Operational guide · SMS process

TMSA: the Company's self-assessment, not the ship's

The OCIMF scheme by which the Company measures the maturity of its own management system: 13 elements, 266 KPIs, four levels. It is not mandatory, but since 2017 it lives inside SIRE, and charterers read it alongside the inspection reports for the same fleet.

TMSAOCIMFself-assessmentSIREKPI

Operational Explanation

Tanker Management and Self Assessment is the scheme by which OCIMF asks the Company to measure the maturity of its own management system. Two things set it apart from everything else in this module: it is not an inspection, because nobody comes on board to verify it, and it is not about the ship, but about the organization that runs it. One self-assessment covers the operator's whole fleet.

The structure is a grid: for each element the Company declares whether it meets a set of key performance indicators, and the level attained runs from Level 1, the minimum expected, up to Level 4. The OCIMF programme page describes it as “the minimum standard expected (level 1) plus three levels of increasing standards or performance”. The point is not to reach four everywhere: it is to know where you stand and to declare it with documentary evidence.

Since February 2017 the TMSA programme has been incorporated into the SIRE programme: the self-assessment no longer lives in a separate archive but alongside the inspection reports for the same fleet. That is why a charterer can read what the Company says about itself and what an inspector found on board side by side.

Regulatory Reference

No binding instrument requires TMSA. It is not convention law, it is not a flag requirement and it is not subject to Port State Control: it is a voluntary scheme published by OCIMF, and what makes it effectively unavoidable for anyone chartering to oil majors is the market, not the rule. The obligation underneath it is a different one: the ISM Code, which requires the management system. TMSA measures it against an industry benchmark; it does not replace it.

The current edition is the third, OCIMF publication page: TMSA 3, published on 10 April 2017. The first edition dates from 2004, the second from July 2008.

The TMSA3 FAQs published by OCIMF in April 2017 set out what changed with the third edition, and are the source of the figures that follow:

13 elements. The third edition added Element 13, Maritime Security, in these words: “Added a new element: Element 13 – Maritime Security”. The numbering runs from 1 to 13, but Element 6 is split into 6 and 6A: there are fourteen assessment sheets and thirteen numbered elements.
266 KPIs, of which 85 were introduced with this edition and 19 more than in TMSA 2. Twenty-five KPIs were moved from a higher level to a lower one (from 4 to 3, from 3 to 2): what used to be excellence has become the baseline expectation.
The “not applicable” option was removed. If the Company considers that a KPI does not concern it, it answers yes stating and justifying the reason with documentary evidence; answering no makes the system record the element as incomplete.
Element 10 renamed Environmental and Energy Management, previously Environmental Management, and expanded content in Elements 6 and 6A covering cargo, ballast, tank cleaning, bunkering, mooring and anchoring.

A discrepancy between two OCIMF documents, reported in full. The April 2017 FAQs announce that “from 1 January 2018, only TMSA3 will be available”. The later OCIMF presentation on the TMSA programme states instead that from 9 April 2018 all TMSA reports created or published within SIRE must be in the TMSA 3 format. The first is the announced deadline, the second the one actually applied: both are reported here with their source, rather than picking one.

Scope of Application

Every tanker vessel technical operator that joins the programme. OCIMF states that TMSA 3 can be used worldwide, including coastal and inland vessels and barges: it is not a scheme for large ocean fleets alone. The annual subscription is GBP 50 per operator.

Participation is voluntary in the strict sense and compulsory in the practical one: a company without a published TMSA is not breaking any law, but it drops out of the list of those a charterer requiring that document can assess.

Procedure / How to Complete It

Assign each element to someone with access to the evidence: TMSA is not filled in by the quality department on its own.
For each KPI, identify the document that proves it first and answer second: the reverse order is where declared but unsupported levels come from.
Where a KPI does not apply, answer yes with the reason written down and evidenced: the “not applicable” box no longer exists.
Publish the self-assessment in SIRE and review it annually, as OCIMF recommends.
Update it off-cycle whenever something substantial changes: management structure, safety management system, fleet size or composition.

Practical Example

A Company declares Level 4 on management of change. A charterer opens the TMSA alongside the SIRE reports for the same fleet and finds, on two ships, observations about plant modifications carried out without documented assessment. The declaration is not false in the abstract — the procedure exists — but the declared level does not hold against evidence sitting in the same archive. Since 2017 the two documents live in the same programme, and the comparison costs one click.

What Typically Goes Wrong

TMSA filled in once a year as an obligation, with the levels decided before the evidence. The second failure is the high level kept for prestige: twenty-five KPIs were moved down precisely because the industry had raised the bar, and declaring a level you cannot support is worse than declaring a lower one and improving it. In the first quarter of 2018, of 1,040 subscribed operators, 728 had published a TMSA 3 — 70% — while 221 were still on TMSA 2 and 91 had no published report at all: the transition was not immediate even for those paying the subscription.

Common Mistakes Mistake Library

Mistake	Consequence	How to avoid it
Levels declared before the evidence is collected	Visible gap between TMSA and SIRE reports for the same fleet	Start from the document that proves the KPI, not from the desired answer
Self-assessment treated as an annual exercise	A score that does not reflect changes in structure or fleet	Update at every substantial change, not only at the deadline
KPIs deemed not applicable without documented justification	Element recorded as incomplete by the system	Answer yes with reason and evidence: the “not applicable” box is gone

What the PSCO Checks

The Port State Control Officer (PSCO) does not check TMSA, and cannot: it is not law, it is not a certificate and no provision requires it to be on board. What the PSCO does check are the same facts TMSA declares, under a different heading: internal audits and their frequency, crew familiarization, management of non-conformities, planned maintenance. A management system that stands up to a PSC inspection under the ISM Code is the same one that supports the levels declared in TMSA; when the two diverge, TMSA is not the first thing that is wrong.

Operational Tips

Keep the KPI → document map on a single sheet: it is what turns an update into an hour's work instead of a week's.
Read the twenty-five KPIs moved down a level: they show where the industry raised the minimum expectation, and that is where ground is lost without anyone noticing.
Compare your TMSA with the SIRE observations for your own fleet before a charterer does: they have been in the same programme since 2017.
Element 13 on maritime security covers cyber security too: it is not a chapter for the security officer alone.

Preparation checklist

Study checklist. This summary is for study and preparation. It does not replace the Company's Safety Management System procedures or the official text of the regulation.

Every element assigned to someone with access to the evidence
KPI → evidence document map kept up to date
Non-applicable KPIs justified in writing and documented
Self-assessment reviewed within the last twelve months
Update carried out after the latest change of structure or fleet
Declared levels compared with the fleet's SIRE observations

FAQ

Is TMSA mandatory?

No. No binding instrument requires it: it is a voluntary OCIMF scheme. The obligation underneath is the ISM Code, which concerns the management system, not its self-assessment.

How many elements does TMSA 3 have?

Thirteen. The third edition added Element 13, Maritime Security. There are fourteen assessment sheets, however, because Element 6 is split into 6 and 6A.

Does TMSA concern the ship or the Company?

The Company. One self-assessment covers the operator's entire fleet: there is no TMSA per ship.

How often should it be updated?

OCIMF recommends an annual review, plus an update whenever the management structure, the safety management system or the size and composition of the fleet change significantly.