SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016

The Ship Construction File Interim Industry Standardand Interim Supplementary Guidance– Executive Summary –7 March 2016
Approved forsubmission to MSC 96(Submitted in abbreviated form as MSC 96/5/7)

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SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016

1. Introduction and agreed principles:
The Ship Construction File (SCF) provides ship information related to design andconstruction that is needed to facilitate the safety of the ship throughout its
operational life.
The SCF Interim Industry Standard (called “SCF IS”) and the associated Interim
Supplementary Guidance (called “SCF SG” and SCF IS and SCF SG being
collectively called “IS”) were jointly developed by the tripartite group (Shipowners,Shipbuilders and Classification Societies) as industry guidance relevant tonewbuilding, substantial repair, conversion or major modification to the structure of
Bulk Carriers or Oil Tankers subject to the IMO SOLAS GBS requirements for theSCF.
The IS serves as industry guidance and therefore does not oblige parties to fully
follow the contents but rather provide principles, which will facilitate agreement on
procedures for compliance being reached for each Ship. Such agreements and theresulting commitments will reflect specific individual situations. In other words, thepurpose of the IS is to promote common understanding of the industry issues
involved, and to facilitate agreement on procedures for achieving compliance with
the IMO requirements on individual projects.
It is to be noted that nothing in this guidance should be interpreted as providing any
alternative to full compliance with the relevant requirements of IMO.

SCF required by MSC.1/Circ.1343
for Bulk Carries and Oil Tankers

Shipowner’s OfficeAshore

SCF Supplement Ashore

SCF Onboard

High IP Level;

Ordinary IP Level;need not be on board at
all times

need to be on board
at all times

Digital SCFArchive CenterShip

The “SCF Onboard – SCF Supplement Ashore” model2

SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016

2. Purpose and scope of SCF Interim Industry Standard:
The main objective of the IS is to give practical guidance on the definitions of theSCF contents and operating principles of the “SCF Onboard and SCF Supplement
Ashore” industry model.
The IS will facilitate access by the Classification Society, Shipowner and flag Stateto necessary SCF Information effectively, while demonstrating in a verifiable
manner due consideration to IP protection, as required in Functional Requirement
10 of the IMO GBS and Paragraph 4 of the IMO Guidelines for the information to be
included in a Ship Construction File (MSC.1/Circ.1343).
•••

The IS applies to the operational phase of the ship and addresses the SCF
Information as required by MSC.1/Circ.1343. It does not affect the scope ofand access to information related to the ship structure under construction,
which is referred to in Part B of Annex to MSC.296 (87) (1).
Summarized information on fatigue life calculation is available on board
through document such as Item 4-2 shown in Annex to the SCF IS (Planshowing areas prone to fatigue).
Full “Detailed strength calculation” and “Detailed fatigue life calculation”,
such as Items 3-2 and 4-1 shown in Annex to the SCF IS, are available tothe Shipowner during ship design and construction period, and can after shipdelivery be provided to the Shipowner from the Archive Center subject to theprocedures as defined in 2.1 of the SCF SG. If for some legitimate reasonthe full calculations have not been available to the Shipowner before shipdelivery, (e.g. the Shipowner not being involved in the project until the ship isalready constructed), then the Archive Center will provide such information
to the Shipowner on request. The calculations may be only for internal use
by the Shipowner.

Full “Detailed strength calculation” and “Detailed fatigue life calculation” need toincorporate the following information for the purpose of demonstrating compliancewith the structural design criteria, including, but not limited to those specified in thereporting requirements of Common Structural Rules for Bulk Carriers and Oil
Tankers (CSR) issued by IACS for direct strength analyses.
Information related to direct strength analyses (CSR, Ch. 7):a) List of plans used including dates and versions;b) Detailed description of structural modelling including all modellingassumptions and any deviations in geometry and arrangement of structurecompared with plans;c) Plots to demonstrate correct structural modelling and assigned properties.
d) Details of material properties, plate thickness, beam properties used in themodel;e) Details of (assumed) boundary conditions;f) Details of all loading conditions reviewed with calculated hull girder shear
force, bending moment and torsional moment distributions;(1)

See 10.2.3 and 10.3.3 in Part B of Annex to IMO MSC.296(87) “Guidelines for Verification of Conformity
with the International Goal-based Ship Construction Standards for Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers”

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SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016g) Details of applied loads and confirmation that individual and total applied
loads are correct;h) Plots and results that demonstrate the correct behaviour of the structuralmodel under the applied loads;i) Summaries and plots of global and local deflections.
j) Summaries and sufficient plots of stresses to demonstrate that the designcriteria are not exceeded in any member;k) Plate and stiffened panel buckling analysis and results;l) Tabulated results showing compliance, or otherwise, with the design criteria.
m) Proposed amendments to structure where necessary, including revised
assessment of stresses, buckling and fatigue properties showing compliancewith design criteria;n) Reference of the finite element computer program (software), including its
version and date.
Information related to strength calculations other than direct strength analyses:o) Hull girder ultimate capacity calculation (CSR, Ch. 5, Section2);p) Residual strength calculation (CSR, Ch. 5, Section 3);q) Any other strength calculations such as Hull girder section modulus
calculation (CSR, Ch. 5 Section1)
The scope and sample format of information to be included in the SCF are provided
by Annex to the SCF IS.
3. SCF Onboard and SCF Supplement Ashore: appropriate formats andlocations for different type of information
It was agreed that a shore based Archive Center could be used to store the fullscope of documents and drawings addressed by the SCF, which include certain
documents that are recognised as being both highly IP sensitive and not needed tobe kept on board the ship at all times.
The “SCF Onboard” is accessible on board the Ship and in the Shipowner’s officeashore. The model procedures for management of the “SCF Onboard”, either in a
printed or digital format, are provided in the SCF SG to facilitate customisation inaccordance with the principles of the IS to accommodate the different management
style of each Shipowner.
For Shipowners who have chosen to carry the “SCF Onboard” in a digital format, aselected set of printed “SCF Onboard” for frequent use as shown in Table 2 of theSCF IS, as well as a full set of “SCF Onboard” in a printed format for emergency
use can also be provided. In addition, the electronic “SCF Onboard” is printable byequipment onboard or in the Shipowners’ office ashore.
The “SCF Supplement Ashore” comprises only documents that satisfy two criteria,
which are marked as “high IP level” documents in Table 2 of the SCF IS:••

