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(London) ABS Chairman, President and CEO Christopher J Wiernicki has set out his priorities as incoming IACS chairman, emphasizing the unique role the organization plays in promoting global safety and security.

The IACS strategic plan has been designed to address both the current and future needs of the shipping industry by focusing on three key areas: structural, machinery and cyber system integrity.

“By focusing on these three legs of the safety stool, I believe we can build on IACS’ recent achievements and set out an agenda that addresses existing and emerging challenges.” Wiernicki says. “My priorities for 2015-2016 strike a balance between the completion of ongoing projects and the need to look forward and formulate the next generation of IACS guidelines, unified and procedural requirements.”

In the coming year, Wiernicki’s focus areas also include ensuring a smooth completion of the initial round of audits for the IMO Goal-Based Standards process.

He will also advance the creation of a cyber-system safety framework that addresses control systems, software quality assurance, data integrity and cyber security enhancing the initiative that was commenced in 2014.

Wiernicki will further seek to ensure that the IACS Quality System Certification Scheme (QSCS) remains the ‘gold standard’ for classification society performance.

Wiernicki, who assumed the role of IACS Chairman at the end of the 71st session of the IACS Council in Paris on July 2, 2015, singled out the importance of IACS in supporting the industry at a time when more stringent regulatory requirements are being formulated and implemented.

“IACS’ relationships, extensive technical knowledge, experience and independence place it in a unique position to work with regulators and industry,? he says. ?IACS will continue to reach out and strengthen relationships with all parties, continuing to demonstrate that its commitment to safety, quality and environmental protection are more important than ever.”

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About IACS
Dedicated to safe ships and clean seas, IACS makes a unique contribution to maritime safety and regulation through technical support, compliance verification and research and development. More than 90% of the world’s cargo carrying tonnage is covered by the classification design, construction and through-life compliance Rules and standards set by the twelve Member Societies of IACS. Visit www.iacs.org.uk to learn more.

• ABS’ Chris Wiernicki takes over IACS Chair from Philippe Donche-Gay
• Robert Ashdown appointed Secretary General as Derek Hodgson retires

Christopher J. Wiernicki, the Chairman, President and CEO of ABS, assumed the role of IACS Chairman at the end of the 71st session of the IACS Council in Paris on July 2, 2015. Previously, the role was held by Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice President and head of Marine & Offshore, Bureau Veritas. Commenting on his predecessor’s contribution, Wiernicki stated: “IACS, and the industry at large, will continue to reap the rewards of Philippe’s leadership.”

In response, Donche-Gay thanked fellow Members for their support during his time in office. “Over the past year the support of my peers has allowed IACS to deliver, on time, a number of challenging and far-reaching commitments including the final implementation of revised Common Structural Rules, important new Unified Requirements pertaining to Container Ship safety, the revision of the existing Unified Requirement on Complex On Board Systems and progress with the development of LNG Bunkering Guidelines,” he said.

The Council meeting also marked the retirement of Derek Hodgson as IACS Permanent Secretary. Donche-Gay praised Hodgson’s long-standing commitment to the organisation. “Derek’s professionalism over the past six years has been fundamental in ensuring the Secretariat has evolved to meet the ongoing needs of its Members during a formative period in IACS history,” he said.

Robert Ashdown was appointed to the newly created position of Secretary General. Looking forward, Ashdown said: “IACS has a formidable reputation as an expert technical advisory body to the maritime industry and its regulators and plays an integral role in maintaining and advancing the safety and environmental performance of international shipping. I look forward to working with all stakeholders so that IACS continues to deliver its objectives in a positive and collaborative manner.”

IACS intends to release a document outlining its updated strategic focus later this month. A press conference with the new Chairman is planned for late September in London.

Paris
July 3rd 2015

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Contact: Robert Ashdown
IACS Secretary General
robertashdown@iacs.org.uk
+44 (0) 20 7976 0660

Notes to Editors:

• Dedicated to safe ships and clean seas, the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) makes a unique contribution to maritime safety and regulation through technical support, compliance verification and research and development.
• More than 90% of the world’s cargo carrying tonnage is covered by the classification design, construction and through-life compliance Rules and standards set by the twelve Member Societies of IACS.
• The IACS Council, the governing body of the Association, consists of one representative from each Member Society. The Council elects a Chair, by rotation, from among its Members. The Chair acts as the Principal Officer of the Association for a period of 12 months.
• Chris Wiernicki’s resume can be found at http://ww2.eagle.org/en/about-us/executive-leadership/christopher-wiernicki.html
• Robert Ashdown served as Secretary General of Cruise Lines International Association (Europe) before joining IACS. Previously, he also held senior positions with the UK Chamber of Shipping, British Rig Owners Association and European Cruise Council.
• More information about IACS can be found by visiting our website: www.iacs.org.uk

IACS welcomed the publication of the casualty investigation report into the MOL Comfort incident by Japan’s MLIT in March of this year and thanks Japan and Bahamas for bringing the results of this investigation to international shipping’s primary regulator, the IMO. IACS firmly believes that proper casualty investigation and subsequent information sharing is a key element to achieving continuous improvement in safety standards.

