an update of the template for the monthly safety meeting has been made – and forwarded to all ships in a mail on the 11th October 2013 from the HSQE section.

The monthly “Minutes of meetings” has been changed into “Minutes of Safety and Health Com-mittee Meeting” addressing ships “MLC matters / documentation” a bit more directly in terms of “Meeting agenda” now contains a subsection looking at ships MLC directly – both at ships conduc-tion of the monthly meeting - and at the required subsequent “Minutes of Meeting”, which is to be forwarded to the HSQE section as per normal in use procedures.

We would like to encourage all crew to share experiences time to come doing with the MLC looking at the normal on board work with the MLC looking at observations made, time consumption and future Port State Inspections looking into MLC matters as well.

Nautical Department

Navigational Audits

2 Navigational audits were carried out during last month, one by the office and one from a ves-sel where the captain has carried out the 4th quarter Navigational audit. Observations from these audits can be seen below:

All vessels please discuss above issues in your bridge team.All remaining captains who have not carried out the 4th quarter Navigational Audit please remem-ber that this is now due. Please also remember that it is preferred that a different captain than the one who carried out the audit in 2nd quarter are doing this audit.

Deck related Issues

DNV ShoreWe have now started testing our new reporting system called DNV Shore on two different vessels which are Anhout Swan and Mona Swan. A lot of very fine feed-back is received from the vessels and taken to action. We are now ready to get remaining vessels included into this system also, so Nautical department will contact you in order to have you confirm that you are up for the task and ready to start using this system. All vessels will in the end be included into this system as it enables the whole company (Uni-Tankers, Uni-Chartering, Brostrøm, Trumf Bunker and Uni-Tankers Finance) to get much better a valid data from each vessel. Once the system is fully up and running, and fully implemented on the shore side, you will see that various reports you are making today no longer are needed. It should also remove various e-mails sent back and forth between the company and the vessels.

We therefore hope you will receive this system in a positive manner and in the long term will see this program as an improvement to you administrative burdens.

Other ongoing projectsJust to inform you below you can see a list of ongoing projects in the fleet:

Test of SeaPlanner on MON, LIL, SEL and FIO (Voyage optimization program from FORCE):• Status: Have been tested for approx. 6 month. The program makes it difficult for report export

and monitoring. Good tool for long voyages, but are not being used on short voyages.

Test of SeaTrim (Trim optimization program from FORCE):• Status: Ongoing test shows some savings. Same program are now build for Mona, Erria and Tasing

Swan also and will be installed soonest. Furthermore same program are now in the pipeline to be built for Lillo, Fenno and Endelo Swan.

Test of electronic logbooks on LES and SEL• Awaiting start-up installation due to some SQL database issues from maker.

New C-load program for MON, FAL, AMA, Lil, END, FEN• All are now built and are awaiting class approval

Test of VDS (weather program for Maris ECDIS) on AMAK• Installed and being tested.

DNV Navigator Shore in whole fleet• See above

New ECDIS on TAS, ERR, MON, FIO, END, LIL, FAL, FEN, LAL, AMA• All have now a Maris ECDIS installed and last issues are being dealt with.• Boringia Swan are getting their Furuno ECDIS upgraded to newest software version.

GPS testDuring a vetting the inspector asked about testing the accuracy of the GPS and the function that the GPS2 are taking over from GPS1 on the ECDIS if the GPS1 is broken. Please ensure to have jobs in your Consultas system for these two jobs, so no observations will be raised during future inspections.

Rest Hour

Please find rest hour registration for October below:

As seen above we have had 146 violations in October compared to the 197 violations in the month of September in the fleet (two vessels are however missing in this statistics). This means that status are more or less the same as last month, however more vessels are now showing non or around 10 violations which is a very good trend from a statistic point of view!

As it was written last month please upload rest hour records to fleet through the DNV Navigator 1.0 program. There are still some vessels which have not done this upload, but please make sure to do this. It has been decided that both the old way but also the new upload method must be used the rest of 2013 so we have a whole year for comparing the records. Please therefore setup you DNV Navigator to make automatically upload of rest hour records, but also send your archived records the 20th each month like normal. Nautical department will monitor both places and will contact each vessel if the records are not available.

Finally during last month we have seen one vessel getting a vetting observation due to amount of rest hour violations which only increases the need to avoid these rest hour violations.

