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Paragraph 3 Merchant Shipping (Survey and Certification) Regulations 2015

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

After regulation 9A (surveys of HSOSC), insert—

“Surveys of ships operating in polar waters

9B.
(1)

A United Kingdom ship which is—

(a)
(i)

a passenger ship; or

(ii)

a cargo ship of 500 gross tons or more; and

(b)

operating, or intending to operate, in polar waters,

must be subject to the surveys specified in paragraph (2), and each such survey must be carried out for the purpose of assessing compliance with each requirement of the Polar Code Safety Regulations that applies to it.

(2)

The surveys referred to in paragraph (1) are—

(a)

an initial survey, before the ship operates in polar waters for the first time; and

(b)

a survey at the same time as any survey required in respect of the ship under regulations 6 to 10 (surveys of passenger ships and cargo ships).

(3)

Subject to paragraph (4), in the case of a category C polar ship which is a cargo ship, where—

(a)

an assessment has been undertaken in accordance with regulation 10(2)(a)(ii) of the Polar Code Safety Regulations (operational assessment); and

(b)

that assessment concludes, in writing, that the ship does not require any additional equipment or structural modification for the purposes of compliance with each requirement of the Polar Code Safety Regulations applicable to it,

a survey is not required for the purposes of issuing a Polar Ship Certificate in respect of that ship.

(4)

Where a Polar Ship Certificate has been issued in respect of a category C polar ship in accordance with paragraph (3), the ship must be subjected to an onboard survey at the next scheduled survey.

(5)

In this regulation—

  • “category A polar ship” means a ship designed for operation in polar waters in at least medium first-year ice, which may include old ice inclusions;

  • “category B polar ship” means a ship designed for operation in polar waters in at least thin first-year ice, which may include old ice inclusions;

  • “category C polar ship” means a ship designed to operate in open waters or in ice conditions less severe than those in which a category A polar ship or a category B polar ship operates;

  • “first-year ice” means sea ice of not more than one winter’s growth developing from young ice with thickness from 0.3 to 2.0 metres;

  • “medium first-year ice” means first-year ice of 70 to 120 centimetres thickness;

  • “old ice” means sea ice which has survived at least one summer’s melt;

  • “open waters” means a large area of freely navigable water in which sea ice is present in concentrations of less than 10 per cent and no ice of land origin is present;

  • “sea ice” means any form of ice found at sea which has originated from the freezing of sea water; and

  • “thin first-year ice” means first-year ice of 30 to 70 centimetres thickness.”.