Bureau Veritas issues international pilotage certification to Port of Cork

Leading classification society Bureau Veritas has issued its first certificate under the ISPO (International Standard for Maritime Pilot Organizations) standard of best practice for pilots and pilot organizations to the Pilotage Authority, Port of Cork, Ireland. The ISPO certification covers the Pilotage services and Vessel Traffic Management System.

The ISPO is an accessible industry specific standard, managed by a group of users, that improves safety and quality and provides transparency to shipowners and stakeholders on pilotage standards.

Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice-President and Head of Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore division, says, “The Port of Cork has adopted this industry code as a means of building continuous improvement into its pilotage operations. Bureau Veritas is pleased to be able to audit the pilotage and support this initiative. It is part of our own continual drive to support and deliver services which help shipowners and the marine community operate more effectively.”

Paul O’Regan, Harbour Master, Port of Cork, says, “Port of Cork Pilots have always been at the forefront of the industry when adapting to change and in consistently achieving the highest levels of safety and operational standards. The accreditation by Bureau Veritas from ISPO recognises the fact that the Cork Pilots and Pilotage Authority have, for many years, had a systematic approach to achieving first class port operations. The Port Company and Cork Pilots have worked hard with BV over the last twelve months in order to meet the requirements of ISPO and I believe this standard will achieve global recognition. The pilots and ports that achieve ISPO will be best placed to meet the needs of our maritime customers.”

The ISPO certification for the Port of Cork covers twelve pilots which safely managed mixed marine traffic handling over 9 million tonnes of cargo and 56 cruise ship calls during 2015.

http://www.ispo-standard.com

http://www.portofcork.ie

To download a hi-res photo of a Cork Pilot disembarking go to http://bit.ly/1OjycN7 or e mail john@merlinco.com

Bureau Veritas is a world-leading provider in testing, inspection and certification. Created in 1828, the Group has more than 66,500 employees in around 1,400 offices and laboratories located all across the world. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility. Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the Next 20 index. Compartment A, ISIN code FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI.

For more information, visit www.bureauveritas.com/marine-and-offshore

Marine client portal www.veristar.com

  

For more information:

Philippe Boisson

Bureau Veritas

+33 (0)1 55 24 71 98

philippe.boisson@bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas classed fleet passes 100 million gross tonnes

Strong growth in the numbers of ships being transferred into BV class has pushed the Bureau Veritas classed fleet past the 100 million gross tonnes milestone.

At the end of the first half of 2014 BV classed 10,700 ships totalling over 100 m gt.

Philippe Donche-Gay, Executive Vice President and Head of BV’s Marine & Offshore Division says, “Our classed fleet has doubled in size over the last eight years and it is gratifying that the growth is coming from clients who experience and recognise both our technical leadership and our responsiveness. In addition to newbuildings joining the fleet we are seeing increasing transfers of fleets of modern vessels to BV class.”

The classed fleet is well diversified with a strong presence in every sector of shipping. Apart from bulk, tanker and containerships, in all of which BV has an important market share, BV is a world leader in LNG, one of the few class societies with a major cruise ship portfolio, a world leader in classing tugs, offshore service and specialised vessels and in the top three class societies in the offshore field.

Donche-Gay says, “It is an important part of our strategy that we are present in every type of shipping so that we can deploy our experience and competence to help owners with any type of ship or offshore development.”

Didier Michaud-Daniel, Chief Executive Officer of Bureau Veritas, says, “Our expertise and innovation in the maritime industry were the founding blocks for the creation of the Bureau Veritas Group. We are proud of the long-term relationships that we have built with our clients based on mutual trust."

VISIT BV at SMM on Booth 101, Hall B3, Ground Floor

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 61,000 employees in around 1,330 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

www.bureauveritas.com  for corporate information www.veristar.com   for marine information

For more information:

Philippe Boisson
Bureau Veritas
+33 (0)1 55 24 71 98
philippe.boisson@bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas optimises container stowage and lashing

Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas has launched a voluntary notation for containerships which will allow more flexible container stowage depending on the ship’s loading condition.

