Reporter Li Xiaochuan

Seven Years of COTSF

Reporter Li Xiaochuan

With the rapid growth of crude oil demand, in order to promote China’s offshore oil transportation safety and prevent marine environment pollution, ensure national energy security, China Classifcation Society (CCS) submitted to the Ministry of Transport of China for approval the “establishment of COTSF”, and China Oil Transportation Safety Forum (COTSF) came into being on the approval of MOT.

Whether the COTSF can play the resultant force of the platform and whether it can live up to the expectation of the industry is very important to the development of the forum. From the seven years journey of the forum, it has developed with China oil industry, and as the important driver and witness of China oil industry, the forum has left impressive historical imprint in the process of the development of China oil industry.

In recent years, the international political and economic situation has changed a lot, maritime situation has also experienced ups and downs, there is no doubt the oil industry has been affected. However, COTSF always grasps the pulse of the times’ development, the forum theme has been adjusted every year and has received good effect. It can be said that COTSF reflects the affection and wisdom of all the industries on the chain.

The statistics show that in September 2016, China’s crude oil imports rose 18% year-on-year and reached 33.06 million tons. However, the many years’ downturn shipping market has posed challenges to safetymanagement, the pressure of China oil safety has further increased. But oil transportation safety involves all aspects and requires joint efforts of the industry to fnd a better solution to encourage everyone to stay together closely and jointly promote the development of oil industry.

There is no doubt that COTSF plays a good promotion role in this area. Through this platform, the communication between China and international oil industry has been strengthened, the voice of China oil industry has been spread, and the level of China oil safety management has been promoted. The connection with the world of China oil technical standards and the overall management has been also promoted. The research and formulation of China oil policy and safety standards have also been promoted, which has played a positive role in safeguarding the development of oil transportation safety and preventing marine environment pollution.

As the permanent sponsor of COTSF, CCS feels a lot about the development of oil transportation safety forum. CCS President Sun Licheng said: “whether for the development of oil transportation safety forum, or the oil industry, they all need two forces. One is their own efforts of every interested parties on oil transportation safety chain, the other is the resultant force. As the special institution which provided technical support for shipping industry, shipbuilding industry and related industries, CCS should be strong in the frst place, and then to provide better service to the industry.” As the young member of IACS, the development of CCS in recent years is obvious to people, which has been the important power to promote the development of China oil industry. Faced with the new changeable situation of international maritime industry, on the one side, CCS use their special identity and status on the international maritime stage, refect the voice of China on the relevant conferences, strive to play a greater role in the formulation of rules and standards, maintain the interests and rights of the industry; on the other hand, CCS also bring back the world advanced technical and management measures to our countries’ industrial industry, and transform them to be the motivation of related industries to keep going.

At the same time of constantly improving ability, CCS has also constantly strengthened the cooperation with all parties on oil transportation safety chain, including the government departments, the energy industry, shipping industry, shipbuilding industry, fnance, design units, product manufacturers and relevant parties. In addition, in terms of international cooperation, CCS has cooperated with international organizations such as OCIMF, TSCF, signed Chinese Translation Projects MOU with OCIMF, translated jointly into Chinese the Effective Mooring (3rdversion) and other technical documents, and undertook the shipbuilding conference of TSCF 2013. CCS has further improved the technical cooperation with lead international oil companies, oil transportation companies and other classification societies on oil tanker structure safety, and has played a positive role in promoting oil transportation safety.