In anticipation of these developments IACS established at the beginning of 2014 an expert group on structural safety of container ships carried out a post “MOL Comfort” review of available information which also took into account a number of past casualties. This work has resulted in the development of UR S11A which is a longitudinal strength standard for Containerships that explicitly addresses the three issues requested of both individual classification societies and IACS by the authors of the MLIT investigation report. In brief:

Bi-axial stresses which would be induced by lateral loading, i.e. external pressure on the bottom shell: IACS Members have for many years addressed these bi-axial stresses in their individual rules and procedures. The effect of the lateral loads which induce bi-axial stresses of bottom shell plates should be considered in the requirements of the hull girder ultimate strength and this will now be recognised in the new IACS Longitudinal Strength Standard for Container Ships, known as Unified Requirement S11A which will enter into force on 1 July 2016.

The whipping effect on container ships: Although this phenomenon continues to be the subject of research, the effects are becoming better understood and some individual IACS Members have developed specific rule requirements in this regard. The development of an IACS Unified Requirements for the whipping component of hull girder loading will take time, however in the interim IACS has introduced a functional requirement into the new Unified Requirement S11A which requires IACS Members to take into account whipping in accordance with their individual procedures. Entry into force is again 1 July 2016.

A revised wave bending magnitude and longitudinal distribution
has been included in the development of the new Unified Requirement S11A full details of which will be made available on the IACS website shortly.

Additionally, UR S34 will set consistent requirements among IACS members by defining the unified minimum load cases used while performing strength assessment of container ships by Finite Element (FE) analysis. This fulfills two principal aims. Firstly, by prescribing high-level “functional requirements” on loads, the bottom line of structural strength becomes unified and, secondly, by developing a minimum set of common loading conditions for Cargo Hold Analysis in the midship region, a baseline for structural strength at cargo hold in the midship region is achieved.

New S34 is applicable to container ships only and will apply from 1 July 2016 and requires a Global (full ship) analysis for ships with length ≥ 290m and a Cargo hold analysis for ships with length ≥ 150m.

In accordance with IACS commitment to safety and transparency these 50+ pages of new requirements are available on the IACS website along with the detailed Technical Background. Introducing the new URs at the IMO today, IACS Chairman, Mr Philippe Donche-Gay, commented “Once again IACS has demonstrated its unrivalled technical capacity by delivering important Unified Requirements in a very tight timeframe that will further enhance Large Container Ship safety. IACS is proud of its contribution to this important debate and stands ready to continue to assist the IMO in all areas where technical expertise can advance our common goal of safer and cleaner ships.”

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Notes To Editors:

1. Dedicated to safe ships and clean seas, the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) makes a unique contribution to maritime safety and regulation through technical support, compliance verification and research and development.
2. More than 90% of the world’s cargo carrying tonnage is covered by the classification design, construction and through-life compliance Rules and standards set by the twelve Member Societies of IACS.
3. Unified Requirements are adopted resolutions on matters directly connected to or covered by specific Rule requirements and practices of classification societies and the general philosophy on which the rules and practices of classification societies are established.
4. Subject to ratification by the governing body of each Member Society, Unified Requirements shall be incorporated in the Rules and practices of the Member Societies, within one year of approval by the IACS General Policy Group. The existence of a UR does not oblige a Member Society to issue respective Rules if it chooses not to have Rules for the type of ship or marine structure concerned.
5. Unified Requirements are minimum requirements. Each Member remains free to set more stringent requirements.
6. UR S34 does not prescribe an overall FE analysis standard, rather it provides “functional requirements” such that respective analyses are undertaken with suitable load cases considered.
7. Finite element analysis is a numerical technique for finding approximate solutions to boundary value problems for partial differential equations. It uses subdivision of a whole problem domain into simpler parts, called finite elements, and methods from the calculus of variations to solve the problem by minimizing an associated error function. Analogous to the idea that connecting many tiny straight lines can approximate a larger circle, FEM encompasses methods for connecting many simple element equations over many small subdomains, named finite elements, to approximate a more complex equation over a larger domain. (Source: Wikipedia)

