Technical Problems in Elimination of Substandard Ships
Takao Wada
Technical Counseller,
Ishikawajima- Harima Heavy Indusries Co. , Ltd.
1. Introduction
Around 1990. great loss of lives and ships or serious sea pollution occurred due to many casualties to large bulkers and oil tankers. After that, various means of settling the problems have been discussed in IMO or other international scenes, and many of those are successfully carried into effect. According as the international legislation, spontaneous activities in avoiding the problems can be observed in charter and operation of ships, insurance on ships, etc..
The movements for solving the problems have put stress on unmistakable operation of ships and extermination of substandard ships.
It is generally considered that the existence of substandard ships is the prime cause of the said casualties. International organizations have given much effort to exterminate substandard ships. International Safety Management Code (1514 Code), Port State Control(PSC) or Enhanced Hull Survey as fascinating topics in shipping industries are typical products of the movement.
There are two ways of exterminating substandard ships. One is maintenance of ships to keep them out of substandard conditions and the other is elimination of substandard ships from the shipping market. The former can be theoretically materialized aside from its achievement, but the latter has indistinct and difficult aspects from the technical or economical point of view.
The most general and fundamental requisite for a substandard ship is a substandard condition of her hull structures. The speaker refers to ships in substandard conditions, examines the existing circumstances of the shipping market to hold substandard ships, views the problems in eliminating substandard ships and offers suggestions to solve the problems.
2. Circumstances to hold substandard ships
2.1 Unstable life spans of Ships
Life span of a ship depends not only on the life of its hull structures but
