Chemical

INTERTANKO continues to represent over 80% of the world’s parcel tanker and chemical tanker fleet.

 

The Chemical Tanker Committee has continued is work by holding meetings at various strategic locations throughout the year. Membership of the Committee has continued to grow over the past year.

 

Inert Gas

Inert Gas and its application has continued to remain on the top of the Committee’s work programme. In line with INTERTANKO’s policy on inert gas, the Committee has continued to work with the IMO on the revision of the regulations and standards that govern its application. INTERTANKO’s Council endorses the view that inert gas should be applied on a “cargoproperty based” approach rather than on the existing basis of the size of the tank or the vessel. The IMO and INTERTANKO will continue to work on this issue with a view to achieving a consensus on the requirements for newbuildings by 2011.

 

Statutory damage stability

The Paris MoU conducted a Concentrated Inspection Campaign in 2010 on verification of statutory damage stability. INTERTANKO through the CTC, the Vetting Committee and ISTEC, continues to highlight the regulatory requirements as well as provide Members with a set of FAQs on this issue. INTERTANKO has been, and is still, actively involved in developing guidelines on the verification of damage stability on which work continues at IMO. These will be finalised in 2012.

 

Biofuels/DCE/tank cleaning

The IMO continues to debate biofuels and their carriage and blending which remains an issue being debated at the IMO where a regulatory and operational framework is expected to be completed soon. The Committee continues its work to produce a set of guidelines which will provide the industry with best management practices in the carriage and blending of biofuels.

 

The Committee and its working groups contributed to the work done at IMO towards revising the requirements for gaining a Dangerous Cargo Endorsement (DCE). This work, done together with OCIMF, provided clarification of the term “person with immediate responsibility” which was included in the recent revisions to the STCW code.

 

Increasingly strict tank cleaning standards required by charterers are also being addressed. Such requirements result in over-cleaning and a subsequent waste of fuel, energy and time, as well as increased costs and an impact on the environment. The Committee is working on the production of a set of cleaning standards which could be deployed as an industry standard.