ClassNK alters its rules for building box ships.

On 17^th June 2013 a 8,110 TEU ‘MOL Comfort’ container vessel, built in 2008 by MHI Nagasaki Shipyard split into two halves while on transit from Singapore to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). All 26 crew, consisting of 11 Russians, 1 Ukrainian and 14 Filipinos, escaped the sinking ship on two life rafts and a lifeboat. The stern section containing approximately 1,500tonnes of fuel oil sank on 27^th June and the fore part which was being towed by a salvage company sank on 11 July 2013 having been partly destroyed by fire.

ClassNK established the Investigative Panel on Large Container Ship Safety, comprising of experts from shipbuilders, shipowners and academic institutions, to investigate the possibility of casualty occurrence and consider and examine safety of the large containership’s structure.

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, known as ClassNK or NK, is a ship classification society. The principal work of the Society's expert technical staff is to undertake surveys to ensure that the rules that it has developed are applied to new buildings and existing ships to ensure the safety of vessels. Although based in Japan, where it has 22 offices, ClassNK also has worldwide representation through a network of 69 exclusive surveyor offices in 39 countries.

The Society offers a wide range of technical services, including the supervision of shipbuilding, computer analysis and a variety of inspections of industrial plants and equipment as a third-party inspection body or as an agent for purchasers or governments.

Japanese classification society ClassNK has amended its rules and guidance for building box ships, which will apply to vessels contracted for construction on or after 1^st April 2016. The move was triggered after the sinking of the box ship MOL Comfort. The amendments reflect new requirements from the International Associations of Classification Societies (applicable to ships built on or after July 2016), and recommendations from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism committee of large container ship safety.

The Class society said the amendments proposed to demonstrate its commitment to building even safer ships. As a fall out of the above, IMO has come out with a new regulation under SOLAS chapter VI regulation II pertaining to cargo information by which it is mandatory for the shipper to certify the correct gross mass (weight) of the container and it will come into effect as of the 1^st of July 2016.