ABS: Requirements for hull construction of vehicle carriers

The American Bureau of Shipping has issued the updated Guide for Alternative Requirements for Hull Construction of Vessels Intended to Carry Vehicles (130 Meters or More in Length).

This updated Guide was published on February 1st, 2023, and became effective on the same date.

This Guide provides alternative requirements to Part 5C, Chapter 10 of the ABS Rules for Building and Classing Marine Vessels (Marine Vessel Rules) for hull construction of vessels intended to carry vehicles, which can be applied to receive the classification notation ✠ A1 Vehicle Carrier.

The classification notation SH, SHCM, will only be granted when the design is based on the criteria of this Guide.

This Guide reflects industry trends by including requirements based on ABS SafeHull, total strength assessment, and hull girder ultimate strength.

The June 2018 edition included an alternative method to evaluate the web thickness of side transverses and stringers in single side shell using the direct beam analysis in lieu of the formula to determine the shear force and revised load cases for Global Finite Element Analysis as well as fatigue analysis.

The January 2019 edition aligned the allowable stresses for watertight boundaries with the gross scantling method used in the ABS Guide for ‘SafeHull-Dynamic Loading Approach’ for Vessels.

The February 2023 edition eliminates the relevant provisions for mandatory compliance with the requirements of the Dynamic Loading Approach and Spectral Fatigue Analysis, clarifies the application of the net scantling approach, changes the full ship based finite element pure bending analysis to an alternative evaluation method of evaluating hull girder strength, and clarifies that the maximum hogging still water bending moment is to be used for LC2 and LC4 for yielding and buckling strength assessment.

After a certain period of trial use, the criteria contained in this Guide will be incorporated and published in the Marine Vessel Rules.

ABS encourages and welcomes at any time the submission of comments on this Guide.

Users are advised to check periodically on the ABS website www.eagle.org to verify that this version of this Guide is the most current.

In accordance with the requirements found in 1-1-3/3 of the ABS Rules for Conditions of Classification (Part 1) and 5C-10-1/1 of the ABS Rules for Building and Classing Marine Vessels (Marine Vessel Rules), the classification notation ✠ A1 Vehicle Carrier is to be assigned to vessels with ro-ro cargo spaces or vehicle spaces designed for carriage of unoccupied vehicles without cargo and built to the requirements of this Guide and other relevant sections of the Marine Vessel Rules. In addition, the classification notation SH, SHCM is to be assigned to vessels complying with this Guide.

If you need more information, please visit the ABS Rules and Guides page, where the document is available FOR FREE.