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Lloyd’s Register launches first ever airborne noise notation for ships in ports

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has released a new airborne noise emission notation (ABN) and ShipRight procedure to meet increasing demand for a standard and methodology to control airborne noise emissions from ships.

Ports around the world have seen an increase in problems with excessive noise and complaints from neighbours, especially those located in residential areas. This has been highlighted as a problem by the NEPTUNES (Noise Exploration Program to Understand Noise Emitted by Seagoing Ships) project, of which many of the biggest ports in the world are members.

According to LR, a port is usually considered as an “industrial plant” with respect to noise legislation, and ships in port are considered noise sources that are counted in the port’s overall noise emissions. There is currently no regulation of the airborne noise emission from individual ships when they are in port, but ports are held accountable for the level of noise emissions from the ships entering or using their facilities.

The new notation defines a set of limit levels for airborne noise emission from ships, which enables ports to better monitor overall noise levels from ship calls. It will assist ports in determining which and how many ships can access the most noise sensitive areas of the port and also allow ports to specify ships require a certain ABN notation to stay in a noise sensitive area of the port. Additionally, the new ABN notation enables ship owners to demonstrate that their vessels have controlled airborne noise emissions to gain access to noise sensitive areas.

The new notation defines five limit levels for the airborne noise emission: super quiet, quiet, standard, inland waterways and commercial.

“LR is the first class society to have a notation on this subject. It will assist ports and shipowners in controlling and verifying airborne noise emissions, a field in which LR is at the forefront of technical development. Several industry partners have helped with the development of the notation, including yard representatives and port operators, and LR would like to thank them all for their valuable contributions and support,” said Per Trjgrd Andersen, LR principal consultant of noise & vibration.

Jason Jiang

Jason is one of the most prolific writers on the diverse China shipping & logistics industry and his access to the major maritime players with business in China has proved an invaluable source of exclusives. Having been working at Asia Shipping Media since inception, Jason is the chief correspondent of Splash and associate editor of Maritime CEO magazine. Previously he had written for a host of titles including Supply Chain Asia, Cargo Facts and Air Cargo Week.
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