On July 1, 2012, the draft form of harmonized Common Structural Rules for Double Hull Oil Tankers and Bulk Carriers was made available on International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) website for public review and comment during the Industry feedback period from 1st July 2012 to 31st December 2012.

The concept of common structural rules was first invented in June 2004 and then adopted by IACS council in December 2005 with its coming into force in April 2006. But as the rules for oil tankers and bulk carriers were initially developed independently and there were some variances in the adopted technical approaches for some elements of the Rules. To remove variations and achieve consistency, IACS made a commitment to Industry to harmonize the CSR, and the harmonization project for the two sets of Rules began in 2008.

The first industry review period of this fresh release draft will be followed by a second industry review period in the spring of 2013 and a review by IACS Societies\' Technical Committees in the autumn of 2013 with a view to adoption of the harmonized CSR by IACS Council in December 2013.

I trust with the help of the harmonized version of CSR, technicians from shipowners, shipyards and classification societies will have a better understanding and a more uniformed interpretation of the rules set out for both oil tankers and bulk carriers. That means the modern computational method will be more precisely calculated during the design period and structural requirements of ships will be better performed during the construction period. Under this harmonized CSR, the more robust and safer ships will be meeting the vision of IACS. It will be the second step following the “one of the most important single steps in the development of maritime rules that IACS has ever been involved with” as described by the then Chairman of IACS Bob Somerville, when CSR was first introduced.

At the same time, ClassNK also claims it has released the world’s first software package for use with the new IACS Harmonized Common Structural Rules. “As a new set of global requirements for the industry, new software will be essential for yards and designers to efficiently test and implement the new rules,” commented ClassNK executive vice president Takuya Yoneya, who oversaw the class society’s development of the new software. The new software will be free of charge to shipyards and designers around the world, says ClassNK.