Accreditation

The act of granting recognition by an official accreditation body as the result of a technical and system audit on the basis of an independent set of requirements, e.g. ISO 17025 for testing laboratories

Accuracy

The characteristic of a measurement that tells how close an observed value is to a true value.

API

American Petroleum Institute

Assessment

A systematic process of collecting and analyzing data to determine the current, historical or projected status of an organization.

ASTM

American Society for Testing Materials

Bill of Lading

A B/L is the basic document between a shipper and a carrier and a shipper and consignee. It represents the contract of carriage and defines the terms and conditions of carriage. It is the final receipt from the carrier for the goods shown on it and for the condition of the goods. It describes the nature, quantity and weight of the cargo carried. It is also the document of title of the goods shown.

Biodiesel

Automotive diesel fuel produced from renewable vegetable oil via transesterification

Black belt

Full-time team leader responsible for implementing process improvement projects—define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) or define, measure, analyze, design and verify (DMADV)—within the business to drive up customer satisfaction levels and business productivity.

Bottom sample

Sample taken from the bottom of a tank or container with a special bottom can

Bunker survey

Impartial determination of the metric quantity of bunker fuel delivered during bunkering of a vessel. Is best combined with a quality analysis of the fuel according to ISO 8217.

Calibration

The comparison of a measurement instrument or system of unverified accuracy to a measurement instrument or system of known accuracy to detect any variation from the required performance specification.

Certification

The act of granting recognition by a certification body as the result of a technical and system audit on the basis of an independent set of requirements, e.g. ISO 9000

Certified IFIA inspector

A cargo inspector trained and examined according to the regulations of IFIA

CIF (Costs, Insurance & Freight)

The cargo insurance and delivery of goods to the named port of destination (discharge) at the seller's expense. Buyer is responsible for the import customs clearance and other costs and risks.

Cleanliness inspection

Inspection of a tank or hold to verify cleanliness for holding new stock

Collateral management

A system of controlling and managing the receipt and containment of physical commodities, in order to secure a financial loan

Conformity check

The calculation of the statistical chance that a measured value complies with an upper or lower limit set by the specification

Continuous drip sample

Sample taken with valve on pipeline during the entire discharge or loading

Control chart

A chart with upper and lower control limits on which values of some statistical measure for a series of samples or subgroups are plotted. The chart frequently shows a central line to help detect a trend of plotted values toward either control limit.

Corrective action

The implementation of solutions resulting in the reduction or elimination of an identified problem.

Correlation

A measure of the relationship between two data sets of variables.

Cost of poor quality (COPQ)

The costs associated with providing poor quality products or services, due to internal failure costs, external failure costs, appraisal costs and prevention costs

Critical control point

Stage in a product or service delivery process identified being critical for the quality of the output and submitted to specific control measures

Crude oil assay

A set of numeric values describing a crude oil. These values show a mixture of transport-, process- and product quality and quantity related properties. Crude assays are conducted according to precisely defined analytical methods, procedures and laboratory equipment.

Demurrage

A fixed sum per day or per hour, agreed to be paid for the detention of the vessel or barge under charter at the expiration of laytime allowed

Density at given temperature in vacuum

The mass of a (liquid) substance per volume unit measured at a given temperature and corrected for the density of air

Deviation

In numerical data sets, the difference or distance of an individual observation or data value from the center point (often the mean) of the set distribution.

DIN

Deutsche Industrie Norm

Distribution

The amount of potential variation in the outputs of a process, typically expressed by its shape, average or standard deviation

DMAIC

A data driven quality strategy for improving processes and an integral part of a Six Sigma quality initiative. DMAIC is an acronym for define, measure, analyze, improve and control.

EN

European Norm

Field report

Inspection report with original inspector notes from the field

First foot

Fill of a cargo tank with liquid cargo till a level of about one foot.

Fitness for use

A term used to indicate that a product or service fits the customer's defined purpose for that product or service.

