The Joint Tanker Project (JTP) and Joint Bulker Project (JBP) rules are now issued for public hearing, and based upon the feedback received from industry the draft Rules will be amended and finalised.

The harmonisation of the two sets of Rules is scheduled to take place this autumn before final approval by IACS and the individual IACS members. However, the hearing process for the two sets of rules follows the same schedule and comments are welcome until 1 September. Both JTP and JBP rules will be in the statute book from 1 January 2005 but will not enter into force in all IACS societies until 1 July that year.

Recently, in a series of technical presentations both sets of Rules have been presented to the industry worldwide. In general they have been well received; however, several questions have been raised related to the consequences on hull scantlings, the tight implementation schedule and to the timing of the development. Such comments and questions were expected and DNV considers this as valuable input to increase the quality and usefulness of the rules when finalised. More information can be found by logging on to www.jtprules.com