THE Isle of Man Ship Registry has handed over more of its inspection role to classification societies that act as the flag’s recognised organisations.
The flag, a part of the Red Ensign Group, had previously used RO’s to inspect its registered fleet of vessels for compliance under international agreements, but had retained safety management, security and labour convention inspections and audits. These will also, as of April 1, be handed over to the class societies that have RO status with the Isle of Man Registry under what the flag calls full Class delegation.
The IMO GISIS website lists the Isle of Man Flag having seven class societies act as ROs. They are ABS, BV, DNV GL, Korean Register, LR, Class NK and Rina *
The move to give class society RO’s the capability to have full inspection capabilities does not mean the end of the Isle of Man surveyors. The registry said in a press release that this will be met with a new regime of general inspections, carried out by the Ship Registry’s own team of surveyors, to satisfy its Flag State obligations and to ensure the quality of ships on the register.
The Isle of Man register boasts that with over 400 vessels it is the 12 largest flag. It also said its fleet grew by 9% through 2016 to 16.14m tonnes. More than 60% of the vessels registered fleet is is in Asia. In a statement Dick Welsh, Director of the Isle of Man Ship Registry said that the Register can now use its own surveyors to better effect, especially to monitor the work Class are carrying out on its behalf.
The role of class societies as recognised organisations has increased since the IMO amended the RO Code in 2015. The Code has helped raise the quality of organisations that can become ROs. The Isle of Man flag has also announced that a new, simplified fee scheme will also be introduced to support the changes and provide a single annual fee to cover annual registry and inspection fees.
The Isle of Man Registry falls under the Department of Economic Development of the Isle of Man Government.
(* This story was updated 3rd April 2017 to reflect the increase in Isle of Man Registry’s ROs, listed under IMO GISIS, from six to seven)
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