Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Operating Company or Irshad was incorporated in 1977 to operate all petroleum and industrial ports in Abu Dhabi and to provide maintenance operations, safety and diving services.
Irshad operates the oil terminals and ports of Jabel Dhanna, Ruwais, Umm Al Nar, Das Island, Zirku, and Mubarraz Islands. The company also carries out maintenance work on Adma-Opco’s single-point moorings and Zadco’s oil terminals. It also helps, whenever necessary, in combating oil pollution in petroleum ports.
Irshad owns 37 vessels of various types, as it specified and supervised the building of most of its vessels to ensure they were built to highest standards for their vital tasks. The vessels are crane maintenance and dive support vessels, 16 tugs, 14 line mooring boats. Four fast pilot boats and a maintenance barge with a 20-tonne hydraulic crane.
Irshad always strives to maintain its vessels in the best mechanical condition, through two workshops, one in Ruwais and another on Das Island, each equipped with the latest tools and highest expertise. To provide quality marine support services to petroleum ports of Abu Dhabi emirate ensuring that safety is given the highest importance.
Abu Dhabi Petroleum Ports Operating Company (Irshad) has made a major achievement in the field of safety management by becoming the first company and the largest tugs fleet owner in the Middle East to certify 15 tugs under the International Safety Management (ISM) code simultaneously within a period of less than three months according to Lloyd’s Register.
Irshad provides its customers with several services such as pilotage, berthing/unberthing of oil and gas tankers, supervising and coordinating the loading / unloading of oil products, diving and navigating support, and maintenance. The company operates at Ruwais, Jebel Dhanna, Das Island, Zirku Island and Mubarraz.
The company has carried out the project in response to the ISM code for the safe operations of ships and for pollution prevention which was adopted in 1993 by the International Marine Organisation (IMO) after the convention resolution A 741/18 in order to provide an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention.
The resolution (Solas chapter IX) became mandatory on all ship operators and in particular on the members signatories to the IMO.
The UAE, being a member and signatory to the organisation, instructed (through the Ministry of Communication) all operators of ships under the state’s flag to comply with the ISM code for all vessels above 500 gross tonnage as stipulated in the resolution before July 2002, the deadline for adopting the ISM Code.
In 1998, Irshad management endeavoured on a challenging road to develop all necessary documentation in house using its expertise and know-how in this field.
The mandatory 13 clauses of the ISM code were developed into an Irshad safety management system (SMS) consisting of eight manuals namely: policies, procedures, fleet instructions, contingency plan, maintenance, Solas, SOPEP, and reference. This was achieved through hard work and commitment.
The system was satisfactorily completed in September 1999. The second phase started in a later stage consisting of the required implementation including a series of internal audits.
The system achieved its objective on the May 22, 2000, by obtaining the approval of Lloyd’s Register on behalf of the legislative body, the Ministry of Communications.
Since then, the ISM code has been subject to management reviews and a thorough internal audit in order to maintain the system dynamic and compliant with the new development in terms of legislation as well as improvement in Irshad procedures, instructions of day - to - day operations, in line with the directives of Adnoc and bearing in mind its clients’ business requirements.
Irshad’s vessels are grouped as one maintenance and dive support heavy crane vessel equipped to serve loading terminals, sub-sea pipelines and navigation aids, 16 tugs with different powers and capabilities, but all are berthing/fire -fighting tugs, five of which are also dive support vessels equipped to the latest standards and four tail back tugs are currently being constructed in Dubai with expected delivery towards the end of 2007.
In addition a contract for building three new ASD Escort tugs is being finalised.
Other vessels include 10 line and mooring boats for providing assistance during berthing and mooring operations, seven fast pilot boats, used to transport personnel between locations and utilised in cases of emergency for rescue and evacuation and one maintenance barge with a 20-tonne hydraulic crane and one dive support vessel, upgraded in June 99 to class 1, in accordance with IMCA regulations.
