In March 2019, V.Group commissioned an external review of its vetting processes with Barber Maritime Ltd. The review looked at V.Group’s processes, procedures and digital platforms with the remit to give assurance all of its offices were performing to top quartile standards.

The report provided a detailed document review which concluded: “V.Group uses strong software tools, such as ShipSure, for recording events and to provide detailed management information. The regional offices operating time charter vessels are currently within the top quartile of the industry, as measured by International Oil Major vetting departments.”

Nevertheless, findings highlighted areas where improvements could be made, including  considering moving the assessment of ship inspection observations onto a risk-based platform. This platform would be used to define high-risk observations and to provide procedures with levels of responses based on risks.

The platform is now ready and, after months of development, launched on 2nd June. The platform helps to understand the risks and ensure mitigation to prevent harm to people, property or the environment. Our fleet cells are now well-equipped to allow easier decision making, increase efficiency, track performance, and share best practices which will ultimately improve the vetting process and tanker fleet performance overall.

The main focus for our new platform is to drive performance, enhance learning, prioritise risk-based decision making, and eliminate high and medium risk findings. With this refreshed proactive fleet risk assessment and risk mitigation approach, V.Group aims to lead our industry for safety, quality and operational performance excellence.

Mike Bradshaw, Global Head of HSEQ, said: “Our reporting capabilities and our capacity to provide actionable insights will be redefined by our new Vetting Analysis platform. We will not only be able to risk assess findings and inspections, but also monitor performance on key process safety indicators with the new system. We can drill into SIRE Vetting Performance much better than before, and I look forward to putting our new insights to good use to continue to provide flawless service delivery to our customers”.

Steve Barber, Director of Barber Maritime Ltd and former Global Head Vessel Quality Assurance for Royal Dutch Shell, led the detailed review of the V.Group vetting processes in March 2019.

Captain Barber concluded that V.Group were in the top quartile of the industry with respect to their vetting processes and made three improvement recommendations to move V.Group to the top of the quartile, provide for continuous improvement and attain best in class performance.

On the 8^th June 2020 Captain Barber was provided with a demonstration of the V.Group SIRE performance platform and stated;

“The SIRE performance platform is meeting, or exceeding, oil major requirements with respect to vetting performance. The platform’s capabilities provide V.Group with the tools and management information to deliver top quartile performance across their suite of management offices. The ability to drill down to specific details is considered vetting best practice in vessel management.