From the MarineCraft Journal: in-depth articles, expert perspectives, and the latest industry developments for the professionals who keep the maritime world moving. Written for shipowners, offshore operators, engineers, and enthusiasts alike.
Lifeboat Davits and Winches: The Half Nobody Tests
Life-Saving Appliances The lifeboat gets the attention. The davit and winch that lower it get far less, right up to the moment a brake…
Enclosed Space Entry: The Accident That Repeats Itself
HSE & Compliance Enclosed space entry kills experienced seafarers every year, and it kills the people who go in after them. The procedures that prevent it are well established and widely documented.
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Fire Detection on Offshore Platforms: Smoke, Heat, Flame, and Gas
Firefighting Systems On an offshore platform, detection has to work before there is a fire. The system is watching for gas, not flame, because by the time something is burning the useful…
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Lifejacket Compliance Beyond the Buoyancy Rating
Life-Saving Appliances A lifejacket that floats is not a compliant lifejacket. Inspectors write findings against lights, whistles, sizing, servicing records, and whether the crew can actually put one on in time.
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Why Firefighting Equipment Audits Fail on Paperwork, Not Hardware
Firefighting Systems Ships rarely fail firefighting audits because the equipment is broken. They fail because nobody can prove it was maintained.
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Finding and Verifying Offshore Technicians
Workforce & Training The hard part of staffing an offshore scope is rarely finding people who can do the work.
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Why Bunker Prices Differ From Port to Port
Trading & Markets Two ships bunkering the same grade on the same day, in ports a few hundred miles apart, can pay materially different prices. Crude explains the general level.
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IMO Compliance Advisory: Four Streams, Three Authorities
HSE & Compliance “IMO compliance” is sold as a single service, which is misleading. It covers at least four distinct regulatory streams with different rules, different certificates, and different inspectors.
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When Hiring a Maritime Consultant Actually Pays
Maritime Operations Most shipping companies bring in outside help too late, once a detention, a failed audit, or a stalled project has already cost them.
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Offshore Safety Officer: The Qualifications That Actually Count
Workforce & Training The offshore safety officer role sits on a stack of separate qualifications: a statutory appointment, a professional safety certification, survival training, and medical fitness.
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From Trained Pilot to Inspection Asset
Drones & UAS Flying a drone legally and being accepted to inspect an asset are two different permissions, granted by two different authorities.
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VLSFO Prices: What Moves Them and What They Cost You
Trading & Markets Fuel is the largest single cost of running most ships, and it is the one that moves. Understanding what actually drives the price of very low sulphur fuel oil,…
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LSA Servicing: Check the Approval Before You Buy
Life-Saving Appliances Buying survival equipment is the easy part. Keeping it certified for the rest of its working life depends on picking a servicing provider whose authorisation actually covers your equipment, and…
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Permit to Work: The Failure Behind Most Offshore Incidents
HSE & Compliance The worst disaster in the history of offshore oil began with a piece of paper that was not passed on.
Read more →Incoterms for Petroleum Cargoes: FOB, CIF and DES
Trading & Markets Three letters in an oil contract decide who pays for the voyage, who insures the cargo, and who carries the loss if it is spilled or stolen.
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BVLOS Approval: What It Unlocks Offshore
Flying a drone along a hundred kilometres of pipeline, or out to an offshore platform, means flying it where the pilot cannot see it.
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The Welder Qualification Test, and Why Yards Fail It
A shipyard can lose a contract before the first weld if its welders cannot prove their qualifications on paper. The welder qualification test looks simple, weld a coupon, test it, but it…
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SCBA and EEBD: Two Sets Constantly Confused
Two pieces of breathing equipment on a ship look similar and are constantly confused. One lets a firefighter enter a burning space. The other only buys a few minutes to escape one.
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Liferaft Servicing: How Certification Quietly Lapses
A liferaft can sit in its canister for years and look perfect from the outside while quietly going out of certification.
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The ISM Code as a Working Tool, Not a Binder
Every ship over 500 tons carries a Safety Management System. On the best-run vessels it shapes how the crew actually works.
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Methane Monitoring by Drone: What Buyers Now Expect
Methane is invisible, worth money, and a powerful greenhouse gas. Regulators and buyers no longer accept an estimate of how much is leaking.
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