OCIMF publishes updated guidelines to support safe single point mooring for tankers

March 31, 2025

Caption: Darron L. Biddle, OCIMF’s Publications and Advocacy Director Image credit: OCIMF

The Oil Companies International Marine Forum has published a revision of its Guidelines for the Purchasing and Testing of SPM Hawsers – critical equipment used to ensure the safe mooring of tankers during the loading and discharging of oil cargoes from offshore facilities.

Single Point Mooring (SPM) Hawsers connect tankers to an offshore Floating Production Storage Offloading Facility (FPSO), offshore Floating Storage and Offloading Unit (FSO), or offloading buoy. Testing and specification of SPM hawsers is crucial for ensuring the hawsers have the required strength, durability and reliability to perform safely and effectively under demanding circumstances, preventing potential incidents and environmental damage. Ensuring the right SPM Hawser is selected for a specific tanker mooring system application requires consideration of many factors and is made easier by the practical support given in OCIMF’s Guidelines for the Purchasing and Testing of SPM Hawsers.

OCIMF’s Publications and Advocacy Director, Darron L. Biddle, explains: “SPM Hawsers are a safety-critical piece of equipment in every offshore loading or discharge operation. Ensuring industry – manufacturers, purchasers, inspectors and users alike – have a uniform understanding of the equipment in its many variations as well as detailed guidance on how to specify, purchase and test the equipment is important given the broad range of SPM hawser configurations available in the market.

“This updated guidance provides industry with consistent and accurate information as well as a number of easy-to-use forms and checklists to ensure everyone is working from the same guidance.”

The second edition has been rewritten by an OCIMF Working Group to include updated guidance and the latest product specifications as well as enhanced graphic visualisations to support manufacturers and purchasers of SPM Hawsers in determining the appropriate specification, purchasing and testing of SPM Hawsers required for each mooring. An appendix of forms including an OCIMF Guidelines for the Purchasing and Testing of SPM Hawsers Compliance Certificate, a range of specification forms, checklists and inspection report templates provide practical tools for manufacturers and purchasers.