The notation, LASHING WW, is based on ships being fitted with an approved lashing computer, which will allow computation of container stack weights and required lashing using acceleration levels corresponding to the ship’s loading condition and worldwide area of operation

Jean-Francois Segretain, Marine Technical Director, Bureau Veritas, Marine and Offshore division, says, “Current lashing and stowage rules for deck containers rely on defined transverse accelerations which are not really accurate for large modern vessels along their whole length. Our research and data from real ships in service shows that accelerations in the midships section of container vessels are always closely correlated with the natural roll period of the ship and could often be much less than those set down in the present rules for lashing calculations.

“Using the right software fitted on board, and taking into account the ship’s area of operation (worldwide or mainly in North Atlantic or North Pacific area) and loading condition, the appropriate accelerations can be used to optimise the loading plan or lashing or to allow heavier containers to be stowed higher in the tiers.”

BV’s calculations show that stack weights midships for ULCs using BV lashing software can be increased by up to 22 tonnes per container stack. Without the requirements of this notation, container ship lashing plans must be checked against the most demanding loading conditions, so requiring a maximum one-size-fits-all transverse acceleration figure. LASHING WW offers a more precise evaluation by using actual transverse accelerations without losing the safety margin.

Says Segretain, “This approach is simple and quick and offers much greater cargo and lashing flexibility without compromising safety, compared to existing rules or route-dependent systems which are still using the global assumed transversal accelerations without considering the influence of the natural roll period which varies with the loading condition of the ship.”

For a graphic go to http://bit.ly/1jw4QLQ or e mail john@merlinco.com

Visit Bureau Veritas at Posidonia Stand No 2.201

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 61,000 employees in around 1,330 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

www.bureauveritas.com for corporate information www.veristar.com for marine information

For more information:
Jean-Francois Segretain
Bureau Veritas
+33 (1) 55 24 72 00
jean-francois.segretain@bureauveritas.com

Philippe Boisson
Bureau Veritas
+33 (0)1 55 24 71 98
philippe.boisson@bureauveritas.com

Bureau Veritas speeds CSR-H implementation

Leading international classification society Bureau Veritas has completed a series of consequence assessments with all the major shipyards in Korea, China and Japan to help them speed the implementation of the IACS Harmonised Common Structural Rules. The assessments of current yard designs were made using BV’s fully adapted suites of user-friendly software for structural analysis, MARS2000 and VeriSTAR Hull.

 

Christophe Chauviere, head of the development department for Bureau Veritas’ Marine and Offshore division, says, “Because BV played a leading role in the harmonisation of the IACS Common Structural Rules we were able to rapidly update our software for the new standards. As our software tools are not class-specific and many yards already use our tools we were able to help them check out their designs and adjust them to be ready for the entry into force on July 1, 2015.”

 

MARS2000 is BV’s tool for 2D prescriptive requirements assessment. It is free of charge and free access and its fast and user-friendly input process allow quick assessments of designs against the new harmonised rules. BV has invested heavily in training across its network to ensure local offices can support yards wherever they are.

 

MARS 2000 delivers assessment of global yielding, ultimate and residual strength criteria, local scantling minimums including yielding and buckling of strakes, longitudinal and transverse stiffeners for cross sections and bulkheads, fatigue calculations of connections between longitudinal stiffeners and primary structure, assessment of the side frames and grab loads for bulk carriers and assessment of the primary supporting members ring for oil tankers.

 

“We made it easy for the yards by simplifying conversion of databases for the separate CSR rules for tankers and bulkers into a CSR-H database with the necessary extra data,” explains Chauviere.

 

VeriSTAR Hull is the BV rule tool for performing analysis of three dimensional models by finite element calculation. VeriSTAR Hull is already available and compliant with the last version of CSR-H including new requirements concerning buckling, aft most - foremost cargo hold assessment and fatigue check. “During the CSR-H implementation in VeriSTAR Hull, based on our experience of CSRs, a lot of attention has been given to adapting the tools to reduce the time needed for pre and post processing,” says Chauviere. “Yards need to react quickly to new design requirements and these tools deliver rapid and thorough assessment fully compliant with CSR-H. It is the attention to ease of use and speed which makes them stand out.”

