At the meeting, the IMO Goal Based Standards (GBS) for bulk carriers and tankers, which entered into force for ships contracted for construction from July, 2016, was discussed.
Over a five year period, the meetings have helped to oversee inter-industry agreement over the handling of the content of a Ship Construction File (SCF), as required by the GBS. The SCF is meant to provide information related to the structural design and construction of a ship to those that need it, to help ensure safe operation throughout the vessel’s working life.
Among other Tripartite spin-off groups, work continued on fuel data collection (as will be required by mandatory IMO and EU CO2 data collection systems), under the leadership of IACS. There will also be further work carried out on cyber risks and security, also being led by IACS but assisted by BIMCO, which led the development of recent inter-industry guidelines on this issue.
During the meeting, ICS pointed out the importance of collating knowledge on likely ship efficiency improvements from shipbuilders enabling better estimates to be made of CO2 reduction performance, which will lead the work in the coming year.
Following an introduction by INTERTANKO, all parties agreed that better information flow and data-bases were required on incidents related to ship construction and operation.
Reflecting on requirements directly arising from the regulations, the meeting agreed that ICS would initiate the collection of experience with the fitting/retrofitting and operation of ballast water treatment equipment.
Shipbuilder representatives (Committee for Expertise of Shipbuilding Specifics and SEA Europe) initiated discussion on human element issues, and in particular on training requirements arising out of innovative technology.
This annual meeting, which was first held in 2002, was hosted by ClassNK, the Japanese Shipowners’ Association (JSA) and the Shipbuilders’ Association of Japan (SAJ) and was this year organised by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS).
The next Tripartite Meeting is scheduled to be held in China next year.