S.I. No. 429/1998:

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING (RO-RO PASSENGER SHIP SURVIVABILITY) RULES, 1998.

THE MERCHANT SHIPPING (RO-RO PASSENGER SHIP SURVIVABILITY) RULES, 1998.

I, Michael Woods, Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 10 (1) (as amended by section 29 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1992 (No. 2 of 1992)) of the Merchant Shipping (Safety Convention) Act, 1952 (No. 29 of 1952) and the Communications (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1987, ( S.I. No. 91 of 1987 ) as adapted by the Marine (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1997 ( S.I. No. 301 of 1997 ), hereby make the following Rules:

1 These Rules may be cited as the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Rules, 1998.

2 In these Rules:-

"the agreement" means the agreement concerning specific stability requirements for roll-on/roll-off passenger ships undertaking regular scheduled international voyages between or to or from designated ports in North West Europe and the Baltic Sea, concluded at Stockholm on 27 and 28 February, 1996, set out in the Schedule to these Rules;

"Contracting Government" means a contracting Government to the Agreement;

"Contracting State" means a state the government of which is a contracting government;

"established regular scheduled service" means a regular scheduled service which has been in operation for a period of at least 12 months;

"Maritime administration" means the person who in a state other than the State exercises functions in relation to the agreement similar to those exercised by the Minister under these Rules;

"the Minister" means the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources;

"periodical survey" means the periodical survey required by section 271 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894;

"regular scheduled service" means an advertised service for the carriage of passengers at fixed intervals along fixed routes to or from any port in a contracting state;

"ro-ro passenger ship" means a passenger ship of Class I, II or II(A) within the meaning of the Rules of 1985 containing cargo or vehicle spaces not normally subdivided in any way and extending to either a substantial length or the entire length of the ship in which vehicles or cargo can be loaded or unloaded in horizontal direction, that is --

(a) registered in the State, or

(b) entitled to fly the proper national colours (within the meaning of section 9 of the Mercantile Marine Act, 1955 (No. 29 of 1955), and is for the time being within the territorial seas or elsewhere in the State;

"the Rules of 1983" means the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Rules, 1983 ( S.I. No. 300 of 1983 );

"the Rules of 1985" means the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) Rules, 1985 ( S.I. No. 274 of 1985 ) (as amended by the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey)(Amendment) Rules, 1994 ( S.I. No. 12 of 1994 ), and the Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey)(Amendment No. 2) Rules, 1994, ( S.I. No. 131 of 1994 ).);

"territorial seas" means the territorial seas of the State, described in section 2 of the Maritime Jurisdiction Act, 1959 (No. 22 of 1959).

(2) In these Rules a reference to a Rule is to a Rule of these Rules and a reference to a paragraph is to the paragraph of the Rule in which the reference occurs unless it is indicated that a reference to some other provision is intended.

(3) A word or expression that is used in these Rules and is also used in the agreement shall have the same meaning in these Rules as it has in the agreement.

3. (1) Rule 11(I) of the Rules of 1983 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (a) --

"(a) In addition to the requirements of Rule 10 of these Rules, every ship to which this Part applies shall, subject to the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Rules, 1998, be so constructed as to provide sufficient intact stability in all service conditions to enable the ship to withstand the final flooding of any one of the main compartments into which the ship is subdivided in accordance with the provisions of Rule 6 of these Rules. If two of the main compartments, being adjacent to each other, are separated by a bulkhead which is stepped under the conditions of paragraph 6 (3) (a) of the First Schedule to these Rules, the intact stability shall be adequate to withstand the final flooding of those two adjacent main compartments.".

(2) Rule 11(2) of the Rules of 1985 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following subparagraph for subparagraph (a) --

"(a) In addition to the requirements of Rule 10 of these Rules, every ship shall, subject to the Merchant Shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Rules, 1998, be so constructed as to provide sufficient intact stability in all service conditions to enable the ship to withstand the flooding of any one of the main compartments into which the ship is sub-divided in accordance with the provisions of Rule 6 of these Rules. The sufficiency of intact stability required shall be calculated in accordance with Parts 1 and 2 of the Third Schedule to these Rules. If two of the main compartments, being adjacent to each other, are separated by a bulkhead which is stepped under the conditions of paragraph 6 (3) (a) of the First Schedule to these Rules, the intact stability shall be adequate to withstand the flooding of those two adjacent main compartments.".

