Next July sees the first of four deadlines under which owners of vessels will have to install a bridge navigational watch alarm system (BNWAS). The 1 July 2011 date applies only to newly built cargo ships of over 150gt and newbuild passenger ships of any size that are subject to SOLAS. BNWASs are the IMO's answer to preventing incidents such as groundings and collisions involving ships where the sole OOW has been distracted or incapacitated for one reason or another. Although the rule providing for mandatory installation was only adopted in 2009, the performance standards were laid down in the 2002 document MSC.128(75).
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