APRIL 25, 2013 — ClassNK announced today that it had released the 2013 edition of the Rules and Guidance for the Survey and Construction of Steel Ships.

ClassNK continuously reviews, updates, and amends its technical rules and guidance as part of its ongoing efforts to improve the safety of life and property at sea, and to protect the marine environment.

This year's edition of the rules and guidance contains a number of amendments made in 2012, reflecting its latest research outcomes, damage investigation and analysis of actual cases, amendments to statutory rules and regulations, and requests from the maritime industry.

These amendments include the following (the source of each amendment is shown in italics).

• New requirements for Specially Constructed Cargo Ships for the Carriage of Nickel Ore - Results of Research and Development
• New requirements for Structural Strength at Bow Parts for Blunt Ships - Damage investigation feedback obtained during surveys
• New requirements for the Energy Efficiency, etc. of Ships - Changes made to relevant international conventions
• New requirements for Steering Tests at Sea Trials - Changes made to relevant IACS Unified Requirements
• New requirements for Structural Bonding Methods for FRP Ship - Requests from industry

Both printed and CD-ROM versions of the 2013 edition of the rules and guidance are available for purchase online, and the PDF version of the 2013 edition of the rules and guidance is available free of charge on ClassNK's website (http://www.classnk.or.jp) for those who have registered for the ClassNK "My Page" service.