Keeping the books
Ship's logbook and oil log

The logbook, or log, is a term used in maritime shipping that everyone is probably familiar with. Since the earliest days of shipping the captain or duty officer in each case has been required to note all incidents concerning the vessel in this ship's log every day. This must be done in handwritten form in ink or using a pen. The log is regarded as a document and must be kept accordingly either on board or on shore for five years. Some charterers also request an excerpt from the ship's log. On the basis of the log, the ship's officers can be monitored, important events can be documented and a seaprotest can be declared. In maritime court proceedings and civil cases the log can be referred to as evidence.

What does it contain?

When a vessel is taken over from the shipbuilding yard the first entry is made in the log. From now on the events of a day on board are noted on two pages in the large book on a daily basis. Besides information on weather, swell and course as well as data on the respective position, important information on the condition of the ship and all events that influence the course of the voyage are also entered. Moreover, there is space for nautical remarks. Some shipping companies additionally require that their captains make a note of all instructions they receive from the charterer in the log so it is possible to verify that the ship's officers acted on his instructions.

The log of a container ship also contains entries on the results of the daily examination of the lashings which can be used as evidence in the event of any cargo damage. Problems with refrigerated containers, for example substantial temperature deviations, have to be entered in the log as well. The daily routine check of the set temperatures, by contrast, is noted
in a special reefer log.

Documenting every drop

In addition to the logbooks, all vessels that fall under the MARPOL Convention (International Convention for Protection of the Marine Environment through Prevention of Pollution from Ships) have to keep an oil log. It is used to document every movement of oil within the ship and controlled draining of oil outboard via the oil separator. This provision not only encompasses all oil movements on board, but also the filling of the fuel tanks and fuel service tanks as well as the bunkering of fuel or filling of bunker oil tanks with ballast water or cleaning of such tanks. The pumping out of bilge water that contains oil and collects in the engine room and the routine pumping out of such water via an oil separator at sea also have to be entered in the log.

Every individual measure must be
entered in the oil log immediately; and every pumping operation is signed by the responsible officer and every page of the oil log by the captain. The oil log can be checked by the responsible authorities in every port and therefore has to be kept in such a way that it is easily accessible at all times. This also applies two years after the last entry.

On the basis of the oil log, verification can be provided to the state port regulatory agencies that no sludge has been disposed of illegally. Sludge may only be disposed of in the port in a controlled manner or incinerated on board, and records also have to be kept on disposal operations, of course. At least 3% of the bunkered fuel of a vessel should be handed over as certified used oil to disposal enterprises. This quantity on average is classified as non-consumable. If this cannot be verified - or irregularities are found in the oil log - the captain and chief can be punished. Tankers keep an extended oil log. Besides entries that are stipulated for all vessels, the oil log on a tanker additionally documents if oil is loaded
or unloaded during the voyage. The cleaning of the cargo tanks and what has happened to the washing residues must also be noted, i.e. individually for each tank.

Logbooks and oil logs are permitted as evidence in court proceedings. And even years later the voyage of a ship can be retraced on the basis of a properly kept and detailed ship's log.

In the next issue ON BOARD takes a look in the engine log.