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SystemShip Management & Maritime Compliance

Oil Record Book Compliance

Oil record book compliance that sets each Part I entry against the incinerator counter, the soundings and the reception receipt, while the ship is still days from a US port.

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Follow one ship's sludge month to a co-signed review ↓
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The problem

An oil record book nobody adds up until the examiner does

The engineer in charge logs each sludge and bilge operation by code and item, and the master signs each page. At month end the ship sends scans and phone photos of the book, the sounding log, the incinerator log and the alarm printout, and they are filed ashore as they arrive.

Nobody sets the cubic meters against the hour counter or the receipt. An incineration entry claiming hours the counter never ran, a smudged receipt nobody chased with the facility, a sludge tank nearly full with no reception booked: each one turns up on board, in front of the examiner. US prosecutors charge the falsified book as well as the discharge.

Built forDesignated persons ashoreTechnical directorsTechnical superintendentsIn-house counsel

The Problem Today

The oil record book meets the ship's own counters and receipts for the first time when an examiner boards.

3 years
the book stays on board after its last entry, open to examiners published
$2M
federal fine in 2025 where discharges were left out of the book published

Added up by hand, if ever

  • Book pages
  • Run hours
  • Receipts
  • Soundings
  • Scans that nobody totalsPhotos of pages and logs are filed ashore and never summed
  • Smudged receipts left aloneNobody asks the reception facility for its signed copy

The Solution

  1. Each entry pinned to its routeIncinerator, shore or evaporation, as the book claims it
  2. Book hours against the counterWhat the incinerator could have burned, from its counter and plate
  3. An examiner's read comes firstThe balance and the agents' own counting are challenged
  4. Review opened, then co-signedOne person opens it; another co-signs after opening the records

Built-in controls

  • Any report to anyone is counsel's call, with a second person
  • A named person reads ship and facility free text
  • The book is read here and left as written

What You Get

The ship manager sees which cubic meters have no record while the ship is still days from the US port.

  • Records asked for in fieldsThe ship and the reception facility answer field by field
  • Sludge space planned aheadA month of tank space played forward before the next port
  • Patterns without namesGrouped by equipment and port, with no crew member named
Features

Oil record book compliance features, from scanned pages to a co-signed review

The designated person ashore, the technical director and the superintendent use them to balance one ship's month of sludge before its US call.

demoSample data throughout: the ship, its people, the receipts and each volume shown.

  1. 01Agents at work

    Oil record book entries read by code and pinned to the route each one claims

    • Part I read by code and item. Retention, shore delivery, incineration, evaporation and separator entries land on the arrow they claim, so the month reads as one flow instead of four pages.
    • Sludge made worked out from soundings. Daily soundings and weekly retention give sludge per day against the ship's own six-month range, so an odd month stands out before anyone argues about it.
    • Plan changed mid-run in plain words. The designated person ashore asks to also check last month or the boiler, and the plan grows a step, with the request kept in the audit trail.
  2. 02Book beside drawing

    Incinerator hours in the book checked against the counter and maker's plate

    • Counter hours against C.12.3 hours. Each incineration entry states its hours, and the counter says how many ran: the first comparison a Coast Guard examiner makes.
    • Capacity taken from the maker's plate. Hours times the plate rate give the most the incinerator could have burned, unless a witnessed test on board says otherwise.
    • The page as it was scanned. Click a pin and its entry opens highlighted on its own page, so the conversation with the ship starts from the record.
  3. 03Examiner's read

    Sludge and bilge records read first as a Coast Guard examiner would

    • Four comparisons an examiner makes. Counter against C.12.3, receipts against C.12.1, soundings against C.11 and the 15 ppm record against D.15.1, each with its result beside it.
    • The agents' own counting sent back. A counter read to the wrong day goes back to the agent that read it, so a wrong hour total never reaches the balance.
    • Examiner's questions sent as a request. The questions an examiner would put to the chief engineer go to the ship as a records request in fixed fields, naming no crew member.
  4. 04Mass balance

    Sludge mass balance per ship: claimed, backed by records, or with no record

    • Three totals for each month. In the book, backed by other records, with no record: the designated person ashore sees the gap as a volume and never as a judgment.
    • Evaporation held as book only. Soundings show that sludge left the tank but say nothing of how, so a C.12.4 entry rests on the book until the heating log arrives.
    • A floor while a receipt is out. The balance says at least and waits, so nobody closes or escalates a month on a figure that may still move.
  5. 05Facility copy

    Facility's own copy of a sludge receipt, asked for through the port agent

    • Unreadable quantities set aside. A smudged receipt photo is not read into the balance; the agents draft a request for the facility's signed copy for a person to send.
    • Fixed fields with the document. The port agent enters the receipt number and quantity and must attach the signed copy, so the figure that moves the balance arrives with its paper.
  6. 06Does not reconcile

    Oil record book that does not reconcile, shown as a volume and its routes

    • Does not reconcile, and the volume. The screen states the cubic meters with no record, route by route, and stops there; why sludge is missing is for people to find out.
    • Review, hold or close as recorded. The designated person ashore opens an internal review or holds the month's close; closing as recorded is offered only inside tolerance.
  7. 07Capacity plan

    Sludge tank capacity plan for the next month, from the real burning rate

    • Planned from hours the counter shows. A month that claims more burning than ran cannot make the tank look emptier than it is.
    • A working limit below the brim. Plans run to an editable working limit; one that runs short is marked so and cannot be booked.
    • Reception booked through the agent. The superintendent picks a plan and asks the next port's agent to book the delivery, with the reason on record.
  8. 08Internal review

    Internal review that leaves the book as written and names no one at fault

    • The pages stay as written. Any correction is a new dated entry signed by the officer in charge and the master, so the record an examiner reads stays intact.
    • Questions routed as records requests. The ship is asked for records through the superintendent, and no crew member is named as at fault.
    • Reporting left to counsel by name. Whether anything is reported to anyone goes to in-house counsel, decided with a second person.
  9. 09Co-signed review

    Review co-signed by the technical director after opening each record

    • Three records opened before co-signing. The co-sign waits until the technical director has opened the incineration entries, the incinerator log and the facility's copy.
    • Opener and co-signer kept apart. Each signature states what it means, nobody signs their own work, and reopening a review clears both.