Contact: Derek Hodgson,
Permanent Secretary
(London) 020 7976 0660

20 May 2015: Q&A and Common Interpretations on 1. Bulk Carrier CSR has been updated by IACS.

20 May 2015: Q&A and Common Interpretations on 2. Oil Tanker CSR has been updated by IACS.

25 Mar 2015: Common Structural Rules (CSR BC & OT) for 2015 PDF version have been released by IACS.

IACS will carefully study the report as well as the recommendations formulated in the document, and will make public the results of this examination.

As a matter of fact, IACS had launched at the beginning of 2014 an expert group on structural safety of container ships, which carried out a post “MOL Comfort” review, also taking into account a number of past casualties.

This work has resulted in the development of two new IACS Unified Requirements (UR’s)

• UR S11A which is a longitudinal strength standard for Containerships
• URS 34 dealing with functional requirements for direct analysis by Finite Element Method of Container ships, including a set of loading conditions.

It is worthwhile commenting that this ongoing work had already taken into account the CLCSS recommendations:

• these UR’s do take into account the effect of lateral loads on bi-axial buckling of stiffened panels (a phenomenon preceding loss of ultimate strength as correctly indicated in the report) and whipping on vertical bending strength.
• with respect to the third recommendation of the report (representation of technical backgrounds), IACS can also confirm that Class Societies rules already consider the strength of the ship under specified operating and environmental conditions corresponding to its entire life.

These two important UR’s will be finalized in the coming months. As a matter of clarity it should be understood that IACS Unified Requirements are minimum common technical requirements to be incorporated into the rules of each individual member. UR’s are not intended to address all the strength aspects of hull structures, which remains the function and responsibility of each class society.

Contact: Derek Hodgson,
Permanent Secretary
(London) 020 7976 0660

The International Association of Classification Societies is pleased to announce the release today of the IACS Blue Book, Version January 2015.

The Blue Book is an electronic library of technical resolutions (both past and present) adopted by IACS as a result of its technical work and provides an example of how the aims and objectives of the Association are delivered for the benefit of international shipping. It contains

• IACS “Unified Requirements” which IACS members incorporate into their Rules
• “Unified Interpretations” of IMO convention requirements which IACS Members apply uniformly when acting on behalf of authorizing flag Administrations, unless instructed otherwise
• “Procedural Requirements” governing practices among IACS Members
• “IACS Charter” and “IACS Procedures” which define the purpose, aim and working procedures of the Association
• “Recommendations” relating to adopted resolutions that are not necessarily matters of Class but which IACS considers would be helpful to offer some advice to the marine industry
• “UR – Unified Requirements Status” advising on implementation status
• HF & TB for UR, UI, PR & Rec. containing the History and Technical Background files for the Unified Requirements, Unified Interpretations, Procedural Requirements and Recommendations
• “Quality Documents” containing QSCS (IACS’ Quality System Certification Scheme) description, Quality Management System Requirements, Audit Requirements, ACB (Accredited Certification Bodies) requirements and other quality procedures

The latest version of the Blue Book is available for downloading from the IACS website at www.iacs.org.uk/publications. Ship Designers, Consultants, Shipbuilders, Classification Societies, Ship-owners, Shipbrokers, Insurers, Associations, Accredited Certification Bodies, flag States, Port State Control, MOUs and the shipping industry at large are able to download the package free of charge at any time.

The latest release of the IACS Blue Book package continues and enhances our technical support to the shipping industry through IACS work and investment on technology, innovation, research and development both at the classification and statutory levels.

Contact: Derek Hodgson, Permanent Secretary
(London) 020 7976 0660

establish, review, promote and develop minimum technical requirements in relation to the design, construction, maintenance and survey of ships and other marine related facilities; and assist international regulatory bodies and standard organisations to develop, implement and interpret statutory regulations and industry standards in ship design, construction and maintenance, with a view to improving safety at sea and the prevention of marine pollution.

12 Jan 2015: Revised TB Reports for CSR BC & OT have been released by IACS.

Robert will join from the Cruise Line International Association where he is Secretary General.

He will formally take over from Derek Hodgson who retires as Permanent Secretary of IACS at the end of June 2015.

For more information contact:
Derek Hodgson
Permanent Secretary
+44 20 7976 0660
derekhodgson@iacs.org.uk