Goal-based ship construction standards- Inherent objectives for a new generation of seaworthy ships

The world's largest floating drydock CS Ermei made by China Shipping Industry Co (CIC), a unit of China Shipping Group has been put into operation.

The facility operates at CIC's ship repair yard at Liaoning province's Changxing Island near Dalian, and is used for maintenance and refit on ships from all over the world, and has an annual repair capacity of 160 ships and output value of CYN10 billion (US$1.46 billion). The drydock, designed by Shanghai Merchant Ship Design & Research Institute (SDARI), is 410 metres long, 82 metres wide, 28 metres draught with a uplift force of 85,000 tonnes and a self weight of 42,000 tonnes. It is the largest and most advanced floating shipyard in the world. The above news indicates, that the industry requires a better, sophisticated and prolonged seaworthy duration ships that could be delivered sooner. With almost 80 percent of the dockyards overbooked for 2009, it is time that states should look into developing innovative inventions such as the CS Ermei. The notion of “goal-based ship construction standards” was introduced in IMO at the 89th session of the Council in November 2002 through a proposal by the Bahamas and Greece, suggesting that IMO should play a larger role in determining the standards to which new ships are built, traditionally the responsibility of classification societies and shipyards.

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