4 (1) The value of A/Amax for a ro-ro passenger ship shall be established by calculation in accordance with the annex to the Calculation Procedure to Assess the Survivability Characteristics of Existing Ro-Ro Passenger Ships When Using a Simplified Method Based Upon Resolution A. 265 (VIII), developed by the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organisation at its fifty-ninth session in June, 1991 (MSC/Circ. 574).

(2) Subject to paragraph (3), a calculation made in accordance with the Annex referred to in paragraph (1) and the resulting value for A/Amex shall, in respect of a ro-ro passenger ship, be submitted to the Minister by the owner thereof not later than 3 months before the ro-ro passenger ship commences a regular scheduled service.

(3) On receipt of a calculation and resulting value for A/Amax submitted under paragraph (2) the Minister shall, if satisfied that the resulting value for A/Amax, in respect of the ro-ro passenger ship concerned, has been calculated in accordance with the Annex referred to in paragraph (1), and is correct, issue an approval in writing to the owner of such ro-ro passenger ship and shall specify in the approval the conditions, if any, on which it is given.

(4) A refusal by the Minister to approve a calculation and resulting value for A/Amax submitted under paragraph (1) shall be given in writing and shall specify the reasons for such refusal

(5) For the purposes of these Rules the value of A/Amax for a ro-ro passenger ship shall be the value approved by the Minister.

5 (1) Subject to paragraph (2) where the value of A/Amax in respect of a ro-ro passenger ship falls within a range of values specified in column (1) of the Table to this Rule, that ro-ro passenger ship shall, on the completion of the first periodical survey carried out after the date specified in column (2) of the said Table, comply with the specific stability requirements of the agreement.

(2) Where the value for A/Amax in respect of a ro-ro passenger ship is 97.5% or greater the first periodical survey after the date specified in respect thereof in the Table to this Rule shall be completed by the 1st day of October 2002.

Table

6 (1) If an operator, who has been providing an established regular scheduled service between a port within the State and a port in another Contracting state (in this Rule referred to as the "other port") for a period of not less than 12 months, wishes to operate one or more additional ro-ro passenger ships for a period of less than 12 months between those ports he shall notify the Minister not later than three months before commencing such service.

(2) The significant wave heights which shall be used for determining the height of water when applying the technical standards contained in Annex 2 to the Agreement in relation to additional ro-ro passenger ships to which paragraph (1) applies shall be those agreed between the Minister and the maritime administration of the contracting state in which the other port is situated.

(3) If an operator fails to notify the Minister of his intention to operate additional ro-ro passenger ships on a service in accordance with paragraph (1) the significant wave heights which shall be used for determining the height of water when applying the technical standards contained in Annex 2 to the Agreement in relation to such additional ro-ro passenger ships shall be those set out in Annex 1 to the Agreement.

7 (1) In the case of a ro-ro passenger ship being a ship of Class II(A) within the meaning of the Rules of 1985 the Minister may, on application to him or her in writing by the owner of such ro-ro passenger ship, approve the use of wave heights, other than the significant wave heights specified in Annex 1 to the Agreement, for the purpose of determining the height of water when applying the technical standards contained in Annex 2 to the Agreement.

(2) An approval given pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be in writing and shall specify the conditions (if any) on which it is given.

8 (1) Subject to paragraph (2), the Minister may exempt, from any or all of the specific stability requirements of the Agreement, a ro-ro passenger ship that is not normally engaged on a regular scheduled voyage but is required to undertake a single voyage to or from a port within the State.

(2) Before exempting a ro-ro passenger ship under paragraph (1) the Minister shall satisfy himself that it complies with any relevant international safety requirements.

