1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its sixty-second
session (24 to 28 May 1993), approved interim guidelines for open-top
containerships, which were disseminated by MSC/Circ.608 and provided
a set of requirements for the design of this type of ships. While
noting that certain provisions of the guidelines were still of an
interim nature and agreeing that these should be revised in the future
on the basis of relevant proposals, the Committee requested the Sub-Committee
on Fire Protection, in particular, to improve further the fire protection
requirements applicable to open-top containerships for future inclusion
in the guidelines.
2 Noting further that the interim guidelines permit
a number of spectra and range of zero-crossing periods to be used
for the tank test determination of the rate of green water ingress,
the Committee recommended that Administrations provide the Organization
with information on the spectra and zero-crossing periods, which would
provide a useful basis upon which the requirements for such tank tests
could be improved.
3 At its sixty-third session (16 to 25 May 1994),
the Maritime Safety Committee approved a revised section 9 of these
guidelines developed by the FP Sub-Committee at its thirty-eighth
session (28 June to 2 July 1993). The revised guidelines incorporating
the revised section 9 are set out in the annex to the present circular.
4 Member Governments are invited to apply the
provisions of the interim guidelines in the design and operation of
open-top containerships, as appropriate.