Enhanced fire detection and protection onboard containerships and vehicle carriers has been a longstanding priority for IUMI. At last week’s 12th session of the IMO’s Ship Systems and Equipment Sub-Committee, IUMI participated with strong support from our membership to advocate for regulatory improvements for both vessel types. Sebastian Kempka, IUMI Loss Prevention Committee Member and Senior Consultant at KA Köln Assekuranz, provided invaluable input to the discussions on containership fire safety. Ricky Braz, Master Mariner and Marine Underwriter at Munich, offered his expertise in the deliberations on vehicle carrier fire safety.
From IUMI’s perspective, a key priority to advance containership fire safety has been SOLAS amendments which would mandate the installation of fixed water monitors that can reach the entire deck cargo area. This would be a significant improvement compared to the current requirements which merely mandate portable water monitors and water mist lances. The benefit of fixed water monitors is the much wider reach compared to the limited reach of mobile water monitors. Moreover, the fixed installations have a much stronger cooling effect since the water reaches the burning container(s) from the top.
Since the SSE Fire Protection Working Group has a large number of agenda items to deal with, at this session it was not possible to discuss the SOLAS requirements for fixed water monitors. Instead, the guidelines for water mist lances and related SOLAS amendments were completed, as was the mandatory requirement for the carriage of portable infrared cameras to enable the crew to better locate a fire. Both changes will come into effect for newbuild vessels from 2032 onwards.
For the work on fire safety for vehicle carriers that carry new energy vehicles, IUMI’s main objectives include implementing improved detection measures and better ways to contain and fight fires. Since a large number of IMO Member States and observer organisations are interested in this work, many proposals have been submitted under this work item. During this session, the Fire Protection Working Group revised a draft action plan to address risks of new energy vehicles. It was further decided to focus primarily on battery electric vehicles rather than all new energy vehicles. A second important decision was to prioritise vehicle carriers such as PCTCs and PCCs since this is the ship type that suffers most incidents. Other roro cargo and ropax vessels will be reviewed once new requirements for vehicle carriers have been agreed by the SSE Sub-Committee. A Correpsondence Group has been tasked to develop draft interim guidelines for vehicle carriers which will serve as a basis for future SOLAS amendments. Similar to the ongoing work on containerships, the regulatory changes in SOLAS are planned to be finalised by 2029 so that they come into force in 2032.
We are grateful to all IUMI members involved in our Fire Protection Working Group who continuously provide thoughtful input so that IUMI’s views and positions can be fed into the IMO process:
- Charles Fernandez Canopius
- Mikkel Anders Gard
- GE Qi Cosco
- Marc Sommerfeld GDV
- Sebastian Kempka Köln Assekuranz
- Andrew Kinsey Integrated Specialty Coverages
- Neil Roberts LMA
- Ricky Braz Munich Re
- Geir Jørgensen Skuld
