Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-Covered Waters

The Code for Polar Navigation or Polar Code that Transport Canada developed in concert with other national administrations was submitted to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 1998. Renamed the Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-covered Waters, the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) and the lead Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of that organization jointly examined the Guidelines and submitted them for consideration to various subcommittees.

The Design and Equipment Subcommittee (DE) of MSC took the lead role in coordinating the examination of the Guidelines by the NAV, DSC, SLF, STW, FP and BLG subcommittees. The various recommendations of these subcommittees were incorporated into the draft presented to MSC 76 in December 2002 with a recommendation for approval as an MSC / MEPC Joint Circular.

Together with the International Association of Classification Societies Unified Requirement for Polar Ships (IACS UR), the Guidelines will form the first internationally recognized standards for the construction and operation of ships in Arctic Ice-covered polar waters. The IACS UR, for hull and machinery for Polar Ships, is near completion and expected to be presented to IACS Council for approval.

Some documentation presented here is in English, the working language of IACS and the IMO working group. To access the text of the draft Guidelines or related documents, select from the list below. 

• Draft Guidelines as submitted to MSC76 - December 2002  (221 KB)
• Report to the Marine Safety Committee - Draft MSC/MEPC Circular on Guidelines for Ships Operating in Arctic Ice-Covered Waters  (221 KB)
• Draft Version submitted to the IMO Secretariat on 23 Dec 1999 for consideration at DE43 - April 2000 
• AMSA Questionnaire
• IMO Correspondence Group Discussions 
• Harmonization Documents - Click here for bibliography of technical papers and background work
• List of Meetings prior to submission to IMO 
• Contacts 

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