1 The Maritime Safety Committee, at its eighty-eighth
session (24 November to 3 December 2010), with a view to assisting
Administrations in carefully considering the impact of open watertight
doors on passenger ships operation and survivability when determining
whether a watertight door may remain open during navigation under
SOLAS regulation II-1/22 (paragraph
4) (previous SOLAS regulation II-1/15, paragraph 9.3), approved the
annexed Guidance for watertight doors on passenger ships which may
be opened during navigation, prepared by the Sub-Committee on Stability
and Load Lines and on Fishing Vessels Safety, at its fifty-second
session, and the Sub-Committee on Ship Design and Equipment, at its
fifty-fourth session.
2 The Guidance contains the following appendices:
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.1 Procedure for the determination of the impact
of open watertight doors on passenger ship survivability (floatability
assessment) (appendix 1);
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.2 Technical standards for watertight doors on
passenger ships (appendix 2);
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.3 Flowchart on Guidance for permitting watertight
doors on passenger ships to remain open during navigation (appendix
3); and
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.4 Illustration of application of the floatability
assessment under hazardous conditions in the Guidance (appendix 4).
3 Member Governments are invited to apply the
annexed Guidance from 1 January 2011 and bring it to the attention
of recognized organizations, ship designers, shipbuilders, manufacturers,
companies, shipowners, operators and any other parties concerned.