Due Diligence Hub for Oil, Gas and Chemicals - Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
Due Diligence Hub (DDH) for Oil, Gas and Chemicals is an AI-assisted marine assurance workflow that helps assurance and chartering teams decide whether a tanker, and the terminals it will call at, are acceptable for a planned voyage.
DDH brings evidence for vessel or terminal decisions into one place, checks it against your organisation's risk and safety criteria, and maintains an audit trail of how each decision was reached. RightShip’s AI summarises key documents and highlights areas requiring attention, helping assurance teams evaluate them more quickly.
With DDH, you can:
- Request a due diligence for a vessel, with charter type, Incoterms, cargo, load and discharge details, and a required-by date for the outcome.
- Review SIRE (Ship Inspection Report Programme) inspection reports from OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine Forum), with AI summaries of not-as-expected observations, a searchable list of all observations, the original report and the photo gallery.
- Review CDI (Chemical Distribution Institute) reports and crew matrices for chemical tankers, uploaded to the platform and extracted for review.
- Review TMSA (Tanker Management and Self Assessment) information submitted by ship managers.
- Check class status, P&I cover and incident history, extracted and highlighted for review.
- Check vessel ownership alongside the other checks.
- Screen for sanctions through integrations with providers such as LSEG, PurpleTRAC and Windward.
- Manage terminal assurance, including MTMSA (Marine Terminal Management and Self Assessment) and SVG records, approval validity and expiry, and a forward view of approvals due to expire ahead of a planned voyage.
- Follow up directly with the vessel operator on a specific observation. The operator can respond at no cost through their RightShip account.
- Apply rules configured to your acceptance policy, so every case is checked the same way and exceptions are flagged for expert review.
- Keep a time-stamped record of rule runs, status changes, messages and decisions.
General
Who is DDH designed for?
DDH is designed for marine assurance and vetting teams at charterers, traders and terminal operators in the oil, gas and chemical segment. It also supports those who contribute to vessel or terminal decisions, such as chartering and commercial teams, sanctions and trade compliance officers, and terminal staff.
Which cargoes and vessel types does DDH support?
DDH supports assurance for vessels carrying oil, LPG, LNG and chemical cargoes. The checks applied depend on the vessel, the cargo, and customer requirements. For example, chemical tankers are reviewed against CDI reports and crew matrices in addition to, or instead of, SIRE.
Where do I access DDH?
DDH is part of the RightShip platform. Once logged in, active due diligence outcomes are shown on the vessel overview page, and each due diligence opens in the Due Diligence Hub.
Does DDH make the acceptance decision for us?
No. DDH automates evidence gathering, extraction and rule checks, and uses AI to summarise findings. Rules check the evidence against your acceptance criteria and flag anything that falls outside them. Your reviewer then decides and records the outcome. Source documents remain available alongside AI summaries so reviewers can verify findings themselves.
What are the limits of DDH?
- It is not a legal or regulatory compliance guarantee.
- It is not a vessel pre-approval service: approvals are made by your organisation against your own policy.
- It is not a dedicated sanctions screening tool; sanctions screening is one of several checks.
- It does not replace the professional judgement of your assurance team.
Requesting a due diligence
How do I start a new due diligence?
On the vessel overview page, the due diligence widget shows a snapshot of the vessel's status, including the last request date, voyage details and document requirements. Select the button in the widget to start a new due diligence, then complete the request form.
What information is required?
- Charter type and Incoterms, where applicable. These determine which rules and checks apply so that different checks can be configured for different charter types or trade terms.
- Voyage details, including cargo type and the load and discharge ports and terminals.
- Required-by date and time for the outcome.
Complete details allow the rules to be applied accurately to the voyage being assessed.
What does the required-by date do?
It records when the outcome is needed and notifies everyone involved in the due diligence of that deadline so that reviews can be prioritised against commercial timelines.
Can other people be involved in a due diligence?
Yes. You can add collaborators when creating the request, including colleagues outside your immediate business unit. Collaborators can also be added later from the Overview tab of the Due Diligence Hub, using Manage Collaborators under the status overview.
What is the Compliance Check option?
When enabled on a new request, Compliance Check sends an automated email to designated recipients, prompting them to begin their sanctions and compliance checks. This allows those checks to start at the same time as the assurance review.
How do I track a request once it is submitted?
Use the action button on the request to open the due diligence. It shows key insights, outcome status and related activity in one place.
Vessel checks
What does the Overview tab show?
The Overview tab summarises how the vessel meets the selected criteria. The summary is AI-generated and highlights key information and potential risks. The tab also shows the vessel's RightShip Safety Score and GHG Rating, and a graphical overview of rule outcomes. Oil and Gas
How is SIRE inspection data obtained?
