Class Rules & Guides

The present official Guidelines released by Chinese Class Society relate to a bulk carrier type of ships and are focusing primarily on the survey procedures of CCS; however, they may also be very useful when applied in conjunction with examination/inspection schemes of any other regulatory organization body, vessel owners and operators, crew members etc. due to the information contained.

The contents of the booklet as follows - Introduction; Ship type introduction of bulk carrier; Hull structural survey of bulk carrier; Special requirements for bulk carriers; Structural details failures and their repairs; Criteria for local strength. The present guidelines are developed to provide the interested parties with the info related to the assessment and survey, as well as repairs to various structures of the ship's hull. The structural failures and their potential causes are also addressed in the book, supplemented with the examples of such damages. The survey points to be taken into consideration by inspectors have also been covered.

The recommendations provided in the Guidelines are based on the collected relevant data. As usual, figures, tables and images are supplemented the text part of the document for better presentation and easier understanding of the requirements applicable to the bulk carriers.

The Guidance for Implementation of Statutory Surveys prepared by Chinese Register of Shipping is divided into two parts. In the first part contains Notes to Modifications, Preamble and Interpretations of IMO Conventions and Codes - SOLAS, Load Lines, MARPOL, Tonnage Measurement, HSC Code, BCH/IBC Code, IGC Code, PASSUB, FTP Code, COLREG, and others.

In the second part of the Guidance the administration data, status of ratification of conventions, and additional requirements of flag states are stated. It is quite obvious that critical attention shall be paid to the correct implementation of the statutory requirements since any failure to do so will immediately result in the vessel being detained by port state authorities. The recommendations provided within present Guidance released by CCS will definitely be very helpful in making decisions affecting statutory certification.

The book is to be used by crew members of the ships that have been classed with Chinese Class Society; at the same time, the information contained in it, will be equally useful and important when applied to the ships classed with other Societies, as well as ship owners, operators and any other involved parties.

Another recommended practice prepared by DNV class society. This RP is intended to address the integrity management as applied to the subsea production systems. The main and most important purpose of the authors working on the present document was to provide industry with the actual recommendations for the management of the integrity of the SPS, i.e. subsea production systems during their whole service life from very beginning - conceptual design stage - to abandonment.

The declared aims of this officially released DNV publication are to provide necessary guidance for suppliers and operators for the establishment and subsequent maintenance of an IMS, and to ensure that such operation is performed in safe manner conducted with the attention to the environment protection as well as public safety; it is also aimed to promote the established of a uniform integrity management system within and across operator's organizations.

The document is mainly focusing on the IMP - integrity management process; such process includes risk and integrity assessment, identification of possible threats, planning of the IMT (inspection-monitoring-testing) activities, maintenance planning, intervention and repair, mitigation etc.

This Instruction is to be used when developing the BWM Plans - such plans shall be available on vessels as per the IMO Res. A.868(20) and are intended to assist the crew members in effecting necessary quarantine arrangements aiming at minimizing the potential risk of transfer of various harmful aquatic organisms/pathogens with the sea water carried in the vessel's ballast tanks, while securing the safety of the vessel. In addition to what is stated above, the BWM Plans are also to present information on the vessel's ballast system and effectiveness of the ballasting arrangements to the authorities, that is why it must be prepared in a language that is understood by the crew members, and also translated into English as necessary.

The BWM Plan must be prepared keeping in mind the typical ballasting conditions that are contained in the relevant operational booklets, guidelines and instructions. All Plans developed for the ships classed with the Russian Register of Shipping, are to be approved by this Class Society. It shall be noted that the requirements contained in the present Instruction do not cover the handling of ballast water which do not involve minimization of the risk of transferring harmful organisms/pathogens as mentioned above.

In general, all standards released by DNV GL are intended to lay down the applicable technical requirements as well as the acceptance criteria to the ships, offshore installations and units, i.e. any object in question. The process of operating large tenders for transportation of the people from cruise ships to shore is very complicated and obviously poses some special challenges for the tender operators, both from the boat handling skills and social point of view. The need for proper training and qualification of the crew members involved in manoeuvring small crafts is duly recognized by the maritime industry as it may significantly reduce the risks associated with this sort of operation.

The authors of the present DNV GL standard address the special competences that are required by tender operator considered responsible for preparation, launching and operating the tenders used to transfer people from the vessel to shore and back in a safe, comfortable and service-oriented manner. The operators must be able to perform all duties and tasks relating to the tender operations and obey all the rules of the road to make sure that all people on board the passenger ships or passenger Ro-Ro ferries are safe.

The present DNV GL standard is mainly focusing on the performance areas of the officers working on board chemical tankers, who are considered responsible for loading, storage, transportation and discharge of the cargo. The document addresses all areas of operation that are relating to handling of the bulk cargo on board chemical tanker ships and also focuses on the process-relating competencies.

The cargo operators must at all times be able to make proper decisions during the planning and operation, he/she must know how to detect and subsequently rectify all issues that may be caused by malfunctioning equipment; operators shall also be able to spot and correct the errors done by the crew members. The cargo operators shall be able to prepare the ship for loading/discharge of the liquid bulk cargoes, ensure proper treating of the cargo during the transit, avoid any pollution to the environment, log all required data, communicate with the personnel based on shore about the loading/discharge operations, safely discharge vapours and slops, analyze risks and determine the cargo segregation requirements, be aware of the procedures for the safe stripping and discharging of the liquid cargo - generally, it describes to the readers how well the ship's officers shall perform their tasks and duties.

Another competence-related standard developed and published by the DNV GL classification society with the intention to cover all operational areas relating to the handling of the liquid cargo on board product tankers. As it is the case with the other similar publications released by this class society, the present official standard is primarily aimed at ship's officers being considered responsible persons for cargo handling on board of the product tanker vessels.

When undertaking the duties described within this publication, the ships officer shall comply with all relevant local, national and international requirements and regulations; moreover, the ships are to be operated in the safe manner without any threat or damage to people, environment or property. The document starts with the list of changes followed by the introductory section defining the scope of the standard, target groups, professional profile and required performance standard.

The second section - taxonomy - provides general info, description of the levels of cognition and professional verbs. The last section provides the competence requirements - as you can see, the arrangement of the main body of the document is standard.

The electrical engineers working on board marine vessels shall be able to provide all required supervision and support to the management team, for proper operating and maintaining the vessel's electrical systems to all relevant international/national, class society and company requirements.

They shall be able to supervise and direct shipyards, technicians and others for maintaining the electrical installations and systems to the required standards, understand and be able to properly evaluate the condition of shipboard electrical systems, by carrying out periodic inspections and by obtaining necessary reports, understand ship operation and maintain the electrical systems of the ship in full compliance with all mandatory regulations and local regulations, be able to participate in planning of drydocking of the ship and preparing technical budgets of the deck, engine and other departments, in due coordination with marine and electrical superintendents in order to ensure approval from the flag authorities, classification society or government bodies for any changes made to the ship's construction or equipment.

They must also be able to ensure that electrical relating damages and incidents are properly reported and investigated and that all associated damage claims are validated and settled. Moreover, they shall at all times be able to participate in planning, training, personal evaluation and further development for electrical personnel and relevant shipboard personnel, and provide recommendations to human resources departments regarding training and education of ship engineers.