Sailing Audits for Navigation, Mooring & Cargo: A Master Mariner Sails With Your Ship

A sailing audit is an onboard audit in which an auditor joins a vessel and sails with her, observing real operations rather than only checking records alongside. Synergetic Shipping Technologies sends a Master Mariner auditor to audit navigation, mooring, cargo and internal ISM/ISPS practice from unmooring and pilotage through the sea passage to berthing, then delivers a risk-categorised report aligned with company procedures, SIRE 2.0, TMSA 3 and RightShip.

A sailing navigation audit follows each phase of the voyage: pre-departure, unberthing and outbound pilotage, coastal navigation, open-sea navigation, pre-arrival or anchoring, and inbound pilotage and berthing. At each stage the auditor checks situational awareness, command and control, and compliance with company procedures, SIRE 2.0, TMSA 3, RightShip and industry best practice, and carries out training and drills with the crew during the passage.

Yes. Synergetic Shipping Technologies combines navigation, mooring and cargo audits in a single sailing attendance, and internal ISM/ISPS audits and SIRE 2.0 training can be added to the same visit. Because the auditor sails through departure, passage and arrival, mooring and cargo operations are seen as they happen, alongside bridge practice, which saves a separate attendance for each audit type.

Synergetic's sailing audits are carried out by expert Master Mariners, each with experience auditing 50+ vessels and a long association with the company. Before boarding, the auditor is briefed and trained on the client's own procedures, requirements and SMS, so observations are judged against how the company expects its ships to operate as well as against SIRE 2.0, TMSA 3 and RightShip.

After the auditor disembarks you receive a comprehensive final audit report and a separate confidential report. Observations are risk-categorised, good practices are acknowledged and crew training needs are identified. Clients also receive worldwide fleet benchmarking against vessels Synergetic has audited, with internal fleet comparisons, and a six-monthly fleet analysis of high-risk and most repeated observations.

Synergetic Shipping Technologies has auditors locally available in Europe, the US, India and the Gulf, Asia, Australia, and Central & South America. Our team plans the audit calendar, coordinates boarding with the company, the vessel and the agent, follows up with agencies and gives the auditor shore-based assistance for embarkation and disembarkation, so the office does not have to manage the logistics.

In a sailing audit a Master Mariner is physically on board, observing navigation, mooring and cargo work, interviewing the crew and running training and drills during the voyage. A remote VDR audit reconstructs bridge practice from the vessel's Voyage Data Recorder data without boarding. Synergetic Shipping Technologies offers both, and many fleets use them together to verify bridge practice.

SIRE 2.0 inspectors observe tasks and question the crew, and TMSA 3 expects operators to verify shipboard practice through regular audits and act on the results. A sailing audit gives the office first-hand evidence of how bridge, mooring and cargo teams actually work, risk-categorised findings to act on, and crew training on board, which prepares the vessel for the questions vetting inspectors ask.

Yes. Pre-vetting inspections are part of Synergetic's sailing audit service. A Master Mariner inspects the vessel against the SIRE 2.0, RightShip or AMSA requirements before the real inspection, questions the crew the way an inspector would, closes gaps on board where possible and reports what still needs action. Our team has completed 550+ onboard sailing audits and pre-vetting inspections.