RS to enhance mooring equipment requirements
Russian Maritime Register of Shipping (RS) announced its plan to implement new requirements regarding mooring equipment of ships under construction. The amendments to the RS rules are expected to enter into force in the first quarter of 2021.
The new requirements will be integrated into Part III Equipment, Arrangements and Outfit of the Rules for the Classification and Construction of Sea-Going Ships and into the Collection of the RS Regulating Documents. In particular, the requirements will refer to the configuration and arrangement of the ship mooring equipment and its operation, min and max breaking loads, residual strength, mooring line wear and other criteria that affect operational safety of ships during mooring, as well as requirement for alternative mooring technologies and their safe implementation during the design of mooring systems.
Under the development of the new requirements RS analyzed the OCIMF Mooring Equipment Guidelines (MEG 4), IACS Unified Requirement A2 Shipboard fittings and supporting hull structures associated with towing and mooring on conventional ships as well as IMO activities on the safety enhancement of the mooring operations including draft amendments to SOLAS regulation II-1/3-8, the revised Guidance on shipboard towing and mooring equipment MSC.1/Circ.1175/Rev.1.
As RS Deputy Director General for Classification and Technical Supervision in Industry Sergey Shishkin noted, while implementing the new requirements RS strives to contribute to the application of the advanced engineering solutions in the design of mooring arrangements, enhancement of mooring operations safety and minimization of risks for crew and port personnel involved. After the amendments enter into force, RS will be able to confirm the compliance of the ships at the stages of design and construction with MEG 4 requirements. RS is also ready to offer a new service of checking the results of strength and durability calculations of mooring, towing and anchoring systems of sea-going ships and offshore facilities through modelling with the RS Anchored Structures software.
