Most ship managers treat a VDR audit log the way many do at first: a useful internal record of what the bridge team actually did, separate from what the SMS says they should have done. Good practice, not something a…
DryBMS mooring and anchoring — Subject Area 19 in the DBCE framework — covers planning and operational processes for mooring, anchoring, and safe access, assessed against the same Basic-through-Excellence structure as every other subject area. It’s another of DBCE’s seventeen…
DryBMS cargo and ballast — Subject Area 20 in the DBCE framework — covers exactly what the name suggests: the planning and operational processes around cargo and ballast handling, assessed against the same four-level structure, Basic through Excellence, that runs…
Version control has two requirements built into it under ISM 11.2, and most fleets satisfy only one of them reliably. Clause 11.2.1 requires valid documents to be available at all relevant locations. Clause 11.2.3 requires obsolete documents to be promptly…
Document control is the part of ISM most people file under paperwork, and it’s a narrower, sharper requirement than that filing suggests. Clause 11.1 requires the Company to establish and maintain procedures to control all documents and data relevant to…
Working language is a defined obligation, not a courtesy. ISM 6.6 requires the Company to establish procedures by which ship’s personnel receive relevant SMS information in a working language or languages they understand. Clause 6.7 goes further, requiring that personnel…
Objective evidence has a specific meaning in the ISM Code, and it isn’t a loose one. Clause 1.1.7 defines it precisely: quantitative or qualitative information, records, or statements of fact, based on observation, measurement, or test, that can be verified.…
SMS search is the test a gap analysis was never built to run. A gap analysis is built to answer one question: does a procedure exist for every area the Code requires one for. Run it against the functional requirements…
TMSA stands for Tanker Management and Self Assessment. Most companies handle Tanker and Management well — it’s Self that decides how much the rest is worth. A TMSA self assessment is exactly what the name says — a company’s own…
The new SOLAS pilot transfer arrangements 2028 requirements — adopted by the IMO Maritime Safety Committee at its 110th session as Resolution MSC.576(110) — replace the pilot ladder standard most fleets have worked under since 2013. The change is not…
Subject Area 21 — Bridge procedures & standards — is one of seventeen subject areas the Dry Bulk Centre of Excellence (DBCE) flags as a DryBMS priority area, on the grounds that it carries a higher potential impact for injury to people…
Most bridge teams know MSC.232(82) as the ECDIS performance standard. It has been operative since 2006 and is referenced in bridge procedure manuals, SMS documentation, and type-approval certificates across the global fleet. That reference is now running out of road…