Resolution A.1024(26)

Adopted on 2 December 2009

 

As amended by A 26/Res.1024/Corr.1 (7 December 2011)

 

GUIDELINES FOR SHIPS OPERATING IN POLAR WATERS

 

THE ASSEMBLY,

 

RECALLING Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Assembly in relation to regulations and guidelines concerning maritime safety and the prevention and control of marine pollution from ships,

 

RECALLING ALSO that, by circular MSC/Circ.1056-MEPC/Circ.399, the Maritime Safety Committee and the Marine Environment Protection Committee, recognizing the need for recommendatory provisions applicable to ships operating in Arctic ice-covered waters, additional to the mandatory and recommendatory provisions contained in existing IMO instruments, approved Guidelines for ships operating in Arctic ice-covered waters (hereinafter referred to as "the Guidelines"),

 

NOTING that the Maritime Safety Committee, at its seventy-ninth session, considered a request by the XXVIIth Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) to amend the Guidelines to render them applicable to ships operating in ice-covered waters in the Antarctic Treaty Area as well,

 

ACKNOWLEDGING that the polar environment imposes additional demands on ship systems beyond the existing requirements of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974 and the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the 1978 Protocol relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78), as amended,

 

RECOGNIZING the need to ensure that all such systems are capable of functioning effectively under anticipated operating conditions and provide an adequate level of maritime safety and pollution prevention, taking into account the challenges of polar operations,

 

NOTING ALSO the need for a general update of the Guidelines to take account of technical, technological and regulatory developments since their approval in 2002,

 

CONSCIOUS OF the necessity to also give special consideration to all ships that only visit polar waters at certain times of the year,

 

HAVING CONSIDERED the recommendations made by the Maritime Safety Committee at its eighty-sixth session and the Marine Environment Protection Committee at its fifty-ninth session,

 

1.         ADOPTS the Guidelines for ships operating in polar waters, set out in the annex to the present resolution;

 

2.         INVITES all Governments concerned to take appropriate steps to give effect to the annexed Guidelines for ships constructed on or after 1 January 2011;

 

3.         ENCOURAGES all Governments concerned to take appropriate steps to give effect to the annexed Guidelines for ships constructed before 1 January 2011 as far as is reasonable and practicable;

 

4.         RECOMMENDS Governments to bring the annexed Guidelines to the attention of shipowners, ship operators, ship designers, shipbuilders, ship repairers, equipment manufacturers and installers and all other parties concerned with the operation of ships in polar waters;

 

5.         AUTHORIZES the Maritime Safety Committee and the Marine Environment Protection Committee to keep the annexed Guidelines under review and update them as necessary in light of experience gained in their application.

 

ANNEX

GUIDELINES FOR SHIPS OPERATING IN POLAR WATERS

 

PREAMBLE GUIDE

 

Chapter 1 - General

 

PART A – CONSTRUCTION PROVISIONS

 

Chapter 2 - Structures

Chapter 3 - Subdivision and stability

Chapter 4 - Accommodation and escape measures

Chapter 5 - Directional control systems

Chapter 6 - Anchoring and towing arrangements

Chapter 7 - Main machinery

Chapter 8 - Auxiliary machinery systems

Chapter 9 - Electrical installations

 

PART B – EQUIPMENT

 

Chapter 10 - Fire safety

Chapter 11 - Life-saving appliances and survival arrangements

Chapter 12 - Navigational equipment

 

PART C – OPERATIONAL

 

Chapter 13 - Operational arrangements

Chapter 14 - Crewing

Chapter 15 - Emergency equipment

 

PART D – ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND DAMAGE CONTROL

 

Chapter 16 - Environmental protection and damage control

 

 

PREAMBLE

 

P-1       Introduction

 

P-1.1    Ships operating in the Arctic and Antarctic environments are exposed to a number of unique risks. Poor weather conditions and the relative lack of good charts, communication systems and other navigational aids pose challenges for mariners. The remoteness of the areas makes rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly. Cold temperatures may reduce the effectiveness of numerous components of the ship, ranging from deck machinery and emergency equipment to sea suctions. When ice is present, it can impose additional loads on the hull, propulsion system and appendages.

