scope:

Introduction

1.The year 2013 edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels consists of the nine (9) booklets as shown in Table 1. In this regard, we would bring the following to the user's attention:

a) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Conditions of Classification (Part 1) is to reflect the expanded contents of PART 1, as a result of including consolidated requirements for "Classification" applicable to all types of and sizes of vessels, barges and specific shipboard arrangements/systems, etc., except for those in offshore service, as specified in the Foreword to Part 1. Additional specific requirements are contained in Part 1 of these Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels.

b) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Materials and Welding of PART 2 is to emphasize the common applicability of the requirements to ABS-classed vessels, other marine structures and their associated machinery, and thereby make PART 2 more readily a common "PART" of various ABS Rules and Guides, as appropriate.

c) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Survey After Construction (Part 7) is to reflect the expanded contents of PART 7, as a result of including consolidated requirements for "Surveys After Construction" applicable to all types and sizes of vessels, barges and specific shipboard arrangements/systems, etc., as specified in Part 7, Chapter 1, Section 1.

2. The numbering system applied in the Rules is shown in Table 2.

3. The primary changes from the 2011 Guide are identified and listed in Table 3. The effective date of the indicated Rule Changes is 1 January 2013, unless specifically indicated otherwise.

4. The effective date of each technical change since 1993 is shown in parenthesis at the end of the subsection/paragraph titles within the text of each Part.

5 Until the next edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels is published, Change Notices and/or Corrigenda, as necessary, will be published on the ABS website - www.eagle.org - only, and will be available free for downloading. The consolidated edition of the Rules for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels, which includes Change Notices and/or Corrigenda using different colors for easy recognition, will be published on the ABS website only when RCN and/or Corrigenda are issued.

6. The listing of CLASSIFICATION SYMBOLS AND NOTATIONS is available from the ABS website www.eagle.org for download.