A vetting inspection is a commercial ship inspection ordered by an oil major, charterer or terminal. It decides whether the ship is acceptable for its cargo. This page explains how tanker vetting works, from SIRE 2.0 to the desk review, for ship’s officers, superintendents and maritime students.
What Is a Vetting Inspection on a Ship?
A vetting inspection is an accredited inspector’s check of a ship’s condition, equipment, procedures and crew, made for a cargo interest. The report feeds the charterer’s vetting decision: accept the ship for a voyage, or reject it.
Vetting itself is wider than the inspection. A vetting department combines the latest inspection report with the ship’s port State control record, casualty history, age and the manager’s track record. The inspection is the evidence; vetting is the decision.
Vetting is most developed in the tanker trades, where a spill can cost a cargo owner far more than the freight. It covers crude and product oil tankers, chemical tankers, gas carriers and barges, and has spread to dry bulk and offshore vessels.
Is a Vetting Inspection Mandatory?
No convention or flag state requires vetting. It is a commercial requirement: without an acceptable recent inspection, most oil majors, traders and terminals will not charter or accept a tanker. In practice, a tanker that cannot pass vetting cannot trade.
How Is Vetting Different From PSC and Class Surveys?
Class surveys check the ship against class rules and port State control against the conventions. Vetting checks it against the charterer’s own standard. Only vetting is commercial and voluntary, and only vetting judges how well the ship is run.
| Class survey | Port State control | Vetting inspection | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who inspects | Classification society surveyor | Port State control officer | Accredited inspector for an oil major or charterer |
| Basis | Class rules and statutory surveys | SOLAS, MARPOL, MLC 2006 and other conventions | Industry questionnaire, such as the SIRE 2.0 question library |
| Legal force | Required to keep class and certificates | Statutory; can detain the ship | Commercial; can keep the ship out of the market |
| Focus | Structure and machinery | Minimum compliance | Operation, procedures and crew competence |
The regimes overlap but do not replace each other. See types of surveys carried out on ships for class and statutory surveys, and port State control and the regional MoUs for PSC.
What Is SIRE?
SIRE, the Ship Inspection Report Programme, is the tanker inspection system run by the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF). Launched in 1993, it lets OCIMF members commission inspections and share the reports through one database.
OCIMF was formed in April 1970, after the 1967 Torrey Canyon grounding raised public alarm about oil pollution. SIRE was extended to barges and small vessels in late 2004. OCIMF reports more than 22,500 inspection reports on over 8,000 vessels in a 12-month period.
Reports are available to OCIMF members, terminal operators, port and canal authorities, and companies that charter tankers or barges. Government bodies that supervise safety or pollution prevention get access free of charge.
What Changed With SIRE 2.0?
SIRE 2.0 went live on 2 September 2024 and replaced the old VIQ7 questionnaire. Each inspection now uses a Compiled Vessel Inspection Questionnaire (CVIQ), drawn from a question library and matched to the ship’s type and risk profile.
- Three lenses: inspectors assess hardware, processes and human factors for each question.
- Ship-specific questionnaire: the CVIQ differs from ship to ship, so there is no fixed checklist to prepare against.
- Digital recording: inspectors record responses on intrinsically safe tablets.
- More detailed reports: OCIMF describes the reports as more detailed than under the previous programme.
- Pre-Inspection Questionnaire: the operator completes ship data in advance, which shapes the CVIQ.
What Does a SIRE Inspection Cover?
A SIRE inspection covers the whole ship and how it is run. The classic VIQ chapters, which SIRE 2.0 reorganised into its question library, give a good picture of the scope:
- Certification and documentation, including the last port State control inspection
- Crew management, certification under STCW and hours of rest under the MLC 2006
- Navigation and bridge procedures
- Safety management under the ISM Code
- Pollution prevention under MARPOL, including slop tanks, the ODME and the Oil Record Book
- Structural condition of the hull, tanks and deck
- Cargo and ballast systems, including the inert gas system and P/V valves
- Mooring equipment and procedures
- Communications, engine room and steering gear, and general condition
Specialised ships add their own items. On a bitumen tanker, for example, inspectors also look at heating records and H₂S precautions.
What Other Vetting Schemes Are There?
SIRE dominates oil tanker vetting, but other cargo sectors run their own schemes. The Chemical Distribution Institute covers chemical tankers (built to the IBC Code) and gas carriers, OCIMF’s OVID covers offshore vessels, and RightShip vets dry bulk carriers.
- CDI (Chemical Distribution Institute): a non-profit body created by the chemical industry in 1994. It inspects chemical tankers and LPG carriers, and audits storage terminals.
- OVID (Offshore Vessel Inspection Database): OCIMF’s offshore equivalent of SIRE, covering offshore support vessels, small craft and mobile offshore drilling units.
- RightShip: vets dry bulk carriers using a Safety Score from 0 to 5 and its own physical inspections. A score of 0 flags a sanctioned ship that cannot pass vetting.
- Barge schemes: SIRE covers barges, and inland barges in Europe have their own industry scheme.
Gas carriers built to the IGC Code may be inspected under SIRE or CDI, depending on cargo and charterer.
