The International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) is pleased to announce the release of the draft IACS harmonised Common Structural Rules (CSR) on the IACS website. As part of the agreed process of development, IACS invites Industry to offer comments on all parts of the draft Rules prior to year-end 2012.The Common Structural Rules (CSR) for Double Hull Oil Tankers and Bulk Carriers were adopted by IACS Council in December 2005 and came into force in April 2006. These two sets of Rules were developed independently and there were some variances in the adopted technical approaches for some elements of the Rules. To remove variations and achieve consistency, IACS made a commitment to Industry to harmonise the CSR, and the harmonisation project for the two sets of Rules began in 2008.
The harmonisation project also set out to achieve full compliance with the IMO Goal Based Standards (GBS) which come into force in the middle of 2016. With this objective in mind, this first release of the draft harmonised CSR and technical background are in compliance with the IMO Goal Based Standards (GBS), where Functional Requirements fall within the scope of these Rules.
The harmonisation project has delivered a single set of Rules comprised of common, harmonised requirements applicable to both Oil Tankers and Bulker Carriers with specific sections of additional requirements applicable to each ship type.
Presentations of the draft harmonised Rules are being planned for September in Busan, Shanghai, Tokyo, Houston, London and Athens.
The harmonisation of the Rules involves extensive technical work, testing and calibration, and now a period for the maritime industry and other stakeholders to review the draft harmonised CSR and raise questions, observations and general feedback.
This initial industry review period will be followed by a second industry review period in the Spring of 2013 and a review by IACS Societies' Technical Committees in the Autumn of 2013 with a view to adoption of the harmonised CSR by IACS Council in December 2013.
To aid with this task, IACS has set up, on the IACS website, a "Knowledge Centre" (KC) where questions, observations and feedback can be found. In addition to offering support during the review period, the "KC" will act as a depository of knowledge, explanations, common interpretations and understandings as well as facilitating the management and maintenance of the harmonised CSR in the future - thus facilitating uniform and consistent implementation of the final harmonised CSR. To access the knowledge centre click on the following link: http://iacs-csrkc.org.uk
IACS looks forward to the maritime industry's contribution to the project through its feedback on the draft harmonised CSR.