IRClass Rules for ICG Ships

 

The “Rules and Regulations for Construction and Classification of Indian Coast Guard Ships”, developed by the Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) were formally released by the Director General Indian Coast Guard, Vice Admiral HCS Bisht AVSM on 28th December 2015 at a ceremony held at the Indian Coast Guard Headquarters, New Delhi.

Additional DG, Rajender Singh PTM TM, all Deputy Director Generals, all Principal Directors and other senior officers of the Coast Guard Headquarters were present at the release. The Chairman and Managing Director of the Indian Register of Shipping, Mr Arun Sharma, formally presented the Rules for release. He was accompanied by a team of senior executives from IRS comprising Vice Admiral BS Randhawa PVSM AVSM VSM (retd), Principal Naval Advisor, Mr Ravi Sachdeva, Chief Surveyor and Senior Vice President, Mr N Girish, Head Research & Development and Commander KK Dhawan (retd), Head Defence Services.

Speaking on the occasion, Inspector General SK Goyal PTM TM, Dy. Director General (Material and Maintenance), dwelt upon the long association of the IRS with the ICG, since the early ‘80s, when the indigenous construction of Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessels commenced at Mazagon Docks Ltd., at Mumbai. He stated that the first IRS Rules for Construction and Classification of Indian Coast Guard Ships were initially published in 2008. Over time, with gaining of experience in their usage, it was realised that the Rules were required to be reviewed and modified to better suit the operating conditions and requirements of Coast Guard ships. He stated that the Coast Guard had been closely involved in the formulation of the new Rules.

Mr. Arun Sharma responded by stating that while the original Rules for Coast Guard ships had been based on the Rules for Indian Naval non-combatant ships, the new Rules are largely derived from the IRS Rules

for High Speed Craft and Light Craft which are more appropriate for application to patrol vessels. In addition, applicable features of the Rules for non-combatant Naval Ships have also been retained. Comments from shipyards have also been incorporated, prior to approval by the IRS Technical Committee. Thus, while the Rules have been made simpler and more user friendly, they continue to retain the important special requirements as relevant to Coast Guard ships.

CMD IRS stated that he was looking forward to the Rules being put into use in the near future and undergoing further refinement and improvement. He thanked the Coast Guard for their active involvement during the formulation of the Rules. He stated that the Rules would be made available on the IRS web site for downloading by authorised external users and would be periodically updated based on experience and future technological developments. He added that the release of the Rules is very significant for the national mission of developing indigenous capability in shipbuilding for the Coast Guard.

The Director General Indian Coast Guard congratulated IRS on the development of the rules and said "with emphasis on ‘Make in India’ by the government, these rules will help in supporting indigenous ship building in India, with prominence on excellence in design and quality construction of ICG ships".