(3) In this Rule "relevant international safety requirements" means -

(a) in the case of a ro-ro passenger ship that is required to undertake a single voyage between a port in the State and a port in a state other than a contracting state, those international safety requirements with which in the opinion of the Minister the ro-ro passenger ship concerned should comply before undertaking the intended voyage, or

(b) in the case of a ro-ro passenger ship that is required to undertake a single voyage between a port in the State and a port in another contracting state, those international safety requirements with which in the opinion of --

(i) the Minister, and

(ii) the maritime administration of the contracting state to or from whose ports the voyage is to take place (if this is a state other than the State),

the ro-ro passenger ship concerned should comply before undertaking the intended voyage.

9 The Merchant shipping (Ro-Ro Passenger Ship Survivability) Rules, 1994 ( S.I. No. 251 of 1994 ), are hereby revoked in so far as they relate to ro-ro passenger ships within the meaning of these Rules.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 31st day of October, 1998.

Dr. Michael Woods TD

Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources

SCHEDULE 1

AGREEMENT CONCERNING SPECIFIC STABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR RO-RO PASSENGER SHIPS UNDERTAKING REGULAR SCHEDULED INTERNATIONAL VOYAGES BETWEEN OR TO OR FROM DESIGNATED PORTS IN NORTH WEST EUROPE AND THE BALTIC SEA

The Contracting Governments,

BEING PARTIES to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) 1974 as amended;

RECALLING Article VII of the SOLAS Convention;

MINDFUL that the principal responsibility for establishing global safety standards rests with the International Maritime Organisation (hereinafter referred to as "the Organisation");

NOTING the Organisation's efforts in this area;

NOTING IN PARTICULAR the adoption by the Conference of Contracting Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 held in London on 20, 27, 28 and 29 November 1995 of Conference Resolution 14 "Regional Agreements on Specific Stability Requirements for Ro-Ro Passenger Ships";

RECOGNISING that the prevailing, often adverse, sea and weather conditions with low visibility, the low water temperatures, the need to maintain intensive all year round ro-ro passenger ferry services, the public dependence on such services, recent accidents and the density of ro-ro passenger ship movements and potentially conflicting shipping movements at particular locations require the application of specific stability requirements to all ro-ro passenger ships operating regular scheduled voyages between or to or from designated ports in North West Europe and the Baltic Sea;

HAVE AGREED as follows:

ARTICLE 1

Definitions

For the purposes of the present Agreement:

(a) International voyage means a voyage from a country to which the present Agreement applies to a port outside that country, or conversely;

(b) Ro-ro passenger ship means a passenger ship with ro-ro cargo spaces or special category spaces as defined in regulation II-2/3 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 as amended;

(c) Specific stability requirements means the specific stability requirements specified in Annex 2;

(d) Designated port means any port within the area bounded by lines and the coast as shown on the map at Annex 1 from which ro-ro passenger ships operate on regular scheduled international voyages;

(e) Secretary-General means the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation.

ARTICLE 2

General Obligation

The Contracting Governments agree to apply the specific stability requirements to ro-ro passenger ships entitled to fly their flag and operating on regular scheduled international voyages carrying passengers

(a) between designated ports

(b) to or from designated ports

ARTICLE 3

Specific Stability Requirements

The Contracting Governments agree to apply the specific stability requirements no later than the dates prescribed in Annex 2.

ARTICLE 4

Single Voyage Exemptions

A ro-ro passenger ship which is not normally engaged on regular scheduled international voyages between or to or from designated ports but which is required to undertake a single voyage between such ports or to or from such a port may be exempted from any or all of the specific stability requirements by a Contracting Government or by the ship's flag state, following consultations with the contracting Government or Governments between or to or from whose ports the voyage is to take place. An exemption shall not be granted by the ship's flag state unless the ship complies with international safety requirements which in the joint opinion of the ship's flag state and the Contracting Government or Governments between or to or from whose ports the voyage is to take place are adequate for the intended voyage.

