Continuous Survey of Machinery

Classification Societies with International Association of Classification Societies or IACS such as LR, ABS, GL, DnV, BV, etc require that all machinery under their rules must be surveyed every five years. This heavy work load is reduced if all surveys were done at one time, all Classification Societies will allow some items to be surveyed in rotation, over a number of annual cycles. Here surveys are continuous over the five year cycle of surveys, so it is called as Continuous Survey of Machinery or CSM.

To reduce the costs to Owners/Operators, Class will allow the Chief Engineer to survey most items under his supervision. Once surveyed by the Chief Engineer, the items would still require the Class Surveyor to credit the surveys at an annual audit. The Chief Engineer will be instructed by Class that he is eligible to undertake these surveys on Class’s behalf, and the specific items he can and cannot survey.

To fully utilise the manpower on-board ships, it would be prudent to ensure that when items are due for survey, that they are also required to be overhauled. Thus as the time when overhauls are due can be modified by operational practices, the Chief Engineer should endeavor to ensure that both the overhaul or planned maintenance routine and the survey are due within the same time period.

Programmes for which Opening Machinery not Required

Two programmes briefed below are approved by the Class in order that physical opening up machinery is not necessary on every occasion.

Lubricating oil analysis

This programme could be used on the steering gear machinery. Samples of the lubricant within the system would be sent for analysis on a regular, three monthly basis to detect contaminants, wear particles, and oil characteristics, such as viscosity. These results will indicate the quality of the oil, and the presence of any internal wear. Based on these results, an internal inspection of the steering gear should be wavered, and only an operational test be required at the survey date.

Performance monitoring

This programme could be used on auxiliary diesel engines. The operational parameters of the engine, such as exhaust temperatures, lubricating oil pressures, engine load, boost air pressure, etc, etc, would be recorded under steady state conditions. These sets of recent readings would be compared with those taken when the machine was new, or in a known good operating condition. Based on these results the internal inspection of the engine components would be wavered.