RINA Launches Corrosion Prevention and Coatings Program
RINA joined forces with UK-based coatings testing company Bodycote to launch a global Corrosion Prevention and Coatings (CPC) program. The heart of the program will be a CPC Training Course for shipyard and shipowner staff, and testing facilities for type approval of coatings according to the new IMO requirements. The first courses will be launched in Korea in January 2008, with further courses in China beginning in March. Thereafter courses will be run world wide, as part of RINA's services to owners that go beyond classification. The first coating testing facility approved in accordance with IMO PSPC requirements and IACS PR34 has been established in the Bodycote Laboratory in Manchester, UK and further facilities worldwide are planned in the coming months.
ABS Issues Guidance for Protective Coatings
ABS is assisting shipbuilders, ship owners and operators prepare for the new IMO mandated Performance Standard for Protective Coatings (PSPC) (IMO MSC 215(82)) by issuing a completely revised and expanded edition of its Guidance Notes on Inspection, Maintenance and Application of Marine Coatings. The IMO standards take effect on 1 July 2008 and will apply to the dedicated seawater ballast tanks on all ships of not less than 500 gross tons for which the building contract is placed on or after 1 July 2008; or, in the absence of a building contract, the keels of which are laid on or after 1 January 2009. The standards also apply to the double-side skin spaces of bulk carriers of 150m in length and upwards.