Your organisation must be an OCIMF member to receive SIRE reports. You can email these reports to a dedicated RightShip inbox, where our AI automatically picks them up and parses them when a due diligence assessment is requested.
How do I review a SIRE inspection?
Select the review option in the SIRE section to open an in-depth summary. From there, you can:
- Read AI summaries of the not-as-expected observations, together with the inspection scoring.
- Open the All Observations tab and expand each finding for full detail, or search for a specific area such as navigation or mooring.
- Add a private note to any observation for your internal team.
- Raise a follow-up with the vessel operator against a specific observation.
- Open the original OCIMF PDF report.
- Browse the inspection photographs in the Gallery tab.
Are CDI reports supported?
Yes. CDI reports and crew matrices can be uploaded to the platform for review. DDH extracts information from the report, highlights negative responses that may need clarification, and presents the remarks section separately. The original document remains available.
Is TMSA included?
Yes. Ship managers submit TMSA information, and it is available for review within the due diligence.
What other vessel checks are performed?
- Class status: conditions of class and expiring items are extracted and highlighted.
- P&I cover: P&I details are extracted for review.
- Incident history: incidents over a configurable look-back period are shown.
- Sanctions and ownership screening: performed alongside the other checks to support your compliance function, without replacing it
Terminal assurance
What does terminal assurance cover?
Terminal assurance stores your organisation’s approval records for the terminals your vessels call at and links them to each due diligence. A single due diligence therefore shows whether both the vessel and its load and discharge terminals are acceptable for the planned voyage.
How do I add terminals to a due diligence?
When you enter a load or discharge port in the request, the terminals at that port are listed for selection. If you select a terminal first, its port is filled in automatically.
Can I search the terminal list?
Yes. The terminal list can be filtered by country and by port.
How is a terminal's approval status shown?
For each load and discharge terminal in the request, DDH shows whether your organisation holds a current approval, an expired approval or no approval.
How do I approve a terminal?
Open the terminal from the due diligence and record the approval. You can upload supporting evidence, such as an MTMSA or an SVG inspection report, add notes, and set a validity period. The approval status in the due diligence updates once the approval is saved.
Who can see our terminal approvals?
Approvals and their supporting documents are held within your organisation's account and are visible to authorised users across your organisation.
What happens when a terminal approval expires?
Expired approvals are flagged in the due diligence so they can be renewed. DDH also gives a forward view of approvals that will expire ahead of a planned voyage, so renewals can be started in good time.
Can we maintain approved-vessel lists for our facilities?
Yes. Terminals, FSRUs and FPSOs can maintain lists of vessels approved for their facilities.
Collaboration, rules and audit trail
How do follow-ups with the vessel operator work?
A reviewer can raise a follow-up question against a specific observation. The ship manager or operator is notified by email and responds in the RightShip platform, where the question is shown alongside the observation it relates to. They can reply with a message and attach documents, photographs or other evidence. The reply is returned to the reviewer within the same due diligence.
Do ship owners and managers need to pay to respond to follow-up requests?
No. Ship owners and managers can respond to follow-up requests and requests for information through DDH at no cost. They need a RightShip account to sign in, but they do not need a paid subscription.
Where is communication about a due diligence kept?
The Message Centre tab holds all communication with relevant stakeholders for that due diligence. Messages are linked to the due diligence they relate to.
How are rules configured?
During onboarding, RightShip works with you to configure rules based on a standard rule set for the wet segment, aligning them with your organisation’s acceptance policy and risk appetite. They can vary by cargo, vessel type, charter type, and Incoterms, and the same policy applies across vessel and terminal checks. Each case is checked automatically against the rules, and results that depart from your policy are flagged for expert review. To discuss changes to your rules, contact your RightShip account manager.
Can I see which rules were applied?
Yes. The Rules Run tab lists every rule the system applied during the evaluation, when each rule was run, the criteria evaluated and how outcomes changed over time.
How is the outcome recorded?
When the review is complete, the reviewer records the outcome in the due diligence. The outcome updates the relevant rule result and the due diligence status.
Is there an audit trail?
Yes. The History Trail tab provides a log of actions taken during the due diligence. Status updates, rule evaluations, and decisions are recorded and time-stamped to support internal governance and audit.
How is AI used in DDH?
AI summarises vessel information and inspection observations, extracts data from uploaded documents such as CDI reports and class and P&I records, and highlights potential risks. AI outputs support the reviewer and may contain errors or omissions. They do not replace the reviewer’s assessment of the source of evidence, which remains available within the due diligence.
Who do I contact for help?
For questions about DDH, configuration or access, contact RightShip Support through the RightShip account manager or info@rightship.com.