Bureau Veritas, a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification, will contribute its expertise to a consortium that will deliver a Formal Safety Assessment study on Container Ship fires to the European Maritime Safety Agency . Led by the Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology , the project aims to identify cost-effective risk control options for cargo fires on board container vessels.

Considering the constant increase in container ship sizes and the frequency of fire originating in containers, the Formal Safety Assessment study will quantitatively assess the fire risks on board container ships and evaluate new fire safety measures by comparing the risk reductions and the associated costs.

The project has been awarded to a consortium led by the Danish Institute of Fire and Security Technology (DBI) supported by Research Institutes of Sweden AB (RISE), the University of Southern Denmark (SUD), the Odense Maritime Technology A/S (OMT) and the Classification Society Bureau Veritas.

An online kick-off meeting was held in January and work is already progressing at full steam, with a series of four online Hazard Identification workshops led by DBI and covering all possible fire safety areas (prevention, detection and alarm, containment, firefighting). The HAZID workshops gathered experts from major container ships companies, Flag State administrations, equipment suppliers and members of the consortium

The study is expected to be finalised in February 2023 and the results are to be presented to the International Maritime Organisation.

Laurent Leblanc, Senior Vice President Technical & Operations at Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore, commented: “Collaborating is essential to evaluate and mitigate risk. This study will be a meaningful step forward in ensuring fire safety on board container ships. This initiative is an integral part of BV’s Research & Development objectives to further develop knowledge and expertise to help ensure safety at sea and support industry transformation, and BV’s long experience in managing safety on board ships will certainly provide valuable input. I look forward to the results which the whole industry will benefit from.

“As a classification society, Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore works with industry players across the maritime industry, from equipment manufacturers to shipyards, ship owners and offshore operators, providing technical support to national and international organisations. We understand the challenges clients face in designing, building and operating a safe and sustainable maritime business. We help maritime stakeholders navigate the industry transformation and energy transition; providing practical advice, tools and technology to make the right decisions to run a safe, sustainable and high performing business.”

Source: Bureau Veritas