In June the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) released the new ISO 10855 standard, parts 1-3. This new standard was developed to address design, construction, inspection, testing and in-service examination of offshore containers and associated lifting sets.

The new ISO standard 'Offshore Containers and Associated Lifting Sets' is the first standard of its kind to be officially recognised globally.

Prepared by the ISO Technical Committee comprising of industry experts, of which Swire has been a key member over recent years, the work group were tasked with reviewing and developing the standardisations of Offshore Container best practice.

The key developments within ISO 10855 include:

• Requirement for stacking fittings, guides and other structures to be designed to reduce snagging
• Guidance for the use of top protection on Open Frames and Containers to reduce snagging
• Acceptance of slings marking on the ferrule rather than on a tag to reduce dropped objects
• Recognition of Eddy Current as an acceptable non-destructive examination method
• Next evolution of the standard will incorporate maintenance of in-service equipment

Swire Energy Services has always been at the forefront of industry best practice, be it from our contribution to the first Codes of Practice (1986) and British Standard (1989) to our participation in the development of the current European Norm (2006).

We are, as ever committed to ensuring our products are the easiest to work with but above all, the safest globally and we are delighted to be working towards ISO 10855 accreditation across our global fleet.

The offshore container has come quite some way and Swire Energy Services is extremely proud of the contribution our employees have provided to this development over the last 30 years.