Middle East

MOL Comfort: IACS turns focus to boxship safety

Genoa: The new chairman of the International Association Classification Societies (IACS), Roberto Cazzulo, has urged Japanese class society ClassNK to provide as much details as possible in to how the MOL Comfort disaster happened.

The 7,000 teu MOL Comfort containership split in two on June 17 200 nautical miles off Yemen, with both parts of the vessel eventually sinking following a troubled salvage operation.

Speaking to GulfShip News Cazzulo said: “What we ask ClassNK to do is to be prepared to provide the IACS group as much details as possible. It is best to have an open discussion about it.” Cazzulo said it was good that ClassNK was inspecting the six sister ships of the MOL Comfort.

A specific focus for IACS at the moment is looking at containerships.

“We must look at containerships, especially following the MOL Comfort,” Cazzulo said. In June IACS established a group on containerships with a particular focus on post-panamax containerships to present to the International Maritime Organisation. Cazzulo said the group is looking at every aspect of containership operations from loading conditions, design, materials used in construction as well as operational issues.

Cazzulo, who became the head of IACS on July 1, is chairman of Italy’s RINA Services, a company he’s been with since 1981.

ClassNK, the world’s largest ship classification society and the firm that classed the MOL Comfort, is investigating the incident and has said it expects to consolidate its preliminary findings by early September.

As part of the ongoing investigation, a review of the MOL Comfort’s design as well as the plan approval process was completed earlier this month. This review, ClassNK said in a release on July 5, has verified the results of the plan approval process, and confirmed that the vessel design fully complied with all requirements of the ClassNK rules and IACS regulations.

A similar review of the vessel’s survey records has also been completed, and confirmed that the special survey of the five year-old vessel completed on 29 May this year was carried out in full compliance with the regulations and guidance for special surveys. The review also verified that no abnormalities were observed during the special survey.  [18/07/13]

 

 

RELATED STORY:

IACS: Goals laid out

Splash

Splash is Asia Shipping Media’s flagship title offering timely, informed and global news from the maritime industry 24/7.
Back to top button