IACS holds busy December meeting
Chaired by Philippe Donche-Gay of BV, the meeting looked at LNG bunkering guidelines, which are currently being considered by a number of organisations. The IACS says its initiative will look to build on what has already been introduced.
The group also discussed dealing with complex on-board systems – a topic of crucial importance for the industry as on-board systems develop rapidly in complexity. IACS is currently focussing on this subject with the formation of a dedicated Expert Group.
At the last tripartite meeting (Shipowners, Shipbuilders and Classification Societies) in Shanghai in October, steps were taken to publicise these items to the industry participants and this continued at the Council meeting where plans for future cooperation were discussed with industry representatives.
Also discussed at the meeting this month was the flagship Common Structural Rules project for bulk carriers and oil tankers, which will enter into force on 1 July 2015.
The IACS expert group on structural safety of container ships reported on a post MOL Comfort review which it has carried out. This work has resulted in the development of two new IACS Unified Requirements (URs): UR S11A which is a longitudinal strength standard for container ships and URS34 dealing with functional requirements and load cases for direct analysis of container ships. IACS says these two important URs will be delivered during the first quarter of 2015.
