There is an increasing demand for sophisticated types of ships carrying personnel performing specialized work onboard. Such personnel are neither crew nor passengers as defined in the 1974 SOLAS Convention. IMO has recognised that certain safety standards supplementing SOLAS may be accepted in lieu of considering these ships as passenger ships.
Rules for Classification of Special Purpose Ships (SPS)
Introduction
Recommended provisions have been published as a voluntary code, Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships 2008, adopted by IMO resolution MSC.266(84) (the SPS code). This version replaced an earlier version first published in 1983. Depending on the number of persons carried, compliance with the code will result in a safety level between that of an ordinary dry cargo ship and a passenger ship carrying the same number of persons.
Class Notation SPS
The new optional and voluntary DNV notation SPS can be given to ships designed and built in compliance with the 2008 SPS code and can be considered suitable for carriage of special personnel in addition to its conventional crew. The new SPS code and the DNV Class Notation SPS do to a large extent take into consideration that many SOLAS provisions for cargo ships have been substantially improved since the first SPS Code was adopted. It is expected that this might in some cases simplify conversion of relatively new dry cargo ships into SPS ships in the future.
Motivation
So far only a few flag states have implemented the SPS code in national legislation. However, several coastal states require that such offshore service vessels comply with the code when operating in their waters. DNV has seen an increasing interest from owners and yards to design and ensure compliance for such vessels as SPS ships. It is believed that a SPS class notation will have value for owners as it would signal externally that the ship is designed for compliance with the additional requirements of the 2008 SPS Code, in particular for flags where statutory SPS certificates are not available. The DNV class notation will include criteria for approval, survey and certification for SPS ships.
Rules
The rules for the optional class notation SPS in Pt.5 Ch.7 Sec.18 is an implementation of the 2008 SPS code containing those elements of the code that are not already covered by main class and the cargo ship rules. Such additional requirements are found within:
■ Damage stability, based on SOLAS chapter
II-1 as applicable from 2009–11–20
■ Machinery, generally corresponding with
passenger ship requirements
■ Compliance with rules for class notation
E0 (periodically unattended machinery space)
■ Electrical installations and emergency
source of power, partially as for passenger ships
■ Fire protection, life-saving appliances,
partially as for passenger ships
With the introduction of the SPS notation, care has been taken to avoid duplicating provisions that are already covered by main class and cargo ship rules. References to SOLAS from the original text have been replaced with DNV Rule references where practical. The rule text also includes a list of supplementary drawings to be submitted for ships requesting the SPS notation.
Surveys
Survey requirements are in general as for cargo ships. Some periodical surveys are as for passenger ships, i.e. subdivision (watertight integrity), machinery and electrical installations, emergency source of power and fire protection.
For further information contact our Maritime Service Centre
Datum: maandag 14 december 2009