Classification societies wire 2024
03/06/2024
Welcome to this edition of ITIC’s electronic newsletter, The Wire, which focusses specifically on ship classification societies.
A naval architect designed a series of fast pilot boats. They completed the designs and submitted them to a classification society who advised that the forward stringers should be strengthened.
A classification society classed a ship from the time she was built until the end of 2015 when the ship switched to a new classification society. Four years later, the new classification society determined that the ship’s construction did not comply with SOLAS requirements.
In 2016, a bulk carrier suffered a stern shaft breakage during a voyage, causing the engine room to be flooded with seawater and leaving the ship out of control.
A charterer alleged to have suffered losses as a result of misleading and deceptive conduct by the classification society in the classification of an offshore supply vessel.
There was an explosion and fire aboard a ship causing the death of two crew members. A classification society classed the ship and issued an ISM certificate for it. The source of ignition had not been identified.
A classification society surveyor had given an 80 foot steel hulled motor yacht a periodical special survey and had passed the yacht as “100 A1”.
In November 2002, the Bahamas-flagged oil tanker PRESTIGE, heading from the Baltic to Asia with a cargo of heavy fuel oil, began to break up in bad weather in the Bay of Biscay.
The Maltese-flagged oil tanker ERIKA broke apart off the west coast of France and severely polluted the French coastline in December 1999.
The shipping industry is one of the most litigious in the world. Most classed ships are owned by international shipowners and trade internationally.