TANKER OPERATION IN ICE AND SUB—ZERO TEMPERATURES — GUIDE FOR OPERATORS

All information and advice provided in the pages of the present Guidance has been purely intended to serve as a sort of practical guidance. Nowadays, huge oil and gas reserves are there under development offshore Russian Arctic, and vast quantities of the developed oil and gas are then transported by means of the vessels from Baltic Sea and Russian Arctic areas.

Of course, the transportation of the oil and gas by sea going on year-round places very serious challenges on the vessels and crews. Some additional demands are imposed on the crew members and ship systems by the operating in cold conditions, and such demands would typically include the communications and navigation matters, lifesaving, shipboard main propulsion and auxiliary machinery, etc. The present Guidance has been specifically developed for the operators of the vessels operating in cold climates and particularly those commonly exposed to the sub-zero temperatures on a regular basis.

The main aim of the compilers of this work was to provide the shipping industry with the useful information to make all people involved better understand the hazards associated with operating in such conditions and also to facilitate the implementation of required practice and establish the procedures to meet the recognized standards of safety as well as prevention of pollution of the surrounding environment.