The Memorable Years that CCS and IACS have gone through together

By Lin ZhengJin

2018 marks the 50thanniversary of the establishment of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) and the 30thanniversary of CCS’ entry into IACS. On December 13, IACS celebrated its 50thanniversary in the fi nancial city, London. CCS also attended the ceremonial event.

Over the years, CCS has actively participated in or took the lead of the technical and quality work of IACS at all levels, has played the leading and instrumental role in important areas including the formulation, coordination and maintenance of common structural rules for bulk carriers and oil tankers, RO Code, the quality improvement of IACS members, the IACS unified requirements for buckling, the uni fi ed requirements for hatch covers, the conformity with PSPC requirements of new non-PSPC ships, the unified interpretation of delivery date, application of new inspection technologies, intelligent ships, advocated and promoted the formulation and implementation of many IACS resolutions and has made important contributions to the advancement of maritime technology.

In recent years, CCS has served as the chairman of three small groups under IACS Council. From 2006 to 2007, CCS served as the chairman SG/RO Code,organized the formulation of two versions of RO code,providing an important reference for the development of RO code by IMO. From 2010 to 2012, as the chairman of SG/QP, CCS organized the study of many quality policies of IACS, including key performance index,internal benchmarking, and quality system development strategy. It guided the search for solutions to various problems and in October 2011, held successfully a historic IACS Quality Week in the history of IACS at CCS Headquarters, making important contributions to IACS quality policy research and decision. From 2016 to 2017, as the chairman of IACS SG/GBS, CCS organized IACS to submit to IMO, as planned, the rule amendments and self-audit documents aimed at correcting the fi ve non-conformities in GBS audit at the end of 2016. The initial GBS conformity verification was finally completed perfectly, which ensured the continuous and effective implementation of SOLAS Convention by the global shipping and shipbuilding industry.

From 2008 to 2010, CCS successfully took charge of the chairmanship of IACS Statutory Panel. This is the professional panel of IACS with most the most extensive domain and the largest workload, and it is also the fi rst time for CCS serve as chairman of IACS panel.In total, the Statutory Panel has formulated or revised over 50 unified interpretations (UIs), submitted more than 80 submissions to IMO concerning the conversion of single hull tankers into double hull tankers or bulk carriers/ore carriers, conventions on ship recycling and other major technical issues. Starting from January 1, 2017, CCS took the chairmanship of IACS Survey Panel for a tenure of three years, CCS will play an active leadership and organizational role in specific professional fi elds such as new inspection technology,harmonized system for survey and certi fi cation (HSSC)and others. In addition, CCS also is the leader of several project teams.

According to the latest statistics of technical contribution provided by the IACS secretariat, CCS experts have participated in 31 working groups of IACS, ranked fourth among all IACS members, and served as the chairman for 8 panels and project teams,which fully demonstrated CCS technical strength and contribution.

Since 1988, CCS has been growing steadily, promoting continuously the process of internationalization, and comprehensively improving its technical capability,quality performance, image building and international influence. At present, according to the tonnage of classed ships, CCS ranks the sixth among IACS' 12 members; with an average age of 9.25 years for classed fleet of international voyage, which is the youngest among IACS members; the quality performance of the fl eet is among the best. This is not only due to the continuous development of CCS itself, but also to the good platform of IACS. With the improvement of its own strength, CCS has gradually integrated into IACS, changing from passive responding to active participation in the international discourse system,contributing oriental wisdom to the development of IACS. Thereby, CCS and IACS have formed a cycle that is sound through mutual integration, mutual learning and mutual bene fi t.

In the future, CCS will continue to make good use of the important platform of IACS, actively participate in the IACS work, and make its due contributions to promoting the healthy and sustainable development of international maritime industry.