10.The Emergency Towing Booklet: The emergency towing booklet, which contains
information pertinent to towing, must be kept handy and conspicuous before and throughout the
procedure. Although the booklet can only serve a purpose that is more suggestive than coercive,
it must be referred to as it has ship specific information with the appropriate drawings and other
towing arrangements.
Not every vessel has state of the art equipment to conduct the procedure to maximum precision.
Limitations might be in place but that shouldn’t be a deterring factor in predetermining the level of
accomplishment. Not to forget, the safe working loads of all fittings must be adhered to at all
times. A sudden jerk or backlash can result in a lot of damage to property. One of the foremost
things that should not be forgotten is that the any emergency situation during the entire process
of towing barely leaves time for corrective action. Therefore, it is imperative to adhere standard
operational procedure, keeping in mind the individual aspects and therefore, individual capacity of
every vessel. The crew must be thorough with the entire procedure, wherein they are clearly and
candidly designated each task to avoid any confusion. Evaluations must be put in place in advance
to the expected time of towing. Since towing is part of the ISM code, one must understand that,
in any case, safety is always of paramount importance.