 

P-1.2    Whilst Arctic and Antarctic waters have a number of similarities, there are also significant differences. The Arctic is an ocean surrounded by continents while the Antarctic is a continent surrounded by an ocean. The Antarctic sea ice retreats significantly during the summer season or is dispersed by permanent gyres in the two major seas of the Antarctic: the Weddell and the Ross. Thus there is relatively little multi-year ice in the Antarctic. Conversely, Arctic sea ice survives many summer seasons and there is a significant amount of multi-year ice. Whilst the marine environments of both Polar seas are similarly vulnerable, response to such challenge should duly take into account specific features of the legal and political regimes applicable to their respective marine spaces.

 

P-1.3    The Guidelines for ships operating in polar waters (hereinafter called "the Guidelines") are intended to address those additional provisions deemed necessary for consideration beyond existing requirements of the SOLAS and MARPOL Conventions, in order to take into account the climatic conditions of polar waters and to meet appropriate standards of maritime safety and pollution prevention.

 

P-1.4    The Guidelines are recommendatory and their wording should be interpreted as providing recommendations rather than mandatory direction.

 

P-2       Principles

 

P-2.1    The Guidelines aim to promote the safety of navigation and to prevent pollution from ship operations in polar waters.

 

P-2.2    The Guidelines recognize that this is best achieved by an integrated approach, based on requirements in existing Conventions which cover the design, outfitting, crewing and operation of ships for the conditions which they will encounter.

 

P-2.3    The Guidelines take into account that Arctic and Antarctic conditions may include sea and glacial ice that can represent a serious structural hazard to all ships. This is the single most significant factor in Arctic and Antarctic operations and is reflected in many of the Guidelines’ provisions.

 

P-2.4    The Guidelines address the fact that the polar environment imposes additional demands on ship systems, including navigation, communications, life-saving, main and auxiliary machinery, environmental protection and damage control, etc. They emphasize the need to ensure that all ship systems are capable of functioning effectively under anticipated operating conditions and provide adequate levels of safety in accident and emergency situations.¹

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¹     Refer to the Enhanced contingency planning guidance for passenger ships operating in areas remote from SAR facilities (MSC.1/Circ.1184).

 

P-2.5    In addition, the Guidelines recognize that safe operation in such conditions requires specific attention to human factors including training and operational procedures.

 

P-2.6    The basic requirements for structure, stability and subdivision, machinery, life-saving appliances, fire protection, ship routing, navigation systems and equipment, radio communication, pollution prevention equipment, liability and safety management systems, as applicable to the different types and sizes of ships which may undertake voyages in polar waters, are obtained from the relevant Conventions.

 

P-2.7    The standards expressed in the Guidelines have been developed to mitigate the additional risk imposed on shipping due to the harsh environmental and climatic conditions existing in polar waters. The Guidelines should be applied taking into account the nature of the operations that are envisaged.

 

P-2.8    Not all ships which enter the Arctic and Antarctic environment will be able to navigate safely in all areas at all times of the year. A system of Polar Classes has therefore been developed to designate different levels of capability. In parallel to the development of the Guidelines, the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) has developed a set of Unified Requirements which, in addition to general classification society rules, address essential aspects of construction for ships of Polar Class.

 

P-2.9    The Guidelines are not intended to infringe on national systems of shipping control.

 

P-2.10 The Guidelines, recognizing the sensitive nature of polar waters, have the intention of providing high standards of environmental protection to address both accidents and normal operations.

 

GUIDE

 

G-1      Layout of the Guidelines

 

G-1.1   The Guidelines include general, construction, equipment, operational and environmental protection and damage control parts, presented in that order and subdivided into chapters.

 

G-1.2   This section provides definitions for important terms that are used exclusively within the Guidelines or where any term has more than one meaning in other applicable Conventions. Otherwise, terms have the meanings defined in the Convention(s) relevant to each chapter.

 

G-1.3   All parts and chapters of the Guidelines should be applied to Polar Class ships. All parts and chapters, with the exception of those dealing with purely construction issues (Part A), should be applied to all ships in polar waters. Each chapter notes any additional differentiation of provisions between ship classes specific to that chapter.

 

G-1.4   Guidance provided in Part A of the Guidelines is only intended for new Polar Class ships.

 

G-2      Key provisions

 

G-2.1   Only those ships with a Polar Class designation or a comparable alternative standard of ice-strengthening appropriate to the anticipated ice conditions should operate in polar ice-covered waters.

 

G-2.2   The combination of hull structural design, material quality, subdivision and segregation measures prescribed in the Guidelines and supporting standards should be adequate to reduce the risk of human casualties, pollution incidents or ship losses to acceptably low levels of probability during prudent operations in polar waters.

