Fighting climate change demands action in all sectors. International shipping faces the challenge of long lifetimes of vessels compared to other modes of transportation like cars or aircraft. Decisions on energy carriers and propulsion technologies that are made now have a long-lasting impact on the emissions of the sector. An essential part to understand how long vessels will stay in the fleet are cumulative survival probabilities, i.e. the probability with which a vessel is still in service at a specific age. However, literature and data on this topic are scarce. We fill this gap by providing cumulative survival probability curves for the international vessel fleet, resolved by vessel size and type. We illustrate how this knowledge can be used in a stock and flow model in order to project future CO 2 emissions. Preliminary findings show that the shipping industry needs to ramp up efforts in providing carbon-neutral technology solutions now. Otherwise, climate targets are out of sight and more and more emissions from fossil fuel-powered vessels are locked-in.

The economical and operational implications of poor alignment are indisputable for the propulsion shafting system of a commercial vessel. This holds true for naval vessels as well, although far less documented in the technical literature. This paper addresses some of the challenges associated with the proper alignment of a high-speed naval craft, which has been in service for many years. Laser bore-sighting was performed on a Guided Missile Fast Patrol Boat resting on a docking cradle. The measured bearing offsets were input to a FEA model of the shafting system to calculate bearing reactions and detect potential misalignment issues. Subsequent decisions regarding corrective measures take into account the results computed by the numerical model, experience from sister ships, the available documentation from the building yard and several other factors which are discussed in the paper. The solutions proposed are targeted towards a balanced trade-off between cost effectiveness and out-of-service time on one hand, and the risk of potential damage from misalignment on the other hand, which would seriously disrupt the ship’s operational availability. Practical aspects and lessons identified in the process are also presented, which demonstrate the distinct differences in alignment strategy of a high-speed naval craft compared to a typical commercial vessel.

There must be equal emphasis on preventing sediment accumulation as there is on treatment of ballast water in ships. Ships should be designed and constructed with target to minimize the uptake and undesirable entrapment of sediments, facilitate their removal and provision of safe access allowing removal without compromising safety or operational efficiency. IMO has developed guidelines to assist ship designers, shipbuilders, owners and operators to design ships to minimize the retention and accumulation of sediment (IMO, 2012). Ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) do nothing to reduce the volume of sediment. 65 per cent of the sediment is smaller than 20μm. A 50μm filter will reduce sediments by just 10 per cent. Sediment increases by about 2 to 3 cm each year. Some species notably toxic dinoflagellate cysts, can survive in the sediment for months (Hallegraeff and Bolch. 1992), forcing some port authorities to restrict stripping operations at port. Sediment allows the survival of benthic and planktonic organisms on the bottom of tanks. Sediment may render a BWTS ineffective. In the presence of sediment it cannot be guaranteed that compliance with the D2 standard will be met. The sediment itself prevents the elimination of the microorganisms that are located below the deposits. B The turbidity and presence of sediments in ballast water can have a significant effect on the effectiveness of UV treatment. Besides hosting the organisms, ballast tank sediments presumably act as a buffer in increasing the salinity tolerance of the organisms in the ballast tanks (Drake, 2005). The accumulation of sediment, sand, water and other impurities in the bottom of the tanks develop a very corrosive environment (Bilgin et al, 2016). It is thus necessary to apply simple and inexpensive design and operational solutions to improve the management of sediment on ships. Equivalently sediment accumulation is reduced when the ballast water residuals are reduced. Strength and structural continuity are the primary considerations in ship design and construction. Unfortunately, drainage is a secondary consideration. The design must ensure the structural and operational integrity of ships but at the same time facilitate the flow of ballast and removal of sediments. Until the IMO Ballast Water Treatment Convention came into center stage, cleaning of the ballast tanks has not received the attention it deserves.

