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.
Portable Fire Extinguishers: The One, Five and Ten Year Rules
A ship carries more portable extinguishers than any other item of safety equipment, and each one runs on three separate clocks at once.
What to Check Before You Accept a Bunker Stem
A fuel can meet the sulphur limit, arrive with correct paperwork, and still wreck an engine. Since the 0.50% cap reshaped the bunker pool, the operational risk moved from compliance to compatibility,…
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Local Content and Workforce Sourcing on PETRONAS Projects
Local content is usually described as a policy objective. On a live project it behaves as something far more concrete: a set of conditions determining which companies may bid at all, and…
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Late-Life and Decommissioning Realities for Southeast Asian Offshore Assets
Much of Southeast Asia’s offshore infrastructure was built for a design life that has already passed. Those platforms are still producing, which means the operative question is no longer whether they last,…
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Demurrage and Laytime, Explained
Demurrage is the cost of a ship waiting, and on a petroleum cargo it accumulates fast enough to erase a trade’s margin in a couple of days.
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Lifting Teams and Dropped-Object Liability
A dropped spanner from thirty metres carries roughly the energy of a small car at walking pace. Offshore lifting has more paperwork around it than almost any other routine task, and the…
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Pyrotechnics and Distress Signals: The Expiry Nobody Tracks
Distress signals are the only safety equipment aboard that expires on a fixed date whatever their condition, cannot lawfully be thrown away, and are checked on every inspection because the date is…
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The Emergency Fire Pump: Built for One Bad Day
The emergency fire pump exists for the day the engine room is on fire and the main pumps are unreachable.
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Lifeboat Davits and Winches: The Half Nobody Tests
The lifeboat gets the attention. The davit and winch that lower it get far less, right up to the moment a brake slips during a drill.
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Enclosed Space Entry: The Accident That Repeats Itself
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
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 window has…
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Lifejacket Compliance Beyond the Buoyancy Rating
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
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
The hard part of staffing an offshore scope is rarely finding people who can do the work. It is finding people whose certificates prove they can, are valid in the right jurisdiction,…
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Why Bunker Prices Differ From Port to Port
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
“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
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
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
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
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, and how that…
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LSA Servicing: Check the Approval Before You Buy
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 that is…
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