 

G-2.3   No pollutants should be carried directly against the shell in hull areas at significant risk of ice impact. Operational pollution of the environment should be minimized by equipment selection and operational practice.

 

G-2.4   Key safety-related, survival and pollution control equipment should be rated for the temperatures and other conditions which may be encountered in the service intended.

 

G-2.5   Navigation and communications equipment should be suitable to provide adequate performance in high latitudes, areas with limited infrastructure and unique information transfer requirements.

 

G-2.6   Sea suction(s) should be capable of being cleared of accumulation of slush ice.

 

G-3      Definitions

 

For the purpose of the Guidelines, unless expressly provided otherwise, the terms used have the meanings defined in the following paragraphs. Terms used, but not defined in the Guidelines, are to be interpreted as they are defined in the relevant Conventions.

 

G-3.1   Administration means the Government of the State whose flag the ship is entitled to fly.

 

G-3.2   Polar waters includes both Arctic and Antarctic waters.

 

G-3.3   Arctic waters means those waters which are located north of a line extending from latitude 58˚00΄.0 N, longitude 042˚00΄.0 W to latitude 64°37΄.0 N, longitude 035°27΄.0 W and thence by a rhumb line to latitude 67˚03΄.9 N, longitude 026˚33΄.4 W and thence by a rhumb line to Sørkapp, Jan Mayen and by the southern shore of Jan Mayen to the Island of Bjørnøya and thence by a great circle line from the Island of Bjørnøya to Cap Kanin Nos and thence by the northern shore of the Asian continent eastward to the Bering Strait and thence from the Bering Strait westward to latitude 60˚ N as far as Il’pyrskiy and following the 60^th North parallel eastward as far as and including Etolin Strait and thence by the northern shore of the North American continent as far south as latitude 60˚ N and thence eastward along parallel of latitude 60˚.N, to longitude 56˚37΄.1 W and thence to the latitude 58˚00΄.0 N, longitude 042˚00΄.0 W (see figure 1).

 

G-3.4   Antarctic waters means those waters which are south of 60° S (see figure 2).

 

G-3.5   Ice-covered waters means polar waters where local ice conditions present a structural risk to a ship.

 

G-3.6   COLREG means the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, as amended.

 

G-3.7   Company means the owner of the ship or any other organization or person such as the manager, or the bareboat charterer, who has assumed the responsibility for operation of the ship from the shipowner.

 

G-3.8   Conning position means the stations in which the ship’s steering control and devices for ahead or astern operations are located.

 

G-3.9   Escort means any ship with superior ice capability in transit with another ship.

 

G-3.10 Escorted operation means any operation in which a ship’s movement is facilitated through the intervention of an escort.

 

G-3.11 IACS means the International Association of Classification Societies.

 

G-3.12 Ice Navigator means any individual who, in addition to being qualified under the STCW Convention, is specially trained and otherwise qualified to direct the movement of a ship in ice-covered waters.

 

G-3.13 Icebreaker means any ship whose operational profile may include escort or ice management functions, whose powering and dimensions allow it to undertake aggressive operations in ice-covered waters.

 

G-3.14 International voyages means voyages in international waters, as defined in chapter I of the 1974 SOLAS Convention, as amended.

 

G-3.15 ISM Code means the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention, as amended.

 

G-3.16 ICLL means the International Convention on Load Lines, 1966.

 

G-3.17 MARPOL means the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the 1978 Protocol relating thereto (MARPOL 73/78), as amended.

 

G-3.18 Organization means the International Maritime Organization.

 

G-3.19 Polar Class means the class assigned to a ship based upon IACS Unified Requirements.

 

G-3.20 Polar Class ship means a ship for which a Polar Class has been assigned.

 

G-3.21 Pollutant means any substance controlled by MARPOL which, if introduced into the sea, is liable to create hazards to human health, to harm living resources and marine life, to damage amenities or to interfere with other legitimate uses of the sea.

 

G-3.22 Recognized organization means an organization recognized by an Administration in accordance with IMO resolutions A.739(18) and A.789(19).

 

G-3.23 Ship means any vessel required to comply with the 1974 SOLAS Convention.

 

G-3.24 SOLAS means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974, as amended.

 

G-3.25 STCW means the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended.

 

G-3.26 Unified Requirements means IACS Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships (UR-I).

 

G-3.27 WMO means the World Meteorological Organization.

 

G-3.28 Working liquids means any substances that are pollutants used for the operation of the ship’s machinery.

