Check and detect

What is feasible is not necessarily desirable – and monitoring is a case in point. It is possible to monitor almost anything by measuring a combination of factors like vibration, temperatures, pressures, power consumption, resistance, or liquid levels – but do you need to? When does enough information to ensure the correct running of a ship become too much and confuse the operator? Obviously, given the variety of ships and equipment on them, there is no single answer.

For many shipowners the degree of monitoring is dictated by the required class notation. Most modern vessels have Unmanned Machinery Space (UMS) notation, but relatively few owners select Centralised Control Station (CCS) and even fewer go for Integrated Computer Control (ICC). Figures from LR show that just 1.63 per cent of the its fleet (109 vessels) have CCS notation, and only a handful, 0.24 per cent of its fleet, or 16 vessels, have ICC.

BP Shipping has selected CCS notation for its latest VLCC newbuildings to allow UMS engine room operation in port and during cargo operations. In doing this, the engineers do not have to switch from day work to watches and back again each time the ship loads or discharges. With UMS, when there is no engineer on watch, general alarms are usually relayed to the bridge. If an alarm sounds, an engineer has to go to the engine or control room to investigate. For CCS notation the operator needs to be able to see what equipment is running, if there is a problem, what the problems is and have the controls to take corrective action without leaving the central control station.