Specialisation is just part of the story

Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has launched a commercial software package for passenger evacuation analysis.

Aeneas, as it is called, allows shipyards and owners to plan and process security in the design phase through realistic simulations of evacuation processes. GL says that it not only performs very fast simulations, it also provides clear results.

Aeneas is the fruit of cooperation between Germanischer Lloyd and the company TraffGo ? a spin-off of the University of Duisburg ? an enterprise which has established a prominent position in research projects and on international committees with work on the computer modelling of pedestrian flows.

GL?s project coordinator, Jens Schreiter, says: “The most impressive advantage of this tool is its clarity. Every observer intuitively understands what it?s all about.”

An agent approach allows the flexibility to adjust the settings for a particular age structure (older passengers or a club holiday) or to special scenarios (strolling, boarding and deboarding, evacuation, shopping trip) through the specification of individual destinations and motion properties.

Lloyd?s Register has recently acquired MaritimeEXODUS, a program designed to optimise ship escape routes and developed by the UK?s University of Greenwich.

Incredible bulk

Luc Gillet, vice president of operations for Bureau Veritas (BV), explains that bulk carrier safety is a major subject for the French classification society as a large part (up to a third) of its fleet is made up of these vessels.

Work on double hull carriers was carried out in 1998 to address issues brought up by IACS and has more recently started again. Gillet says double skin vessels are structurally safer and offer advantages in corrosion protection, so they “might be a good solution”.

He says that the additional steel weight of around 4-5% “is not a lot,” particularly on capesize vessels. However, “for vessels where the volume is limited the solution might be different,” explains Gillet.

This is just part of the studies of which the core are linked to IACS initiatives related to the strengthening of existing measures. These cover water ingress and hatch cover strength.

He also wonders about what would be the added value of

forecastles.

“As far as we are concerned, we are leading the working group and everything new is being done within the scope of IACS,” says Gillet.

Eureka

Rina is working on a

Eureka

Project SAFENVSHIP (SAFe and ENVironmental friendly passenger SHIPs) (see The Motor Ship October 2002 p89) The aim of the project is to develop, evaluate and validate a comprehensive approach for the design and operation of passenger ship systems concerned with safety and environmental friendliness. The project is organised into four main technical teams. Fincantieri, which coordinates the whole project, and is also the leader of the Structural team, Rina, the leader of Safety team, Carnival Services (CCS) is the leader of the Clean Sea team and Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione Napoli is the leader of the Clean Air team.

Other partners in the project include Safety At Sea, Wärtsilä, Rochem UF, Scanship Environment, the Vienna Model Basin and Marintek.

On the emission reduction part of the project Roberto Cazzulo told The Motor Ship: “The objective is to move forward with respect to current standards and gather innovative solutions to cut NOx emissions.” He explains that this will consider applications for newbuildings and retrofits. The project started with current state-of-the-art technology, whether that was sea or land-based. “We identified some interesting technologies which we are currently testing in seas trials,” says Cazzulo. This is important because there is no worldwide standard as some regions have tougher regulations than those in Marpol. While this is an ongoing project, Cazzulo told The Motor Ship that he expects some preliminary results in the near future.

Systems for ships present a particular problem over land-based systems in that fuel quality varies considerably throughout the world. “Sea trials will identify whether these systems need changing or modifying,” says Cazzulo. He explains: “We?re not reinventing the wheel ? just using the best technology available.” The project is scheduled to last two years and is already about six months in.

Cazzulo says that engine manufacturers are interested in the project, but any initial results will have to be proved to be stable and that there are no long-term drawbacks.

Another area that Rina has concentrated on is passenger evacuation, particularly with respect to large cruiseships. The idea is to mix technical, commercial and operational into a single solution.

The classification society has developed a piece of software that it calls a booking planner that allows travel agents to look at the availability of berths with respect to safety ? “flexibility checked with means of escape,” says Cazzulo.

It?s a gas

The American Bureau of Shipping, meanwhile, is to take on the classification of the world?s first newbuild liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) FPSO, slated for operation offshore Angola. The vessel, to be named the Sanha LPG FPSO, will have a daily production capacity of 6,000m3 and storage capacity of 135,000m3.

“Demand for LPG FPSOs is being driven by environmental concerns that have placed severe restrictions on the traditional method of flaring gas associated with production,” says ABS Vice President, Offshore Project Development, William Sember. “By capturing these gases not only does the environment benefit, but also with the demand for gas forecast to double over the next decade, industry and consumers will benefit from this new technology.”

The Sanha will include LPG storage tanks and LPG production plants such as gas separators, gas refrigerators and boil-off gas reliquefaction units on the upper deck or topsides.

Sember says ABS is uniquely qualified to review this vessel?s configuration because it is the only classification society to have experience with the type of liquid gas containment system being used.

The SPB gas containment system is recognized by industry as particularly effective for liquid gas storage on an FPSO or FSO because of its internal tank stiffening structure and suitability for partial loading.

ABS offices worldwide will be involved in the project with engineering services and review being provided by staff in Houston, Yokohama, London and Hamburg. The project is scheduled for completion mid 2004 with the first product shipped the beginning of 2005.

Japanese class society ClassNK has worked recently with shipping line MOL to improve the design of car carriers, with a particular emphasis on the losses they suffer from windage on this type of ship (see page 6).

Security

DNV has teamed up with the London-based Maritime and Underwater

Security

Company to train 100 security surveyors cleared to issue security plan certification under proposed new IMO legislation (see page 11). The surveyors will qualify early next year and will operate worldwide.

With DNV providing guidelines on security, shipowners will need to set up procedures to deal with piracy and terrorist attacks and appoint a crew member as the security officer. Other initiatives which will assist include the installation of long-range automatic identification systems (AIS), ship identification number (SIN), ship security alert system (SSAS) and continuous synopsis record (CSR).