How Does the Vetting Process Work?
Vetting starts when a ship is nominated for a cargo. The charterer’s vetting team screens the ship’s records and looks for a recent acceptable report. It then accepts the ship, rejects it or asks for more information.
- Nomination: the owner or charterer nominates the ship for a voyage or time charter.
- Desk screening: the vetting team reviews the latest inspection report, PSC record, casualty history, age and class status.
- Company assessment: the manager’s systems are judged, for tankers through OCIMF’s Tanker Management and Self Assessment (TMSA, third edition 2017).
- Inspection if needed: if no suitable report exists, the operator requests a new inspection by an accredited inspector.
- Operator response: the operator answers each observation in the report, often with evidence of corrective action.
- Decision: the vetting team accepts or rejects the ship, usually for that voyage only.
Acceptance by one oil major does not mean acceptance by another, because each applies its own criteria. A poor report, by contrast, is visible to every SIRE user and can affect a manager’s whole fleet.
How Often Are Tankers Vetted?
There is no fixed interval, but many oil majors want a SIRE report no older than about six months. Active tankers are therefore typically inspected around twice a year, and more often if they trade with several majors with different requirements.
What Is a Pre-Vetting Inspection?
A pre-vetting inspection is an internal inspection that the ship manager arranges before an external vetting inspection. A superintendent or contracted inspector runs through the same scope, so deficiencies are found and closed before they reach the official report.
Good preparation is about the ship’s normal state, not a cleaning sprint. Under SIRE 2.0 the inspector watches how the crew actually works, so drills, procedures and record-keeping matter as much as paint.
- Certificates, plans and maintenance records up to date and to hand
- Safety, navigation, cargo and mooring equipment tested and working
- Officers able to explain their procedures, not just show the manual
- Open observations from the last inspection closed out with evidence
What Do Vetting Inspectors Commonly Find?
Vetting observations cluster around records that don’t match practice, equipment that is fitted but not maintained, and crew who cannot demonstrate a procedure. Each “no” or “not seen” answer requires a written observation in the report.
- Hours of rest records that don’t match the work actually done
- Passage plans incomplete or not followed
- Gas detection equipment out of calibration
- Mooring lines and winch brakes in poor condition or untested
- Oil Record Book entries that don’t match tank soundings
- Crew unfamiliar with emergency procedures for their own station
Some of the same items are detention grounds under port State control. The list of common ship detention reasons shows where the regulatory and commercial inspections overlap.
Why Did Oil Companies Start Vetting Ships?
Oil companies started vetting to protect themselves from the cost and liability of chartering substandard tankers. The 1967 Torrey Canyon grounding led to OCIMF’s formation in 1970, and concern over substandard ships led to SIRE in 1993.
Courts and the public increasingly held cargo owners responsible for the ships they chose. Vetting gave charterers documented evidence that they had taken reasonable care before accepting a ship.
For owners, a clean vetting record is now a commercial asset. Many tanker charter parties include a vetting clause, and a ship rejected by the majors can lose its employment overnight.
Related Topics
- What Is a Ship Classification Society?
- VLCC: Very Large Crude Carriers
- ULCC: Ultra Large Crude Carriers
- Cargo Handling Systems and Equipment on Oil Tankers
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a vetting inspection on a ship?
A vetting inspection is a commercial inspection ordered by an oil major, charterer or terminal to check whether a ship is acceptable for its cargo. It covers condition, equipment, procedures and crew competence.
Is a vetting inspection mandatory?
No law or convention requires vetting. It is a commercial requirement, but most oil majors, traders and terminals will not accept a tanker without an acceptable recent inspection report.
What is the difference between vetting and port State control?
Port State control is a statutory inspection against international conventions and can detain a ship. Vetting is a commercial inspection against the charterer’s standard and decides whether the ship gets the cargo.
What is SIRE in shipping?
SIRE is OCIMF’s Ship Inspection Report Programme, launched in 1993. It is a database of tanker and barge inspection reports that oil companies and charterers use to vet ships.
What is SIRE 2.0?
SIRE 2.0 is the updated SIRE programme that went live on 2 September 2024. It replaced the VIQ7 questionnaire with ship-specific inspections assessing hardware, processes and human factors, recorded on tablets.
What is a pre-vetting inspection?
A pre-vetting inspection is an internal check arranged by the ship manager before an external vetting inspection. It uses the same scope so deficiencies can be corrected before the official report.
How often are tankers vetted?
There is no fixed interval, but many oil majors expect a SIRE report no older than about six months. Active tankers are therefore often inspected around twice a year.
Who carries out vetting inspections?
Accredited inspectors carry out vetting inspections on behalf of an oil major or other programme member. SIRE inspectors are accredited through OCIMF; CDI and RightShip use their own inspectors.
- Great Lakes Maritime Academy: Programs, Cost and Admission – October 14, 2026
- Bunker Delivery Note (BDN): Contents, MARPOL Rules and Checks – October 11, 2026
- Oil Record Book: Part I and Part II Entries, Rules and PSC Checks – October 11, 2026
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