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RightShip Guide

THE DEEPDRAFT · RIGHTSHIP PREPARATION

Polar and ice operation manuals

RISQ 16.1Section 16 · Ice or Polar Water OperationsSource marking: V

Applicability: Complete this section only where the vessel has an ice-class notation, is navigating or intends to navigate in ice, or holds a polar water certificate. Retain each question’s additional conditions.

What is being checked

A ship-specific manual explains capabilities, limits and operating procedures.

Ready on board

0 / 6 checked

Prepare the ship-specific evidence against RISQ 3.2. Use the approved vessel procedures and equipment instructions for operation and maintenance.

Have the applicable approved ship-specific Polar Water Operations Manual or Ice Operation Manual available; the source specifies Flag State approval for the PWOM.Check that the manual covers icebreaker assistance and incident/emergency procedures.Locate risk-based voyage planning, vessel limitations, unreliable chart information, high-latitude weather sources and additional equipment requirements.Locate machinery/equipment operating procedures and emergency contacts for the intended region; have the bridge team familiar with relevant voyage-planning content.For ice operations outside polar waters, cover ice navigation/handling, ice and snow accretion prediction/calculation, Master’s standing instructions and ballast management.For that non-polar ice manual, also cover engine-room systems, lifesaving and firefighting equipment, general precautions and task risk assessment.

Practice questions

Preparation prompts derived from this entry, not an official inspector interview script.

1What changes if the ship operates in ice outside polar waters?

Use the applicable ice operation manual and check its specified content; do not assume that every ice voyage is a polar voyage.

Where a finding may arise

Missing evidence, defects or gaps in familiarity against these checks may prevent a satisfactory answer. These are derived preparation concerns, not additional explicit finding criteria or reported past observations.

Past observations for practice

Anonymised reports, manually reviewed before publication. These are reported experiences, not additional inspection requirements.

No reviewed observations have been added for this entry.

Share an observation for private review

Remove vessel, company and inspector names, report numbers, exact dates and confidential information. Do not paste a complete inspection report.

Source clarification

The source also points to the Arctic Council risk-assessment guideline as further information; no additional mandatory manual template is invented.

References and source status

RightShip Inspection Ship Questionnaire, November 2025, version 3.2. Section 16, page 223, reference 16.1.

The explanation, checklist and practice answer derive from the supplied questionnaire. Reported observations are separately contributed and manually reviewed; they are not official RISQ guidance.

Independent DeepDraft preparation guide, based on the supplied RISQ 3.2 questionnaire. Not an official RightShip product or inspection report.