‘First’ ShipArrestor system gets green light

As a result, Norway is said to be the first country in the world with a system that can protect its shores from the danger of drifting oil tankers and the pollution that can result when they run aground.

The new system, which was put through a complete customer acceptance test in Tasman Bay, New Zealand, consists of a large parachute-style sea anchor that is looped by a helicopter onto a ship drifting without engine power. This is achieved without any involvement from the ship’s crew.

A line ending with the sea anchor in a container is paid-out upwind by the helicopter. When the container is dropped into the sea it releases the fabric anchor, a recovery line and a buoy that shows its location. The sea anchor cuts the speed of the ship’s drift and consequently increases the time available for a rescue tug to reach the ship and take it in tow before it runs aground and ruptures its tanks. When the tug arrives it can lift the buoy on board and uses its line to tow the ship to safety.

Miko Marine says the advanced materials used by the ShipArrestor enable it to quickly turn any size of ship in the wind and halve the speed at which it is drifting. This is also said to prevent severe rolling.

“A great deal of technical research had to go into its development as thirty years ago the ShipArrestor would have been impossible to construct as many advanced materials that combine strength with lightness are needed in its manufacture,” Nicolai Michelsen, general manager, Miko Marine.

“It is only because these special fabrics and metals used are now available that the project was able to go ahead,” he added.

Upon arrival in Norway from New Zealand, Miko’s ShipArrestors will be stored on helicopter stations at Hammerfest above the Arctic Circle and at the Kystverket station at Fedje, north of Bergen. Miko says this will make them quickly available for use on a drifting ship anywhere along Norway’s 2,000-mile coast.