Class-Notation Witnessed Test Program — End-to-End
An IACS member society ran a full witnessed test programme against its fire-safety notation criteria. Twelve days, eighteen events, and an audit package the owner can present to charterers.
A PCTC operator engaged us to run a witnessed test programme against the fire-safety notation published by an IACS member class society. The objective was the notation itself, but the value to the operator was wider: a documented capability statement they could present to underwriters and charterers in 2026 fixture conversations.
How the programme was structured
- Twelve days of witnessed testing, split between bench facility and a single instrumented vessel deck.
- Eighteen events spanning sub-runaway thermal anomalies, cell-level abuse, and pack-level pre-vent profiles.
- Two surveyors present full-time, with independent timing and recording equipment.
- A pre-agreed acceptance band defined by the notation rule, not by us.
Acceptance criteria
- Detection latency within published target across all eighteen events.
- False-positive rate within tolerance during a separate undisturbed observation window.
- Retention and audit-trail integrity verified by the surveyors' independent capture.
- Behaviour under partial network damage demonstrated with surveyor-observed cable break.
Outcome
What the operator did with the notation
The operator presented the notation and the underlying surveyor report in two P&I renewal conversations and one major charterer fixture conversation. Outcomes are commercial and confidential, but the operator has expanded the programme to two further vessels and is targeting fleet-wide notation across its EV-mix routes by end of 2026.
Continue the thread
Class-Society Fire Notations for RoRo — The Voluntary Mandate
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