Here you will find links to International, National and other Regulations giving guidance on design and operation of High Speed Craft including ACV’s and SES.
A fundamental set of rules are those developed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for High Speed Craft. These rules give guidance on safety aspects rather than a detailed design or operating code. The IMO HSC Rules have then been used as a basis by a number of Classification Societies such as Lloyds Register, DnV, ABS etc for the design analysis and structural dimensioning.
In the UK from the 1970’s while ACV’s were considered aero derived craft the Air Registration Board (subsequently the Civil Aviation Authority or CAA) developed a detailed set of design regulations, that were partially folded into the IMO HSC aimed at large craft.
Smaller craft have essentially been self regulated, with the Hoverclub of Great Britain leading development of rules and guidance for racing and cruising small craft.
Guidance rules for small craft intended for utility and commercial application have recently developed in the UK with the support of the government. While not mandatory they provide the means for prospective constructors or users to judge a suppliers product.
We give below links to a selection of useful documents.
The Department for Trade announcement
The Hovercraft Code of Practice
Application: Amphibious ACV up to 1000kg payload
This can be found on the IMO site together with several other useful guides.
www.imo.org/en Home page for the International Maritime Organisation
The HSC Code and updates are at https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Pages/HSC.aspx
General Stability requirements for ships also relevant for SES etc are here:
https://www.imo.org/en/OurWork/Safety/Pages/ShipDesignAndStability-default.aspx
Special requirements for Wig Craft issued in 2018 are here with other background references:
www.lr.org Lloyds Register Classification Society
LR has rules for HSC including ACV, SES, Catamarans, hydrofoils and monohulls and special rules for Trimarans and Air Lubrication for ships
www.dnvgl.com DNV Classification Society – High Speed Service Craft Rules
www.eagle.org ABS rules at /rules-and-resources/rules-and-guides.html
ABS has rules following the IMO HSC classification, and for Air Lubrication
www.turkloydu.org/en-us Lloyds Turku Classification Society Home page
Go to /publications/turk-loydu-rules.aspx# for regulations, part C High Speed Crafts
www.krs.co.kr Korean Register of Shipping Classification Society technical rules listing
Go to GB11 for HSC, GC06 and 07 for recreation vessels and WIG
Rules are at: http://krsusa.cloudapp.net/Files/KRRules/KRRules2016/KRRulesE.html
www.ccs.org.cn China Classification Society
Go to /ccswzen/font/fontAction!moudleIndex.do for high speed craft rules
www.gov.uk/ UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Go to /guidance/high-speed-craft-construction-and-maintenance-standards#construction-standards-for-high-speed-craft
www.amsa.gov.au Australian Marine Standards Association
www.sjofartsdir.no/en Norwegian Maritime Authority
Go to /shipping/legislation/#regulations
www.bureauveritas.com Home page at /home/our-services/classification/
www.veristar.com/portal Bureau Veritas document Portal
Go to /veristarinfo/detail/generalinfo/giRulesRegulations/bvRules/rulenotes for full rules listing including HSC etc, items in red can be downloaded. Also link to erules. Erules loads a popup application also. Note NR 396 are joint between BV, GL and RIN from 2002, and so link also to DNV rules
While the ARB/CAA rules are now not formal regulations they do form a solid reference of both design and operational guidance. Work is ongoing (May 2022) to collate a pdf compendium of these rules. They were subject to many updates and collating the latest version of each section is a bit time consuming. Hopefully by end 2022 we will have the sections loaded for your reference
Note: The above Information is prepared 23.05.2022. We will check and update this page on a regular basis
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