Amendments to Chapter II of the LSA Code and Chapter III of SOLAS concerning lifejackets have been adopted by the IMO through resolutions MSC.207(81) and MSC 201(81) respectively.
The amendments, effective from 1st July 2010, concern new requirements for the approval and the additional carriage of lifejackets.

A revision to Regulation III/7 of the SOLAS Convention, which concerns personal life-saving appliances, will require all passenger ships to provide lifejackets for ’infants’ on board, and suitable accessories to allow adult life jackets to be used by all persons, regardless of size.

The regulation applies from July 1, 2010, and will require passenger ships on voyages less than 24 hours to provide a number of infant lifejackets equal to at least 2.5% of the number of passengers on board. Passenger ships on voyages of 24 hours or more must provide infant lifejackets for each infant on board.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has issued Marine Order No 57 (Issue 3) and Marine Notice 6/2010, relating to helicopter operations on board ships in Australian waters. These are available at the AMSA website www.amsa.gov.au and are attached to this Classification News.

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File	Description	File size
Lr-helicopter-operation-australia.pdf	Helicopter operations on board ships in Australian waters	746 Kb

Oil tankers of 150 GT and above engaged in the transfer of oil cargo at sea (STS operations) will need onboard, from first periodical survey after 01 January 2011, an STS operations Plan approved by the ship Flag Administration, describing how STS operations are to be conducted.

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File	Description	File size
27_RINA_MNO_July 2010_Issue27.pdf	MARPOL ANNEX I NEW CHAPTER 8 STS OPERATIONS PLAN	209 Kb

The IMO MEPC’s working group on energy efficiency for ships (EE-WG1) met in London on June 27–July 2 to further develop the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)
and Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) for ships.

As is well known by now, the EEDI is intended to provide a measure of the energy efficiency of a vessel design, thus pushing the industry towards designing and building ships that will emit less CO2 when in operation. The development of the EEDI has been a protracted process due to both technical challenges and the political difficulties inherent in obtaining an international agreement on anything pertaining to CO2.

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File	Description	File size
Co2-emissions-regulatory.pdf	CO2 emissions from ships – latest IMO regulatory developments	103 Kb

Coupled with a growing increase in environmental awareness, unstable fuel prices in recent years have spurred demand for further review of the fuel efficiency and operational economics of ships in terms of the effect that winds and waves have on ship performance.

In February 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a Vessel General Permit (VGP)
under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The VGP covers all vessels of 24
metres (79 feet) or more, except fishing vessels, which intend to navigate inside US territorial waters
(3 nm zone) and contains regulations relating to the US national environmental standard.

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New_york-Ballast-water-Grey-water.pdf	New York State Ballast Water, Gray Water and Bilge Water Discharge Standards	89 Kb

Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Vessel General Permit (VGP), New York State has included specific ballast water requirements.

After 1 January 2012, each ship that operates in New York waters must have a ballast water treatment system that meets a standard which is in effect 100 times greater tha n the IMO standard.

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New York Extension Request.doc	Gray Water New York Extension request	122 Kb

General information for existing ships, i.e. constructed before 2010-01-01.
In order to implement the operational requirements for the load testing of gangways and accommodation ladders stated in MSC.1/Circ.1331, the fi rst load test is to be carried out in conjunction with the delivery of the vessel or, for ships delivered before 2010-01-01, at the fi rst scheduled dry-docking of the vessel after 2010-01-01

Infomarine On-Line Technical Library

File	Description	File size
DNV-accomodation-ladders.pdf	In order to implement the operational requirements for the load testing of gangways and accommodation ladders stated in MSC.1/Circ.1331, the fi rst load test is to be carried out..	103 Kb

Regulation 15.6 of the Revised Annex VI of MARPOL 73/78 requires that within 1 July 2010, all tankers carrying crude oil will be required to carry and implement a ship-specific Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Management Plan, approved by the Administration.