The present IACS Manual was prepared and officially released to the marine industry by IACS in order to provide people with the guidelines for bulk carriers with a single deck and single skin, with the double bottom, with hopper side and topside tanks. The vessels addressed by this Manual are primarily intended for the marine transportation of the dry cargo in bulk.

The authors of the book mostly focus on the survey procedures established by the classification societies forming the IACS, but it will also be very useful in connection with the examination schemes of any owners, ship operators, or regulatory bodies other than class. The publication includes a good review of the survey preparation instructions covering all relevant safety aspects in connection with the performance of the surveys, required access facilities, and preparation for surveys.

The guidelines encompass the main areas of the hull where the structural damages have been noted with the focus made on the key features of the structural items. Another feature of this book is that in includes a special section illustrating the examples of structural damage and deterioration and explains the possible causes and recommended repairs. The team of authors developed this publication using the best info available.

The crude oil is maybe the most important cargo of those transported by sea over the last century. It provides people with the energy necessary to drive virtually everything. The present book was written by Captain P. Armitage with the ultimate intention to serve as a mandatory training for the second officers willing to move up to the position of Chief Officer - in fact it will be useful to every single ship officer working on a tanker and standing a cargo watch.

The content of this volume is covering absolutely everything starting from the fundamentals of the crude oil chemistry and up to the economics of today's oil market. Loading and discharge operations are deservedly treated as the critically important activities. When carrying out loading and discharge of the shipboard cargo, the accidents may seriously compromise the safety of the crew members, the ship herself as well as the environment.

Well developed and carefully reviewed plans supplemented with the standing instructions and established emergency procedures will significantly contribute to the success of the cargo operations and provide additional flexibility to the commercial operators. This volume puts decades of the practical experience into a quite concise format which is technical but still reader friendly. A copy of this book shall be in the library of every tanker officer for easy and ready reference at all times.

The present Guide was prepared and released in accordance with the relevant technical requirements of the MARPOL Conventions and associated interpretations with the intention to be used together with them. Please note however that this paper is not dealing with the requirements related to the construction/equipment.

Under the Annex I of the Convention any discharge of oil or oil-containing mixture is prohibited from the oil tankers,  including the mixtures coming from the bilges located in the cargo pump rooms, within a distance of fifty nautical miles from the nearest land. In addition, the flow and concentration, as well as the quantity of the substances discharges anywhere else are also limited.

Obviously, the only way to ensure due compliance with these limitations is to adhere to the oil retention procedures. Those procedures would typically involve the collection and separation of any oily waters appearing as a result of tank cleaning/ballasting operations. These mixtures are to be accumulated in a special tanks to be subsequently disposed of somewhere ashore.

This volume is mainly concerned with these procedures and their application; the information contained in this document will be of great importance and practical use to the crew members as well as to all other personnel involved in the above stated operations.

The content of this navigation textbook is primarily aimed at modern navigators working under significantly increased workload which demands very clear working methods as well as concise but comprehensive instructions. Note that the working methods that have been selected for inclusion in this volume are quite easy to understand for both students of maritime colleges and schools and for people working onboard vessels.

The text of the book is supplemented with numerous worked examples and informative plots, and there are also many exercises to allow navigators gain some fundamental and advanced marine navigation skills. The publication covers regulatory requirements and provides instructions on proper passage planning, ocean routeing and sailing, bridge procedures to be implemented and followed, celestial and radar navigation, extreme weather issues, e-navigation, tidal streams, marine communications including GMDSS, AIS and reporting systems, SAR activities and many other important aspects.

There is also a brief glossary of terminology used throughout the volume. As noted above, the book is highly recommended to the future navigators as well as for the professionals willing to improve their marine navigation skills.

This video is going to examine one of the key tasks on the ship - voyage planning by the navigating officer. A good voyage plan with all the information including information needed in emergencies, is the only basis for a safe voyage. Poor voyage planning may not always result in an accident, but it puts the watchkeeping officer in a weak position if the things are starting to go wrong, and inevitable they will one day.

