Classification surveys

The classification activity of the Register is carried out in accordance with the General Provisions on classification and other activities. Classification surveys of ships and offshore installations in service are regulated by the Rules for the Classification Surveys of Ships in Service, the Guidelines for the Technical Supervision of Ships in Service, the Rules for the Surveys of Inland Navigation Ships in Service (for European Inland Waterways) and other RS ​​Rules depending on the type of ship and the offshore installation. Classification surveys of ships and offshore installations of various purposes are carried out to verify their compliance and the compliance of ship refrigeration units with the rules of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping and with the normative and technical documents to determine the possibility of assignment, renewal, reassignment, retainment and confirmation of the Register class according to their purpose and to ensure the protection of human life at sea, the safe and reliable transport of passengers and cargo, and the prevention of pollution environment. 

The initial survey of ships in service is carried out on ships that are submitted to the Register for classification for the first time when changing class, when determining the possibility of assigning a class to a ship built without technical supervision by the Register, when reassigning the class to a ship, whose Register class was withdrawn.

The initial written request in any form for acceptance of the ship to the RS class is sent by the shipowner to RHO. 

Periodical surveys:

• Annual survey. It is aimed at establishing that the ship sufficiently meets the conditions of class retainment, as well as to check the operation of mechanisms, devices and installations, to which the requirements of the Rules for the Classification and Construction of Sea-Going Ships are applied.

• Intermediate survey. It includes checking of hull structures, machinery, boilers and pressure vessels, equipment and supplies, electrical equipment to ensure that they remain in good condition for the type of ship operation, for which they are intended. Intermediate survey shall be conducted during or between the second and third annual surveys.

• Special survey. It is conducted for the renewal of the class and aimed at establishing that the technical condition of the ship and changes in the composition and design of its facilities meet the requirements of the Rules. Special survey is conducted at intervals that do not exceed 5 years, with the renewal of the class, as a rule, for the next five-year period.

• Survey of shafting/main ACUS. It is carried out within the time limits established by RS depending on the design of the shafting/main ACUS and aimed at establishing that the technical condition of the ship's shafting, propellers, CPP pitch changing mechanism and the main active control units of the ship (ACUS) meets the requirements of the Rules.

• Survey of ship's bottom. Survey of the ship's bottom is carried out in order to check the technical condition for compliance with the Rules: underwater hull; outboard holes and sea valves in underwater hull; underwater parts of steering gear; shafting, propulsion devices and ACUS; parts of navigation equipment located in underwater hull; other items of technical supervision, whose survey can only be conducted when the ship is in dock.

• The continuous survey system (CSS), which consists in distributing a scope of the survey that corresponds to a scope of the special survey for class renewal, into individual surveys, with the full survey cycle to be carried out in the period, for which the class has been assigned or renewed. 

Occasional surveys. Surveys related to the reinstatement of the RS class for a ship, the decommissioning of a ship or its commissioning after it has been decommissioned, during preservation and commissioning after preservation, in connection with emergencies, in cases of ship detention by the port authorities, in the case of towage trip, due to change in ship class notation, intended use, type, subtype, navigation area, increase in a number of people on board, etc., in cases of temporary impossibility to meet the established requirements of the Rules, in cases of introducing new RS or IC requirements for ships in operation, in case of changes made to design, devices, equipment and supply of ship that have not been agreed with the Register, in case of repair, modernization or re-equipment of ship or parts of ship without the approval and without the technical supervision by the Register, in case of change of shipowner, port of registration, name, ship’s flag, and where warranted. 

When carrying out technical supervision of ships and offshore installations, the Register is guided by the following RS normative documents listed below and by the applicable international conventions, codes, agreements, national requirements of the flag state MAs: