Goal-based construction standards for new ships

The premise behind the development of goal-based standards is that IMO should play a larger role in determining the fundamental standards to which new ships are built.There is no intention that IMO would take over the detailed work of the classification societies, but rather that IMO would state what has to be achieved, leaving classification societies, ship designers and naval architects, marine engineers and ship builders the freedom to decide on how best to employ their professional skills to meet the required standards. At present there is no international legislation or guidance on these matters.

IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has instigated an historic change in the way international standards for ship construction are to be determined and implemented in the future.

The adoption of so-called "goal-based standards" (GBS) for oil tankers and bulk carriers by the MSC at its 87th session on 20 May 2010, means that newly-constructed vessels of these types will have to comply with structural standards conforming to functional requirements developed and agreed by the Committee. This means that, for the first time in its history, IMO will be setting standards for ship construction.

The Committee also adopted guidelines that, equally for the first time, give the Organization a role in verifying compliance with SOLAS requirements. The guidelines establish the procedures to be followed in order to verify that the design and construction rules of an Administration or its recognized organization, for bulk carriers and/or oil tankers, conform to the adopted GBS. The verification process consists of two main elements: self assessment of the rules by the entity submitting them to IMO for verification; followed by an audit, to be carried out by experts appointed by the Organization, of the rules, the self-assessment and the supporting documentation.

Since the beginning of the 2000s, Governments and international organizations had expressed the view that the Organization should play a larger role in determining the structural standards to which new ships are built. The philosophy underpinning this move has been that ships should be designed and constructed for a specified design life and that, if properly operated and maintained, they should remain safe and environmentally friendly throughout their service life.

The MSC formally adopted International Goal based Ship Construction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers, along with amendments to Chapter II-1 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), making their application mandatory, with an entry into force date of 1 January 2012.

The new SOLAS regulation II-1/3-10 will apply to oil tankers and bulk carriers of 150m in length and above. It will require new ships to be designed and constructed for a specified design life and to be safe and environmentally friendly, in intact and specified damage conditions, throughout their life. Under the regulation, ships should have adequate strength, integrity and stability to minimize the risk of loss of the ship or pollution to the marine environment due to structural failure, including collapse, resulting in flooding or loss of watertight integrity.

The MSC further adopted Guidelines for the information to be included in a Ship Construction File.

The notion of "goal-based ship construction standards" was introduced in IMO at the 89th session of the Council in November 2002, through a proposal by the Bahamas and Greece, suggesting that the Organization should develop ship construction standards that would permit innovation in design but ensure that ships are constructed in such a manner that, if properly maintained, they remain safe for their entire economic life. The standards would also have to ensure that all parts of a ship can be easily accessed to permit proper inspection and ease of maintenance. The Council referred the proposal to the 77th meeting of the MSC in May/June 2003 for consideration.

The MSC commenced detailed technical work on the development of goal-based ship construction standards at its 78th session in May 2004, when a comprehensive general debate of the issues involved took place and the Committee agreed to utilize a five tier system initially proposed by the Bahamas, Greece and the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS), consisting of the following:

Tier I - Goals
High-level objectives to be met.

Tier II - Functional requirements
Criteria to be satisfied in order to conform to the goals.

Tier III - Verification of conformity
Procedures for verifying that the rules and regulations for ship design and construction conform to the goals and functional requirements.

Tier IV - Rules and regulations for ship design and construction
Detailed requirements developed by IMO, national Administrations and/or recognized organizations and applied by national Administrations, and/or recognized organizations acting on their behalf, to the design and construction of a ship in order to conform to the goals and functional requirements.

Tier V - Industry practices and standards
Industry standards, codes of practice and safety and quality systems for shipbuilding, ship operation, maintenance, training, manning, etc., which may be incorporated into, or referenced in, the rules and regulations for the design and construction of a ship.

The goal-based standards adopted at this session reflect tiers I to III.

IMO Secretary-General Efthimios E. Mitropoulos has described the adoption of GBS as "a significant and important breakthrough for the Organization, not only in terms of how future regulations will be developed, but also with respect to the role that IMO will play in verifying compliance, in this particular case, with SOLAS requirements." He added, "the concept that IMO should state what has to be achieved, leaving classification societies, ship designers and naval architects, marine engineers and ship builders the freedom to decide on how best to employ their professional skills to meet the required standards is a sound one and I congratulate the Committee on the painstaking and hard work carried out to turn the concept into reality."

Latest work on goal-based standards
Background
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Maritme Safety Committee (MSC) 82nd session: November-December 2006

The MSC, at its 82nd session held from 29 November to 8 December 2006, re-established the Working Group on Goal-based Standards and further progressed the work on the issue.

The Committee has worked on the basis of a prescriptive approach for GBS for provisions for hull construction for bulk carriers and oil tankers and of a safety level approach for all other ship types.

With regard to the GBS for bulk carriers and oil tankers, the MSC has already agreed on a five-tier system, consisting of goals (Tier I), functional requirements (Tier II), verification of compliance criteria (Tier III), technical procedures and guidelines, classification rules and industry standards (Tier IV) and codes of practice and safety and quality systems for shipbuilding, ship operation, maintenance, training, manning, etc. (Tier V). Tier I goals and Tier II functional requirements have already been agreed in principle.

