An advanced salvage method is proposed for damaged ships to ensure a short-term decision-making process for a safe ocean towage to the repair yard. The residual longitudinal strength must be greater than the sum of the still water and the maximum vertical wave bending moment. The ultimate bending moment is determined numerically for a container vessel by using an incremental iterative approach (Smith method) and wave-induced loads are predicted by means of hydrodynamic analyses. Successful applicability of the advanced salvage method is demonstrated for a damaged container vessel, which was towed from La Libertad, Ecuador, via Panama to the repair yard in Zhoushan, China, in restricted environmental conditions.

This paper serves as a guide to be employed by one not familiar with the marine forensic process to assist in completing a competent marine forensic investigation. It also provides the basic forensic processes with guidance so the inexperienced forensic investigator can complete his or her investigation, confident that the result will withstand the scrutiny the work will face as it is studied by peers or presented in the legal processes that may include trial

With the impact of increased fire resistance requirements that NAVSEA is invoking on ship programs, and the lack of structural doors (i.e., watertight) that are also fire resistant, the industry can benefit from having a compliant option for structural doors that maintains the required internal shipboard fire zone boundaries using only one structural door. Currently using either legacy Navy standard watertight single doors or the new standardized family of watertight single doors tested for pressure and shock qualification during the prior NSRP project, would require installation of two doors in close proximity to one another at fire zone boundaries. One that serves as a fire barrier and the other serving to maintain watertight integrity, or some other mitigating design. A fire resistant watertight door design will reduce the area and volume penalty to ship designs compared to alternate methods and will reduce the ship cost due to having fewer doors to purchase and install. Upon incorporation in a revised Navy standard drawing, these drawings are expected to be invoked on current and future shipbuilding contracts, which will provide a strong basis for widespread implementation after the project is completed.

Ocean towing in general, and non-routine tows in particular, present unique technical challenges to towing vessel owners/operators, salvors, the offshore oil/gas and wind industries, and others. When such tows “go wrong”, the harm to human life, property and/or the environment can be significant. The authors have drawn from their work on the Towing Safety Advisory Committee’s investigation of the grounding of the MODU Kulluk to present methods and considerations in analyzing ocean towing evolutions, both “routine” and “non-routine”. (TASK 14-01) The methods and considerations presented should be employed in advance of a towing evolution, but can be used in accident reconstruction and forensic analysis when an evolution has failed. The methods presented are iterative, and consider 2 x 6 degree freedom of motion (of the towing vessel(s) and towed vessel respectively) and characteristics of the towline, and facilitate determination of: Worst Case Conditions. Extreme Towline Tension (ETT) as a function of sea state and speed. Limits of the Tow (Go-No Go Criteria). Recommended Catenary Length as a function of sea state and speed. Size and Selection of the Towing Vessel and Gear, including: Required Bollard Pull. Required Strength, Characteristics and Condition of the Towline. Limits and Set Points of the Towing Winch, Automatic or Manual. Required Strength and Characteristics of the Synthetic Emergency Towline and its methods of deployment and connection. Working Load Limit (WLL) of the Shackles, Delta Plate and Attachment Points. Required Strength and Characteristics of Bridles, Pendant and Surge Gear/Shock Lines. The authors further explore the implications of single point failure modes, redundancy in gear and towing vessel(s), high cycle fatigue, and strain monitoring.

Gaseous fuels have been the subject of intensifying interest from the marine industry over the past decade. Spurred by rapidly changing economic and political landscapes, vessel owners and operators are driven to find new ways to balance operating costs with environmental impact. As we adopt new technologies toward this goal, our knowledge base on gaseous fuels has been dominated by considerations relevant only to LNG. Advances in prime mover technology and changes in domestic energy production have made Propane a viable fuel option for a much broader range of vessel sizes and power outputs. To help level the field, this paper presents a comparison between LNG and Propane as shipboard fuels.

