Relevant information on the minimum propulsion power requirements applied for the ships to which compliance with an EEDI limit value (required EEDI) is required has already been provided in ClassNK Technical Information No. TEC-1017. Since the guidelines defining this requirement have been amended partly, the Technical Information is revised as described below.
The said ClassNK Technical Information No. TEC-1017 is thus revoked, accordingly.

1. Background
For ships to which the requirements regarding required EEDI specified in Reg. 21 of MARPOL ANNEX VI apply, the installed propulsion power is not to be less than the propulsion power needed to maintain the manoeuvrability of the ship under adverse conditions as defined in the guidelines developed by the IMO, in accordance with Reg. 21.5 of ANNEX VI.

At MEPC 65 held in May 2013, "2013 Interim Guidelines for Determining Minimum Propulsion Power to Maintain the Manoeuvrability of Ships in Adverse Conditions" (hereinafter referred to as "2013 interim minimum propulsion power guidelines") were adopted. Further, as the result of discussions in MEPC 67 held in October 2014, it was agreed to extend the scope of the 2013 interim minimum power guidelines to phase 1 from January 2015 to December 2019, without modifications for the applicable ships and assessment methods (Level 1 / Level 2).

On the other hand, at MEPC 67, since there were some strong assertions to reinforce the requirements of the interim guidelines due to safety concerns, it was also agreed to continuously discuss this matter at a future session.

2. Amendments to the 2013 interim minimum propulsion power guidelines
As the result of discussions in MEPC 68 held in May 2015, it was agreed to revise the requirements of level 1 assessment required in the 2013 interim minimum propulsion power guidelines, and the amendments to the guidelines were adopted. It was also agreed at MEPC 68 that the level 2 assessment is kept without revising the requirements until receiving the outcomes of ongoing projects conducted in Europe and Japan.

The amendments to the 2013 interim minimum propulsion power guidelines will be applied to the ships for which the building contract is placed on or after 16 November 2015, based on the agreement made to have a phase-in period of six months on the implementation.

(To be continued)