ARTICLE 5

Application to Ro-Ro Passenger Ships of Flag States Non-parties to the present Agreement

(1) The Contracting Governments agree that the specific stability requirements should apply to all ro-ro passenger ships operating on regular scheduled international voyages carrying passengers between or to or from designated ports, irrespective of flag and bearing in mind the necessity to ensure that no more favourable treatment should be given to ships entitled to fly the flag of States non-parties to the present Agreement.

(2) The Contracting Governments further agree to encourage the application of the specific stability requirements, on the timescale set out in Annex 2, to ro-ro passenger ships entitled to fly the flag of States non-parties to the present Agreement and operating on regular scheduled international voyages carrying passengers between or to or from designated ports.

(3) Each Contracting Government undertakes to advise the other Contracting Governments, the Secretary General and, with respect to States that are members of the European Union, the Commission of the European Communities of the steps it has taken to implement paragraph 2 of this Article.

ARTICLE 6

Mutual Acceptance of Documents

(1) Each Contracting Government shall provide each ship entitled to fly it's flag and to which the present Agreement applies with a document indicating that the ship complies with the specific stability requirements.

(2) The Contracting Governments agree to accept a document provided under paragraph 1 as evidence that the ship to which the document relates complies with the specific stability requirements.

(3) When a State non-party to the present Agreement issues a document indicating that a ship complies with the specific stability requirements such a document will be accepted as prima facie evidence that the ship so complies.

ARTICLE 7

Signature, Ratification, Acceptance, Approval and Accession

1 The present Agreement shall be open for signature at the Headquarters of the Organisation from 1 July until 30 September 1996, and shall thereafter remain open for accession. States may become parties to the present Agreement by:

a) signature without reservation as to ratification, acceptance or approval, or

b) signature subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, followed by ratification, acceptance or approval, or

c) accession.

2. Ratification, Acceptance, approval or accession shall be effected by the deposit of an instrument to that effect with the Secretary-General.

3. The Secretary-General shall inform the Governments of all States which have signed the present Agreement or acceded to it of any signature or of the deposit of any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession and the date of its deposit. When the conditions for entry into force have been met, the Secretary-General shall inform the governments of these States of the date of entry into force of the Agreement.

ARTICLE 8

Notification and Entry into Force

1. The present Agreement shall be notified by the Government of Sweden to the Secretary-General.

It shall enter into force

a) twelve months after the date of notification to the Secretary-General, or

b) on the date on which not fewer than five States have become parties in accordance with Article 7,

whichever is the later.

2. Any instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession deposited after the date on which the present Agreement enters into force shall take effect thirty days after the date of deposit.

ARTICLE 9

Denunciation

1. Any Contracting Government may, by written notification addressed to the Secretary-General, denounce the present Agreement.

2. A denunciation shall take effect twelve months after its receipt by the Secretary-General.

ARTICLE 10

Deposit and Registration

1. The present Agreement shall be deposited with the Secretary-General.

2. The Secretary-General shall, as soon as the present Agreement enters into force, transmit certified copies of the Agreement to

a) All Contracting Governments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 as amended,

b) the Commission of the European Communities.

3. As soon as the present Agreement enters into force the Secretary-General shall transmit a copy of the Agreement to the Secretariat of the United Nations for registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

ARTICLE 11

Languages

The present Agreement is established in a single copy in the English, French, Spanish and Russian languages, each text being equally authentic.

ANNEX 1

"SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHTS"

1. General

This Annex states the significant wave heights (H5) which shall be used for determining the height of water when applying the technical standard contained in Annex 2.

The figures are provided on a map, presenting the significant wave heights which are not exceeded by a probability of more than 10% on a yearly basis for the different sea areas covered by the agreement.

In shore areas are considered to have a significant wave heights less than 1.5m unless otherwise is indicated on the map.

2. Seasonal operation

If an established operator operating a regular scheduled service on a year round basis wishes to introduce additional ro-ro passenger ships to operate for a shorter season on that service, the significant wave height applying for such a season will have to be agreed by the Government at both ends of the route.

Any such agreement other than a single ship agreement of less than one month's duration shall be notified to the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organisation for circulation to contracting Governments to the SOLAS convention as well as to the European Commission.

