"Introduction 1. The year 2011 edition of the Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels is a new Guide@ consisting of the eight (8) booklets as shown in Table 1. With regard to three booklets@ Part 1@ Part 2@ and Part 7: a) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Conditions of Classification (Part 1) is to reflect the expanded contents of PART 1@ as a result of including consolidated requirements for ""Classification"" applicable to all types of and sizes of vessels@ barges and specific shipboard arrangements/systems@ etc.@ except for those in offshore service@ as specified in the Foreword to Part 1. Additional specific requirements are contained in Part 1 of this Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels. b) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Materials and Welding of PART 2 is to emphasize the common applicability of the requirements to ABS-classed vessels@ other marine structures and their associated machinery@ and thereby make PART 2 more readily a common ""PART"" of various ABS Rules and Guides@ as appropriate. c) The purpose of the generic title ABS Rules for Survey After Construction (Part 7) is to reflect the expanded contents of PART 7@ as a result of including consolidated requirements for ""Surveys After Construction"" applicable to all types and sizes of vessels@ barges and specific shipboard arrangements/systems@ etc.@ as specified in Part 7@ Chapter 1@ Section 1. 2. The numbering system applied in the Guide is shown in Table 2. 3. This Guide has an effective date of 1 May 2011. The effective date of each subsequent technical change will be shown in parenthesis at the end of the subsection/paragraph titles within the text of each Part. 4. Until the next edition of the Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels is published@ Change Notices and/or Corrigenda@ as necessary@ will be published on the ABS website ?C www.eagle.org ?C only@ and will be available free for downloading. The consolidated edition of the Guide for Building and Classing Offshore Support Vessels@ which includes Change Notices and/or Corrigenda using different colors for easy recognition@ will be published on the ABS website only when RCN and/or Corrigenda are issued. 5. The listing of CLASSIFICATION SYMBOLS AND NOTATIONS is available from the ABS website www.eagle.org for download."