Subchapter M – Parts 136 through 144, Title 46 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) - came into effect for the towing vessel fleet in the United States on July 20, 2018. Regulation 46 CFR 136.202 outlined a phase-in period for operators to have their applicable towing vessels inspected for compliance with the requirements within Subchapter M. The phase-in schedule was for twenty-five percent (25%) of the towing vessels to be initially inspected and compliant with Subchapter M each year, so that by July 19, 2022 all applicable towing vessels would be inspected. July 20, 2020 marked the halfway point towards verification of compliance. Within Subchapter M, delegation of certain inspection and compliance verification was given to qualified Third Party Organizations (TPO). This paper intends to give the progress towards compliance with Subchapter M from the perspective of a TPO. This paper will address how the TPO works with both the United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the operator, how the cooperation between the TPOs and USCG has progressed, how well operators have been progressing towards compliance with Subchapter M, trends in meeting the compliance requirements by operators, and a forecast into future trends for compliance.

This paper presents research underway at the University of Strathclyde's Maritime Safety Research Centre (MSRC) from the author's PhD program. The paper summarizes the development of the current International Maritime Organization's (IMO) approach to implementing a Safety Management System (SMS), looks at rail and airline industry's current approaches to SMSs and then proposes a new framework for maritime implementation. The focus is on integrating a more holistic (Enterprise) risk management process into the SMS. This proposed integration is modelled using Dr. Nancy Leveson's (MIT) System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA). The preliminary results are presented along with the corresponding requirements that the SMS must address.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss and document the evolution of the SOLAS subdivision and damage stability regulations, with a primary focus on recent developments to improve the survivability level of passenger ships after the SOLAS 2009 probabilistic subdivision and damage stability regulations were adopted on 20 May 2005 and subsequently entered into force on 1 January 2009. SOLAS international regulations represent a consensus standard and during their development there are frequently details that are not well documented. This paper is intended to provide that documentation and explain the recent progression of this sometimes convoluted development work.

Both ships and aircraft are highly complex, engineered products that can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. But the development cost for an aircraft is frequently many times the cost for a ship, in some cases one to two orders of magnitude greater (DDG 51 development cost $3B, F22 development cost $30B). This paper first examines and compares the top-line development costs for a broad range of ships and aircraft, from commercial (e.g., passenger ships and aircraft) to military (destroyers versus fighters), using publicly available cost numbers. It then takes a deep dive into two cargo platforms, T-AKE Lewis and Clark and C-17 Cargolifter, using cost data from primary sources. It then compares the development expenditures for the two platforms as a function of time and products, e.g., the use or lack of full-scale models as part of the respective development processes. It provides an historical perspective to explain how these differences between ships and aircraft actually began in their original development communities during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Finally, it argues that the use of full-scale prototypes should be considered by the maritime industry.

The recently developed Unified Offshore Standardization JIP – Specification for Offshore Pedestal-Mounted Cranes1 (Crane Specification) is a harmonized specification that is intended to be used by the maritime and offshore industries worldwide. This specification defines the minimum requirements for the design, fabrication, inspection, testing, installation and commissioning of offshore cranes. The potential users of this specification include vessel owners, operators, regulatory bodies, crane manufacturers, shipyards, as well as engineering companies. The potential benefits of this specification include improved safety, reduced costs and increased efficiencies due to the use of standardized requirements for offshore engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. The development effort for this specification was undertaken by members of the Unified Offshore Equipment Joint Industry Project (UE-JIP) Working Group, including oil majors, operators, shipyards, research and development organizations, engineering companies, and classification societies. This paper examines the development of the Unified Offshore Standardization JIP – Specification for Offshore Pedestal-Mounted Cranes1, and provides further insight into how and why this specification was developed, what aspects are and are not addressed by this specification, as well as how this specification could be used for the benefit of the maritime and offshore industry. This paper also examines some of the latest developments in the offshore crane industry that are addressed by this specification, including subsea lifting and motion compensation systems.

The global cap for airborne emissions from ships continues to grow more stringent year after year. The revised regulations within Annex VI to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL Convention) have driven industry to adopt new technologies to control pollution, including the use of natural gas as fuel. To address the safety challenges presented from natural gas fueled ships, the International Maritime Organization adopted the International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low-flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code), which came into force January 1, 2017. The IGF Code makes special note of construction, arrangement, design, and installations, including alternatives, taking into account the unique nature of the fuel. This paper presents the major design considerations for a natural gas fueled ship that are fundamentally different from a diesel fueled vessel. Naval architects must consider LNG design requirements early in the process because these requirements drive the arrangement and stability of a vessel more so than more traditional designs. Specific hazards unique to natural gas and LNG use on board ships outlined in this paper require special attention by ship designers to ensure safe operation. The particular design requirements to mitigate these hazards include: the requirement to conduct a risk assessment, machinery space safety concepts, the role of hazardous area classification, and fuel containment and distribution requirements. The goal of this paper is not to restate the regulations, but rather to highlight major considerations for designers weighing the use of natural gas when developing new vessel concepts.

