As previously advised in ClassNK Technical Information, No. TEC-0622 issued on 11 March 2005, the revised SOLAS Chapter XII, which specifies additional safety measures for bulk carriers, was adopted at the seventy ninth session of the Maritime Safety Committee (MSC79) held in December 2004 and will be come into effect on 1 July 2006.

According to regulation 14, bulk carriers of 150m in freeboard length (Lf) and upward of single-side skin construction, carrying cargoes having a density of 1.78t/? and above, if not meeting the requirements for withstanding flooding of any one cargo hold as specified in regulation 5.1 and side structures in single side skin bulk carriers as specified in IACS UR S12 (Rev. 2.1) or UR S31, shall not sail with any cargo hold loaded to less than 10% of the hold's maximum allowable cargo weight when in the full load condition, corresponding to a load equal to or greater than 90% of the ship's deadweight at the relevant assigned freeboard, after 1 July 2006 or the date on which the ship reaches 10 years of age, whichever occur later.

Also, MSC80 held in May this year concurred that the restrictions under regulation 14 should be annotated in the onboard loading manual of the relevant ships.

Bulk carriers, the keels of which were laid prior to 1 July 1999 are to be assessed for compliance with the requirements of UR S31 in accordance with the schedule specified in the requirements. They, however, have not been designed to comply with the requirements of SOLAS XII/5.1.

Accordingly, the attending surveyors are to remark on the cover page of the onboard loading manual as per the following example, when periodical class survey is carried out or it is applied separately at other surveys for the relevant bulk carriers after 1 July 2005, which are corresponding to one year before the revised SOLAS has come into effect. The related NOTE is scheduled to be set out in the relevant ship's survey status.

<Example of Remark>
"This ship is not allowed to sail with any cargo hold loaded to less than 10% of the hold's maximum allowable cargo weight when in the full load condition on and after (date of implementation)."
(To be continued)