Maritime Rules Part 24E

Current version of Part 24E

This rule applies to:

• offshore containers for which New Zealand approval is requested.
• offshore containers that are loaded onto or unloaded from a ship at an offshore terminal within New Zealand marine waters but beyond enclosed water limits.
• New Zealand ships at offshore terminals within international waters.

Part 24E prescribes requirements for offshore containers loaded and unloaded at offshore terminals and handled in open seas. Adverse weather and sea conditions and the dynamic lifting and impact forces, experienced in these areas, can be far greater than those provided for under the International Convention for Safe Containers 1972 and Part 24D. The requirements take into account handling conditions and container type in the design approval, manufacture and testing of offshore containers.

Part 24E also provides requirements for the manufacture and inspection, identification and marking of offshore containers. The control provisions include prohibitions on the lifting of unsafe and overloaded containers and unauthorised use or removal of approved identification plates and markings.

Part 24E incorporates the IMO ‘Guidelines for the Approval of Offshore Containers Handled in Open Seas’ published in MSC/Circ.86.