IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has confirmed that ship construction rules for oil tankers and bulk carriers submitted by twelve classification societies conform to the goals and functional requirements set by IMO for new oil tankers and bulk carriers.
This marks a significant development in how international standards for ship construction are determined and implemented. For the first time, IMO has been given a role in auditing and verifying the structural rules developed by the classification societies for new-build oil tankers and bulk carriers.
Goal-based Standards
The philosophy behind goal-based standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers is that ships should be designed and constructed for a specified design life and that, if properly operated and maintained, they should remain safe and environmentally friendly throughout their service life.
Regulation II-1/3-10 of SOLAS applies goal-based standards to new oil tankers and bulk carriers over 150 metres in length. Under the regulation, such ships must have adequate strength, integrity and stability to minimise the risk of loss of the ship or pollution due to structural failure, including collapse, resulting in flooding or loss of watertight integrity.
The MSC reviewed goal-based standards verification audit reports of twelve recognised organisations (members of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS)). The Committee confirmed their ship construction rules were in conformity with the requirements in the international goal-based ship construction standards for bulk carriers and oil tankers.
The goal-based standards amendments in SOLAS regulation II-1/3-10 were adopted in 2010 and entered into force in 2012, with a date of 1 July 2016 set for application to new oil tankers and bulk carriers.
Alignment between Classification Societies and IMO Regulatory Process
So far, the detail of ship construction has been the remit of classification societies. The goal-based standards verification audit process means that all aspects of ship construction for oil tankers and bulk carriers now have to be verified and audited as meeting the established goals.
'The completion of this process of developing goal-based standards for oil tankers and bulk carriers, followed by the detailed verification audit process, means that there now is a much closer alignment between the classification societies’ rules and the IMO regulatory process. This marks a very significant development in the IMO rule making process,' IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim said.
Read more about the IMO goal-based standards here.
Picture: Oil tanker Sirius Star (by U.S. Navy photo by Aviation Warfare Systems Operator 2nd Class William S. Stevens).