Note:

The wave heights stated on this map are the significant wave heights (H_s) which is not exceeded by a probability of more than 10% and should be used for determining the height of water.

ANNEX 2

STABILITY REQUIREMENTS PERTAINING TO THE AGREEMENT

Preamble

Application

In accordance with this Agreement, passenger ships with ro-ro cargo spaces or special category spaces as defined in regulation II-2/3 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, as amended, shall comply with the provisions of this Agreement not later than at the first yearly inspection following the date of compliance prescribed below, according to the value of A/Amax as defined in the annex to the Calculation Procedure to Assess the Survivability Characteristics of Existing Ro-Ro passenger ships When Using a Simplified Method Based Upon Resolution A.265 (VIII), developed by the Maritime Safety Committee at its fifty-ninth session in June 1991 (MSC/Circ. 574):

Seasonal Operation

If an established operator operating a regular scheduled service on a year round basis wishes to introduce additional ro-ro passenger ships to operate for a shorter season on that service, the significant wave height applying for such a season will have to be agreed by the Governments at both ends of the route. Any such agreement, other than a single ship agreement of less than one month's duration, shall be notified to the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization for circulation to the SOLAS Contracting Governments and to the Commission.

Stability Standard

1 In addition to the requirements of SOLAS regulation II-1/8, ro-ro passenger ships shall comply, subject to the provisions of paragraph 2, if applicable, with the following:

.1 The provisions of paragraph 2.3 regulation 8 shall be complied with when taking into account the effect of a hypothetical amount of sea water which is assumed to have accumulated, on the first deck above the designed waterline of the ro-ro cargo space or special category space as defined in regulation II-2/3 assumed to be damaged (referred to as "the damaged ro-ro deck" hereinafter). The other requirements of regulation 8 need not be complied with in the application of the stability standard ¹ contained in this Agreement. The amount of assumed accumulated sea water shall be calculated on the basis of a water surface having a fixed height above:

¹ Guidance notes on the standard to be developed.

a) the lowest point of the deck edge of the damaged compartment of the ro-ro deck, or

b) when the deck edge in way of the damaged compartment is submerged then the calculation is based on a fixed height above the still water surface at all heel and trim angles; as follows:

0.5m if the residual freeboard (f_r) is 0.3m or less;

0.0m if the residual freeboard (f_r) is 2.0m or more; and

intermediate values to be determined by linear interpolation, if the residual freeboard (f_r) is 0.3m or more but less than 2.0m

where the residual freeboard (f_r) is the minimum distance between the damaged ro-ro deck and the final waterline at the location of the damage in the damage case being considered without taking into account the effect of the volume of assumed accumulated water on the damaged ro-ro deck;

.2 when a high-efficiency drainage system is installed, the Administration may allow a reduction in the height of the water surface in accordance with the guidelines to be developed by the Organisation ²;

² Refer to the "guidelines........"

.3 for ships in geographically defined restricted areas of operation, the Administration may reduce the height of the water surface determined in accordance with subparagraph .1 substituting such height of the water surface by the following:

.3.1 0.0m if the significant wave height (h_s) defining the area concerned is 1.5m or less;

.3.2 the value determined in accordance with subparagraph .1 if the significant wave height (h_s) defining the area concerned is 4.0m or above;

.3.3 intermediate values to be determined by linear interpolation, if the significant wave height (h_s) defining the area concerned is 1.5m or more but less than 4.0m;

provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:

.3.4 the Administration is satisfied that the defined area is represented by significant wave height (h_s) which is not exceeded with a probability of more than 10%; and

.3.5 the area of operation and, if applicable, the part of the year for which a certain value of the significant wave height (h_s) has been established are entered into the certificates; and

.4 as an alternative to the requirements of subparagraph .1 or subparagraph .3, the Administration may exempt application of the requirements of subparagraph .1 or subparagraph .3 and accept proof, established by model tests carried out for an individual ship in accordance with the model test method developed by the Organisation ³, annexed to this document justifying that the ship will not capsize with the assumed extent of damage as provided in paragraph 4 of regulation 8 in the worst location being considered under paragraph 1.1 in an irregular seaway, and

³ Refer to the "model test method attached to this document"

.5 reference to acceptance of the results of the model test as an equivalence to compliance with subparagraph .1 or subparagraph .3; the value of the significant wave height (h_s) used in the model tests shall be entered into the ship's certificates.

