The 84th session of the IACS Council has highlighted the significant safety challenges around decarbonization.
What is more, the importance of the human element in increasingly technically sophisticated vessels was another other focus areas.
Nick Brown, CEO of Lloyd’s Register.
Noting the increased expectations for an ambitious and accelerated greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction policy for shipping, IACS Council emphasised that the successful delivery of any agreed targets must recognise the need for a practical and achievable implementation plan.
Building on its submission to IMO’s Assembly , the session discussed ways in which introducing the necessary alternative technologies and fuels must not happen without detailed safety requirements that support the design, fabrication and integration of equipment for systems and ships.
C84 recognised that the unique, multi-disciplinary nature of the challenge, its scale and compressed timeframes for delivery, and the lack of extant technical solutions to achieve the desired outcomes, warranted a dedicated and bespoke response
said IACS, whose Council agreed to hold an Council meeting early in 2022 solely to give more time for agreeing structured and ambitious IACS actions to address decarbonisation.
Furthermore, promoting the safety considerations that will accompany the use of new technologies and fuels was widely welcomed by the industry session that followed C84. In fact, there was unanimous support for establishing an effective assurance arrangement for the safety of decarbonisation solutions.
Given the take up of new technology, C84 also focused on the role of the seafarer in this newly digitalised world and the changing nature of technology on board ships.
Namely, IACS has recognised the need to consider ships as complex systems, and systems of systems, and C84 initiated work on the dependency on the human component in those systems for safe operations.
On quality matters, C84 noted that IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) remains the ‘gold standard’ for classification society performance but that, “in the 30 years since its inception, many other quality driven initiatives had been established, complicating the overall picture.”
For this reason, C84 established a high-level working group, to include representation from its external and independent Quality Advisory Committee, to conduct an overview of IACS Quality provisions with the objective of enhancing quality oversight.
C84 also renewed the mandate of its COVID 19 Task Force noting that:
The swift and decisive actions of this group have been instrumental in developing and adopting measures that help ships safely remain in service and in compliance with Class Rules and the requirements of the international Conventions
What is more, speaking after the meeting, Nick Brown said that “the wide-ranging discussions and agreements reached at C84 demonstrate clearly the key role that IACS plays in supporting the industry address complex challenges, many of which require sustained commitment and new ways of working.”
