Did you know that CRC have vessels which are certified to carry ‘dangerous goods’ when at sea? This is a very strict and highly controlled area of vessel coding permitted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and is part of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) code. What you may not realise is that many of our clients request these certificates as even small quantities of what you may think are harmless items fall under these rules.
Our three high speed catamarans (CRC Sentinel, CRC Vulcan and CRC Gladiator) are all coded to carry dangerous goods, of varying types and classes. In the IMDG, there are 9 classes of dangerous goods, ranging from radioactive substances and flammable gases, to explosives and toxic materials. On Vulcan for instance, we are permitted to carry several types of Class 2 flammable gases, Class 3 flammable liquids, Class 6 toxic and infectious goods and Class 8 corrosives.
Why would some clients need to carry these goods? There is a whole range of reasons but one of them is actually related to the offshore wind industry. In some wind turbines, technicians use inert nitrogen to top up ‘accumulators’ which act as a back-up pre-charged energy source in case the brakes on the turbine need to be activated in strong winds. Sometimes we also need to carry small quantities of fuel in containers in order for machinery to be powered on deck or on a turbine.
Before one of our vessels leaves port carrying dangerous goods we will be given a manifest by the charterer or client informing our crew what cargo has been loaded, which class they fall under and how they are packed. It is our master’s responsibility to ensure goods are packed as per the dangerous goods code and, critically, stored in the correct area on deck, away from machinery spaces and as far away from the passenger cabin or accommodation as possible.
To meet the code’s strict standards we have made modifications to each vessel’s equipment and layout, ensuring there are designated storage areas on deck and extra fire extinguishers are available that can extinguish the type of DGs we will be carrying. There is also the added requirement that our crew are trained in dangerous goods awareness so they are familiar with the properties of certain goods and how they should be stored correctly. After all this, our vessel has to be inspected by an MCA surveyor and the certificate they issue is refreshed periodically.
For more information check out Fleet page where you can also take a 360 video tour of our catamarans!
