Transport Publication - TP 13585 E
1 Policy Objective
1.1 To accept marine and offshore electrical cable (shipboard marine cable) that is type approved by a recognized marine classification society or listed by a product certification body in lieu of the Canadian specific requirements as prescribed in Ships Electrical Standards (2008) - TP 127.
1.2 To align Marine Safety policy on cable construction with current international standards.
1.3 To eliminate duplication and reduce effort expended by industry and Transport Canada in the verification of cable type construction for compliance with Ships Electrical Standards (2008) - TP 127.
1.4 To facilitate the shut-down of the Transport Canada Approved Products Catalogue Index (APCI) webpage Approved Electrical Cables
2 Policy Statement
2.1 Marine electrical cable that is type approved by a recognized marine classification society or listed by a product certification body as meeting the standards for shipboard or offshore marine use developed by the standards development organizations listed below will be acceptable for installation on board Canadian vessels.
The acceptable standards are:
- International Electrotechnical Commission ( IEC );
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE );
- Canadian Standards Association ( CSA ); or
- Underwriters Laboratories ( UL )
The recognized marine classification societies are:
- American Bureau of Shipping ( ABS )
- Bureau Veritas ( BV )
- Det norske Veritas ( DNV )
- Lloyd's Register ( LR )
- Germanischer Lloyd ( GL )
The acceptable product certification bodies are those accredited by the Standards Council of Council ( SCC ) such as:
- Underwriters Laboratories ( UL )
- Underwriters Laboratories Canada ( ULC )
- Canada Standards Association ( CSA / CSA International)
- Intertek Testing Services Inc. North America ( ETL )
2.2 Marine electrical cable for shipboard or offshore marine use that have been previously accepted as meeting the requirements of Ships Electrical Standards (2008) - TP 127 will continue to be acceptable for installation for a period of 2 years from the effective date of this policy after which time such cables for new installation shall meet the requirements of 2.1 above.
2.3 Marine electrical cables shall be selected such that they are suitable for the intended purpose and installed in accordance any conditions established as part of their approval and a suitable installation standard. Final cable selection and installation shall be subject to design approval/inspection of the Transport Canada Regional Centre or Recognized Organisation acting on behalf of the Canadian administration
2.4 Transport Canada Marine Safety no longer lists or issues product approvals or notices, letters of acceptance for products of this nature, nor does it approve manufacturers. Note: Cold performance Testing/Certification
2.5 Cables shall meet minimum cold performance ratings in accordance with the requirements of 2.1 above. Cables shall not be installed or otherwise worked in temperatures or conditions for which the cable has not been designed and tested. Vessel owners and designers may give special consideration to electrical installations where very low temperatures may be a factor.
3 Scope
3.1 This policy applies to marine and offshore electrical cable for installation on Canadian vessels.
3.2 This policy does not apply to electrical cable intended for use in marine pleasure craft or small commercial vessels less than 24 metres in length.
4 Authority
4.1 This policy falls under the overall administrative authority of the Director General, Marine Safety and the Marine Safety Executive (MSE) committee has approved this policy for general application.
5 Responsibility/ further information
5.1 The Director Design Equipment and Boating Safety (AMSR) is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of this policy.
5.2 The Manager, Ship Design and Fishing Vessels (AMSRD) is the Office of Primary Interest ( OPI ) for this policy.
5.3 The Director Design Equipment and Boating Safety (AMSR) and Regional Directors, Marine Safety, are responsible for implementation of this policy.
6 Related Documents
6.1 Ships Electrical Standards (2008) - TP 127
7 Background
7.1 Current Marine Safety policy prescribes Canadian specific requirement for cable construction as detailed in TP 127. The on-line Approved Products Catalogue Index currently includes a type approval function carried out by headquarters but has not been updated for several years.
There is no Canadian regulatory requirement nor any mandatory international instrument requiring Transport Canada to issue certificate of type approval or other such confirmatory document for cables.
The current edition of TP 127 closely follows the basic requirements of classification society rules and international requirements for construction of cable. However, the requirement for cold performance testing with Canadian specific acceptance limits for all cable regardless of application has proven problematic for industry. A recent review of these Canadian specific requirements undertaken as part of the Vessel Construction Regulations project has determined that they are no longer necessary.
Although past practice has included issuance of letters of acceptance and cable products have been listed on the APCI, in the vast majority of the submissions the cable has already been type approved or listed by others to comparable international standards.
8 Definitions
8.1 “Marine and Offshore Electrical Cable” or “Marine Shipboard Cable” means distribution (power) cables, and control and signal cables for installation aboard marine vessels, fixed and floating offshore petroleum facilities, and mobile offshore drilling units ( MODU s), that is designed and constructed in accordance with the requirements of 2.1
9 Date of Application
9.1 This policy comes into effect on 25 May, 2012.
10 Date for Review or Expiry
10.1 This policy will expire with the coming into force of the new Vessel Construction Regulations CSA 2001.
11 RDIMS Reference
11.1 The English version of this document is saved in RDIMS under reference number 5380320. The applied naming convention is PUBLICATION – TP 13585 – POLICY - ACCEPTANCE OF MARINE AND OFFSHORE ELECTRICAL CABLE
11.2 La version française du présent document est dans le SGDDI et porte le numéro de référence 7451176. La règle d'affectation des noms est PUBLICATION – TP 13585 – POLITIQUE - ACCEPTATION DE CABLE ELECTRIQUE MARIN.
11.3 This is the first approved and finalized revision of the English version of this document.
12 Keywords
- marine shipboard cable
- approved products
- Ships Electrical Standards (2008) - TP 127
- recognized marine classification society
- product certification bodies
PDF Version
The following documents are available for downloading or viewing:
- Acceptance of Marine and Offshore Electrical Cable ( PDF file, 115 KB )
To access the Portable Document Format ( PDF ) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:
To order this document by e-mail, contact us at: marinesafety-securitemaritime@tc.gc.ca