Following consideration of the matter, the MSC approved the Plan for the pilot project on trial application of the Tier III verification process using the IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) and agreed that the nomination of candidates for the Pilot Panel should be open to all, while the selection of members by the MSC Chairman, in consultation with the Secretariat, would assure that the Panel would be balanced. The objective of the pilot project is to conduct a trial application of Tier III for oil tankers and bulk carriers with the intention of validating the Tier III verification framework, identifying shortcomings and making proposals for improvement.

The MSC agreed to include ergonomic principles as functional requirements in Tier II, and the Group prepared revised Tier II functional requirements.

The MSC noted that the Group agreed on a revised version of the Ship Construction File (SCF) and that the SCF, as a result of GBS, could become an independent mandatory requirement under SOLAS chapter II 1 and not part of the classification rules. However, most of the content in the file would emerge from the application of classification rules.

A correspondence group on GBS for oil tankers and bulk carriers was established, to monitor the pilot project and disseminate information on its progress and to develop draft SOLAS amendments for the incorporation of GBS for oil tankers and bulk carriers in SOLAS chapter II-1.

A Correspondence Group on the Safety Level Approach was established, to progress work to determine the current safety level in a holistic high-level manner, divided by ship types, in order to develop Tier I goals by: distinguishing ship types in a clear manner resulting in definitions of generic ship types for the purpose of statistical analysis; determining time windows to be used for historical data when establishing statistics for risk categories; and reviewing available statistical data. The Group will also consider the linkage between formal safety assessment (FSA) and GBS and consider the tier structure so far agreed for GBS for oil tankers and bulk carriers for use in the safety level approach.

Both groups will submit a report to MSC 83, scheduled for October 2007, which will also consider the report of the pilot project with the IACS CSR.

Maritme Safety Committee (MSC) 81st session: May 2006

The MSC at its 81st sesssion continued its work on developing goal-based standards (GBS) for new ship construction. The work has a five-tier structure: goals (Tier I), functional requirements (Tier II), verification of compliance criteria (Tier III), technical procedures and guidelines, classification rules and industry standards (Tier IV) and codes of practice and safety and quality systems for shipbuilding, ship operation, maintenance, training, manning, etc. (Tier V).

Intersessional work by a correspondence group was reviewed by the MSC and a GBS Working Group continued the work during the session. The work plan for GBS includes consideration of the probabilistic safety level methodology in the framework of GBS; completion of Tier II - functional requirements; development of Tier III - verification of compliance criteria; implementation of GBS; incorporation of GBS into IMO instruments; development of a ship construction file and consideration of the need for the development of a ship inspection and maintenance file; and consideration of the need to review consistency and adequacy of scope across the tiers.

In relation to GBS for bulk carriers and oil tankers, the MSC agreed Tier I goals and Tier II functional requirements, including a new requirement concerning recycling, with the proviso that these might need to be adjusted following completion of Tier III (verification of compliance).

In terms of Tier III, the MSC noted that the GBS working group proposed that the verification would be carried out by an expert group composed of independent experts nominated by Administrations according to their knowledge and expertise relevant to the subject under consideration. Tier III verification criteria would contain the information necessary to guide the group of experts to complete the verification of the classification society rules. Requests for verification could be submitted by a single classification society or by a group of classification societies.

In terms of incorporation of GBS in IMO instruments, there was general agreement that Tier I should be prepared in the form of amendments to SOLAS chapter II-1, whereas Tiers II and III could be included in a separate Code or a resolution, to be made mandatory under the SOLAS amendments. The Tier III process details as well as the Tier III verification guidelines could be footnoted as guidelines to be developed by the Organization so that they could be easily amended if necessary.

In considering the work outstanding in order to implement GBS for new ship construction for bulk carriers and oil tankers, it was agreed that carrying out a pilot project using the IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) would be advantageous to help uncover issues that had not been discussed and resolved previously and to also determine what, if any, changes were needed. This pilot project should be completed before amending SOLAS.

The MSC established a correspondence group to progress work intersessionally and a second correspondence group to work on the safety level approach for developing GBS.

Maritme Safety Committee (MSC) 80th session: May 2005

Basic principles and goals for goal-based standards (GBS) for new ship construction were agreed in principle by IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) when it met for its 80th session from 11 to 20 May 2005.

The five-tier system on which the development of GBS is being based consists of goals (Tier I), functional requirements (Tier II), verification of compliance criteria (Tier III), technical procedures and guidelines, classification rules and industry standards (Tier IV) and codes of practice and safety and quality systems for shipbuilding, ship operation, maintenance, training, manning, etc. (Tier V).

The MSC agreed in principle with the basic principles of goal-based standards and with the Tier I goals developed by the Working Group on Goal-based New Ship Construction Standards.

The agreed basic principles state that IMO goal-based standards are:

The Tier 1 goals are based on the premise that - for all new ships - "ships are to be designed and constructed for a specified design life and to be safe and environmentally-friendly, when properly operated and maintained under the specified operating and environmental conditions, in intact and specified damage conditions, throughout their life".

