The motive of the International Code of Safety for the ship Using gases or Other Low flash point Fuels is to provide an international standard for ships, other than the vessels under the IGC Code, operating with gas or low-flash point liquids as the fuel.
The main idea of the Code is to provide obligatory norms for the arrangement & installation of machinery, equipment & systems for the vessels utilizing gas or low the flash point liquids as a fuel to minimize the risk to the ship, its crew & the environment, considering the nature of the fuels involved.
During the development of the Code it was acknowledged that it should depends upon sound naval architectural & engineering principles and the best understanding available of the current operational experience, field data & research & development. Due to the fast advancement in the new fuels technology, the Organization will periodically review the Code, considering both experience & technical developments.
The Code considers all areas that requires special consideration for the usage of the gas or low flash point liquids as the fuel. The basic idea of the IGF Code considers the goal based approach (MSC.1/Circ.1394). So, goals & functional needs were specified for each section forming the basis for the design, construction & the operation.
In this way the goal of the Code is to provide norms for the arrangement & installation of machinery for the propulsion & auxiliary purposes, using natural gas as fuel, which will have an identical level of integrity in terms of the safety, reliability & dependability as that which can be accomplished with a new & comparable conventional oil fueled main & auxiliary machinery.
