Insights and Analysis
-
EGCS, MARPOL Annex VI, and the Reality at Sea
A Rulebook That’s Simple on Paper Under MARPOL Annex VI, the sulphur oxide (SOx) limit for ships operating outside Emission Control Areas is 0.50% m/m. Many vessels have met this requirement by installing Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems (EGCS). An expensive, complex machinery designed to allow continued use of high sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) while remaining compliant.…
-
SIRE 2.0: Digital Ambition Crashing into Analog Ineptitude
Why OCIMF Inspectors Must Meet the Same Standards as Seafarers or Risk Total Irrelevance OCIMF launched SIRE 2.0 with great fanfare, promising cutting-edge digital tools, risk modeling, and unprecedented data insights. Instead, it has exposed a harsh truth, inspectors with tablets are enforcing standards they barely understand. On a recent inspection of a Japanese tanker,…
-
When GPS Goes Dark: Steering a VLCC Through the Persian Gulf’s Chaos
Taking Command Amid Collision News I took command of a VLCC in Fujairah, ballast condition, but still a 300,000-ton floating beast. Iran-Israel tensions simmered in the background, and just days earlier, two tankers. Frontline’s Front Eagle and the shadow fleet’s Adalynn had collided 15 nautical miles offshore. Early reports blamed navigational error, with spoofed GPS…
The Deep Draft 