.6 the information supplied to the master in accordance with paragraphs 7.1 and 7.2 of regulation 8, as developed for compliance with paragraphs 2.3 to 2.3.4, shall apply unchanged for ro-ro passenger ships approved according to these requirements.

2. For assessing the effect of the volume of the assumed accumulated sea water on the damaged ro-ro deck in paragraph 1, the following provisions shall prevail:

.1 transverse or longitudinal bulkhead shall be considered intact if all parts of it lie inboard of vertical surfaces on both sides of the ship, which are situated at a distance from the shell plating equal to one-fifth of the breadth of the ship, as defined in regulation 2, and measured at right angles to the centreline at the level of the deepest subdivision load line;

.2 in cases where the ship's hull is structurally partly widened for compliance with the provisions of this regulation, the resulting increase of the value of one-fifth of the breadth of it is to be used throughout, but shall not govern the location of existing bulkhead penetrations, piping systems, etc., which were acceptable prior to the widening;

.3 the tightness of transverse or longitudinal bulkheads which are taken into account as effective to confine the assumed accumulated sea water in the compartment concerned in the damaged ro-ro deck shall be commensurate with the drainage system, and shall withstand hydrostatic pressure in accordance with the results of the damage calculation. Such bulkheads shall be at least 4m in height unless the height of water is less than 0.5m. In such cases the height of the bulkhead may be calculated in accordance with the following:

B_h = 8h_w

where B_h = bulkhead height, and

h_w = height of water

In any event, the minimum height of the bulkhead shall be not less than 2.2m However, in the case of a ship with hanging car decks, the minimum height of the bulkhead shall be not less than the height to the underside of the hanging car deck when in its lowered position.

.4 For special arrangements such as eg full hanging decks and wide side casings, other bulkhead heights may be accepted based on detailed model tests;

.5 the effect of the volume of the assumed accumulated sea water need not be taken into account for any compartment of the damaged ro-ro deck, provided that such a compartment has on each side of the deck freeing ports evenly distributed along the sides of the compartment complying with the following:

.5.1 A ≥ 0.3 l

where A is the total area of freeing ports on each side of the deck in m²; and

l is the length of the compartment in m;

.5.2 the ship shall maintain a residual freeboard of at least 1.0m in the worst damage condition without taking into account the effect of the assumed volume of water on the damaged ro-ro deck; and

.5.3 such freeing ports shall be located within the height of 0.m above the damaged ro-ro deck, and the lower edge of the ports shall be within c above the damaged ro-ro deck; and

.5.4 such freeing ports shall be fitted with closing devices or flaps to prevent water entering the ro-ro deck whilst allowing water which may accumulate on the ro-ro deck to drain; and

.6 when a bulkhead above the ro-ro deck is assumed damaged, both compartments bordering the bulkhead shall be assumed flooded to the same height of water surface as calculated in paras 1.1 and 1.3 above.

Appendix

MODEL TEST METHOD

1 Objectives

In the tests provided for in paragraph 1.4 of the stability requirements pertaining to the agreement, the ship should prove capability to withstand a seaway defined in paragraph 3 hereunder in the worst damage case scenario.

2 Ship model

2.1 The model should copy the actual ship for both outer configuration and internal arrangement - in particular of all damaged spaces, having an effect on the process of flooding and shipping of water. The damage should represent the worst damage case defined for compliance with paragraph 2.3.2 of SOLAS regulation II-1/8 (SOLAS 90). An additional test is required at a level keel midship damage, if the worst damage location according to SOLAS 90 is outside the range 10% Lpp from the midship. This additional test is only required when the ro-ro spaces are assumed to be damaged.

