Technical and maintenance · Module 10
Electronic Oil Record Book, Part I
Part I as an electronic working copy beside the paper book: entries locked at signature, corrections as new entries, and a true copy that prints.
MARPOL Annex I, Reg. 17
What it is for
The requirement, and the problem
The Oil Record Book is the document that puts chief engineers in court. Not because they pollute — overwhelmingly they do not — but because a book with a gap in it, or an entry in the wrong hand, or a correction made with correction fluid, is treated as evidence of concealment whatever actually happened.
An electronic book removes most of those risks and introduces one: an electronic record that can be edited after the fact is worse than paper. So here an entry’s content is immutable from the moment it is signed. A mistake is corrected by a new entry that says what it corrects, which is exactly what the paper book requires and exactly what a database normally makes easy to avoid.
How it works
Three steps, on board and ashore
- 1
Enter the coded operation
Each entry carries the book’s own codes and item numbers, with quantities checked against the tanks it names.
- 2
Signed, then locked
The officer signs, the master verifies, and the content of the entry is locked from the moment of signature.
- 3
Corrected by a new entry
A correction is a new entry that refers to the one it corrects, both visible and in order — and a true copy prints.
Example with demo data
What it looks like
A working picture of the module with demo data from the Ocean Pioneer — the same ship you find in the demo.
Try the demo — no account, in your browser, with the PIN 1234.
- The book — entries in order, as the book reads
- New entry — by code, prompting only what that code needs
- Review — the officer’s and the master’s
Oil residue (sludge) tank (P) — capacity 12.4 m³, retained 6.8 m³.
Correction to the entry of 22-SEP: a new entry, both kept, in order.
In detail
What the module does
Coded entries, as the annex writes them
Codes A through I with the item numbers under each, prompting for exactly the fields that code requires and nothing else.
Content-immutable after signature
Once an entry is signed its content cannot be changed. The product has no edit path, not a permission that is never granted — the difference matters when somebody asks how it is enforced.
Corrections as entries
A correction is a new entry referring to the one it corrects, both visible, in order. That is the paper procedure, kept.
The chief engineer’s review and the master’s signature
Entries are made by the officer in charge of the operation, reviewed, and the page is signed by the master, each step recorded with who and when.
A true copy that prints
The print reproduces the statutory layout, with the entries, the signatures and a statement that it is a true copy of the electronic record — which is what a port state officer asks for.
Inspection mode
One screen, one period, read-only, nothing else on the vessel reachable from it.
In the app
On the bridge, on deck and in the office
The same records on a phone in a machinery space and on a screen in the office — with no signal, and synchronised when the link returns.
- Inspection — one period, read-only
- Configuration — tanks, capacities, and what this ship has
The decision
The paper book stays until your class society says otherwise
MARPOL lets an electronic Oil Record Book stand in for the paper one only where it is approved by the Administration, taking into account IMO’s guidelines (MEPC.312(74)), and the ship carries a Declaration of MARPOL electronic record book for it. For a Norwegian ship, Sjøfartsdirektoratet requires that approval to come from one of the recognised organisations — in practice your class society — which can assess the software first and then its installation on board. NoRemarks has not been assessed yet. Until a vessel holds that Declaration, for the software version she runs, this book is a working aid: the paper Oil Record Book remains the official record and is kept as well, and every screen and printed copy in the module says so.
The same applies to the Garbage Record Book in the operations module, which is built against the same guidelines.
Works with
One product, not nineteen
Consumption
Fuel, lube oil and fresh water as a ledger, so the balance is derived rather than typed.
Bunker delivery noteOperations log and daily report
Port calls, activity, the daily report to charterer and owner, and the Garbage Record Book.
MARPOL Annex V, Reg. 10Planned maintenance
Components, criticality and jobs that fall due on a running hour or a calendar, with postponement that has to be justified.
ISM Code, clause 10
Put one vessel on it for two months
No card and no implementation project. A company adds its own vessel and its own people on its own afternoon — and if it is not for you, you stop, with your data exported first.