Page 38: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2001)

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Barging Ahead

IT WILL COST YOU

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IF YOU DON'T READ

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BE PREPARED!

By Chris Leigh-Jones, chairman, International Bunker

Industry Association (IBIA)

Barge operators are often accused of giving the marine fuels industry a bad name. While it is true that there are barging companies with a debatable approach to the business, they are very much in the minority. Worldwide, barge operators are working hard to improve their services and operations. In many respects, they are leading not only the bunker industry — but shipping as a whole. Nowhere is this demonstrated clearer than during barge-to-ship transfers of oil; nowhere is this expertise better demonstrated that in the U.S.

Operating bunker barges in the U.S. is a fraught business. To say the very least, U.S. authorities do not like oil in their harbors, and culprits can find themselves on the sharp end of some harsh penalties if negligence is proved.

In addition to the penalties, the bureaucratic paperweight that descends on bunkerers subsequent to a spill is hefty indeed. According to one U.S. bunkerman, no fewer than 17 officials turned up when a couple of gallons of oil were spilled by his company during a delivery.

There is, then, plenty of incentive for U.S. bunker barge operators to get things right. And. it has to be said, the

U.S. has some of the world's best barging companies plying its harbor waters. IBIA recently looked at the issue of quality barging in its quarter- ly journal World Bunkering.

One of the respondents to a questionnaire sent to a quar- tet of quality barging firms around the world was a

Houston-based firm. The questionnaire was designed to find out how companies are tackling the issue of spill prevention in the face of ever increasing regulatory pres- sure. Its findings show that bunker barge operators are taking spill prevention seri- ously and that measures that have been introduced over the last decade have had a dramatic impact.

Analysis of spills shows that human error plays a large role, often fueled by a lack of communication between barge crew and the personnel on board the receiving vessel. To elimi- nate, as far as possible, acci- dents from occurring due to miscommunication, the

Houston respondent to

IBIA's questionnaire has drawn up a bunker transfer procedure form. This out- lines which grades of fuel the receiving ship would like, in which order and at which pumping rates. The form also has spaces for tanker measurement prior and subsequent to the oil transfer. The form is com- pleted by the chief engineer and signed. It provides a blueprint for the bunker transfer and fixes everyone's minds on what must

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PRODUCTS, IHC/xSHP^ >0 2001 InduMar Products Inc. 38 Circle 305 on Reader Service Card Circle 250 on Reader Service Card Maritime Reporter & Engineering News