The Working Group also made progress on developing the Tier II functional requirements, agreeing that for new oil tankers and bulk carriers in unrestricted navigation (the ship is not subject to any geographical restrictions (i.e. any oceans, any seasons) except as limited by the ship's capability for operation in ice); the specified design life is not to be less than 25 years and they should be designed in accordance with North Atlantic environmental conditions and relevant long-term sea state scatter diagrams. Other functional requirements for these ship types were agreed by the Working Group, including those relating to structural strength, fatigue life, residual strength, protection against corrosion and so on.

The MSC approved the work plan for future work on GBS and agreed to establish a Correspondence Group to develop draft Tier III criteria for the verification of compliance.

The work plan for future work includes; consideration of the probabilistic risk-based methodology in the framework of GBS; completion of Tier II - functional requirements; development of Tier III - verification of compliance criteria; implementation of GBS; incorporation of GBS into IMO instruments; development of a ship construction file and consideration of the need for the development of a ship inspection and maintenance file; and consideration of the need to review consistency and adequacy of scope across the tiers.

Maritme Safety Committee (MSC) 79th session: December 2004

The MSC agreed, in general, that work on goal-based new ship construction standards would be based on the premise that the standards should be broad, over-arching goals against which ship safety should be verified at design and construction stages and during ship operation. They are not intended to set prescriptive requirements or to give specific solutions. The main objective is to introduce a system whereby the standards would be a measure against which the safety of a ship could be assessed during its design and construction, as well as later on during its operation

A Working Group on goal-based new ship construction standards met during the session and agreed a work plan for further work.

Its work plan includes the further development of the first three tiers on which the standard setting process would be based: Tier I (Goals), Tier II (Functional requirements) and Tier III (Verification of compliance criteria).

It was agreed that Tiers IV (Technical procedures and guidelines, classification rules and industry standards) and V (Codes of practice and safety and quality systems for shipbuilding, ship operation, maintenance, training, manning, etc.) would be developed by classification societies, other recognized organizations and industry organizations. The work plan also includes an item to explore the linkage between Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) and goal-based standards and an item on how goal-based standards could be incorporated in the appropriate IMO instruments.

The Working Group developed Tier I goals, along with working descriptions, which address safety and environmental friendliness with respect to structural integrity and strength, dismantling and recycling and the need for design and construction to provide for safe access, inspection and proper maintenance. They include provisions regarding operating and environmental conditions and specified design life.

The group also developed Tier II functional requirements, each with a working description. The Group recognized that the development of Tier I goals and Tier II functional requirements is an iterative process. Therefore, while development of Tier I leads to the development of Tier II, the results of the development of Tier II will lead to further consideration and development of Tier I. Both the Tier I goals and the Tier II functional requirements will be subject to further consideration.

Background

The notion of "goal-based ship construction standards" was introduced in IMO at the 89th session of the Council in November 2002 through a proposal by the Bahamas and Greece, suggesting that IMO should develop initial ship construction standards that would permit innovation in design but ensure that ships are constructed in such a manner that, if properly maintained, they could remain safe for their entire economic life. The standards would also have to ensure that all parts of a ship can be easily accessed to permit proper inspection and ease of maintenance. The Council referred the proposal to the 77th meeting of the Maritime Safety Committee of the Organization in May/June 2003 for in-depth discussion.

MSC 77 considered the issue as requested and recommended that the 90th session of the Council, C 90, should consider the matter further in the context of the development of the Organization's Strategic Plan. The Committee also agreed to include a new item on "Goal-based new ship construction standards" in its work programme and agenda for the forthcoming meeting.

C 90, in considering the strategy and policy of the Organization approved the strategic directions for the Organization regarding the development of goal-based standards for the design and construction of new ships. Subsequently, at its twenty-second extraordinary session, the Council included in the strategic directions the notion that "The IMO will establish goal-based standards for the design and construction of new ships".

The biannual IMO Assembly, at its twenty-third session, adopted the Strategic plan for the Organization for the six-year period 2004 to 2010 and, inter-alia, resolved that "the IMO would establish goal based standards for the design and construction of new ships" (resolution A.944(23)). This decision was also reflected in resolution A.943(23) on the long-term work plan of the Organization, up to 2010, where an item on "Goal-based new ship construction standards" was introduced under the list of general subjects.

MSC 78 May 2004

At MSC 78 in May 2004, the Maritime Safety Committee considered submissions by various Members regarding goal-based new ship construction standards and discussed a number of important issues raised in the documents submitted. It agreed that a Working Group should meet at the next session, in December (MSC 79). Work has continued since then.

Goal-based standards – a new approach to the International Regulation of Ship Construction. Article by Mrs Heike Hoppe, published in the WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, October 2005, Vol.4, no.2.
The development of goal-based new ship construction standards is a new subject matter of high importance for IMO which has been included in the Organization’s strategic and long-term work plans and also in the work programme of its Maritime Safety Committee. This paper briefly describes the meaning of “goal-based” regulation in general and looks at its application to ship construction. The on-going work at IMO is presented, results achieved to date are explained and an outlook is given regarding the work still to be carried out.