Germanischer Lloyd a Reliable Partner in Ice Class Classification

Hamburg / Athens, 11 April 2005 - Navigating ships in ice pose a number of unique risks. The most obvious threats come from the increased loads on the ship through ice contact. These are applied not only to the hull of the ship, but also to the propulsion system and appendages such as the rudder. Additionally, low ambient temperatures reduce the ductility of the ship materials. Together with the ice, cold temperatures also reduce the effectiveness of many components critical to ship operations ranging from machinery on the deck to sea suctions below the waterline. Navigation in higher latitudes brings increasing difficulties with respect to extended darkness, poor weather conditions, relative lack of good charts, communication systems and other navigational aids. Combined with the fact that the remoteness of the polar and sub-polar regions makes rescue or clean-up operations difficult and costly, the navigation of the ice-covered waters of the world pose many challenges. Regardless of these special challenges, ships with ice strengthening are in high demand: Transport of Russian oil by sea is increasingly lucrative for ship owners. Traditionally crude oil was exported from Middle East in immense quantities, but nowadays Russia’s oil production is exceeding that of Saudi Arabia in some months. As a result, Clarkson Research Studies have predicted that the ice class fleet will grow by 33 percent in 2006. Furthermore, polar waters are increasingly viewed as potential transit routes. For instance, although not yet utilised to a significant degree by non-Russian vessels, the transit distance from Western Europe to Japan is reduced by approximately 40% if the Northern Sea Route through the Russian Arctic is used instead of the traditional route through the Suez Canal. In addition to increasing tourism demands in the Arctic and Antarctic, invaluable research opportunities, e.g. pertaining to climate change, round out the many reasons why the challenges of navigating the world’s ice-covered waters need to met. So how to navigate these icy waters? Germanischer Lloyd is among the few classification societies who have a vast fleet of ice strengthened ships. Accordingly, our involvement and technical know how in this segment is considerable. About half of all ships classified by GL have some level of ice-strengthening (over 2,600 ships). Approximately 1,000 GL ships comply with the Finnish-Swedish Ice Class Rules, out of which about 250 vessels are tankers. Owners face many uncertainties when selecting an ice class: Various aspects such as traffic restrictions, fairway dues, severity, extent and duration of ice conditions and icebreaker escort operations – in the ice-covered waters of Europe, Russia and Canada, for example - are among the items to consider. Germanischer Lloyd advises owners and ship yards about all of these. In addition to our ice class classification and consulting services, A GL Academy Seminar on ice class for shipyard designers goes into details about the requirements for the various levels of ice class and strengthening for navigation in Arctic waters, including descriptions of ice class notations, definitions of ice class draught and calculation of propulsion machinery output. Germanischer Lloyd also engages in the definition of the regulatory framework at the highest level: GL held the chairmanship of the IMO drafting group which finalised the “Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-Covered Waters”. Similarly, in response to the ensuing need for the technical requirements, IACS established a working group to develop the Unified Requirements for Polar Ships (AHG/PSR), covering both structural and machinery components. Highlighting its experience in the design and construction of ice strengthened vessels, this IACS working group was chaired by Germanischer Lloyd. GL is also participating as the only classification society in the European Union research project SAFEICE aimed at decreasing the risks involved in navigating ice-covered waters through the development of improved design codes and regulations At the Lloyd’s List event „Arctic Shipping“ conference in Helsinki later this month, ice class expert Richard Hayward will be presenting the results of recent international efforts to harmonise ice class rules, as well as chairing the second conference day. Photographs are available, please contact Stefanie Normann at snor@gl-group.com or Agamemnon Apostolidis at apo@gl-group.com.

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