ClassNK awards first hull monitoring notation

The Dream Clover was delivered on 28 July for charter by NYK Line and is the first to be marked with the DSS (hull monitoring) notation.

ClassNK released its ‘Guidelines for Hull Monitoring’ in June 2021, using the outcome of the ‘Study on Monitoring the Structural Health of Vessel Hulls for Very Large Containerships’ which was jointly conducted by NYK Line, MTI and Japan Marine United.

The Dream Clover’s hull monitoring system has functions such as assistance for maintaining and managing the ship based on the fatigue strength evaluation and assistance for the captain’s operation in the rough condition.

ClassNK has verified the vessel according to the related guidelines and issued the class certificate with DSS(HM(F+LS,O)) notation for hull monitoring, the first in ClassNK’s registry, and DSS(EE) for energy efficiency analysis function.

As a part of Japan Ship Technology Research Association’s ‘R&D of the highly accurate digital twin models for ship hull structures (supported by The Nippon Foundation)’, additional sensors and measurement devices are to be installed on the monitoring system and the digital twin for hull structures on the actual ship will undergo verification.