Requirements for Unattended Machinery Space (UMS) Ship:

1. Fire Precaution

• Arrangements should be provided on the UMS ship to detect and give an alarm in case of fire.
• In the boiler, air supply casing and uptake.
• In scavenge space of propulsion machinery.
• In engines of power, 2250 kW and above or cylinders having bore more than 300mm should be provided with an oil mist detector for the crankcase or bearing temperature monitor or either of two.

2. Centralized control & instruments are required in Machinery Space

• UMS ships must have a centralised control room that is easily accessible and equipped with adequate instrumentation and equipment to monitor and operate all main and auxiliary machinery. A system must be provided to call the engineers to the machinery space in case of emergency

3. Protection against flooding:

• UMS ships must have bilge wells that are located and designed to detect the accumulation of liquid at a normal angle of heel and trim and to accommodate the drainage of liquid during an unattended period. If the bilge pump starts automatically, an alarm must indicate that the flow of liquid pumped is more than the capacity of the pump.

4. Automatic Fire Detection

• Alarms and detection should operate very rapidly and effectively. It should be placed at numerous well-sited places for quick response of the detectors.

5. Fire Extinguishing System

• There should be arrangements for a fire extinguishing system other than the conventional hand extinguishers, which can be operated remotely from machinery space. The station must give control of emergency fire pumps, generators, valves, extinguishing media, etc.

6. Alarm System

• A comprehensive alarm system must be provided for control & accommodation areas.

7. Automatic Start of Emergency Generator

• Arrangements for the starting of an emergency generator and automatic connection to the bus bar must be provided in case of a blackout condition, apart from that, the following points are also to be noted.

8. Local hand control of essential machinery like steering, emergency generator starting, emergency start for main engine, etc. 8. Adequate settling tank storage capacity. 9. Regular testing & maintenance of machinery alarms & instruments.

• Bilge wells in UMS ships should be located and provided in such a manner that the accumulation of liquid is detected at a normal angle of heel and trim and should also have enough space to accommodate the drainage of liquid during unattended periods.
• In the case of the automatic starting of the bilge pump, the alarm should be provided to indicate that the flow of liquid pumped is more than the capacity of the pump.

(ii) Control of Propulsion Machinery from Navigation Bridge:

• The ship should be able to be controlled from the bridge under all sailing conditions. The bridge should be able to control the speed and direction of thrust and should be able to change the pitch in case of a controllable pitch propeller.
• Emergency stops should be provided on navigating the bridge, independent of the bridge control system.
• The remote operation of the propulsion should be possible from one location at a time; at such connection, interconnected control positions are permitted.
• The number of consecutive automatic attempt which fails to start the propulsion machinery shall be limited to safeguard sufficient starting air pressure.