As well as reducing accidents and improving safety, regulation 34 of SOLAS Chapter V requires all ships to have a voyage plan before proceeding to sea. The information it gives frees the watchkeeping officer from spending time on reference books and tables, it will ensure that the officer is fully aware of all requirements. The plan is to cover the entire voyage from berth to berth. It must be completed well before the departure and must be approved by the master.

If the voyage plan is your responsibility, you need to be aware that doing it properly takes time. The first step is to check that all the necessary charts and publications are up-to-date and that no change is taking place to the scheduled destination. Next, there must be a discussion with the master to take into account all the commercial requirements. The master's experience will enable him to suggest a route, pointing out potential hazards. One issue to discuss with the master is weather routing...

This training video supplements the booklet on the deck skills. We recommend our visitors to download both training resources to get better training results. The arrangement of the materials in this video is aligned with the structure of the book. As it is clear from the title of both video and publication, they were developed specifically with the sailors in mind.

The materials contained therein have been carefully selected by the authors and will be of practical use both for the students and for the practicing sailors. The explanations are all very clear and understandable. While the publication provides the text descriptions and instructions to be followed, the video will show how exactly the particular practices shall take place. All you have to do is just to read and understand the descriptions in the book and then launch this video file and see how it looks – as we all know, there is nothing better for training than the visual aids.

According to the feedbacks from the students, this training set is one of the most effective training resources of those available today and that is the main reason why it has gained so much of popularity all around the world. Make sure you go through it and do not miss any section.

Shipping is vital to the world economy, but it must be of a good standard and properly operated, so it is not to danger the crew, risk the cargo and damage the environment. Towards the end of the last century, a series of shipping incidents led to suspicions in Europe that poorly operated ships were escaping the net of the established regulatory bodies. Discussion began on inspecting ships in port under the SOLAS Convention.

It was clear that, to be effective, countries had to act together. So, in 1982 in Paris fourteen European countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding, an MOU on Port State Control. The Paris MOU currently includes twenty-seven countries. Other MOUs were established in the Asia-Pacific region, South America, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean, West Africa, the Black Sea and the Arabian Gulf.

Now, there are nine MOUs incorporating nearly 140 countries. The USCG also inspects ships under port state regulations. The objective of all these countries is to ensure that the ships entering their waters are properly maintained and properly run. Although port state control is intended to benefit the port states, it is benefit to both ships’ crews and ship operators. As soon as the ship is scheduled to arrive, the port state authority examines its records and recent MOU inspection history.

If the ship has had problems in the past or has not been inspected recently, it will go into selection list for inspection. Each MOU has its own method for selecting ships. Many look at the ship’s history and also its type. If it is of the type and age considered high risk, it will go on the selection list. If it is Flag State or Recognized Organization that has a poor record of detentions, the ship will go on the list.

If a complaint has been received, either from a previous port, a crew member or a pilot, that will also put the ship on the list. Once the ships have been selected, the port state control officers are assigned. The ship is not informed – they always arrive without warning. The objective of port state control is to ensure that all the ships passing through the port state waters, are operated according to international standards.

This training file is in fact not the actual video but rather a sort of presentation providing necessary information about planning the ship’s route using the ECDIS. It will be very good both for people wanting to get the general idea of what the electronic navigation means is, and also practicing navigators who need some more info on the practical use of the system.

They will get to the better understanding of the ways to comply with the relevant rules and regulations, and know how to use all the functions and features of the electronic navigation charts. The main emphasis has been made on the voyage planning. The main objective of it is to ensure that the vessel can be safely navigated from one port to another. For this, the most safe and favorable route shall be established for the vessel and, of course, the safety aspects shall be taken into account at the first place.

The navigators shall consider so many factors when developing the voyage plan – among those factors are the type of the cargo being carried on board, marine environment, reliability of the navigation charts available for the proposed plan, routing constraints, weather conditions, availability of the navigation aids and so many others.