IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC), which met at the Organization's London headquarters for its 94th session, from 17 to 21 November 2014, approved draft SOLAS amendments to make mandatory the International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low- flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code); adopted other SOLAS amendments; continued its work on its action plan on passenger ship safety; and approved and adopted a number of items put forward by the sub-committees.

The MSC also adopted the Polar Code and related amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) to make it mandatory (See briefing 38/2014)​.

SOLAS amendments to make IGF code mandatory approved
The MSC approved, in principle, the draft International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code), and also approved proposed amendments to make the Code mandatory under SOLAS, with a view to adopting both the IGF Code and SOLAS amendments at the next session, MSC 95, scheduled to meet in June 2015.

Associated draft amendments to the 1978 and 1988 Protocols were also approved.

The IGF Code will provide mandatory provisions for the arrangement, installation, control and monitoring of machinery, equipment and systems using low-flashpoint fuels, focusing initially on liquefied natural gas (LNG), to minimize the risk to the ship, its crew and the environment, having regard to the nature of the fuels involved.

The Code addresses all areas that need special consideration for the usage of low-flashpoint fuels, based on a goal-based approach, with goals and functional requirements specified for each section forming the basis for the design, construction and operation of ships using this type of fuel.

<strong>Press Release</strong>

<strong>Image Credit:</strong> IMO