 

For a graphic of VeriSTAR Hull in use please email john@merlinco.com or go to http://bit.ly/pYqIVs

 

·       Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 61,000 employees in around 1,330 offices and laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

 

www.bureauveritas.com for corporate information                              www.veristar.com for marine information

 

For more information:

Christophe Chauviere Bureau Veritas +33(0)1 55 24 74 10 christophe.chauviere@bureauveritas.com   Philippe Boisson Bureau Veritas +33 (0)1 55 24 71 98 philippe.boisson@bureauveritas.com

Schat-Harding calls for consensus on lifeboat hooks

Leading lifeboat manufacturer and service provider Schat-Harding says IMO and some parts of the shipping industry need to move more quickly to a consensus on vital lifeboat safety issues which have important consequences for the safety of seafarers.

David Bradley, vice president operations, Schat-Harding Service says, “Good things are worth waiting for. But there is such a thing as waiting too long. The IMO debate over lifeboat hooks has gone on for too long. Seafarers deserve better. They deserve clear standards for lifeboat hooks and a clear timetable for replacing those which don’t meet the new standards. That will ensure their safety and renew their confidence in their boats. A lack of agreement at IMO by some industry bodies and flag states has pushed back consensus on this vital topic, and it could be two years or more before we have a properly agreed amendment to SOLAS for lifeboat hooks.”

According to Bradley there is a broad consensus that the current standards set by IMO for on-load release hooks have failed seafarers. “It is time for a new generation of hooks, and the fact is that hooks are available which meet all the proposed regulatory requirements,” says Bradley. “But shipyards won’t specify them and owners will not rush to replace existing hooks while they still meet regulations, despite the well-known risks to seafarers. Draft guidelines to ensure that on-load release mechanisms for lifeboats are replaced by those complying with new, stricter safety standards under SOLAS were discussed in February 2010 by the IMO Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment (DE 53). But no agreement was reached. Similarly, no consensus was achieved at the 87th session of the Maritime Safety Committee in May 2010. There are good draft standards on the table but no consensus to turn them into regulations and the issue has again been referred back for further work to the IMO subcommittee on ship design and equipment. This will take place in March this year, and the findings taken in May 2011 to the 89th session of the MSC. That is unlikely to be the end of the story unless we see a move towards consensus by all parties. We hope that following the MSC 89 meeting in May we will have guidelines in place which will provide some clarity and consistency going forward. And we hope that the date now set as a target for introducing new SOLAS standards, 1st July, 2014, can be brought forward in the interests of safety.”

Schat-Harding’s new range of SeaCure on-load release hooks are the safest product of their kind on the market and are fully compliant with all proposed revisions to SOLAS. But too many seafarers will be denied the safer hook until agreement is reached at IMO.

“Safety-conscious owners are re-hooking their boats now and getting ahead of the game, and so are cost-conscious owners who do not want to be caught in a regulation-driven rush to rehook,” says Bradley “Shipowners have already turned to Schat-Harding to retrofit over 130 new hook sets in the last six months. Whatever the delays at IMO, Schat-Harding is there alongside owners and seafarers, helping them to meet and exceed industry safety standards at all times. But we are just one manufacturer and the shipping industry as a whole needs a consensus to put seafarers’ safety first and get new standards in place.”


To download a hi res strong photo of the SeaCure being installed click on:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Merlinclients/SchatHarding

or e mail john@merlinco.com


Schat-Harding is the world’s leading supplier of lifeboat and evacuation systems for the offshore, cruise and shipping industries. With factories and offices in Norway, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Panama, Singapore, Spain, Canada, the Czech Republic, the USA and China, and agents or service partners in thirty other countries, Schat-Harding provides a global service and supply network. Brands now owned by Schat-Harding include Watercraft, Viking Marine, Waterman, Fiskars, Davit-Company, MASECO, Watercraft America, William Mills Marine, Schat, Harding, Mulder & Rijke and the Beiyang Boatbuilding Co. www.schat-harding.com


For more information:

David Bradley
VP Operations
USH Service
+44 (0) 2392 581331
david.bradley@schat-harding.com

Jennifer Manning
Marketing Manager
USH Service
+47 45 86 74 47
jennifer.manning@schat-harding.com