Draft Australian intact stability standard

[mflapan]

The National Marine Safety Committee has released a second draft of proposed new stability standards for Australian Domestic commercial vessels. The National Standard for Commercial Vessels Subsection 6A specifies stability criteria applicable to a wide range of commercial vessels.

The public comment period is open until 6 December 2006.

One significant modification in this revision is the change of the minimum passenger weight from 65 kg in sheltered waters and 75 kg on seagoing vessels to 80 kg for all vessels. The change was prompted by the Ethan Allan tragedy as well as statistical information on current demographics in Australia (yes, we are getting heavier too!).

The Draft Standard and associated documents can be downloaded by going to http://www.nmsc.gov.au/yoursay_2.html

Regards
Mori Flapan

[mflapan]

The draft NSCV Intact Stability standard is an Adobe file of 1.5 Mb so it might take a bit of time to download from our server; depending also upon your connection speed.

Regards
Mori

[Guillermo]

Thanks a lot for the posting, Mori.
Cheers.

[mflapan]

Dear all

The period for public comment on the draft Australian National Standard for Commercial Vessels Intact Stability Criteria has been extended to the 28th February.

You can view the draft standard and other relevant documents at http://www.nmsc.gov.au/yoursay_2.html

In particular you might be interested in the Regulatory Impact Suppliment that explains the reasons for increasing person mass to 80 kg each and considers the potential impact on the industry.

Comment on the draft standard or the RIS would be gratefully received.

Also, the second part of the standard that deals with stability testing and stability information is currently being redrafted based on the public comment received for the first draft. A decision is yet to be taken as to whether the changes will warrant a second release for public comment.


Best regards
Mori Flapan

[Guillermo]

Thanks. You're doing an excellent work, congratulations!
Cheers.

[mflapan]

Dear all

The public comment period for the Australian National Standard for Commercial Vessels Part C Subsection 6A- Intact Stability Criteria closes on 28 February. The link to download the standard is at http://www.nmsc.gov.au/yoursay_2.html

Regards
Mori

[mflapan]

Public comment on the draft Subsection 6A Intact Stability Criteria has closed. Over 300 comments were received and have been reviewed by a reference group comprising both industry and government stakeholders. The draft is currently being revised and will be released later this year.

Part C Subsection 6B Stability Tests and Stability Information, the second part of the National Standard for Commercial Vessels intact stability is now available for public comment:

This is the second public comment draft of a document that was released
in 2006.

The draft can be downloaded from the NMSC Have Your Say webpage at:
http://www.nmsc.gov.au/yoursay_2.html

Public comment closes on 8 June 2007.

This standard contains the provisions requiring inclining experiments
and lightship measurements for certain vessels, simplified stability
tests for other vessels, stability information. The Annexures contain
procedures for the various stability tests, details of stability
information, draft marks, etc.

Comments are sought and welcome. Please spread the word to your
colleagues and other potentially interested stakeholders.

Best regards
Mori

[Guillermo]

Thanks, Mori. I'll study it with most interest.
Cheers.

[Stephen Ditmore]

My schedule has become jam-packed, so it's doubtful I'll take the time to read & respond to the second draft. Attached are my responses to the first draft. I'd be interested in whether my suggestions have been adopted in the second draft, should anyone want to check & see.

Concerning passenger weight: The US Coast Guard is changing to 185 pounds (84kg) assumed weight per passenger.

The US Coast Guard's latest thinking concerning pontoon catamarans can be found in Appendix C at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2006/MAR0601.pdf. As far as I'm aware 46 CFR 178.340 has not yet been updated, so one must read the above appendix to understand the US Coast Guard's current practice.

Cheers,
Stephen

[mflapan]

Dear all

As part of our ongoing review of domestic commercial vessel standards in Australia, the National Marine Safety Committee has posted an issues paper on buoyancy and stability after flooding for public comment.

The link to download the issues paper is:
http://www.nmsc.gov.au/yoursay_2.html

Comments from participants of boatdesign.net are welcome up to the closing date of 12 December 2007.

You will notice that the description is buoyancy and stability after flooding rather than the more common subdivision and damage stability as the proposed standard will include flooding scenarios that may not include 'damage' such as swamping or seawater systems failure and subdivision is but one means of mitigating the consequences.

Regarding the intact stability standards of the National Standard for Commercial Vessels, these have been revised in accordance with the public comment received and are now awaiting approval by the Council of Australian Ministers of Transport (ATC). The standards on Intact Stability Criteria and Stability Tests and Stability Information will be posted on our website as soon as approval is obtained.



Best regards
Mori

[Guillermo]

Thanks a lot again, Mori.

Cheers.

[mflapan]

Dear all

The new intact stability standards developed for Australian domestic vessels are now available for downloading free of charge on the NMSC website at

http://www.nmsc.gov.au/nscv.html

Subsection 6A Intact Stability and Subsection 6C Stability Tests and Stability Information has been approved by the Australian Transport Council. However, they are not mandatory until called up in legislation. This is scheduled for 2009. Until then they are available for reference and for consideration as equivalent solutions on a case by case basis.

To those on boatdesign.net that participated in the process of developing these standards, thank you very much. A paper that describes some of the main changes in the new standards can be viewed at:

http://www.nmsc.gov.au/documents/Fla...tStability.pdf

I am currently working on revising standards for subdivision and damaged stability which we are renaming "Buoyancy and Stability after Flooding". The public comment draft will be released in the coming few months.

Best regards

Mori

[Guillermo]

And again!