Marine Oil Transportation Information

Key highlights

HMC-4 focuses on developing and publishing industry best practice guidance and data analysis for cargoes transported on vessels and barges. The group collaborates with major industry organisations such as API, OCIMF, inspection companies (TIC - IFIA), Intertanko, EBOTA and terminal operators.

The HMC4A group compiles and analyses crude oil voyage data to benchmark cargo quantity losses during shipment.

The groups meet twice per year. Membership is open to all organisations involved in oil transportation involved with oil cargo quantity and quality.

Last update - September 2026

The last update was September 2026 with temperature data from the 2025 database.

Meetings

The spring meeting was held in Lisbon, 12-13th May 2026.
The fall meeting will be held in Houston, 3rd-4th November 2026.

Contact

If you have any questions about the committee please contact [email protected]

Voyage data

Measurements

Using measurements from individual crude oil voyages provided by HMC-4A committee members, measurement differences including Bill of Lading vs Outturn and ship/shore comparisons are calculated annually for the majority of traded grades.

The data is reported to members by grade, load port, discharge port and vessel; focusing on the loss and standard deviation at each stage of the voyage.

Please contact [email protected] if you would like more details about the report and the committee.

Temperatures

Load and discharge temperatures of the crude oil grades are submitted by members; these are presented for information in the table below.

