ROLE OF CLASSIFICATION SOCIETY IN ARCTIC SHIPPING Seppo Liukkonen, Station Manager, DNVGL Station Helsinki Abstract The core mission of a classification society is “to protect human lives, property and the environment”. In first place the classification societies are fulfilling this function in marine environment, because the classification business in its current form started within sea transportation and shipping. Since then the function of the classification societies has widened to comprise shipbuilding, different kinds of off- shore activities and also some on-shore activities. When fulfilling their function the classification societies are using their own classification rules as their main, own tool. Additionally, the classification societies are often fulfilling their above-mentioned function by working together with and on behalf of the flag state administrations. Here the so-called IMO instruments such as the SOLAS and MARPOL conventions, for instance, are the main basis of the work. Also, international standards, such as the EN-ISO and IEC standards, for instance, and other national and international regulations, such as the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules and Canadian Arctic Pollution Prevention Regulations, for instance, are used by the classification societies. Basically, the work of the classification societies is to ensure that the object in question, e.g., a ship, an off-shore structure, a quality management system, etc., is in compliance with the above-mentioned relevant rules and regulations. In practice this can be done, e.g., with plan approvals, supervision of manufacturing, surveys, inspections and audits. This presentation gives an overview about the role of the classification societies in ensuring and developing the safe Arctic shipping. The main instruments, which are relevant for the Arctic Shipping and which are available to the classification societies, are described. The philosophy of applying the relevant rules and regulations is discussed. INTRODUCTION The classification societies are non-profit technical expert organizations serving objectively, impartially and neutrally the interests of all concerned with safety at sea. The service of the classification societies is called as “classification” that can be defined as: The system of grading, expressed by characters of classification, used by a classification society to define the degree to which individual ships, machinery/electrical plant, cargo refrigerating installations and offshore installations comply with its rules for classification and construction. The function of classification societies is to compile construction rules based on experience and research, to supervise the construction, materials and workmanship of new ships and offshore installations and to supervise continuously the condition of ships, offshore installations and other classified objects in service. On the basis of this the classification society keeps up a public technical record of ships, offshore installations and other classified objects. The relevant documentation takes the form of a public register that the classification society keeps updated for its ships, offshore installations and other classified objects and the form of classification certificates issued for individual ships, offshore installations and other classified objects. The classification of ships, machinery, refrigerating installations and offshore installations is based on the society's rules for classification and surveys, and on all other rules and regulations issued by the society so far as these are related to classification. The construction rules issued by classification societies are recognized as standards of good engineering practice. When properly applied and implemented, they form a good basis for the maximum safety for the transport of passengers and goods by sea. The main procedure of classification is to confirm the compliance of the classified object with the relevant classification rules. This is done, e.g., by examining and approving drawings and documents, testing of materials and components, supervising construction, carrying out quay-side and sea trials, issuing class certificates, surveying the maintenance of class and confirming the validity of class. For the owner of the ship, offshore installation or other classified object evidence of the class, and hence of the conditions of the classified object, is provided by the class certificate and by other certificates. The classification is based on a voluntary mutual agreement between the classification society and the owner of the ship, offshore installation or other classified object. Thus, principally the classification of a ship, for instance, is not mandatory, but in practice in the international trade it is a “must”. Without classification a ship in the international trade can not get freight and insurances, for instance. By virtue of their wide experience and their neutral and impartial character, classification societies are frequently called upon to perform duties in respect of safety at sea on behalf of governments, i.e., the flag state administrations. Here the work procedures are very much the same as with the classification, but the basis of the work is not the classification rules but the open instruments, such as the international conventions and rules and regulations if IMO, for instance. The work with open IMO instruments on behalf of flag states is often called as statutory, and these statutory documents create an important difference between the classification and statutory work. The classification is based on the classification rules, which are owned by the classification societies. Only the classification societies have the entire right to interpret their rules. On the statutory side the statutory documents are the basis of the work and the flag states have the entire and final right to interpret the statutory documents. MAIN CLASSIFICATION SOCIETIES The main internationally recognized classification societies have joined together to form the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS). The members of IACS are: ABS American Bureau of Shipping, USA BV Bureau Veritas, France CCS China Classification Society, P. R. China CRS Croatian Register of Shipping, Croatia DNV GL, Norway GL Germanischer Lloyd, Germany IRS Indian Register of Shipping, India KR Korean Register of Shipping, South Korea LR Lloyd's Register of Shipping, United Kingdom NK Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, Japan PRS Polish Register of Shipping, Poland RINA Registro Italiano Navale, Italy RS Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, Russia. The functions of IACS include the standardization of the rules for construction and survey, acting in an advisory capacity to administrations and collaborating as observer with regard to IMO conventions (SOLAS, Load Line and MARPOL), resolutions and codes. DNV GL Det Norske Veritas, DNV, and Germanischer Lloyd, GL, have merged in September 2013 to form the new DNV GL classification society. The corporate management of DNV GL is located in Norway and the ownership is divided by the Det Norske Veritas foundation and the owner of the Germanischer Lloyd in relation of two third parts and one third part, respectively. The DNV GL has a total of 16 000 employees and is represented in 100 countries. It is the biggest classification society in the world with the share of approximately 23 % of the whole world fleet. After the merger DNV GL still has two classification rule sets, namely the DNV and GL Rules, to work with. However, a common DNV GL Rule set is under development and has, at the moment of this seminar, reached the stage of the “internal hearing”. After the “internal hearing” the new Rules will be sent to the “external hearing” to the essential parties of interest outside DNV GL. After these two hearing processes the new rules will be published to be applicable from the beginning of January 2106. RULES FOR ARCTIC SHIPPING In the Arctic shipping the role of the classification society is basically the same as outside the Arctic. The safety of the shipping is ensured by confirming the compliance with the rules. But here the rules to be used must be relevant for the Arctic environment. Maybe the best known rules for Arctic shipping are the so called Ice Class Rules. In the world there are several ice class rule sets, which can be used for the Arctic shipping, or more comprehensively for the shipping in ice-covered waters and cold environment. In Finland and at the Baltic Sea the essential rule set is the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules. The responsible organizations behind these rules are the Finnish and Swedish Maritime Administrations. But all the main classification societies have implemented these rules into their classification rules and equivalences between the ice class notations of the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules and the ice class notations of classification societies created and agreed. The Table 1 sets out the equivalencies between ice class notations according to the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules and DNV and GL classification Rules. Table 1: Equivalence table between the ice class notations from the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules and the DNV and GL classification Rules. Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules DNV GL IA Super 1A1 ICE-1A* 100A5 E4 IA 1A1 ICE-1A 100A5 E3 IB 1A1 ICE-1B 100A5 E2 IC 1A1 ICE-1C 100A5 E1 II 1A1 100A5 E The Finnish Swedish Ice Class Rules have an areal nature. They have been developed for the shipping at the Baltic Sea by local (Finnish and Swedish) maritime administrations