Technology transfer

Avoiding a debate about whether offshore support vessels really deserve to be dismissed as ‘workboats’ the answer to that question is that the interesting technical developments tend to be concentrated at the smaller end of the size range. We don’t need reminding that the large vessel market is comparatively quiet compared with the offshore sector. And when the ‘offshore’ label can equally be applied to semi-submersibles, drillships, FPSOs and heavy lift ships as it can to PSVs and AHTS vessels, surely that flourishing part of the newbuilding market includes ‘big’ ships too?

In addition, the interesting technical developments often come from the smaller craft, and are successfully adapted to ocean-going ships. A lot of these smaller ships are unencumbered by the requirements to meet SOLAS and MARPOL requirements, and do not need every nut and bolt to be type approved (OK, an exaggeration, but sometimes things seem that way). So they are a logical test-bed for new approaches to maritime problems which, if the solutions work, can be transferred to ‘real’ ships. Nowhere is this technology transfer more evident than in navigational equipment, one of the subjects covered in this issue.

Another of our features concerns military vessel propulsion. This is another home of advanced, or at least different, technology that can – sometimes surprisingly – find its way onto the merchant fleet. Whether there will be a revival in commercial gas turbine power, which has been touted as a possibility at various times over the past half-century – is far from certain. But with ships fuelled by LNG it starts to look promising once again. Another power source that was in the news 50 years ago is again being suggested as a sustainable, zero-emissions, solution, and that is nuclear. As a propulsion medium for submarines it has proved near-ideal, and it has a lot to offer commercial shipping too.

Many ships coming out of the yards are still to the same basic designs as ships of 30-40 years back. They are safe, familiar, and well-proven. But the industry of today demands cleanliness, efficiency, and optimum fuel consumption. Previous answers to these questions have been provided by advances in engine design. But now the industry realises a wider view is needed, encompassing the whole ship – not just hull forms but propellers/thrusters, control and automation, and systems that take into account the weather, sea state, loading and every other aspect of operation. Again, the smaller vessel sector can point the way.

(This comment appears as ‘Log On’ in the December 2010 issue)