SIRE Inspections on Oil Tankers

Ship Inspection Report Programme (SIRE) addresses concerns about sub-standard shipping in oil industry. As a part of the risk assessment physical inspection of the oil tanker is performed by accredited SIRE inspector and resulting report is available to charterers, ship operators, terminal operators and government bodies. In this article SIRE inspection is described and compared with other non-mandatory and mandatory inspections on oil tankers. Some potential consequences of tanker over-inspections are discussed.