Ship operators sailing in polar regions will for the first time have
a set of consistent standards on key safety[ds_preview] parameters when the International Code for Ships Operating in Polar Waters (The
Polar Code) is implemented. While this is a significant positive step, further work is needed to ensure that the Code’s provisions and requirements can be interpreted and applied in a uniform manner.
Following adoption at last year’s 94th session of the Maritime Safety Committee, and assuming a similarly smooth process at the 68th session of the Marine and Environmental Protection Committee in May this year, the Code could be in force as soon as January 2017. The Code defines for the first time, a Polar service temperature, setting a benchmark temperature for operational functionality. Previously, a multitude of temperature definitions were used in ship specifications, class notations and operational guidance. A standard temperature definition is, therefore, a step towards the consistency demanded by industry. How this temperature will be used for material and equipment specification and testing has to be established but existing rules and references to temperature will need updating.
Central to the Code is a comprehensive assessment for establishing procedures or operational limitations that account for any operating and environmental conditions and define hazards found in Polar waters. This assessment is directly linked to certification, since the outcome of the assessment will be recorded on the Polar Ship Certificate. Most of the participants in the Code’s development agree that safety and environmental protection are enhanced significantly by the mandatory requirements contained in Part A of the Code. In common with many IMO instruments, there are provisions in the Code that require interpretation to ensure consistent application by the Administrations and/or their Recognised Organisations.
Although useful guidance on the scope of the assessment is contained within the non-mandatory Part B, further specification is required for consistency and to ensure that any limitations recorded on the certificate are unambiguous, to avoid port state detentions.
The guidance for assessing operational capabilities and limitations has yet to be developed by the IMO, although it is referenced in the Code, and the conclusion of this work will be essential to establishing safe and uniform operational limits. During MSC 94, a correspondence group was established to advance this process and was directed by the Committee to consider POLARIS, a standard system of determining limitations developed by IACS with the support of Administrations including Canada, Russia and Finland. The target for POLARIS is for a consistent, transparent system of guidance for identifying the ice conditions in which a ship can safely operate, depending on its ice class. The Polar Code explicitly recognises the »Polar Classes« as defined in the IACS UR I Requirements Concerning Polar Class, and it pins structural and machinery system capability to this standard. A provision in the Code allows for the use of other standards that offer an equivalent level of safety. UR I provides the shipping industry with a modern, uniform and transparent standard based on physics and rational structural response. The key challenge in determining »equivalency« against the Polar Class designations is the selection of the margins surrounding »equivalent«.
In terms of hull area, the extents across old and new class designations can be dramatic. Some old designations are tied to the distance from bow or stern, while newer designations have adopted a more precise approach that takes hull frame and waterline angles into account. Additionally the balance between plating and framing strength has changed with UR I, with plate thickness marginally reduced and framing strength and stability (especially in an overload situation) increased. Propulsion system and propeller design requirements also differ.
James Bond is Director of Shared Technology at ABS and Chair of IACS Expert Group on the Polar Code. Rob Hindley is Lloyd’s Register’s Lead Specialist – Arctic Technology and IACS representative in the IMO Polar Code Working Group
