ClassNK: Amendments to Rules of Container Carriers
PRESS RELEASE -- Classification society ClassNK (Chairman and President: Noboru Ueda) announced that it released amendments to its Rules and Guidance for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships on 25 December 2015, including structural strength requirements of container carriers. In response to a large container ship casualty in June 2013, ClassNK established The Investigative Panel on Large Container Ship Safety, which comprised of shipbuilders, shipping companies, and people with relevant knowledge and experience, to investigate the possibility of casualty occurrence and the structural safety of large container carriers. The results…
ClassNK Drafts Amendments to Containership Rules
Classification society ClassNK has released draft amendments to its rules and guidance for container carriers, with the aim of implementing more comprehensive rules for increased ship safety. The amendments were approved by the ClassNK Technical Committee in Tokyo on November 19. The ClassNK Technical Committee is made up of representatives from the shipping and shipbuilding industries as well as scholars and experts to discuss matters relating to the establishment and revision of technical rules and guidance.
IACS Comments on MOL Comfort Report
The International Association of Classifications Societies (IACS) informs it will study the final report issued in Japan by the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety (CLCSS), which concludes that the Mol Comfort break up possibly occurred because the sea loads exceeded the hull girder ultimate strength at the time of the casualty, as well as the recommendations formulated in the document, and will make public the results of this examination. At the beginning of 2014, IACS launched an expert group on structural safety of containerships…
MOL Responds to Containership Safety Report
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) responded to the interim report of the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety related to the incident on June 17, 2013, involving the MOL-operated MOL Comfort, which hull broke in half. The committee was established by Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) made up of maritime industry representatives and experts. The report was issued on December 17. A safety inspection on the bottom shell plates to the extent possible should be conducted in order to verify the presence of buckling deformations.
New Report Examines MOL Comfort Casualty
Following the loss of the container vessel MOL Comfort on June 17, 2013, ClassNK established a special Casualty Investigation Team in order to investigate and determine the cause of the casualty. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) further established a Committee on Large Container Ship Safety to develop measures to ensure the safety of large container vessels on August 29, 2013. ClassNK serves as a member of the Committee and the ClassNK Casualty Investigation Team is actively involved in its deliberative and investigative work.
ClassNK Update on Loss of 'MOL Comfort'
Based on the presence of water-ingress in the bottom of the vessel’s midship at the outset of the casualty, the fracture in the vessel’s hull is considered to have originated from the bottom part of the vessel. Hull strength and loads at the time of accident were assessed in order to investigate how the fracture occurred and progressed. Structural hull capacity was analyzed using non-linear finite element 3-hold modeling, and dynamic wave loads including whipping effects were also analyzed.
MOL Comfort’s Sister Vessels Receive Safety Upgrades
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) reports that itself, other concerned parties and Lloyd’s Register (LR), which MOL appointed as technical consultant, have conducted a thorough investigation into the causes of the mid-June 2013 hull fracture of the MOL-operated containership MOL Comfort on the Indian Ocean. Also, MOL has extended and will extend all possible cooperation to the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety, which was launched by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). MOL began preventative measures to enhance the safety of six sister vessels immediately after the incident. Measures taken to reinforce the hulls of MOL Celebration…
Three MOL 'Comfort-class' Return to Service: Hull Scantlings Doubled
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines report that they, other concerned parties, & Lloyd’s Register which MOL retained as technical consultant, have conducted a thorough investigation into the causes of the mid-June 2013 hull fracture, of the MOL-operated containership 'MOL Comfort', breaking up and sinking in the Indian Ocean. The company adds it has extended and will extend all possible cooperation to the Committee on Large Container Ship Safety, which was launched by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT).
