No.7-2 “Panama Canal Vessel Requirement from 2022” rev.1

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OMC e-mail newsletter No.7-2

“Panama Canal Vessel Requirement from 2022” rev.1 

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Welcome to OMC e-mail newsletter!

We have issued this e-mail newsletter No.7 “Panama Canal Vessel Requirement from 2022” on 13 Jan. 2021. After that, Panama Canal Authority(hereafter PMA) revised “OP Notice to Shipping No. N-1-2022” which describe vessel requirement to pass Panama Canal.

In the e-mail newsletter No.7, we explained revised regulations as a)~f), which may affect vessel transit. Below two items(c and e) has revised again at the latest revision.

• c) Adequate separation between towing chock/bollard areas and mooring working areas (attached file No.12）
• e) Vessels required to be tied up to the new Panama Canal Chamber (attached file No.15）

In the below text, we explain about the latest revision in addition to the last one.

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◆Contents

[1] OP Notice to Shipping No.N-1-2022

[2] Revision from the 2021 regulation

[1] OP Notice to Shipping No.N-1-2022

PMA issued  ‘OP Notice to Shipping No. N-1-2022’ on 1 Jan. 2022 as usual. You can find the shipping notice from below link.

https://www.pancanal.com/eng/op/notices/2022/N01-2022.pdf

We have studied the differences of the regulation from the one of 2021, and we describe some revised regulations which may affect vessel transit in this newsletter.

In addition, we created a regulation comparison list between 2021 to 2022. Please find attached file.

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(Note: rev.1)

PMA sometimes makes revisions of Notice to Shipping without notification, thus we recommend you to visit PMA website when you check the latest version of the regulations.

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Please note that this survey was conducted independently by OMC and does not guarantee that all changes have been covered. We also recommend that you check with the shipyard or PMA regarding permission of Panama Canal for each individual vessel.

[2] Revision from the 2021 regulation

We introduce seven revised regulations which may affect vessel transit.

a) Vessel MAX LOA for Neopanamax Locks become longer (attached file No.3, No.4, No.5)

Vessel7s max LOA for transiting Neopanamax Locks has changed from 367.28m to 370.33m. This change had been applied on May 2021, and included in this revision on 2022.

b) Fitting location for Panama Chock (attached file No.10）

For Neopanamax vessel and Panamax Plus vessel, fitting location for Panama chocks are decided by ’OP Notice to Shipping No.N-1-2022’ Figure 7. For this fitting location, there was a change in the fitting range of Chock SET1 to SET4, specifically, the fitting range of SET1 / SET4 became wider, and the fitting range of SET2 / SET3 became narrower.
Therefore, if the SET2 / SET3 Chock is installed 16 to 24m from the ABAFT OF STEM / FORWARD OF STERN, it may not meet the rule requirements.

※The figure below (Figure 7) is an excerpt from the 2022 edition. We have overwritten the fitting range of 2021 SET1 to SET4 in red for comparison.

c) Adequate separation between towing chock/bollard areas and mooring working areas（attached file No.12）

For Neopanamax veseel and Panamax Plus vessel, additional text has included which require to provide adequate separation between towing chock/bollard areas and mooring working areas.
We assume this new requirement is to protect Panama Canal staffs and vessel crew, however there is no concrete description about ‘Adequate Separation’, and we are studying further. We will notify you as soon as new information becomes available.

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(Note: rev.1)
This revision adds an explanation about 'Adequate Separation'.

It says that ‘the bollards serving the additional bow/stern chocks should be fitted as close as possible to and away from the path of the mooring lines to the chocks.’

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d) Minimum angle of Mooring Line (attached file No.14）

Mooring arrangements have been found acceptable showing the use of stand rollers and/or double bollards to redirect the lines from the winch drums to the double chocks (mooring).

In above case, new requirement has been added in 2022 revision, that double bollards are only acceptable for use in line redirection from-to with angles greater than 90 degrees to prevent wear and tear on the mooring rope.

e) Vessels required to be tied up to the new Panama Canal Chamber（attached file No.15）

In 2021 revision, text (9) has been added and Neopanamax vessels with maximum beam more than 37.1m will be required to tie up to either of the chamber walls with a total of eight (8) mooring lines. Because of this revision, there were vessels which installed additional chocks to meet this requirement. In 2022 revision, it is simply described as ‘Neopanamax vessel’, which means targeted vessels have been expanded.
On the other hand, the text describe ‘Neopanamax vessels may be required to tie up…..’ , we recommend to check with PMA if your vessel is required to meet this regulation.

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(Note: rev.1)

Target vessels are again limited to Neopanamax vessels over Maximum Beam 37.1m.

On the other hand, as a revision from the 2021 version, a new requirement for Winch has been added. . Winches with several drums may only be used for mooring either head/stern lines or forward/aft spring lines.

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f) Definition of ‘Gas Free’ for tankers (attached file No.26）

The definition of ‘Gas Free’ for cargo and slop tanks has been more strict, such as LEL for concentration of flammable vapors or gases  changed to 1% (2022) from 10％（2021）.

g) When vessel air condition system is non-operation (attached file No.31）

In case vessel air condition system is fail during transit, alternative measure was accepted before. In 2022 revision, Canal port Captain will give approval of transit case-by-case basis if vessel air condition system fail.

※　There are some places where the ACP Navigation Regulations, Article number has been changed because the ACP Navigation Regulation has also been changed to the 2019 version from 2022 revision.

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 If you would like to contact us regarding anything about this newsletter, please contact below address. We are well experienced Captains and Engineers and will be pleased to assist you. 

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Orient Marine Co., LTD.

MARINE TECHNICAL DEPT.

Tel: [phone] 

e-mail: [e-mail] 

URL：https://www.toyosenpaku.com/business/marine-technical-consultancy/ 

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