Load Average, DegC	Load StDev, DegC	Disch. Average, DegC	Disch. StDev, DegC	Number of records (Load)
11.3	1.2	11.2	2.9	4
31.4	3.9	27.7	2.4	5
15.8	4.2	46.7	13.2	6
31.2	5	28.8	1.7	16
33	6.6	29.3	0.6	8
39	3.6	37.3	3.4	35
11.2	3.5	12	4.4	162
22.6	11.7	33.3	5.1	4
30	2.9	43.5	2.8	28
35.7	3.1	31.5	3.7	45
31.3	2.7	29.2	2.6	9
25.7	3.9	34.4	5.6	42
25.7	3.6	33.8	7.7	11
41.2	5.7	29.9	8.4	59
33.7	7.7	31.5	6.4	32
35.4	7.8	28.7	4.1	209
19.3	2.8	18.5	2.6	33
40	4.7	30.7	2.3	27
23.7	3.4	23.6	3.6	139
20.8	6.8	12.9	6.2	140
29.7	4	28.2	4	29
36.3	1.9	29.3	5.8	23
57.9	1.4	51.3	0.9	4
39	4.2	29.5	3.5	27
37.7	5.4	27.7	5	116
36.9	1.2	28.6	4	7
20.1	2	18.8	3	11
37.3	3.3	31.7	2.8	28
29.8	1.3	28.1	2.2	25
32.5	3	40	3.1	10
27.8	1.6	26.3	2.4	15
37	7.8	40.4	10.4	10
24.1	3.6	23.7	4.2	34
13.8	4.4	14.4	3.7	6
56.6	3.6	56.6	2.1	15
35	4.1	29.7	2.6	85
32.9	3.8	27.3	2.5	14
38.6	3.5	37.5	2.3	8
36.6	1	33.5	2.8	18
29.9	3	27.9	4.1	13
30.2	1.6	29.6	0.7	8
33.9	4.8	29.6	2.2	20
10.6	2.6	11.5	3	31
36	1.8	29.8	1.8	12
16.5	3.9	20.2	10.9	4
22.8	8.8	22.5	6.8	47
21	7	23	7.3	66
38.4	7.9	37.1	6.1	9
43.8	6.4	33.4	6.9	507
17.8	2.9	29.6	3.5	11
43.7	1.5	34.7	2.6	15
41	2.7	37.3	4.2	70
35.3	2.7	34.4	1.8	8
40.5	3.2	32.7	0.6	8
29.2	0.4	39.3	3.9	5
37.6	2.2	38	2.3	11
33.8	5.3	27.9	5.2	6
27.3	1.2	25.4	1.1	4
33.9	2.3	37.3	0.9	9
19.9	10.4	30.5	5.5	5
36.5	5.1	34.9	4.8	13
27.4	8.1	23.1	6.3	7
25.4	5.1	24.9	5.9	5
27.3	5.7	27.7	1.9	35
38.1	2.7	32.8	3.9	6
18.9	3.7	18.3	3.8	120
29.8	5.1	28	5.4	93
30.8	6.6	27.6	5.6	24
35.9	2.7	29.4	1.2	9
25.9	4.2	26.9	4.3	111
32.1	2.4	28.7	1.2	33
32	1.7	28.5	2	10
21.6	4.9	25.1	6.2	12
30.5	5.1	25.1	6	90
23.1	2.4	22.3	2.8	40
36.7	11.4	30.6	7.1	6
35.2	1.4	33.7	5.1	4
34.1	6	27.2	7.4	21
36.3	9.5	29.9	8.2	11
30.8	4.4	27	3.8	10
33	4.1	31.6	3.2	8
11	2	11.4	2.3	94
19.8	3.8	19.2	3.3	13
29.8	3	27.7	3	67
47.8	2.2	39.1	3.6	9
24	3.9	23.8	4.8	81
34.3	4	31.6	4.9	47
17.4	4	16	2.2	19
26.2	4.9	28	6.1	33
33	8	29.9	3.1	4
31.5	2.3	28.5	2.2	5
31.1	1.9	29.3	2.9	67
34.4	5	25.9	1.9	6
36.7	3	32.2	2.7	50
11.9	1.3	13.1	3.3	320
24.4	5.1	27.1	10.7	18
32.9	4.4	30	3	13
31.5	1.9	25.9	5.9	4
17.6	7.1	13.9	4.4	31
18.4	4.5	18.1	5.5	4
34.2	4.6	35.4	3.5	12
25	2.7	22.9	2.1	9
35.7	3.9	31.4	1.1	9
26.4	10.7	26.6	3.7	9
59.2	4.4	53.8	6.3	4
29.5	0.8	30.1	0.8	5
30	2.2	30.2	5.7	6
41.8	5.9	36.3	5.1	26
28.6	1.6	27	1.7	6
22.4	3.2	21.3	3	5
34.5	2	35.5	7.4	5
42.7	4.9	41.2	7.8	18
34	0.5	30.8	1.9	4
25.3	4.8	22.8	5.3	19
36.2	2.8	30.1	5	13
40.9	4.4	37	4.9	144
22.5	4.6	20.6	1.4	24
30.4	1.1	31.9	3.9	17
25.9	4.1	23.9	4.5	60
43.3	5.5	37.5	6.4	8
36	5.2	29.7	3.2	66
13.9	4.5	15	4.8	7
41.5	5	34.2	4.9	14
30.8	1.6	30.6	0.8	11
30.5	1.2	30.8	1.8	5
45.4	6.7	34.5	8.3	108
35.8	3	29.6	1.6	12
31.2	3.5	30.4	2.9	10
41.6	4.1	53.5	10.4	13
27	1.9	27.7	4.8	17
22.5	8.2	20.9	7.3	6
33.5	4.5	31.5	4.4	9
28.4	4.7	25.6	6.3	9
31.3	1.2	28.3	3	15
33.4	4.4	30	4.5	16
44.6	4.4	37.3	4.5	27
27.4	1.7	24.8	2.5	28
27	4.5	31.3	0.5	6
58.4	3.4	58.1	2.7	23
41.5	5.6	35.7	5.3	89
43.8	2.1	33	2.2	10
25.9	3.7	24.4	3.2	10
60.3	4.3	59.5	5.9	19
18.7	4	18.4	4.1	5
31.3	3.5	29.2	4	9
24.8	4.5	20.7	4.3	4
32.8	9	36.3	3.6	7
31.4	3.2	27.9	1.6	28
37.9	7.4	45.1	3	28
37.3	3.2	47.3	4.4	6
29	8	27.7	6.2	33
22.2	6.5	27.6	5.4	5
27.8	5.1	26.7	4.6	144
37.7	3.5	32.9	3.7	29
29.7	2	32.7	0.3	12
45.5	0.4	36.5	6.4	4
33.7	1.8	28.7	1.5	10
27.7	3	38.2	3.6	8
27.8	2.8	27.8	2.1	4
36.9	2.6	33.8	2.5	30
37.1	2.6	29.8	2.2	33
23.4	2.9	28.1	6.5	31
20.4	4.6	18.5	4.3	7
9.2	3.1	11.6	4.7	8
25.2	1.9	23.4	2.7	16
27.5	4.6	27.8	3.6	21
25.6	3.8	23.3	3.8	17
34.4	1.9	28.3	2.7	12
18.3	4.8	21.7	11.7	31
40.7	3.4	40	3.1	16
24.1	10	21.1	8.2	11
20.3	3.9	30.3	10.4	11
27.9	1.7	23.2	4.7	12
31.4	6.9	30	5.8	7
11.2	2	14.6	1.3	6
37.6	3.2	29.7	2.4	64
38.6	2.2	36.5	2.7	14
41.7	4.7	35.3	4.8	71
37.8	5.3	34.3	3.6	92
30.8	0.9	35.2	7.7	6
35.1	1.7	33.3	1.7	39
31.8	5.6	26.4	4.5	856
32.2	5	24.4	4.6	88
17.2	3.6	19.4	4.8	17
25.1	3.4	30.2	6.7	7
27	4.3	26	3.4	12
27.5	10.3	23.1	8.4	4
12.5	5.5	13.7	5.5	6
28.7	2.8	29.3	5.2	19
33	0.7	30.4	2	4
26.7	6.4	25.7	6	7
36.4	8.9	41.3	9.4	11

EI HM40 Publication

23 February 2023

HM 40. Guidelines for the crude oil washing of ships' tanks and the heating of crude oil being transported by sea

This publication is available to download for free by registering/logging in to this site.

The latest version of Annex B can be downloaded.

This publication provides guidelines for the carriage, heating and crude oil washing (COW) of many crude oils that may be transported by sea.

As well as enhancing the current regulations regarding reducing marine pollution, the publication provides guidance on the grades of crude oil that may give rise to an increase in volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions if used excessively for COW. The publication also highlights a number of crude oils that are known to be potentially harmful due to concentration of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and/or benzene...