Technical Department

Monthly photos from all our vessels:

To harmonize the way photos have to be taken on board and forwarded by all of our vessel every month to the office, please use the attached template.

We shall gain much more evidence of and reliability as to the appearance of the vessels if pictures are taken from same location every month.

Essential also to receive photos of vessels name, home port, loading line marks etc, which the “picture plan hull” should provide. The monthly test of the MOB boat could be used for this purpose.

Most significant vetting observations since last Bulletin

SIRE / CDI ref Observation wording

Vessel + inspection data

Additional comments

9.5 The vessel had 4 differing size of mooring ropes with differ-ing SWL’s. The winch brakes had been set at 60% for each rope. Thus the set points varied by 3.7T.

Fenno SwanRightship24-SEP-2013

Mooring lines leading in the same direction must be of the same type and have the exact same MBL. On a more overall level, the mooring lines on the fixed drums on forecastle and poop deck must also be of the same type and MBL in order there is no doubt that the lines leading in the same direction have a similar MBL.It is allowed to have different types of mooring lines (Having different MBL’s) forward and aft.

10.13 Battery locker has only one air vent, no means of free flow of air for ventilation purposes.

Tasing SwanRightship20-SEP-2013

Please verify that the door leading into this compartment is marked along the following lines: “Ventilated before entry minimum 15 min”

11.11 The lubricating oil sample for the bow thruster dated 29th July 2013 staated ‘caution’. No action had been taken to improve the oil

Fenno SwanRightship24-SEP-2013

Whenever a lub oil sample is drawn from a specific machinery item, the quality of the sample must be physically verified by the C/E prior to landing ashore. If sediments are present, a new sample must be taken.Likewise if the subsequent analysis report shows “caution” then appropriate documentation for an action plan must be available on-board.

Average number of High Risk observations during SIRE/CDI inspection 0,20Current KPI (Number of High Risk observations / SIRE and CDI inspections) as per 01.09.2011 0,00

Individual Vessel Performance (20.10.2013)

Uni-Tankers crews are not to participate in the voluntary Crew Competency Test taking place during CDI inspections. Please contact Marine Standard department in case any doubts.

And finally :-)

One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints, and were stuck in the thick head. The English-man pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer, and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink, held it out over the beer, and started yell-ing, "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT YOU BAS**RD!!!!"

An English man and an Irish man are driving head on , at night, on a twisty, dark road. Both are driving too fast for the conditions and collide on a sharp bend in the road. To the amazement of both, they are unscathed, though their cars are both destroyed. In celebration of their luck, both agree to put aside their dislike for the other from that moment on. At this point, the Eng-lishman goes to the boot and fetches a 12 year old bottle of whisky. He hands the bottle to the Irish man, whom exclaims,’’ may the Irish and the English live together forever, in peace, and harmony.’’ The Irish man then tips the bottle and gulps half of the bottle down. Still flabbergasted over the whole thing, he goes to hand the bottle to the Englishman, whom replies: ‘’ no thanks, I’ll just wait till the Police get here!’’

There was a Scotsman, an Englishman and Claudia Schiffer sitting together in a carriage in a train going through Wales. Suddenly the train went through a tunnel and as it was an old style train,there were no lights in the carriages and it went completely dark. Then there was this kissing noise and the sound of a really loud slap. When the train came out of the tunnel, Claudia Schiffer and the Scotsman were sitting as if nothing had happened and the Englishman had his hand against his face as he had been slapped.The Englishman was thinking: ‘The Scottish fella must have kissed Claudia Schiffer and she missed him and slapped me instead.’Claudia Schiffer was thinking: ‘The English fella must have tried to kiss me and actually kissed the Scotsman and got slapped for it.’And the Scotsman was thinking: ‘This is great. The next time the train goes through a tunnel I’ll make that kissing noise and slap that English b**tard again .

Jim was speeding along the road one fine day when the local policeman, a friend of his, pulled him over. “What’s wrong, Eric?” Jim asked. “Well didn’t you know, Jim, that your wife fell out of the car about five miles back?” said Eric. “Ah, praise God!” he replied with relief. “I thought I’d gone deaf!”

A customer ordered some coffee in a cafe. The waitress arrived with the coffee and placed it on the table. After a few moments, the customer called for the waitress “Waitress,” he said, “there’s dirt in my coffee!”. “That’s not surprising, sir, replied the waitress, “It was ground only half an hour ago.”