Revised Standard due next year

Historically, world international trade fell by 5.1% in 2002, and most of this was overland cargo moves that collapsed by more than 15.0%. Seaborne trade still increased, but only by 1.6% in 2002.

Brian Wyatt of Corrosion Control & Associates Ltd in the UK, who is Convenor of the European Standards Committee TC/219/WG3 which is currently in the process of revising EN 13174 ‘Cathodic Protection for Harbour Installations’ in order to better address ALWC, believes that the revised standard would be more ‘user friendly, ‘ and would fully take into account experience gained with the treatment of ALWC since the standard was first produced.

Wyatt says the work that CIRIA has completed recently on ALWC had been ‘extremely helpful,’ and notes that it collates a broad range of knowledge and would complement the newly revised standard. ?The consensus is that cathodic protection remains the best way of dealing with ALWC, and although EN 13174 is a competent document, there are parts that warrant improvement and where terminology is a little unclear.” In some cases, design consultants and contractors have also made use of another standard ‘DNV RP B401’ when tackling ALWC, but as Wyatt points out, this standard was actually drafted with offshore structures in mind. “The 2001 document (EN 13174) remains the most appropriate document for engineers to use. There are elements of DNV RP B401 that make it rather less useful in terms of tackling ALWC, but we anticipate that EN 13174:2006 will be the most appropriate document by far, once work on it has been completed.”