IMO MSC 93 Summary Report on Polar Code London, 14-23 May 2014 BUREAU VERITAS Marine & Offshore Division Compliance & Regulations
Contents Introduction Summary of technical developments of the Polar Code Contacts Additional information and advice can be provided upon request. Please contact: Mr. Kyriakos Poulimenakos, kyriakos.poulimenakos@bureauveritas.com; Compliance & Regulation Department, c&r_iad@bureauveritas.com 2
2. Introduction Revision of SOLAS chapter II-1 subdivision and damage stability regulations * MSC IMO committee MSC (Marine Safety committee) is the committee deciding on amendments to mandatory instruments which aim for the safety of ships. MSC is the parent body to the sub-committee SDC, SSE and CCC. The meeting took place in London from 14 March to 24 April 2014 under the chairmanship of Mr. Christian Breinholt (Denmark) and Capt. M. Segar (Singapore) as vice chair. Scope of the summary report The scope of this summary report is to provide information on the status of the amendments and guidelines related to mandatory instruments and to provide a summary of the technical developments. Status Approved Amendments or draft text as provided by sub-committees are approved by MSC, circulated and are usually adopted in a next committee sessions. Adopted Adopted amendments or draft text means that the approved text is adopted with indication of entry into force. Usually entry into force is tacitly accepted at a minimum one year later than the adoption date. Entry into force Amendments or draft text which has been adopted will enter into force at a specific date decided by the committee. 3
Development of a mandatory code for ships operating in polar waters 1 Current Status The Polar Code is a mandatory code which shall apply in addition to other IMO instruments. The purpose of the polar code is to provide a safety standard for ships operating in polar waters. The code is dealing with safety aspects for structure, stability, machinery, fire safety protection, LSA, safety of navigation, communication, pollution, training of crew, operational manuals, etc Action by MSC 93 MSC approved, in principle, the draft International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters, with a view to adoption at MSC 94 with the adoption of the associated draft new SOLAS chapter XIV Part II (Environmental protection measures) shall be considered by MEPC 67 Note: (Polar Waters Operational Manual (PWOM) as an appendix to the draft Polar Code, which is divided into parts I (Safety measures) and II (Environmental protection measures) Delete Chapter 7 (Operational safety) of the draft Polar Code in order to avoid overlapping with other international instruments Some matters related to Safety of navigation and communication shall be considered by NCSR 1, for consideration in conjunction with the finalization of chapters 10 (Safety of navigation) and 11 (Communication) of the draft Polar Code Timeline The Polar Code will be sent to MSC 94 (November 2014) for adoption and to MEPC67 (October 2014) for approval and MEPC68 (May 2015) for adoption, with a foreseen entry into force on 01/01/2017. Additional information Please refer to MSC 93/WP.7 and 93/WP.7/Add1 for additional information 1 For additional information please refer to Annex 4
Application (MSC 93 WP.7 Regulation 2). ANNEX The group (Working Group on Polar Code) agreed that Polar Code shall apply to ships operating in polar waters having a SOLAS certificate. Non-SOLAS ships (e.g. fishing vessels) will be considered at second stage. Existing ships shall meet the relevant requirements of the Polar Code by the first intermediate or renewal survey, whichever occurs first, one year after the date of entry into force. Polar Ship Certificate (MSC 93 WP.7/Add.1 Part I-A, Chapter 1 [1.3]) The certificate referred to in this regulation shall be issued either by the Administration or by any person or organization recognized by it in accordance with SOLAS regulation XI-1/1. In every case, that Administration assumes full responsibility for the certificate. The certificate will contain the temperature on which the ship can sail and a record with additional equipment and operational limitations. Operation limitations will be described with a Table as the one proposed in Part I-B [1.2]. A form of the certificate for ships operating in Polar Waters and a record of additional Equipment and operational limitations can be found in Appendix1. Polar Water Operational Manual (PWOM) (MSC 93 WP.7/Add.1 Part I-A, Chapter 2) The PWOM will be for information/guidance. A decision support system, like the Canada s Arctic Ice Regime Shipping System or the Russian Ice Certificate, will be used in conjunction with the operation limitations in Certificate, for deciding the ice conditions on which the ship can sail. Information on the icebreaking capabilities of the ship can be given based on numerical analysis, model test or ice trials. A model table of contents for the Polar Water operation Manual can be found in Appendix 2 A paper on how the operational limitations can be described and how they are going to be linked with the Certificate and PWOM will be submitted in MSC94. Where a Risk assessment is required it will be performed each time according to the relevant requirements of the Code. Polar Service Temperature (PST) (MSC 93 WP.7/Add.1 Part I-A, [1.2] Definitions) PST is selected by the owner and is defined as: the lowest Mean Daily Low Temperature (MDLT) -10 o C. The calculation of the MDLT will be according to the graph and instructions in Part I-B [1.1]. In IACS URS6 concerning the selection of material grades, the lowest Mean Daily Average Temperature (MDAT) is used, which means that a modification of URS6 will be needed. It is to be noted that low air temperature in Polar code means lowest MDLT below -10 o C. Concerning temperature requirements the Code will be applicable when lowest MDLT < -10 o C. Equivalency (MSC 93 WP.7/Add.1 Part I-B [3]) The method for proving equivalency between ice classification notations of different Classification Societies is described in Part I-B [3]. Where a direct equivalency can not be proved this can be decided through a Risk assessment according to the instructions in the above mentioned paragraph. 5
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