DOHA: Qatar International Petroleum Marketing Company (Tasweeq) announced the official launch of Serdal, a specially made Ship Quality Assurance system which will be utilised by all Qatari energy stakeholders to ensure the reliable and efficient delivery of Qatar's energy to the globe.
The launch was held under the patronage of the Deputy Premier and Minister of Energy and Industry H E Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, in the Qatar Petroleum pavilion at the 7th Doha Natural Gas Conference at Exhibition.
Ship Quality Assurance or vetting is a complex science combining the assimilation and interpretation of a wide range of data feeds to assess the risk associated with utilising a specific transport vessel to deliver ocean cargoes.
The application was developed by a joint task force comprising experts from QP, Tasweeq and stakeholders from Qatar's three QP-operated ports at Ras Laffan Industrial City, Halul Island and Mesaieed Industrial City.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of Tasweeq Ali Al Hammadi said Qatar has become a leading innovator in the global energy industry with the development of Q-Flex and Q-Max LNG carriers as the industry standard for efficient LNG transport and delivery.
"And today, it is also characterised by innovative products such as Serdal which demonstrate Qatar's commitment to sustaining this momentum in a responsible manner," he said.
The name of Qatar's proprietary Ship Quality Assurance tool comes from the old Arabic word Serdal which loosely translated means "Sheikh of the Sea". The term was used to describe the governor of territorial waters who was tasked with ensuring sustainability in the pearl trade by assigning territories where pearl divers were allowed to harvest oysters and also arbitrated any disputes amongst them.
QP and Tasweeq did not start from scratch in the development of this system, which is built on industry best practices and practical observations of the functionality of other ship vetting technologies such as the one provided by ExxonMobil's marine affiliate IMT to the Ras Laffan Port Authority for the assessment of LNG tankers berthing at the port. This working knowledge gave Qatari stakeholders a running start in the development of Serdal. The application is now virtually ready for use in Qatar.
By Naseer Al Harthy
© The Peninsula 2009