Capsize is amongst the deadliest of marine accidents. Since the tragic capsize and sinking of the Estonia in 1994, there has been progress toward increasing damage stability and capsize resistance, but less effort has been made to improve egress and survival from a capsizing RO-RO or passenger ship. The 2014 capsize and sinking of the Sewol is a bitter reminder that it is necessary to consider the existence of vessels not in compliance with stability regulations. It is the contention of this paper that it is possible to reduce capsize, but not to eliminate it altogether, and that it is therefore appropriate to make an effort to improve egress and survival provisions. Historical accidents are briefly reviewed, primarily to gain insight into the time available for egress and the challenges to egress and survival. Proximate and ultimate causes of capsize are not the main focus. The onboard environment and the obstacles to egress are an important focus. A salient feature of many capsizes is the rapidity with which it proceeds. It is argued that persons aboard a capsizing ship should immediately make their way to an open deck and that no attempt should be made to return to one's stateroom for the life jacket typically stowed in that location. Most hope for survival depends on two things: attaining an open deck, and securing a personal flotation device upon achieving that open deck. For that reason, a central recommendation is that personal floatation devices of some type bestowed on the open decks.

As the total world transport of oil by tankers has grown, the potential risks to property damage and marine pollution have been increasing. Tanker collision is one of the most common causes of oil spills because collision damage has increased in recent years to an unprecedented level. This paper proposes an advanced procedure for the quantitative risk assessment of ships in collision. The procedure consists of several major tasks, namely, hazard identification associated with random variables and their probability density distributions, selection of credible collision scenarios by sampling technique, quantitative risk calculations including both the frequency and consequence associated with property damage and oil spills, the hull girder collapse risk in tow operations during salvage, and the exceedance frequency associated with risk acceptance criteria. The procedure is applied to a VLCC class double-hull tanker, where the types of striking ships include bulk carriers, containers, tankers, passenger ships, and general cargo ships, based on actual historical databases collated from the records of authorities. The nonlinear finite element method is used to simulate the structural crashworthiness of the struck ship associated with selected collision scenarios, characterizing the collision damage and oil spill. The risks of structural damage volumes and oil spill amounts are calculated as a product of frequency and consequence. A ship hull structure damaged by collision can collapse during rescue or salvage operations, and thus the risk to hull girder collapse is also evaluated. It is also interesting to examine the level of collision risks for existing VLCC class tankers, which is equivalent to be the ALARP (As Low As Reasonably Practicable) level to be applied as risk acceptance criteria that will be useful for the robust design and engineering of future ships. Important insights and conclusions are summarized, and detailed results of the collision risk assessments are reported.

Comparing with other forms of oil production platform, FPSO shows various characteristics such as high input, high risk and high profit. Therefore, risk and reliability evaluation research of FPSO is of great significance. This paper provides an outline of risk based management for FPSO among the total life circle. On the basic of accident causation analysis, risk assessment and risk restraining method of explosion and fire nonlinear response analysis are given. In addition, two examples about explosion response and fire response simulated by FLACS CFD and ANSYS/LS-DYNA is conducted in this paper. Beyond that, given asset integrity management (AIM) systems for FPSO. Based on the above work, profound understanding about risk management of FPSO can be clearly developed, and provide valuable recommendations for FPSO designs.

While premise of marine salvage remains the same as hundreds of years ago, the modern day Salvor must evolve with the times. The emergency response culture of the present day is both intricate and methodical. Conventions and laws across the globe have shaped this complex environment. The following is an overview of what marine salvage entails and what salvors are faced with. Salvors are professionals with a wide and profound skillset. While the salvage industry is known to be a very reactive industry, Salvors should be seen as proactive partners to international and domestic marine operators in efforts to advance emergency preparedness and response.

