Tag: regulatory update

As the shipping industry seeks to adopt cleaner practices in line with global environmental regulations, Dutch-based shipping company Spliethoff Group reiterated its commitment to cleaner shipping by investing in scrubbers for the 24th vessel of its fleet. 30 more vessels will follow, the company said.

A new requirement for the carriage of two-way portable radiotelephone apparatus of explosion proof or intrinsically safe type for firefighter’s communication is effective from July 1st, 2018 according to SOLAS regulation II-2/10.10.4 The purpose of these fire-fighter radios is to provide a dedicated means of communication between a team of fire fighters entering the space, and the crew member located outside the space who is assigned to control this team.

The US Cruise Ship National Center of Expertise cited a list of common causes of PSC detentions on cruise ships by the USCG throughout 2017. USCG conducted 292 cruise ship examinations in 2017 and only 0.34% received a detention, which shows there is a strong safety culture in the cruise line industry.

On the occasion of the UK’s first Maritime Safety Week, the British Ports Association has called for new legislation to introduce alcohol limits for non-professional mariners, replicating the rules that already exist for commercial ships in British waters. 

IMO’s Member State Audit Scheme is at the centre of a regional workshop taking place in Tunis, Tunisia, on 2-6 July. Auditing IMO Member States is critical for assessing how effectively these administer key IMO treaties and subsequently ensuring that the IMO regulatory framework is universally implemented. 

The Subchapter M regulations provide minimum safety, lifesaving, construction, machinery, electrical, and operational requirements for US towing vessels. All applicable towing vessels must be in compliance with the Subchapter M by 20 July 2018.

As Capt. Akshat Arora, Senior Surveyor at the Standard P&I said, the Club regularly receives questions regarding the carriage of dangerous cargoes in packaged form. As of 1 January 2018, the 2016 edition of the IMDG code is in effect, and Mr. Arora reminds the requirements of this code.

South Africa has become the 25th State to sign up to the IMO treaty on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Fishing Vessel Personnel (STCW-F). The Convention sets the certification and minimum training requirements for crews of seagoing fishing vessels of 24 metres in length and above.

From 1st of July 2018, amendments related to revised training requirements for Masters and Deck Officers onboard ships operating in Polar Water have come into force. Namely, the STCW has been amended with a new regulation V/4 , according to which, two main trainings are defined: the basic and the advance training.

ICS launched a new report setting out its firm opposition to the concept of mandatory operational efficiency indexing of individual ships as a possible candidate measure for CO2 reduction, because of 'the potential inaccuracies of such a metric and the significant danger of market distortion'.