1 Setting the scene Within the next years, the concept of a ship navigating unmanned without a master and crew on board is expected to become feasible. Interestingly, unmanned ship technology is rapidly developing, and major stakeholders are presently investing in unmanned shipping. The first autonomous unmanned container ship is expected to be delivered in 2018 by a Norwegian shipbuilder while the topic of autonomous ships was included by the International Maritime Organisation in the agenda of the next Maritime Safety Committee. Undoubtedly, the unmanned ship technology is expected to be widely discussed in the following years. It might affect the landscape of ship design, management and operation since it has never been possible to navigate, operate and commercially exploit a ship without a master and crew on board. Therefore, the implementation of unmanned shipping could have an impact on multiple levels, namely technical, operational, economic, legal and regulatory. The present contribution will examine legal and regulatory implications of the unmanned ship operation with the aim to raise awareness to the stakeholders on potential regulatory compliance issues and legal liabilities.

With the increasing interest in the maritime industry in unmanned systems and maritime robotics, attention is shifting towards extremely safe automated collision avoidance systems (ACAS). An ACAS combines the sensors for situational awareness with specific algorithms that prevents a vessel from hitting other objects, usually other nearby vessels. The current state of technology is such that this is one of the big challenges for unmanned systems, as most ACAS are not sufficiently reliable to replace a human helmsman, especially in busy shipping lanes. In this paper we present an approach to ACAS which uses swarming algorithms to prevent vessels of colliding. Swarming algorithms have the characteristic that in itself simple – and therefore robust- rules for the individual participants in the swarm, can result in complex and intelligent behavior of the swarm. The hypothesis that was tested is that an individual ACAS will perform relatively poor in comparison to a solution where all the vessels within a certain range are made subject to a swarming strategy. In the simulations, this hypothesis was tested, not only for collision avoidance, but also with efficient routing and minimal mutual hindrance. The solution we propose is based on a layered approach, where steering actions are abstracted to a number of evasive strategies, on which machine learning can be applied. These strategies correspond to the rules that define the entire swarm. As a special measure of robustness, the swarm should be able to cater for nodes that do not conform to these rules, for instance floating objects or vessels that are not equipped with ACAS. A typical characteristic of a swarm algorithms is that all the participants in the swarm are equal. As vessels can be mutually different, we propose an additional layer of complexity where the models that the vessels make of the other participants are based on theories from evolutionary and social theories. The solution has been developed for the ship simulator of RH Marine on RDM Campus, and could be the onset for automated support for the helmsman, but with the eventual goal to develop ACAS for unmanned vessels. We have run extensive simulations with vessels in a shipping lane, where individual ACAS strategies were compared with a swarming solution.

Even without legislation, international shipping is by far the most carbon efficient mode of commercial transport but still continues to improve fuel efficiency and thus reduce CO 2 emissions. According to the 3rd IMO Study, the shipping industry is responsible for 2.5% of the global CO 2 emissions. It is estimated that an increase between 50 – 250% will happen until 2050 without a legislation. On the other hand, starting from January 2017 the EU MRV regulation comes in force aiming at a CO 2 emission cut by at least 40% from 2005 level by 2050, and if feasible by 50%. This paper focuses on the application issues of the MRV regulation and gives examples and hints how a small shipping company with limited IT resources could draft its own monitoring plan and be prepared for the electronic submission of the emission reports. After a short theoretical introduction in the rationale of MRV an example of an easy to adapt monitoring plan will be given using the tool developed. Hints will be provided deriving from the MRV delegated acts, and the monitoring plan assessment and review procedures will be explained. Going one step further the required day to day reports will be drafted in an automated manner but using easy office tools and finally the emissions report will be designed as a summary of the produced trip reports. Finally, the procedures for delivering the report through the EU THETIS software as well as the certification procedure will be explained.

The maritime industry is continuously working on improving the reliability of on board systems and increasing ship's efficiency and safety. Today's ships are technologically more advanced but maritime accidents still occur, mainly due to human errors. In this respect the continuous training of ship's crew is imperative, while training simulators need to adapt to more complex and realistic operational scenarios. In this context, a decision support tool for ship's navigation in adverse weather conditions is herein presented, namely HYBRIDMAN. The software is based on a 4 DoF (surge, sway, yaw and roll) nonlinear ship maneuvering model, which is formulated and solved in the time domain by use of MATLAB's software environment (Mathworks, 2014). The developed simulation software integrates several subsystems referring to the calculation of ship's hull, propeller and rudder forces/moments. Moreover, the impact of the environmental forces (wind and waves) on ship's maneuvering motions is considered. The developed software allows the testing of different maneuvering scenarios within very short time, thus HYBRIDMAN allows the exploration of the available decision space and leads to a safer and more efficient navigation. The ultimate goal of this study is to develop a rational methodology that will allow the simulation of the maneuvering ability of a vessel with specific characteristics for any specified route and weather scenario. The paper will present typical results of application of the developed software to a case study ship undergoing maneuvers in given weather conditions.

