International Association of Independent Tanker Owners
- FOR SAFE TRANSPORT, CLEANER SEAS AND FREE COMPETITION -
Strengthened Position Paper proposal for Inert Gas (Council April 2008)
15 April 2008
The IMO decided at MSC 83 to assess the application of inert gas for newbuildings first, and when that was completed, then and only then, assess new inert gas measures for existing ships. As a consequence, although INTERTANKO has retained its initial vision for the future regarding inert gas, it has strengthened and clarified its own position due to the method of approach being undertaken by the IMO.
The INTERTANKO Chemical Tanker Committee (CTC) and Chemical Tanker Sub-committee (CTSCA) agreed on 9th April 2008 to propose the following strengthening of INTERTANKO’s position regarding new inert gas regulations. This proposal has been technically reviewed by INTERTANKO Safety, Technical & Environmental Committee (ISTEC) on 18th April who have agreed to support the following revised position and to forward this to the INTERTANKO Council for its consideration and endorsement on 21st April 2008.
Agreed proposal:
· INTERTANKO believes that the inert gas regulations should be consistent.
· INTERTANKO supports the principle of installing all new SOLAS tankers with inert gas systems (IG/IGG/N2 as appropriate), irrespective of ship size, ship type or cargo tank size.
· INTERTANKO supports the logic that the use of inert gas on new tankers should be a product-based approach. (i.e. the inert gas requirement, IG/IGG/N2 as appropriate, should apply to the annex 1 or annex II products with a flash point less than 60 deg C).
· INTERTANKO recognises the importance of the human element aspects and supports the continuation of further studies and training to address these aspects.
· INTERTANKO supports the future consideration of the application of inert gas requirements to existing ships, including those which are currently not required to have an inert gas system under SOLAS, in a manner similar to the above use of inert gas on new tankers, (i.e. product-based approach).
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For easy reference the previous Council endorsed position of INTERTANKO is as follows:
· INTERTANKO supports the principle of applying the requirement for inert gas (IG/IGG/N2 as appropriate) to existing ships in parallel with new ships
· INTERTANKO supports the logic of applying the requirement for inert gas on chemical carriers to the cargo(es) being carried (i.e. the product rather than the ship)
· INTERTANKO recognises the importance of the human element aspects and supports the continuation of further studies on these aspects.
· INTERTANKOdoes recognise however that some of the smaller existing ships will face difficulties in retro-fitting inert gas generators and their corresponding power supplies, and believe that in these circumstances inert gas could be supplied from the shore-side, and that this isan option that should be further explored.
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