Container Owners Association (COA)

Flexitank Industry Standards

Code of Practice (COP)

&
PAS 1008/2016

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 COA / COP / PAS

 The COA (Container Owners Association) was established in 2004 to represent the interests of all
owners of freight containers (both shipping lines, container manufacturers and leasing companies)
 The COA’s flexitank division “Steering Committee” (SC) was established in June 2007 to create a “risk
management” platform for Shipping Carriers and set best practices for the flexitank industry to ensure
its long term viability and acceptance within the shipping community. The first element in setting
flexitank industry standards was a Code of Practice (COP) for flexitank companies, which was
established to enable shipping lines to check flexitanks being carried had been tested correctly, and
that production and operations had been compliant to COP standards.
 In 2011 the COA established its first version of the “Code of Practice” (COP) for Flexitank
Manufacturers & Operators to comply with as associate members of the COA. A “COP Compliancy
list” was published on the COA website confirming compliance with the COP criteria which included:
 Container selection
 Flexitank/Container Combination Rail Impact Test Criteria
 Flexitank Material Standards
 Container and Flexitank declaration, labelling
 Incident management and Insurance
 Training
 Maximum volumes and payloads
 As the COA had no investigative or audit powers, and no formal powers over COA members, the COP
compliance registry and testing methods became unreliable, and even falsified by some manufacturers
and operators, requiring the system to be reviewed. This review process commenced in 2014.

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 COA / COP / PAS

 With the growing volume of products shipped globally in flexitanks, and more manufacturers entering
the market, the number of incidents increased and caused concern for shipping lines and insurance
companies. This lead to a growing requirement by shipping lines to ensure the flexitanks they carry on
their vessels are of a high quality and operated by experienced companies with the correct standards
and certifications. (some shipping lines refuse to carry flexitanks outright, or limit flexitanks to reputable
operators, and/or limit the type of products carried)
 To address the compliancy reliability issues the COA established a Flexitank Management Committee
(FMC) in 2015 to ensure good governance and management of the COA’s flexitank division. Five
shipping lines and five flexitank companies (including Trans Ocean/Hillebrand) were appointed to the
COA FMC. More recently the TT Club has been given a seat on FMC for risk evaluation input from an
insurer’s perspective (damage & costs to ships/equipment, rather than cargo damage/liabilities).
 The COA FMC decided to create a formal “standard” for the flexitank manufacturing & quality sections
of the COP, which will have stricter compliancy and recognised international certification standards. The
path chosen was the creation of a PAS standard for Flexitank Manufacture with the British Standards
Institute (BSI). PAS = “publicly available specification/standard”.
 A PAS is a sponsored standard that is developed through a consensus-building process among
multiple stake-holders from multiple horizons, and facilitated by BSI Standards Limited. The PAS for the
flexitank industry is identified as PAS 1008

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 COA / COP / PAS

 The primary objective of the PAS 1008 is to provide a framework for the manufacture of flexitanks to a
consistent high quality and, in so doing, to promote a safe and professional industry through stringent
production standards. The PAS 1008 establishes a formal minimum performance standard via a
recognized branding, and creates a visible, meaningful and accepted compliance list. The initial PAS
focus is on flexitank manufacturing and testing.
 Additionally, the PAS 1008 also limits the payload capacity of flexitanks to 24,000 litres & 24,000 kgs –
whichever the greater so as to minimise container damages.
 In Aug 2016 the COA FMC, after extensive development work, agreed and approved final wording on a
revised PAS1008/2016 standard and instructed the BSI to publish it accordingly. The BSI published the
PAS 1008 on 14th Sept 2016. (available to buy from: http://shop.bsigroup.com/pas-1008)
 In Q4 2016 the COA & the BSI will develop the protocol that governs the compliancy certification of
Manufacturers. By Jan 2017, flexitank industry participants can start to apply for compliancy and
certification if they meet the criteria as required under the PAS 1008/2016 standard. Under the
“pass/fail” regime of the PAS standard a manufacturer is either “compliant “or “not compliant”.
 The previous COA COP (version 4 –Dec’15) which covered both flexitank operational practices &
manufacturing qualities has been rewritten with the previous sections 7 & 8 (covering manufacturing
qualities) replaced with the requirement to have the PAS 1008:2016 standard. The amended COP V.5
was published in Sept 2016 and is available on the COA website.

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 COA / COP / PAS

 The COA FMC have advised that a grace period will be allowed until the end of 2017 for old/existing
certificates of compliancy under the COP V4, after which all certificates evidencing COP V4 compliancy
will expire and will have to be renewed under the new PAS 1008 & COP V5+ criteria.

Trans Ocean/JF Hillebrand

 Trans Ocean/JF Hillebrand was a founding member of the COA Flexitank SC in June 2007, part of the
COA FMC from inception in 2015, attends all COA’ meetings in the Interests of developing and
fostering the flexitank industry. TO/JFH are now part of the COA “Working Group” that has developed
the PAS standard and are appointed members of the COA FMC until the end of 2018.
 Trans Ocean/JF Hillebrand have been compliant with the former COA COP since its introduction and is
on target to be compliant with all parts and conditions of the new PAS 1008/2016 standard by the time
of introduction of the compliancy certification.
 Trans Ocean/JF Hillebrand hold current manufacturing standards in all factories of ISO 9001, ISO
22000, & FSSC 22000 and have passed on 30th March 2015 the revised Rail Impact testing that is
required under the COA COP & PAS 1008/2016

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