Determining the arc fault hazard of an electrical installation requires calculating the available arc current, then deriving the energy incident to a person standing a certain distance away. Calculation methods used in NFPA70e and derived from IEEE Std 1584 consider the arc current to be constant until it is interrupted by some device, so that the accumulated incident energy is directly proportional to the arc duration. If the fault is sourced fully or partly by a synchronous generator, this assumption is invalid, since the available current from the generator will decrease exponentially with time. The decay of current will lead to inaccurate estimates of the energy level of the arc, either because the current will be lower than calculated (resulting in lower energy), or because the arc will not be interrupted as quickly (resulting in higher energy). A full power system analysis with the dynamics of the generator(s) included will give a more accurate result, but may be too expensive or time-consuming. This paper proposes a simplified approximation of the generator dynamics that extends the IEEE 1584 methods to account for the generator decrement curve. It is hoped that the proposed method will form the basis for further discussion and eventual incorporation of this or some similar method in the standard

This paper will discuss how the ship classification process can serve as a central component of safety programs developed for achieving naval ship safety assurance. As part of continual improvement efforts regarding the overall safety of their fleet, many navies are aggressively exploring the feasibility of involving Classification Societies as a means for incorporating worldwide recognized safety standards and practices into their naval ship safety programs. The paper will discuss how the ship classification and certification process can be used to help meet the goals of a naval ship safety assurance program and what the technical rationale and benefits are in using the classification process for this purpose. The processes for design review, equipment certification, surveys during construction, and inservice surveys will be outlined.

The National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP) Expanded Adhesive Outfitting Applications Research Announcement project was selected for funding in June 2014 and awarded in September 2014. It was an effort to build on two prior NSRP Panel projects dealing with the use of adhesives for late stage outfitting, those being Cost Reduction Measures for Local Cable Hanger Installation and Cost Reduction Measures for Late Stage Outfitting. The project participants included Huntington Ingalls Industries – Ingalls Shipbuilding (the prime contractor), Bollinger Shipyards LLC, and National Technical Systems. The goal of this project was to expand applications for adhesive outfitting beyond specifically tested and approved items and their associated configurations by developing a set of design rules for adhesively bonded studs that are more widely applicable. The rules will follow Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) criteria for the use of adhesives on surface ships and will be based on tests conducted by this project that establish maximum allowable loads based on failure modes. Initial consideration was given to lightweight items weighing less than 100 pounds using adhesives and mounting hardware with documented performance. The design rules consider all applicable NAVSEA requirements and identify changes to ship specifications required for implementation. The use of adhesive outfitting for lightweight outfitting applications has a favorable business case, particularly for late stage outfitting as hot work and its associated added costs are eliminated. The project was broken up into two phases. The first phase included a review of applicable requirements, a review of the adhesive bonding process and an investigation of potential improvements to that process, and development of test plans for environmental testing and survivability testing. This was completed in June 2015. The second phase of the project dealt with fabrication of test articles for environmental testing and survivability testing, execution of the test plans, interpretation of test results, execution of a final project workshop, and preparation of a final project report. This was recently completed, and the presentation will summarize test results and next steps for applying this technology.

Today's vessels are more complicated than ever and a solid safety system on board is very important. At a minimum the following are either required or should be considered: Fire Detection; Fire Suppression; Carbon Monoxide Detection; Gas Detection; System for any other specific characteristics. Fire Detection Fire detection is especially important on larger vessels with multiple accommodation spaces and the growing number of accessories that generate heat. Boats are now loaded with electronics and batteries in addition to the engines and control systems. Also, the new U.S. Coast Guard Subchapter M regulations now require a fire detection system on many work boats, both new and used.

Avoiding accidents and ensuring the safety of on-board personnel represents one of the most complex challenges faced by the maritime industry. A common misunderstanding in the industry has led to a focus on occupational accidents to reduce lost time injuries in the belief that this would also lead to a reduction of major accidents. The complexity related to preventing and mitigating major accidents requires an understanding of the differences in occupational risk compared to major accident risk. An ever increasing complexity in systems and operations calls for increased vigilance with regards to safety. Rather than focusing on individual components, the industry would benefit by embracing a more comprehensive approach to safety, one that establishes effective barriers that prevent or mitigate the impact of accidents. The oil & gas industry has a long experience in handling complex operations and major accident hazards and offshore vessels can document significant lower incident rates than conventional merchant vessels. Introducing the concept of barrier management from the oil & gas industry to the maritime industry can provide the framework this industry needs to better manage major accident hazards.