IACS Council meeting

The International Association of Classification Societies chaired by Philippe Donche-Gay of BV held its December Council meeting yesterday in London.

The flagship Common Structural Rules project for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers was discussed and a presentation delivered to industry representatives who attended the closing session. The Rules will enter into force on 1 July 2015.

The IACS expert group on structural safety of container ships reported on a post “MOL Comfort” review which it has carried out. This work has resulted in the development of two new IACS Unified Requirements (URs): UR S11A which is a longitudinal strength standard for container ships and URS34 dealing with functional requirements and load cases for direct analysis of container ships. These two important URs will be delivered during the first quarter of 2015.

Unified Requirements (URs) are minimum technical requirements adopted by all IACS members that refer to specific class rules requirements. URs are not intended to address all strength aspects of hull structures as that is the function of the class rules of individual members.

Two new IACS initiatives were also discussed: the first one on LNG bunkering guidelines and the second dealing with complex on-board systems.

LNG Bunkering Guidelines are presently being considered by a number of organisations and the IACS initiative will seek to build on what has already been introduced.

Complex systems is a topic of crucial importance for the industry as on-board systems develop rapidly in complexity. IACS is currently focussing on this subject with the formation of a dedicated Expert Group.

At the last tripartite meeting (Shipowners, Shipbuilders and Classification Societies) in Shanghai in October steps were taken to publicise these items to the industry participants and this continued at the Council meeting where plans for future cooperation were discussed with industry representatives.

For more information contact:
Derek Hodgson
Permanent Secretary
IACS
+44 20 7976 0660
permsec@iacs.org.uk

RINA commits to IACS chairmanship

International classification society RINA has committed major resources to support IACS (International Association of Classification Societies) during its year of chairmanship.

Roberto Cazzulo, Chairman of RINA Services SpA, was elected as Chairman of IACS Council at the end of June. He will lead an active team of senior personnel from RINA who will seek to continue the global technical leadership of IACS and to ensure it meets the needs of both the international shipping and shipbuilding industries and also regulators.

Says Cazzulo, “We firmly believe that by collaborating through IACS the leading classification societies of the world help raise safety, environmental and performance standards for the global shipping fleet. To that end RINA is willing to contribute the time and expertise of a serious team. I personally commit myself to driving forward IACS’ priorities this year and to helping to ensure a healthy and continuing dialogue with all stakeholders in our global maritime industry. In this complex global world no class society can go it alone. By working together we achieve much more than we could as the sum of a lot of societies trying to work by themselves.”

In addition to the chairmanship of Roberto Cazzulo, RINA has also committed the following senior staff to IACS:

Michele Francioni is RINA Chief Operating Officer and serves as RINA IACS Council Member.

Laura Scuteri is RINA Manager of Relations with Regulatory Bodies-Marine and Chairman of IACS General Policy Group.

Giovanna Carosi works on RINA’s relations with Regulatory Bodies-Marine, and serves as a member of the IACS General Policy Group.

Paolo Salza, RINA Chief Technical Officer, is the Chairman of the IACS Joint Working Group with the industry on a structured approach for the development of regulations.

Dino Cervetto is RINA Director of Technical Services. He participates in the IACS Steering Group on the Common Structural Rules (CSR) for Oil Tankers and Bulk Carriers.

Claudio Abbate is RINA Manager of Safety Unit and Co-ordinator of the Cruise Ships Centre of Excellence. In IACS he is a Member of the Statutory Panel and he is also the Vice-Chairman of the IMO Fire Protection Sub-Committee

Carlo Aiachini is RINA Manager of Machinery and Automation Unit. He serves as a member of the IACS Machinery Panel.

Gianluca Mantegazza is RINA Manager of Damage Analysis and Risk Assessment Section unit. He is the incoming Chairman of the IACS Survey Panel.

Enrico Gombi is RINA Manager of Calculation Tools. He serves as a member of the IACS Hull Panel.

Mikhael Markogiannis is Manager of the Greek Engineering Centre. He supports the IACS team for the RINA chairmanship and he is the contact point between the IACS Chairman and the Greek Marine Industry.

Claudia Filippone, RINA Manager of Communications, supports the IACS chairman on communication matters.

Cinzia Pica, Intercompany Communication Co-ordinator of RINA Group, supports the press office during RINA IACS chairmanship.

Detailed information on IACS’ strategy and work plan for the forthcoming year can be found at www.iacs.org.uk

 RINA Services S.p.A. is the RINA Group’s company active in ship classification, testing, inspection and certification services. RINA Group is a multi-national group which delivers verification, certification, conformity assessment, ship classification, environmental enhancement, product testing, site and vendor supervision, training and engineering consultancy across a wide range of industries and services. RINA Group operates through a network of companies covering Marine, Energy, Infrastructures & Real Estate, Transport & Logistics, Food & Agriculture, Environment & Sustainability, Finance & Public Institutions and Business Governance. With a turnover of around 280 million Euros in 2012, over 2,100 employees, and 150 offices in 53 countries worldwide, RINA Group is recognized as an authoritative member of key international organizations and an important contributor to the development of new legislative standards.  www.rina.org      

For more information:

Claudia Filippone

Head of Communications

RINA

+39 010 538 5643

Iacs.press@rina.org