scope:

General

UWI of ships are carried out worldwide on a daily basis for various reasons. Typically, UWI are requested by parties involved in the owning, operation, and management of ships. UWI serve as means to monitor and assess the condition of underwater surfaces and to demonstrate compliance with statutory requirements.

The output of a UWI can be used by a number of stakeholders to serve different purposes including, but not limited to, determining if and when a biofouling management action, such as in-water cleaning, is required; to monitor AFS condition and performance; to determine the extent of a known or new hull damage or as part of documenting the condition of the underwater surfaces in a pre-purchase survey.

AFS manufacturers also rely on UWI reports to monitor the in-service performance of products including test patches of new products. In the case of warranty claims a UWI is arranged to inspect the AFS condition and collect paint flakes or other samples, if applicable.

An UWI may be requested by relevant local authorities in order to examine the underwater surfaces in relation to biofouling accumulation and the risk of spreading non-indigenous, potentially invasive aquatic species.

UWI intended to satisfy statutory and classification societies' requirements are conducted at planned intervals, whereas other types of UWI may be conducted on an ad hoc basis or as part of ship or fleet specific planned in-water inspection programs.

Different stakeholders involved in underwater inspections or recipients of UWI reports, such as service suppliers, ship owners, ship operator, ship managers, charterers, AFS manufacturers, classification societies, underwriters, research organizations, relevant authorities and other third parties appointed to analyze contents of UWI reports focus on different information as their objectives may also vary. Such third parties may include, for example shipbuilders, hull performance monitoring companies, independent coating consultancies and other agents that may represent stakeholders.

Figure 1 depicts common stakeholders and recipients of UWI reports and some of the specific and differing objectives involved.