FOB (Free on Board)

The delivery of goods on board a vessel at a named port of origin, at seller's expense. Buyer is amongst others responsible for the risks related to the quality and quantity of the goods, the carriage and insurance costs and other expenses

Fuel blending model

Non-linear and linear mathematical relation(s) used to calculate the properties of fuel blends, based on the properties of the individual fuel components

Full outturn guarantee (FOG)

Guaranteed outturn weight of a consigment where differences between load- and discharge port weights are the responsibility and the risk of the FOG service provider. FOG is arranged under specific contract terms and conditions

GOST

Set of technical standards maintained by the Euro-Asian Council for Standardization, Metrology and Certification (EACS), a regional standards organization operating under the auspices of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

IFIA

International Federation of Inspection Agencies

In-line sampler

A sampling device mounted in (a shunt of) a transport or process pipeline, by which flow through samples are directly taken, possibly in a flow proportional way

Inspection

Measuring, examining, testing and gauging one or more characteristics of a product or service and comparing the results with specified requirements to determine whether conformity is achieved for each characteristic.

ISO

International Standard Organisation

Key performance indicator

A statistical measure of how well an organization is doing. A KPI may measure a company's financial performance or how it is holding up against customer requirements.

Laboratory

A professional and safely equipped environment for testing materials and handling and storing samples

Letter of protest

Written and signed description of shortcomings and formal protest issued on behalf of the cargo owner against logistic service provider

Line displacement

Displacing the liquid content of a transport line with water or a pigg ball

Lowest detection limit

Lowest amount of material that can still be detected at a signal-to-noise ratio of 2.65

Management review

A periodic meeting of management at which it reviews the status and effectiveness of the organization's quality management system.

Nonconformity

The nonfulfillment of a specified requirement (see also "blemish," "defect" and "imperfection").

Normal distribution

The charting of a data set in which most of the data points are concentrated around the average (mean), thus forming a bell shaped curve.

Out-of-spec

A term that indicates a unit does not meet a given requirement

Precision

The aspect of measurement that addresses repeatability or consistency when an identical item is measured several times.

Probability

A term referring to the likelihood of occurrence of an event, action or item.

Random sampling

A commonly used sampling technique in which sample units are selected so that all combinations of n units under consideration have an equal chance of being selected as the sample.

Repeatability

The variation in average measurements obtained when two or more chemists in the same laboratory measure the same sample using the same technique. The repeatability is defined in the analytical method.

Reproducibility

The variation in average measurements obtained when two or more laboratories measure the same sample using the same technique. The reproducibility is defined in the analytical method

Running sample

Sample taken from tank where sample container is filled gradually while drawn from bottom to the top.

Saybolt viscosity

Viscosity of a petroleum liquid expressed in Saybolt viscosity seconds, measured by the Furol viscometer or the Universal viscometer

Ship’s composite sample

A representative ship's cargo sample proportionally blended with samples taken from the invidual ship cargo tanks

Signal to noise ratio

A mathematical equation that indicates the magnitude of an experimental effect above the effect of experimental error due to chance fluctuations.

Simulated distillation

Boiling range determination of crude oil of petroleum fraction through simulation by gas chromatography

Six Sigma

A methodology that provides businesses with the tools to improve the capability of their business processes. This increase in performance and decrease in process variation lead to defect reduction and improvement in profits, employee morale and quality of product.

Standard deviation

A computed measure of variability indicating the spread of the data set around the mean.

Statistical quality control

The application of statistical techniques to control quality. The term "statistical process control" is often used interchangeably with "statistical quality control," although statistical quality control includes acceptance sampling as well as statistical process control.

Sample

In acceptance sampling, one or more units of product (or a quantity of material) drawn from a cargo for purposes of inspection to reach a decision regarding acceptance of the lot.

Time sheet

Time report of events during loading or discharge of liquid cargo

Ullage measurement

Measurement of the height of empty tank space above liquid cargo level

Validation

The act of confirming a product or service meets the requirements for which it was intended.

Verification

The act of determining whether products and services conform to specific requirements.

Viscosity conversion

Converting the viscosity of a liquid fuel measured at one temperature to the value it exposes at a different temperature

Voice of the customer

The expressed requirements and expectations of customers relative to products or services, as documented and disseminated to the members of the providing organization.

Wall wash sample

Sample taken by wetting the wall of a tank with a wash solvent and collecting the wash liquid for teting