RINA Releases Guidelines

RINA has published a detailed set of Tanker Guidelines, intended to support owners during the specification and tender process for tanker newbuildings. Ugo Salerno, RINA CEO, says, "There is intense pressure on owners to order new tankers now and to snap up newbuilding slots. At the same time the number of choices owners face when dealing with detailed specifications has never been more complex. We believe these simple, practical guidelines will help owners to get both better ships and better relations with the yards. A key part of RINA's mission is to provide advice and support to owners." The Guidelines are primarily intended for the technical staff of shipowners or independent consultants, in charge of management and supervision of new ship construction projects, specification development or maintenance of ships in service. The purpose of the Guidelines is to identify the main factors that are likely to be of principal concern regarding the structural design of any newbuilding project. The Guidelines contain the results of structural design studies, concerning the steel grades, spacing of primary supporting members and ordinary stiffeners and design of transverse bulkheads, carried out for some typical oil tanker designs. The governing factors are reviewed, in the light of strength and regulatory considerations including selection of design loading conditions, ultimate strength of the hull girder, fatigue of structural details and strength of the crossing arrangement between different structures such as longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. Advice to owners when drawing up the specification of new building orders is also given. In addition, the Guidelines review the main characteristics of corrosion in oil cargo tanks and examine the most efficient means to prevent it, giving advice on the actions to be taken at the design and construction stages and while the ship is in service.