Marine-operation criteria and review scope — applied through the contract-nominated edition.
DNV-ST-N001 (replaced OS-H205, OS-H101): Marine Operations
How DNV-ST-N001 is used across marine operations, including load-out, construction afloat, voyages and installation or removal. Section 16 addresses lifting operations; the contract-nominated edition, project addenda and contractual MWS scope govern the detailed requirements.
By Peter Wang, COO · · Reviewed · 7 min read
DNV-ST-N001 is DNV’s standard for marine operations and marine warranty. At this page’s August 2026 review date, DNV lists edition 2023-12. Its public scope includes marine operations during development or decommissioning of offshore assets and the movement of objects by water, including load-out, construction afloat, voyages and installation/removal.
Where a contract or marine-warranty scope nominates ST-N001, use that nominated edition together with the project addenda and approval basis. This page is an orientation, not a substitute for the standard or a source of design acceptance values.
Practical application: a project-specific lift study can document the inputs, analysis basis and certification deliverables for review: see engineering studies and analysis and product / system design.
What ST-N001 covers
DNV’s current public scope is broader than the offshore lift itself. It includes marine-warranty requirements and load cases relevant to load-out, construction afloat, voyages and installation/removal. It therefore should not be described as excluding transit or dockside load-out by definition.
Applicability still depends on the operation, contract and appointed MWS scope. DNV separately identifies location approval of mobile offshore units under DNV-ST-N002. Confirm the boundary between standards and authorities in the project’s design basis.
The 2016 consolidation: OS-H101, OS-H205, OS-H206
DNV-ST-N001 consolidated material that had previously been distributed across several DNV offshore-operation documents and was first issued under the DNVGL prefix in 2016. Legacy document numbers can therefore still appear in older contracts and procedures.
Do not translate a legacy reference into a current clause from a website summary. Record the complete legacy code, title, edition and amendment, then have the project standards owner map it to the contract-nominated current document and preserve any project-specific requirements.
Section 16 — Lifting operations
DNV’s public training overview identifies Section 16 as the lifting-operations section. The exact planning, load, rigging, procedure, documentation and review requirements must be taken from the contract-nominated edition and project addenda.
Do not treat a summary on this page as a clause list, and do not infer an approval authority from the standard alone. A Marine Warranty Surveyor reviews and issues deliverables only within the scope appointed by the assured, insurer or contract; statutory, class, client and certifying-authority responsibilities remain separate.
Dynamic-load criteria — use the nominated edition
Do not use a universal DAF or minimum-tension value from this page. The applicable dynamic-load method, factor, slack/snap treatment and acceptance criteria depend on the nominated ST-N001 edition, operation type, load category, analysis assumptions and project addenda.
The previous version of this article reproduced weight bands, a below-100 t formula and a numeric minimum-tension screen without publishing the complete clause applicability. Those values have been removed pending review by the standards owner. If Norwegian Dynamics uses an internal screening threshold before the project basis is agreed, it must be labelled as an ND screening assumption, not a DNV acceptance criterion.
For an explanation of response ratios rather than a compliance value, see Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF).
Environmental criteria and forecast basis
ST-N001 addresses environmental criteria and planning of marine operations. The operational limit, reference period, forecast uncertainty treatment, contingency, monitoring and decision rule must be selected from the contract-nominated edition for the actual operation.
The former 4 h operation, additional 6 h, alpha = 0.8 and 2.5 m / 2.0 m example has been removed because those scenario inputs were displayed as if they were universal DNV requirements. A replacement illustration may be published only if it is labelled in the graphic and caption as an illustrative project scenario, with the governing clause and edition stated.
For the difference between a response limit, a time-series screen and a continuous forecast window, see Weather Windows for Offshore Lifting.
Marine warranty survey scope
A Marine Warranty Surveyor’s role is defined by the appointment and project scope. DNV describes ST-N001 as addressing marine-warranty requirements relevant to the operation and describes the MWS as reviewing marine operations.
DNV also states that responsibility for the final installed condition normally remains with the assured and is verified or accepted by the certifying authority. The MWS company assumes responsibility for that condition only where its scope explicitly includes it. The lift procedure, calculations, equipment records, vessel suitability and weather strategy should therefore be described as review items where included in the appointed scope, not as a universal statutory approval list.
ST-N001 in heave compensation procurement
ST-N001 and lifting-appliance standards such as ST-0378 may both appear in a project basis, but they serve different functions and neither should be treated as automatically applicable without checking the intended installation, operation, class/statutory basis and contract.
- State the contract-nominated standard and edition for the operation.
- State the required hardware deliverable: design approval, Type Approval, product/unit certificate, survey record or other agreed evidence.
- State the MWS, client, class and flag review scopes separately.
- Document project analysis inputs and acceptance criteria with clause references.
A hardware Type Approval or product certificate does not by itself approve the marine operation.
Where to get the standard
DNV-ST-N001 source page. DNV lists edition 2023-12 at the August 2026 review date; verify the nominated/current edition before use.
DNV-ST-N001 — frequently asked
What operations does DNV-ST-N001 cover?
What minimum DAF or tension criterion does ST-N001 require?
Can a heave compensator reduce project design loads?
What is an alpha factor?
Which edition is current?
What does a Marine Warranty Surveyor approve?
Related on Norwegian Dynamics
- DNV Standards for Offshore Lifting — a project-specific map of four frequently referenced DNV documents.
- DNV-ST-0378 — offshore and platform lifting-appliance scope and certification evidence where applicable.
- Dynamic Amplification Factor (DAF) — response-ratio concepts and project-specific criteria.
- Weather Windows for Offshore Lifting — how to distinguish a sea-state response screen from a continuous forecast window.
Preparing a marine operation to ST-N001?
Where ST-N001 is nominated, our project calculation package can document the model inputs, analysis assumptions, equipment response and available certification evidence for the appointed reviewers. Send the operating case so the required scope and deliverables can be defined against the contract and project basis.
Free download · 8 pages
Offshore Lift Load Cases — ND benchmark figures
What a lift actually measures, with and without passive compensation, from Norwegian Dynamics' own time-domain simulations. It reproduces no standard — the value is the figures, which no standard publishes.
