IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee approved, in principle, the draft International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code), and also approved proposed amendments to make the Code mandatory under Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), with plans to adopt both at the next MSC session scheduled for June 2015.
The IGF Code will provide mandatory provisions for the arrangement, installation, control and monitoring of machinery, equipment and systems using low-flashpoint fuels, focusing initially on liquefied natural gas (LNG), to minimize the risk to the ship, its crew and the environment, having regard to the nature of the fuels involved.