New environmental regulations indicate that a ‘business as usual’ approach is no longer an option towards sustainable shipping. LNG is one of the potential alternative solutions to help meet the specified IMO fuel sulphur content limits since it contains only traces of sulphur. Gas and dual fuel (DF) engines utilizing the Otto combustion process can produce NOx emissions below the IMO Tier III limits, and the C/H ratio of LNG allows a significant fuel based reduction of CO 2 emissions also. This paper discusses the challenges involved and how these were met when considering LNG as fuel in an ocean-going dry bulk carrier, with a focus on the main challenges involved with CAPEX and engine technologies and their effect on vessel design. The study was conducted by Arista Shipping in conjunction with the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) and Wärtsilä, and was based on a representative bulk carrier design, an 82,000 dwt Kamsarmax vessel, which was selected as the project platform due to its proven design and high cargo capacity.

Regulations, Charterers, but also economy and prudence, push the industry for increased efficiency in fuel consumption and in maintenance. The solution proposed by most key players is switching from fixed period maintenance (which can be sooner or later than the optimum) to an "as needed" basis, depending on each operator's criteria (i.e. comparing fuel cost to maintenance cost, keeping EEOI in a set range, avoiding fuel or speed claims etc.)For such a timely decision making to be successful, however, proper, consistent accurate and reliable monitoring is key, along with proper filtering settings for isolating effects and choosing inputs, and of course a good understanding of the underlying mechanics and frugality with the assumptions in use. In this paper, an approach to this multi-faceted problem is presented by using an ISO 19030 compliant method, on top of Vector daq (data acquisition) platform for two different ships and some key points are discussed. The potential of such methods is displayed and the possibility of distinguishing the hull from propeller effects is approached.

The present study investigates the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) for the resistance prediction of hullforms designed according to the MARAD Systematic Series. Experimental data for the residual resistance coefficient of these hulls, provided by MARAD in a series of diagrams, have been used to train and evaluate a series of neural networks aiming to estimate the residual resistance coefficient of ships designed according to the MARAD Series. The adopted procedure along with the obtained results are presented and discussed.

The present study aims at the quantification of the effect of uncertainty of the weather conditions on the fuel consumption of a vessel. More specifically, the uncertainty of the seaway conditions, namely spectral wave height, period and heading, on ship's added resistance will be introduced by an innovative probabilistic approach known from reliability theory. The ultimate goal of this study is to provide a rational methodology that will allow the estimation the fuel consumption of a vessel on a certain route, while considering the effect of weather conditions and their related uncertainties.

The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the effects of common deviations from the designed firefighting procedures during actual emergency situations, with regards to human factors. According to official reports on major fire accidents on the maritime environment, in most cases the designed firefighting procedures are not followed at all. It is believed that the added stress created during these adverse conditions diverge the crew's response from the effective reactions. This is partly due to lack of encounters of such events that would prepare the crew for future accidents under stressful situations. State-of-the-art training requires firefighting simulators that create the desired stress -needed for the said accidents- under safe and controlled, however harsh and problematic, environment. Through the meta-analysis of investigation of fire accidents case by case, the paper signalize the importance of following the correct procedures. The paper is mainly focused on the human reactions and behaviors under stress. In this context the effect of all the Non – Technical Skills (ie Situation Awareness, Decision Making, Communication, Leadership, Teamwork, Stress and Fatigue) is analyzed to conclude for the soft skills that are more important in the fire incidents. Best practices in human behavior in such incidents are also discussed to promote the development of procedures in firefighting with regards to human limitations in the framework of Safety-II and pro-activeness.