High IP sensitivity; andNot needed to be kept on board the Ship at all times.

For conventional Bulk Carriers and Oil Tankers these criteria are only met by thefollowing four items (Noting that this may be different for other ship types which
may in the future be subjected to other GBS):full “Detailed strength calculation” document

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SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016•full “Detailed fatigue life calculation” document“Yard plans” drawings
Note: “Yard plans” drawings – besides scantling information of structural members –contain also sensitive proprietary information on fabrication processes. The scantling
information of structural members to fulfil the day-to-day needs on board is, however,available on board, by means of Item 3-5 (Key construction plans) and Item 3-6 (Netscantlings of structural constituent parts) defined in Annex to the SCF IS.

•Master “Lines Plan” drawing
Note: Master “Lines plan” is a master drawing displaying the detailed hull form of theentire ship. Hull form information frequently required is readily made available on board,by means of Item 3-5 (Key construction plans) defined in Annex to the SCF IS. Hull form
information needed in emergency situations is also encrypted and stored on shiploading computers on board as numerical data (Refer to Item 3-11 “Equivalent to Linesplan” defined in Annex to the SCF IS).

SCF Information that is required for Emergency Response Services (ERS) will beavailable for use by dedicated ERS providers subject to appropriate procedures forIPR protection being implemented by the ERS provider for example, by means of aconfidentiality agreement.
4. Access to and IP protection of SCF information: practical, user-friendly andsafe
For the defined scope of the SCF, whether on board or ashore, availability to theShipowner is assured, taking into account the need for appropriately structured
access procedures that consider both the IP sensitivity of individual
documents/drawings and the need for practical operational access to theinformation. How to manage access procedures in practice is fully under the
Shipowner’s control.
4.1 SCF Onboard
Where the “SCF Onboard” is in a digital format it should be directly accessible by
the Shipowner through the onboard standard IT systems and document
management procedures. It is anticipated that Shipowners will put in placeappropriate IT security procedures to protect information held in a digital format.
This should include procedures and systems for taking off a person from theregistration list when the person is no longer qualified for access because ofchangeover or retirement, etc. and periodical renewal of passwords to be made by
the Shipowner to ensure maintenance of secure access to SCF Information, andmay include periodical renewal of information held in a digital format. This isintended to ensure that full set of the latest SCF Information is being used and thatthe information has not been compromised.
Records of the access to SCF Information are to be kept by the Shipowner, e.g. as
a part of the Ship’s document management system or quality management system.
Where information in a digital format is selected, this can be arranged to beautomated.
4.2 SCF Supplement Ashore
For the “SCF Supplement Ashore”, information should be provided by theShipowner to clarify the intended use of information in the four documents
recognised as being of high IP sensitivity (Table 2 in the SCF IS refers). The5SCF Interim IS and SG – Executive Summary – 7 March 2016

Archive Center will only use this information to verify that SCF Information is being
provided to a recognized representative of the Shipowner for legitimate use( 2 )related to the specific Ship.
However, this does not oblige the Shipowner to give away business sensitive
information. The information provided will simply enable the Shipbuilder tounderstand the specific part/extent of SCF Supplement Ashore Information needed,
so as to facilitate the relevant procedures and enable the Archive Center to deliver
necessary and sufficient SCF Supplement Information in a timely manner. Suchexchange is based on trust and a spirit of good cooperation between the Shipownerand the Shipbuilder. Archive Center and Shipbuilder will operate under strict
principles not to divulge for whatever reason the purpose given by the Shipowner.
The Archive Center will keep a record of access to “SCF Supplement Ashore” andany backup documents or drawings of the “SCF Onboard” that it provides to anyparty.
5. The Archive Center: provides availability and IP protection
The Archive Center will function as the keeper of the “SCF Supplement Ashore” ina digital format, while also keeping a full digital copy of the “SCF Onboard” forbackup purposes.
Qualification elements for becoming an Archive Center are defined in IS, keeping in
mind that independent services can be competitively achieved. Classification
Societies may be the most suitable and likely candidate. Not all classificationsocieties, however, necessarily will provide Archive Center services.
However, the IS do not rule out other entities as long as the qualifications set in theIS are achievable. The selection and appointment of the Archive Center will
ultimately be subject to agreement between the Shipowner and the Shipbuilder.
6. SCF Interim Industry Standard: open to modification and alternativepurposes
The IS has been specifically developed to facilitate the SCF for Bulk Carriers and
Oil Tankers. However, if an individual Shipowner sees benefit in applying the same
industry model for information beyond the SCF scope, this could be arranged byagreement between the relevant parties.
It is intended that in the absence of significant issues arising, a general review will
be initiated by the cross industry group within 24 months to take account ofexperience gained in the initial use of the IS.
________________________(2)

Refer to definition 1.(a) of the SCF IS

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