2.2 The model should comply with the following:

1 length between perpendiculars (Lpp) is to be at least 3 m;

2 hull is to be thin enough in areas where this feature has influence on the results;

3 characteristics of motion should be modelled properly to the actual ship, paying particular attention to scaling of radii of gyration in roll and pitch motions. Draught, trim, heel and centre of gravity should represent the worst damage case;

4 main design features such as watertight bulkheads, air escapes etc., above and below the bulkhead deck that can result in asymmetric flooding should be modelled properly as far as practicable, to represent the real situation;

5 the shape of the damage opening shall be as follows:

5.1 rectangular side profile with a width according to SOLAS regulation II-1/8.4.1 and unlimited vertical extent;p

5.2 isosceles triangular profile in the horizontal plane with a height equal to B/5 according to SOLAS regulation II-1/8.4.2.

3 Procedure for experiments

3.1 The model should be subjected to a long-crested irregular seaway defined by the JONSWAP spectrum with a significant wave height Hs, defined in paragraph 1.3 of the stability requirements and having peak enhancement factor y and peak period Tp as follows

.1 Tp = 4  Hs with y = 3.3; and

.2 Tp equal to the roll resonant period for the damaged ship without water on deck at the specified loading condition but not higher than 6 Hs and with y = 1.

3.2 The model should be free to drift and placed in a beam seas (90° heading) with the damage hole facing the oncoming waves. The model should not be restrained in a manner to resist capsize. If the map is upright in flooded condition, 1° of heel towards the damage should be given.

3.3 At least 5(five) experiments for each peak period should be carried out. The test period for each run shall be of a duration such that a stationary state has been reached but should be run for not less than 30 min in full-scale time. A different wave realization train should be used for each test.

3.4 If none of the experiments result in final inclination towards the damage, the experiments should be repeated with 5 runs at each of the two specified wave conditions or, alternatively, the model should be given an additional 1° angle of heel towards the damage and the experiment repeated with 2 runs at each of the two specified wave conditions. The purpose of these additional experiments is to demonstrate, in the best possible way, survival capability against capsize in both directions.

3.5 The tests are to be carried out for the following damage cases:

.1 the worst damage case with regard to the area under the GZ curve according to SOLAS and

.2 the worst midship damage case with regard to residual freeboard in the midship area is required by 2.1.

4 Survival criteria

4.1 The ship should be considered as surviving if a stationary state is reached for the successive test runs as required in 3.3 but subject to 4.2.

4.2 Angles of roll of more than 30° against the vertical axis, occurring more frequently than in 20% of the rolling cycles or steady heel greater than 20° should be taken as capsizing events even if a stationary state is reached.

5 Test approval

5.1 It is the responsibility of the Administration to approve the model test programme in advance. It should also be borne in mind that lesser damages may provide a worst case scenario.

5.2 Test should be documented by means of a report and a video or other visual record containing all relevant information of the ship and test results. A copy of the video and report should be submitted to the Orginisation, together with the Administration's acceptance of the test.

RESOLUTION

Representatives of Governments and Maritime Administrations, having met in Stockholm 27-28 February, 1996 to conclude an Agreement concerning specific stability requirements for ro-ro passenger ships undertaking regular scheduled international voyages carrying passengers between or to or from designated ports in North West Europe and the Baltic Sea,

HAVING reached an agreement on implementing the specific stability requirements on their ships not later than the dates defined in the Agreement,

RECOGNISING the possibilities of implementing the requirements earlier by agreement between Contracting Governments, in consultants with other flag states concerned, for ships trading between ports,

FURTHER RECOGNISING the inherent problem of on compartment ro-ro passenger ships,

AGREE, as a matter of priority, to bring their one compartment ro-ro ships in compliance with the technical requirements of the agreement as soon as possible,

FURTHER AGREE that Contracting Governments can, by agreement between them, apply earlier implementation dates than those specified in Annex 2 for ships trading between their ports. In negotiating such agreements other flag states concerned should be invited to participate.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These Regulations implement the provisions of the Stockholm Agreement of 1996 in relation to the survivability standards for Roll-on/Roll-off Passenger Ferries.