CDI is the Chemical Distribution Institute, a non-profit body set up by the chemical industry that runs an inspection and database scheme for the safety and quality of chemical and gas tankers. Its marine scheme works like SIRE does for oil: an accredited inspector assesses the vessel against a standard questionnaire, and the report goes into a database that chemical companies read when they vet ships. CDI issues no pass or fail; each chemical company applies its own criteria to the report.
How it shows up in practice
A chemical tanker trading to the major producers lives with both regimes at once. The charterer's vetting desk expects a current SIRE 2.0 report and a recent CDI report, because the two look at the ship through different lenses: CDI's questionnaire reflects what chemical shippers care about, from cargo tank condition and nitrogen systems to the specific handling demands of their products. The inspection itself follows a familiar shape. The operator books it, the inspector works through the questionnaire on board, and observations are recorded with detail the operator can respond to through CDI's system before vetting departments act on them.
Timing is the recurring headache. Chemical companies typically want a report younger than a set age before they approve a ship, so operators plan CDI inspections into the trading calendar the way they plan dry dock. A vessel arriving at a fixture with an expired report is, for vetting purposes, a vessel without one. The questionnaire chapters, booking mechanics and preparation are covered in the CDI inspection guide.
What it means for operators
For a chemical or gas tanker operator, CDI doubles the inspection surface without doubling the resources. The same crew that prepared for SIRE 2.0 must hold the same standard for a different questionnaire, and the findings of each regime are read by people who can see the other. Evidence discipline pays twice here: photographs and records assembled for one inspection answer much of the other, and a well-documented response travels with the report to every chemical company that opens it. Where CDI sits among the other regimes a ship faces is mapped in charterer vetting explained, and Fleetward's role in the preparation cycle is on the vetting solution page.