 

G-3.29 2008 IS Code means the International Code on Intact Stability, 2008, as adopted by resolution MSC.267(85).

 

 

Figure 1 – Maximum extent of Arctic waters application (see paragraph G-3.3)²

 

 

Figure 2 – Maximum extent of Antarctic Waters application (see paragraph G-3.4)²

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² Maps are for illustrative purposes only.

 

 

CHAPTER 1
GENERAL

 

1.1       Application

 

1.1.1    Except where specifically stated otherwise, these Guidelines provide guidance for ships operating in Antarctic waters or while engaged in international voyages in Arctic waters.

 

1.1.2    Part A of the Guidelines provides guidance for new Polar Class ships.

 

1.1.3    Parts B, C and D of the Guidelines provide guidance for Polar Class and all other ships.

 

Table 1.1 – Class descriptions

 

 

Note: Ice descriptions follow the WMO Sea Ice Nomenclature.

 

1.1.4    All Polar Class ships and the equipment to be carried in accordance with the Guidelines should be designed, constructed and maintained in compliance with applicable national standards of the Administration or the appropriate requirements of a recognized organization which provide an equivalent level of safety³ for its intended service. Special attention should be drawn to the need for winterization aspects. Ships intending to operate as an icebreaker are to receive special consideration.

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³     Refer to SOLAS chapter II-1 and to the IACS Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships.

 

1.1.5    The structures, equipment and arrangements essential for the safety and operation of the ship should take account of the anticipated temperatures.

 

1.1.6    Special attention should be given to essential operating equipment and systems and safety equipment and systems. For example, the potential for ice building up inside the ballast tanks and sea chests should be considered. The life-saving and fire extinguishing equipment specified in part B of the Guidelines, when stored or located in an exposed position, should be of a type that is rated to perform its design functions at the minimum anticipated air temperature. In particular, attention is drawn to the inflation of life-saving equipment and the starting of engines in lifeboats and rescue boats.

 

1.1.7    Operations in polar waters should take due account of factors such as: ship class, environmental conditions, icebreaker escort, prepared tracks, short or local routes, crew experience, support technology and services such as ice-mapping, availability of hydrographic information, communications, safe ports, repair facilities and other ships in convoy.

 

1.1.8    Equipment, fittings, materials, appliances and arrangements may deviate from the provisions of the Guidelines provided that their replacement is at least as effective as that specified in the Guidelines.

 

1.1.9    The provisions of the Guidelines do not apply to any warship, naval auxiliary, other vessels or aircraft owned or operated by a State and used, for the time being, only on government non-commercial service. However, each State should ensure, by the adoption of appropriate measures not impairing operations or operational capabilities of such vessels or aircraft owned or operated by it, that such vessels or aircraft act in a manner consistent, so far as is reasonable and practicable, with the Guidelines.

 

1.2       Ice Navigator

 

1.2.1    All ships operating in polar ice-covered waters should carry at least one Ice Navigator qualified in accordance with chapter 14. Consideration should also be given to carrying an Ice Navigator when planning voyages into polar waters.

 

1.2.2    Continuous monitoring of ice conditions by an Ice Navigator should be available at all times while the ship is underway and making way in the presence of ice.⁴

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⁴     Refer to the Guidelines on voyage planning, as adopted by resolution A.893(21), and the Guidelines on voyage planning for passenger ships operating in remote areas, as adopted by resolution A.999(25).

 

PART A

 

CONSTRUCTION PROVISIONS

 

CHAPTER 2
 STRUCTURES

 

2.1       General

 

2.1.1    All ships should have structural arrangements adequate to resist the global and local ice loads characteristic of their Polar Class⁵.

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⁵     Refer to the IACS Unified Requirements for Polar Class Ships.

 

2.1.2    Each area of the hull and all appendages should be strengthened to resist design structure/ice interaction scenarios applicable to each case.

 

2.1.3    Structural arrangements should aim to limit damage resulting from accidental overloads to local areas.

 

2.1.4    Polar Class ships may experience in-service structural degradation at an accelerated rate. Structural surveys should, therefore, cover areas identified as being at high risk of accelerated degradation, and areas where physical evidence such as coating breakdown indicates a potential for high wastage rates.

 

2.2       Materials

 

2.2.1    Materials used in ice-strengthened and other areas of the hull should be suitable for operation in the environment that prevails at their location.

 

2.2.2    Materials used in ice-strengthened areas should have adequate ductility to match the selected structural design approach.