Bureau Veritas To Suggest Safety Rules To French Government

French ship classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) was to make three tanker safety proposals to the French government at a meeting last Thursday, proposals are designed to help improve tanker surveys and provide early warning of potential structural and safety problems for ships, BV said. The French government has already pledged to stiffen tanker safety standards when it takes over the European Union presidency in the second half of this year. Bureau Veritas said all ships over 15 years old should be required to undergo surveys which allow access to all cargo tanks and inspection of ballast tanks. Extra steel thickness requirements would be made. Port inspection reports should also be forwarded to classification societies and a computerized database of vessels' entire structural and repair histories collated, it said. The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), which groups together the main ship inspection classifiers, is scheduled to hold a meeting on Wednesday, February 16, to discuss the French proposals and other similar initiatives. U.S. member of IACS, the American Bureau of Shipping has proposed several similar changes, also including limiting the transfer between classification bodies of ships over 15 and requiring two surveyors to attend special inspections from that age. Italian classification society RINA, which registered the Erika, said it supported the ABS proposals and would announce the results of its inquiry into the loss later this week. RINA said it had identified lessons to be learnt and would also make specific proposals to improve regulation.