New Standards for Ship Construction

The IMO's Maritime Safety Committee 78th session (MSC 78) embarked on the difficult task of developing "goal-based standards" for newbuildings. MSC 78 has unanimously agreed to begin this complex endeavour at the next session of this Committee (MSC 79). The base document that will be considered is a joint submission by the Bahamas, Greece and IACS. INTERTANKO will be closely involved in this process through its Safety, Technical and Environmental Committee (ISTEC). It is important at this stage to note that many Flag Administrations have recommended that operational and maintenance standards be included among the criteria used to define the "goal based standard". INTERTANKO believes that the first important element to be agreed by the IMO should be the structure of the process. This would facilitate the further development of more concrete standards for (a) design, (b) construction and (c) maintenance of ships. Equally important, there would be a need to develop an efficient verification system, which would include feedback on whether the goal-based standards or any of the design, construction or maintenance criteria are adequate. (Source: Intertanko)