SIRE 2.0 Preparation:
How to Get Your Tanker Ready

Since 2 September 2024, SIRE 2.0 has been OCIMF's only tanker inspection programme, fully replacing the old VIQ7 questionnaire. If you operate oil, chemical, or gas tankers, the way your vessel is vetted has changed fundamentally — and so has the way you need to prepare for it. This guide explains how a SIRE 2.0 inspection actually works and gives you a practical framework to get your vessel and crew ready.

What is SIRE 2.0?

SIRE (the Ship Inspection Report Programme) is OCIMF's tanker vetting system. Oil majors, charterers and terminals use SIRE inspection reports to decide whether a tanker is acceptable to carry their cargo. A poor SIRE result can take a vessel out of the market; a strong record keeps it trading. SIRE 2.0 is the modernised version of that programme, and since its go-live date it is the only inspection tool OCIMF offers.

The differences from the old regime are not cosmetic. Under the previous VIQ, inspectors worked through the same fixed questionnaire on every vessel, and preparation was largely about having the paperwork and hardware in order. SIRE 2.0 changes three things at once:

• Inspections are risk-based and unique. There is no single questionnaire to memorise — the questions are assembled per vessel from a large library.
• Inspections are digital. The inspector works on a tablet in real time, recording responses, photographs and GPS-verified location as they go.
• The human element is assessed directly. Crew are observed and questioned on whether they actually understand and can perform their tasks — not just whether a procedure exists on paper.

How a SIRE 2.0 Inspection Works

Instead of a fixed VIQ, each inspection uses a Compiled Vessel Inspection Questionnaire (CVIQ) drawn from the SIRE 2.0 Question Library. The questions that appear are selected based on your vessel and fall into four categories:

• Core questions — the baseline set asked on essentially every inspection. These cover the fundamental safety and pollution-prevention areas and make up roughly half of a typical inspection.
• Rotational questions — drawn by algorithm so that different areas are examined over successive inspections rather than the same ones every time. A vessel cannot predict and pre-polish only a fixed list.
• Conditional questions — triggered by the specific vessel, operator or ship type (for example, questions that only apply to a chemical tanker or to a particular cargo system).
• Campaign questions — a focus area OCIMF can switch on for a period, similar in spirit to a Port State Control CIC.

Because the mix changes from one inspection to the next, you cannot prepare by drilling a single list of answers. The only reliable strategy is genuine, across-the-board readiness.

The Hardware–Process–Human Model

Every SIRE 2.0 question can be assessed across three elements, and this is the framework you should use to prepare for each area on board:

• Hardware — is the equipment, structure or system present, correctly installed and in good working order?
• Process — is there a clear, correct procedure for operating and maintaining it, and is it being followed and recorded?
• Human — does the responsible crew member understand the procedure, and can they actually carry it out and explain it?

A vessel can have perfect hardware and a perfect procedure manual and still pick up an observation if the crew member cannot demonstrate the task. The human element is reinforced by OCIMF's nine Performance Influencing Factors (PIFs) — physical, psychological, organisational and social factors that affect how reliably people perform. Fatigue, competence, supervision, communication and tools all sit within this framework.

Before the Inspector Arrives: Documentation and Photos

A significant part of SIRE 2.0 readiness happens before the inspection is even scheduled. Two data sets must be accurate and current:

HVPQ and the Pre-Inspection Questionnaire (PIQ)

The Harmonised Vessel Particulars Questionnaire (HVPQ) and the Pre-Inspection Questionnaire (PIQ) describe your vessel to the system. The PIQ in particular feeds the risk model that helps select which questions appear. Inaccurate or outdated vessel particulars create mismatches that an inspector will notice immediately — and they undermine the whole inspection from the start. Keep them reviewed and updated.

The Photo Repository

SIRE 2.0 requires a repository of standardised vessel photographs, kept current — as a rule of thumb, refreshed within the last six months — covering safety-critical equipment and spaces. Photographs must follow OCIMF's guidance on what to capture and how. A stale or incomplete photo repository is an avoidable finding before the inspector even boards.

Preparing Your Crew — the Real Differentiator

This is where most of the new difficulty in SIRE 2.0 sits, and where preparation pays off most. Inspectors are trained to assess whether crew can articulate procedures in their own words and demonstrate tasks in real time. Memorised, scripted answers are exactly what the regime is designed to see through.

To get your crew ready:

1. Make sure each officer and rating genuinely knows the procedures for their own area of responsibility — not the location of the binder, but the actual steps.
2. Run realistic walk-throughs where crew explain and physically demonstrate critical tasks rather than reciting them.
3. Focus on the operations most likely to be examined: cargo and ballast handling, enclosed space entry, mooring, firefighting and emergency response, and pollution prevention.
4. Ensure crew can speak to the relevant procedure, the equipment, and why the step matters — that is the Hardware–Process–Human chain an inspector is looking for.
5. Close the loop on familiarisation and training records so the human-element evidence exists on paper as well as in practice.

Your SIRE 2.0 Readiness Checklist

Use this as a high-level pre-inspection check. It will not replace your operator's SIRE 2.0 procedures, but it captures the areas vessels most often get caught on.

SIRE 2.0 rewards vessels that run well every day and exposes those that only prepare for the inspection. The most reliable way to walk into a SIRE 2.0 inspection with confidence is to build the Hardware–Process–Human discipline into normal operations — the same discipline that protects you in Port State Control and RightShip RISQ inspections too.