'Designers urged to talk with users'. "The need for stronger links between those who design ships and equipment and those who will use them in service is urged in the latest edition of Alert, the International Maritime Human Element Bulletin published by the Nautical Institute in association with Lloyd's Register. The newsletter points out that an efficient ship design is one in which all the systems that have been incorporated by the designer work together to provide optimum efficiency." - LLOYD'S LIST, 4 April 2005

'New rules for ballast tank coatings on way'. "A new standard for ships' ballast tank coatings has cleared its first hurdle at the International Maritime Organization following proposals, in which Intertanko participated, based on the revised Chapter XII of Solas. Intertanko along with BIMCO, the International Association of Classification Societies and the International Chamber of Shipping, put in a joint proposal which would make certain performance standards for ballast tank coatings mandatory, possibly as early as July next year." - LLOYD'S LIST, 7 April 2005

'The quest for ballast-free ships'. "Failure to develop a totally reliable and effective ballast water treatment system has prompted a closer look at the ballast-free ship concept” - THE MOTOR SHIP, April 2005

'SAFEDOR - gateway to a safer future?’ "Over the next four years the 53 partners involved in the SAFEDOR (Design, Operation and Regulation for Safety) project are tasked with laying the foundation for a new philosophy of safety in shipbuilding and shipping. The participants have invest around Euros 8m in the project and attracted Euros 12m worth of funding from the EC under the aegis of its Sixth Framework Program" - MER (MARINE ENGINEERS REVIEW), April 2005

'Is water-proof spider solution to coatings?'. "German researchers have invented a material that stays dry for up to four days in water and could be used in the shipping industry. The material, which was developed by a team at the University of Bonn in co-operation with the Denkendorf Institute for Textile Technology and Chemical Engineering, was created after studying the hairs on a spider." - LLOYD'S LIST, 1 April 2005

'LNG has good safety record says P&I club'. "Within the past few weeks the UK P&I Club has gone public with its views on gas carrier safety with much of the latest issue of its magazine Carefully to Carry being devoted to various aspects of gas carrier operations" - SAFETY AT SEA, April 2005

'Safety losing out to profits'. "Safety is losing out to commercial pressures, warned Stephen Meyer, inspections chief for the UK's Marine Accident Investigation Branch. Delivering a lecture to the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology in London last week, Meyer said shipping safety systems have "a highly convoluted, if not archaic, structure" compared with that of the airline industry. He contrasted the International Civil Aviation Authority, which "has an overriding interest in safety in the air", with the International Maritime Organization, which has "very many good people…. [Whose] efforts are inevitably constrained by members whose sole imperative is commercial". Meyer also criticized class societies. He acknowledged efforts that societies make to restore confidence but noted that they are commercial organizations. "Again," he said, "commercial interests appear in our industry where absolute safety should be paramount." He did not lay any blame on either the IMO or class. Instead, he went on to talk about owners and operators, and "this, of course, is where the buck should stop for safety". “- FAIRPLAY, 21 April 2005