Tag: Marine

‘Give me an example’ … ‘How is that done?’ … Learning from others is a vital part of business life. The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has just published ‘Example Redundancy Concept and Annual DP Trials for a DP Class 3 Construction Vessel’ (IMCA M 225) as a companion volume to ‘Guidance for developing and conducting annual DP trials programmes for DP vessels’ (IMCA M 190 – published in 2011), which described the method for creating an annual DP trials programme. “The new IMCA M 225 has been developed to provide an example of how the guidance in IMCA M

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Maritime Labour Convention (MLC 2006) enters into force on 20 August 2013; and the International Marine Contractors Association is doing all that it can to ensure that its members are fully in the picture by means of Information Notes; new information on its website; use of social media; and involvement with a key offshore support vessel (OSV) conference. The MLC will affect all companies that operate ships or employ personnel who work on board. The MLC establishes international standards for the living and working conditions of seafarers. However, the MLC defines ‘seafarer’ as ‘any person

The development of dynamic positioning (DP) systems has grown over the past 35 years, with reliable and robust methods of positioning essential for safe vessel operations at offshore installations. This growth has in turn stimulated the development of DP position measurement sensors which have become more sophisticated as technology has allowed. The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has just published”Guidance on RADius Relative Positioning System” (IMCA M 224) describing the RADius microwave radar system. “This new document is produced by IMCA as an aid to members and others using position reference systems and forms part of a series of documents

‘Guidance for developing and conducting annual DP trials programmes for DP vessels: Executive Summary’ is the latest publication from the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA). The full guidance document was developed because there were widely differing approaches to annual dynamic positioning (DP) trials throughout the industry. This IMCA guidance (IMCA M 190) is designed to promote a consistent approach to achieving an acceptable, universal standard for annual DP trials, with the Executive Summary (IMCA M 190A) providing an overview of its main elements. “Classification society rules generally call for brief annual surveys that may not even include sea trials and

The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published Guidance on Operational Activity Planning (IMCA M 220) to provide a brief overview of tabulated methods that are increasingly being used in the planning and execution of offshore marine vessel projects and routine offshore support activities. “Operational activity planning applies to all sectors of offshore marine operations, including offshore drilling, project and construction vessels and offshore supply vessels,” explains IMCA’s Technical Director, Jane Bugler.”Although usually applied to dynamically positioned (DP) vessels, the processes described in our new guidance can be used for non-DP vessels.” She adds that”operational activity planning comprises three processes:

Example specification for a DP FMEA for a new DP vessel (IMCA M 219) is a newly published document from the International Marine Contractors Association that provides, as the title indicates, an example of a specification for a dynamic positioning (DP) failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) of a new DP vessel to be carried out prior to vessel delivery, probably by the shipyard as a contractual deliverable to the new owner. This first FMEA should be seen as a benchmark for subsequent analyses. “The objective of the FMEA is to identify the single point failures in any system in