deployment of the PLA Navy ships in the - Information Resource ...

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delegate authority and the level of trust they are willing
to show in co-operation partners not firmly under their
control. These differences are much less pronounced
in navies and air forces, compared to armies that are
much more dominated by the medium in which they
work and the technology they have to use to be
effective.
EXPERIENCES OF COMMERCIAL SHIPS AND
NATO
Commercial Practice
The design, operation and maintenance of
naval assets are generally shrouded in different levels
of secrecy, and therefore to maintain certain unique
characteristics, standards followed for procuring
various equipment and systems are not very open.
The designers, operators and maintainers are required
to be specifically trained in all the ship borne
equipment, thereby increasing the time and costs. The
equipment manufacturers are also take advantage of
such a situation by marking up the prices.
On the other hand commercial ship owners
follow very different procedures from those historically
followed by the Navies to ensure that when they
procure new vessels and equipment that is delivered
is precisely what is required. There are many reasons
for this: commercial shipping is generally simpler; the
legislative framework is different, and there are many
more shipyards worldwide with the necessary skills for
building these ships. To ensure that commercial
shipping is designed, built and maintained to an
acceptable level of safety, whilst meeting the specific
requirements of the owner, there are a number of
rules and regulations that apply, that do not apply to
the naval ships and submarines.
Statutory Regulation. Commercial shipping
is subject to external regulation from much of which
warships are exempt. These regulations are produced
under the auspices of the International Maritime
Organisation (IMO). They include a large number of
conventions such as the International Convention for
the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), and the International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships,
1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978 relating
thereto (MARPOL 73/78).
Classification Societies. Classification
societies such as Lloyds Register (LR), Germanischer
Lloyd (GL), and the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS)
are organisations that establish and apply technical
standards in relation to the design, construction and
survey of ships (and offshore structures). Commercial
shipping will either be ‘in’ or ‘out’ of ‘class’ and it is a
requirement of ‘flag’ administrations that all shipping
so ‘flagged’ must be ‘in class.’ The design and
construction components of a classification society’s
rules contribute to the structural strength and integrity
of essential parts of a ship’s hull and its appendages,
and the reliability and function of the propulsion and
steering systems, power generation and essential
services. They are not, and cannot be used as, a design
code, nor do they generally specify how the
shipbuilder has to design his systems to meet the
classification society’s rules. For warships, a number
of the classification societies have developed sets of
Naval Ship Rules which can be used to specify stricter
standards, particularly in the area of survivability.
Where they differ from the equivalent commercial
rules is that they are not mandated and ships can be
assessed as ‘in class’ for some components but not for
others.
Owner’s Requirements. Commercial ship
owners will require the shipbuilder to build and
operate new vessels to the rules of one of the
Classification Societies to meet the requirements of the
relevant Flag State. They will also have a number of
their own requirements covering issues ranging from
paint scheme to domestic facilities, specifics for cargo
or passenger handling to bunker capacity. They may
also detail specific equipments to be fitted, use of
designated sub-contractors to ensure commonality
with vessels already in service, and may call up specific
standards for the individual systems and equipments.
Across the ship owner’s fleet, characteristics that all
vessels must exhibit may be included within the
Owner’s Ship Specification whilst requirements for an
individual platform will be the subject of a set of shipspecific
Owner’s Requirements. Whilst essential
systems must meet the Classification Society rules, the
owner has considerable scope in specifying what he
actually requires in his new vessel.
The approach described in the preceding
paragraphs, followed by the commercial ship owners,
thus enables them to seek technical assistance
anywhere in the world, at whatever time, whenever
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