Russian Maritime Register of Shipping(RS, the Register) introduces the amendments and additions to its normative base.
Primarily, the amendments to the Rules introduced by RS as the recognized expert in technical standards on safe Arctic shipping relate to the ice class ships. In particular, for double-acting Arctic ships constructed with application of widely used technical solutions, the Rules shall contain the requirements for assignment of an ice class, determination of ice strengthening areas, permissible loads and hull strength, as well as for the ship’s aft, skeg and rudder units.
New edition of the Rules has been also supplemented with the procedure for calculation of short-circuit current values for ship’s electric power systems with electrical power distribution for direct current, which application allows for efficiency of the ship operation due to significant fuel economy with the fractional loads of the propulsion plant and other main consumers.
Alongside, the Register requirements for assigning corrosion and wear allowance when determining the thickness of the outer shell plating of ice class ships have come into force; consideration of the above parameters is important at the design stage. In addition, the requirements for ice strengthening of the Arctic ships with bulbous bow have been introduced being significant for the ships’ operation both in ice and in open water.
One of the most significant changes to be effective in 2019 are the requirements for dual fuel marine engines developed in compliance with IACS Unified Requirements М59 and М78. New introductions are aimed at improvement of effective and safe application of liquefied natural gas as a fuel that is a technical solution on reduction of NOx emissions complying with Amendments to Annex VI to MARPOL designating the Baltic Sea and the North Sea as NOx Emission Control Areas for III Tier, coming into force on 1 January 2019.
Many amendments to the Rules relate to the fishing fleet to be renovated due to the measures of State support. 2019 edition has been specified in relation to the structural fire protection of fishing factories, in particular, for fish-processing and similar spaces, permissible number of exits for category A machinery spaces and for the anchor arrangements.
Besides that, the requirements for scope and procedure of technical documentation review for automation equipment have been amended. Thus, the structural and installation drawings may be submitted for the RS review at the equipment supply and installation stage not only by a designer, but also by a firm in charge of installation of the automation equipment provided by the suppliers.
Starting from January 2019, all the projects submitted to the Register shall be reviewed in the “Ships’ Projects” system that will make possible for the RS customers to follow the process online via an external module.
Additionally, in a new year RS will issue the certificate as per form 6.5.31 for the materials and products in electronic format. For representatives of the firms(manufacturers) involved in issue of the certificate together with the RS surveyor an external software module has been developed that allows a customer for simultaneous operation, access to the history and current status of the documents previously submitted to RS.