1. Bio-Data
Name: Vankala Harinath Rao
Date of birth & Age: 08/05/1956 & 58 yrs.
Place of birth: Chennai, India
Nationality: Indian
Marital status: Widower
Children, (age): Son (27) & Daughter (23)
Present Address: 1601, Verona, Hiranandani Gardens, Powai, Mumbai 400076,
India.
Contact details: +91 22 25707822; +91 9769171075; +974 44012755 &
44012838; captvhrao@gmail.com (preferred mode)
Educational Qualification: B.Sc (Madras University)
Professional Qualifications: Valid Master F.G STCW A II/2 of STCW with DCE for oil.
Experience:
Summary: Mooring Master / Loading Master with GAC Transfer Services at Al Shaheen oil
field, Qatar, owned and operated by Maersk Oil Qatar, handling mostly VLCCs (about 300)
from Jan 2009. I have been associated with sea career for the past 38 years, starting as
cadet in 1976, been in command of oil tankers for three years. Including piloting ships in and
out of harbours at Visakhapatnam, Sikka, Yanbu, Dabhol, Al Shaheen off-shore facility either
to jetties or berths or SPMs or STS running or at anchor for 19 years. I have been involved in
managing quality systems, having officiated as Management representative. I have had
hands on experience with new / modification projects at Reliance Jamnagar Marine terminal
on berth and underwater facilities. I have been involved in developing port based database
internally at Reliance terminal. I have dealt with Government officials as the Port facility
security officer at Reliance terminal. Proficient in MS office word, excel and power point. I
have carried out ship-to-ship operations both at anchor and underway at Vietnam and off
Sri Lanka. I have attended STS ship handling simulator at ARI, New Delhi.
2. Experience in detail:
From Jan 2009 to date: Working as Mooring master off shore at Al Shaheen oil field,
handling about VLCCs to the two FSOs to tandem mooring. On average 8 ships per pilot per
month, the pilot (Mooring master) works on 28 days on/off basis. I have handled 300 VLCCs
to the FSOs till date. Since the FSOs are secured to SPMs and are free to turn to tide or wind
the handling of daughter tankers become that much more difficult. This terminal has 24 hrs
berthing operations with only two anchor handling tugs to assist. The FSOs, FSO Asia and
FSO Africa are unique as they are ULCCs with a cargo capacity of 3.2 million barrels. The
“Knock Nevis” was in this location and I had the privilege to have served on that vessel
during her last years. She was named “Jahre Viking” previously and had single hull with all
her tanks being used for production related work at this oil field. I used to take keen interest
in her daily operations and am familiar with the problems encountered. I have carried out
during my off time ship-to-ship (at anchor and running) operations off Vietnam and Sri
Lanka as per requirement of my employers. Normally petroleum products are transferred
between ships. Also I have handled LNG tankers to berth at Dabhol, India.
June 2000 to Dec 2008 (8.5 yrs): Worked with Reliance Jamnagar Terminal as pilot, port
captain, port facility security officer in the rank of Vice President. This terminal has five
SPMs, 4 sea island type jetties. Crude oil is discharge at SPMs and products handled at
jetties and two SPMs. One of the berths handled LPG. I have had the good fortune to be
associated with expansion programme for the refinery and I have coordinated with the
project and construction team to carry out new installations involving hot work and heavy
equipment without undue delays to operations. I have been involved in conducting a study
in install new SPMs at Wallingford, U.K. My normal duties included coordinating with
various maintenance departments to maintain the jetty and SPM equipment in good
running condition. As port facility security officer my duties included coordinating with
Government authorities to ensure secure atmosphere at the terminal. Earlier I was
associated with the quality management systems as the Management representative. My
duties also involved handling about 10 ships a month to jetty and two ships to SPMs every
month. Being a tidal port ship handling was a challenging work. I have been involved in
developing a database with internal I.T team to showcase the entire gamut of operations
being conducted at the terminal. I was part of the team to conduct quality and safety audits
of other departments of the Refinery.
June 1997 to June 2000 (3 yrs): Employed by Sanmar Shipping Limited as Master on their
product and bulk ships on worldwide trade. Noteworthy experiences include clearing
through tough US coast guard tanker vessel inspections for the ‘Indian flag’ and ‘first time
ship’ off US waters. Got the ships cleared through various vetting inspections by oil majors.
Installed and implemented GMDSS equipment and operating procedures. Safety
Management system as per SOLAS on ships was initialised. These additional works were
done while carrying out regular trade as per orders without any loss of working days.
3. Sept 1996 to Apr 1997 (7 m): As marine Pilot in the Yanbu port, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
handling oil tankers, chemical tankers and LPG tankers to various oil terminals in Yanbu
port.
Feb 1992 to Sept 1996 (4y 7m): Worked as Marine Pilot in the Visakhapatnam Port Trust,
handling ships calling at this port as per port regulations either at day or night. This port is
all weather 24 hour port-operations. Gained valuable experience in getting the work done
with less than adequate infrastructure at ones disposal. Size of ships varied from small
timber carriers to suezmax crude tankers.
May 1976 to Feb 1992 (15.9 yrs): Employed by the Shipping Corporation of India from
apprentice to Master on a variety of ships on worldwide trade. Gained valuable experience
in working with difficult crew attitudes, carrying various types of cargo in any kind of
weather, caring for the cargo and delivering it at the destination were of prime importance.
To list a few of the cargoes under my custody as Chief Mate and Master: Cars, Trucks, rails,
bulldozers, cases of equipment, liquor bottles, fruit juice cans, cashew, coffee, tea, gunny
bales, mail, containers and oil cargoes in tanker ships.
Accreditations:
Associate Fellow of Nautical Institute, London, U.K
Member of Company of Master Mariners of India, Mumbai.
Courses completed and certificates held:
Certificate Number Issue date Expiry date
Passport Z 3099110 16/04/2015 15/04/2025
C.D.C BY 53110 08/12/1990 07/10/2022
Master F.G IF 00 3442 06/01/1986 31/12/2016
Tanker (Oil) endrs M/O/2/N/14/27631 17/10/2014 31/12/2016
GMDSS (M.O.C) GOC 473 12/04/1998 10/04/2018
GMDSS endorsement GOC/MMD/26090 25/09/2013 31/12/2016
ECDIS 145 15/02/2013 unlimited
Adv Fire Fighting A02625 & 028/2013 25/05/1991 19/08/2018
PSC RB 1932 & 130215 30/04/1991 18/09/2018
PSSR 1202 & 13101003867888 10/02/1999 unlimited
