Rules & Classification
Technical Bulletin 2010

Several Bureau Veritas papers have been issued on topics relating to modern and future trends of the classification process and regulation in general, as well as on specific subjects for which the Society developed recently new set of rules or started dedicated development programs.

As one of the leading Class Societies, Bureau Veritas is involved in the improvement of rules and regulations covering the construction and operation of ships and floating offshore units. This process of improvement is based on the return of experience from the classification of units in Bureau Veritas register, and takes into account modern trends arising in recent years and undertaken by international regulations, national legislations and industry standards. A paper is dedicated to an analysis of these trends and foresees the main lines of rules development in the future.

The development of offshore gas fields involving gas liquefaction and handling of liquefied gas products is an emerging market. Bureau Veritas is involved in several FEED studies on dedicated LNG FPSO (FLNG) projects in Australia, Asia, Brazil, etc. Based on the feedback of these projects and also on the return of experience from the classification of gas carriers and FPSO, Bureau Veritas published in 2010 a new set of rules covering all safety aspects for the operation of such unit, including process, storage and offloading of liquefied gas. A dedicated paper performs a complete description of these rules, and provides a background for technical and procedural requirements.

As a verification body, Bureau Veritas may also act as independent verificator for compliance with national regulations, in offshore industry context. The principles, technical features and procedural aspects of this type of verification are detailed is a paper concerning the requirements of UK Continental Shelf Regulations (HSE).

Other papers are related to markets developing rapidly and for which the particular operating conditions require specific rules, such as OSV and tugs market. The papers give details about recent documents issued by the Society in order to support the classification process, as well as on the ongoing developing programs concerning this topic.

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