Seatrade Cruise News is part of the Informa Markets Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

IMO approves guidance for watertight doors on passenger ships

IMO approves guidance for watertight doors on passenger ships
Draft amendments to SOLAS to clarify when watertight doors may be opened during a voyage and other safety-related measures springing from the Costa Concordia accident were approved during IMO's recent Marine Safety Committee session.

The MSC approved guidance for watertight doors on passenger ships which may be opened during navigation.

This guidance includes appendices containing the procedure for the determination of the impact of open watertight doors on ship survivability (floatability assessment), technical standards for watertight doors on passenger ships, flow chart on guidance for permitting watertight doors on passenger ships to remain open during navigation and illustration of application of the floatability assessment under hazardous conditions.

In other work of the MSC the long-term action plan on passenger ship safety was updated to include consideration of the inclusion of inclinometer measurements within all voyage data recorders, development of more detailed assessment criteria for recognizing manning agencies and development of guidelines on the appropriate assignment of trained crew to emergency duties.

Also covered were the development of guidelines for comprehensive risk assessment, passage planning and position monitoring, and guidelines for effective bridge resource management and to remove distractions.