RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OIL TANKER MANIFOLDS AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT

The present fourth edition of this OCIMF publication (first published in several decades ago, in 1971 and subsequently revised three times) in order to reflect the industry developments. This release edition does not contain any significant changes to the content of the document relating to the cargo/bunker manifolds as well as any associated equipment on board.

However, the authors of this volume have added a completely new Annex to the main body of the paper, willing to take into consideration the technical requirements that are there in a number of terminals and applicable to the tankers to transfer the cargo vapors to the shore-located facilities. We would also like to underline the fact that those recommendations have been provided with the sole intention to provide the required regulatory guidance to the  operators of the vessels trading to the terminals where the installation of the vapor collection systems is mandatory.

The recommendations are supplementing the IMO-developed uniform safety design standards that are applicable to the shipboard marine vapor recovery systems as well as the USCG-issued regulations addressing the same matter. They shall only be treated as relating to the uniform manifold arrangements and shall not be considered applicable in any other cases.