Four desks behind one ship's oil record book review

The designated person ashore owns the balance; the others co-sign it, supply it with records or decide what follows.

Designated persons ashore

Run each ship's monthly sludge balance and open internal reviews

  • Unsupported volume per ship before the US call
  • Each figure one click from its record
  • The examiner's questions ready for the ship
Technical directors

Co-sign reviews, release holds, approve rules and settings

  • A co-sign that waits until the records are opened
  • Fleet balances by ship and next US call
  • Rules from rulings, applied once approved
Technical superintendents

Ask ships for records and plan sludge deliveries before each port

  • Requests answered in fixed fields
  • Tank space played forward a month
  • Counter photos asked of several ships at once
In-house counsel

Decide whether anything is reported to anyone, with a second person

  • The facts in front of counsel, nothing more
  • Privileged notes kept out of every export
  • No agent view on what to do

Who opens the review, who co-signs it, and who decides on reporting

Designated person ashore
Sees
The balance by route: in the book, backed by records, with no record, and the counter and receipt behind each
Signs
Opens the internal review with its three instructions, or holds the month's close
Technical director
Sees
The incineration entries, the incinerator log and the facility's copy, opened one by one
Signs
Co-signs the review, and releases a hold only as second person
Technical superintendent
Sees
Three capacity plans drawn against the working limit
Signs
Asks the port agent to book reception under a plan that stays under the limit
In-house counsel
Sees
The unsupported volume, hours against counter, book against facility copy, and the co-signed review
Signs
Decides any report to anyone, confirmed by a second person
More screens

The scans, the fleet and the rules around one ship's sludge month

What the designated person ashore, counsel and the auditor open next to the balance.

The month's recordsOne month from the ship, 112 records: Part I pages 41–44, the sounding and incinerator logs, the 15 ppm record, the receipt and the bunker note, as scanned.
Fleet balances46 October balances: 41 closed, 4 closed after a ship reply, 1 in internal review, with each ship's next US call flagged for reading before the call.
Six months of patternsGrouped by equipment, port and paperwork: counter hours and C.12.3 entries more than 10% apart on 7 balances, 6 closed after a reply. No crew member is named.
Rules keptTwo rules in force, on unreadable receipts and the maker's plate. A third, on evaporation above 5% of sludge made, waits for the technical director.
Counsel's pageThe facts only: 6.44 m³ with no record, 104 h claimed against 41 h counted, 7.5 m³ against 4.8 m³. Counsel signs one option; a second person confirms.
Audit trailPeople, agents and the port agent in one trail, each entry with its reason and what any signature meant, downloaded as a spreadsheet or an evidence file.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

Hours the counter never ran, a receipt read short, and a miscount of our own

104 hours of burning claimed, 41 on the counter

Four incineration entries claim 6.2 m³. At the plate rate of 60 L/h, 41 hours burn at most 2.46 m³, so 3.74 m³ has no record behind it.

A delivery of 7.5 m³ that the facility signed for at 4.8

The ship's photo read 4.8 at 71% confidence, so the agent would not rely on it. The facility's own copy, sent by the port agent, says 4.8 m³.

The agents' first count ran six hours long

The equipment agent first counted to a counter photo taken after the voyage: 47 h. The challenger saw the extra running and sent it back; the count became 41 h.

A 15 ppm alarm with no separator run around it

The alarm cleared in four minutes on a day whose only logged run had stopped hours earlier. It stays open for a person, and the ship is asked for that evening's printout.

demoSample data, from the working solution.

What ship managers ask about checking an oil record book

What is an oil record book?

An oil record book is the coded, signed log of what a ship did with its sludge and oily bilge water, kept on board under MARPOL Annex I. Here each Part I entry is checked against the counters, soundings and receipts behind it before the ship reaches a US port.

What does a Coast Guard examiner compare in the oil record book?

The examiner holds the entries against the incinerator's hours, the oil content meter's alarm record, the tank soundings and the reception receipts. That examiner may copy any page and have the master certify it as a true copy. The challenger makes the same comparisons first.

Does the software change entries in the book?

No. The book is only read. Any correction is made on board as a new dated entry, signed by the officer in charge and the master.

Who decides whether a gap is reported to anyone?

In-house counsel, by name, with a second person confirming. The agents state volumes and records only, never why a volume is missing or what anyone did, and counsel's notes stay out of every export.

What happens when a reception receipt cannot be read?

The agents leave the quantity out of the balance and draft a request for the facility's own signed copy, sent through the port agent once a person approves it. Until the copy arrives, the balance shows a floor.

How is sludge tank space planned before the next port?

From the ship's own burning rate on the counter, against a working limit below the brim. A plan that runs short of space cannot be booked; the superintendent books reception through the port agent under a plan that fits.

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Bring one month of
oil record book pages.

Send one ship's scanned Part I pages, logs and receipts, and we will draw where its sludge went with you.

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