The 10th Session of the IMO Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) took place 04 – 08 March, where various amendments were discussed.
The Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) deals with a wide range of technical and operational matters related to systems and equipment on all types of ships, vessels, craft and mobile units covered by IMO instruments. This includes life-saving equipment, appliances and arrangements; and fire detection and fire extinguishing systems.
According to Lloyd’s Register, the Sub-Committee took the following key actions:
- SSE considered the compelling need for ventilation requirements for partially enclosed lifeboats and liferafts, for inclusion in both the LSA Code and MSC.81(70) Revised recommendation on the testing of life-saving appliances for the ventilation of totally enclosed lifeboats. Given that no submissions were made to SSE 10, it was concluded that relevant submissions to demonstrate a compelling need should be sent to SSE 11. If no submissions are received by SSE 11, the topic will be closed.
- SSE agreed amendments to the 1994 and 2000 HSC Codes, respectively, to harmonise the lifejacket carriage requirements in the Codes with those requirements in SOLAS chapter III. The amendments proposed at MSC 101 aim to ensure that the safety of infants on high-speed craft in the case of an emergency situation is equal to that of infants on other passenger ships.
- SSE agreed to amend MSC.81(70), part 1, and MSC.1/Circ.1630/Rev.2 with respect to the average mass of a person to be considered while conducting prototype self-righting tests for totally enclosed lifeboats.
- SSE agreed to amendments to various Revised standardized life-saving appliance evaluation and test report forms on retro-reflective materials (MSC.1/Circ.1628/Rev.1, MSC.1/Circ.1630/Rev.2, MSC.1/Circ.1632).
- SSE considered provisions to prohibit the use of fire-fighting foams containing fluorinated substances, in addition to PFOS. SSE noted the revision of MSC.1/Circ.1312 addressing the banning of fluorinated substances in foam concentrates is not necessary at this stage and the matter should be re-visited in case the ban is expanded to cover other types of fluor-based foam concentrates.
- SSE agreed to the draft Revised standards for the design, testing and location of devices to prevent the passage of flame into cargo tanks in tankers (MSC/Circ.677) and prepared a draft revision of MSC/Circ.677 for approval by MSC 109 with an agreed effective date of 2 years after the approval of the draft revised circular.
- SSE agreed to a draft unified interpretation of the requirements of SOLAS regulation II-1/26.2 in order to clarify requirements regarding the reliability of single essential propulsion components. The draft MSC circular provides a unified interpretation but only for passenger ships. SSE 10 revised the draft MSC Circular for approval by MSC 109 with an expected entry into force date 1 January 2026.
- SSE agreed various unified interpretation of provisions of IMO safety, security and environment-related conventions.
