Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 laying down technical requirements for inland waterway vessels and repealing Council Directive 82/714/EEC (2006/87/EC) (repealed)

Article 3.03 Hull

1. Bulkheads rising up to the deck or, where there is no deck, up to the gunwale, shall be installed at the following points:

(a) A collision bulkhead at a suitable distance from the bow in such a way that the buoyancy of the laden vessel is ensured, with a residual safety clearance of 100 mm if water enters the watertight compartment ahead of the collision bulkhead.

As a general rule, the requirement referred to in paragraph 1 shall be considered to have been met if the collision bulkhead has been installed at a distance of between 0,04 L and 0,04 L + 2 m measured from the forward perpendicular in the plane of maximum draught.

If this distance exceeds 0,04 L + 2 m, the requirement set out in paragraph 1 shall be proved by calculation.

The distance may be reduced to 0,03 L. In that case the requirement referred to in paragraph 1 shall be proved by calculation on the assumption that the compartment ahead of the collision bulkhead and those adjacent have all been filled with water.

(b) An aft-peak bulkhead at a suitable distance from the stern where the vessel length L exceeds 25 m.

2. No accommodation or installations needed for vessel safety or operation may be located ahead of the plane of the collision bulkhead. This requirement shall not apply to anchor gear.

3. The accommodation, engine rooms and boiler rooms, and the workspaces forming part of these shall be separated from the holds by watertight transverse bulkheads that extend up to the deck.

4. The accommodation shall be separated from engine rooms, boiler rooms and holds in a gastight manner and shall be directly accessible from the deck. If no such access has been provided an emergency exit shall also lead directly to the deck.

5. The bulkheads specified in paragraphs 1 and 3 and the separation of areas specified in paragraph 4 shall not contain any openings.

However, doors in the aft-peak bulkhead and penetrations, in particular for shafts and pipework, shall be permitted where they are so designed that the effectiveness of those bulkheads and of the separation of areas is not impaired. Doors in the aft-peak bulkhead shall be permitted only if it can be determined by remote monitoring in the wheelhouse whether they are open or closed and shall bear the following readily legible instruction on both sides:

‘Door to be closed immediately after use’.

6. The water inlets and discharges, and the pipework connected to these, shall be such that no unintentional ingress of water into the vessel is possible.

7. The foresections of vessels shall be built in such a way that the anchors neither wholly nor partly protrude beyond the side plating.