Paal Johansen News

Finnish shipbuilder Meyer Turku and DNV GL have signed a contract for the classification of Royal Caribbean International’s two new ICON Class cruise ships scheduled for delivery in 2022 and 2024.The final concept for the first vessel is currently being discussed, and the concept design phase is expected to start this spring. The initial building phase of the first ship will begin next year, with keel laying planned for October 2019.The new fuel-efficient ICON Class vessels will feature a number of green technologies…

The NAOEMC is comprised of a group of industry experts and leaders that establish expectations and align the industry for future growth and development in offshore equipment manufacturing. The formation and sponsorship of industry committees is a longstanding tradition within DNV GL. The current market situation is more conducive to establishing the NAOEMC, as all stakeholders recognize the shift to “work smarter, not harder” and see value in partnership and collaboration. “It is interesting to note that of all the years to start this committee, it happens during an unprecedented downturn in our industry,” concurred Ian Friesen, Technical Director at NOV. These committees are widely known in the offshore industry.

DNV GL's Center of Excellence for Drilling & Well Control Equipment recently hosted the inaugural gathering of the North American Offshore Equipment Manufacturers' Committee (NAOEMC). The NAOEMC is comprised of a group of industry experts and leaders that establish expectations and align the industry for future growth and development in offshore equipment manufacturing. The formation and sponsorship of industry committees is a longstanding tradition within DNV GL. The current market situation is more conducive to establishing the NAOEMC, as all stakeholders recognize the shift to "work smarter, not harder" and see value in partnership and collaboration.

DNV GL has welcomed the world’s largest semi-submersible drilling rig into class recently. Ocean Greatwhite is 123 metres long and 78 metres wide and was delivered at Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan, South Korea. Owned by the Houston-based drilling contractor Diamond Offshore, the rig will be chartered to oil major BP and will operate in the Great Australian Bight. Ocean Greatwhite is also the first new-build rig to receive the DNV GL Integrated Software Dependent Systems (ISDS) notation. ISDS are systems whose performance is dependent on the overall behaviour of their integrated software components. DNV GL’s ISDS standard helps owners and operators minimise software integration errors and delays in projects involving complex integrated systems.

Every five years, DNV GL publishes a Technology Outlook report providing insights into the technology landscape of the next decade. Its latest report focuses extensively on top tech trends and the future outlook for maritime, oil and gas, energy, and life sciences. The DNV GL Technology Outlook 2025 identifies four dominant catalysts driving technology innovation globally, namely digitalization, climate change, politics and regulation, and sustainable resource consumption. The digitalization of information flows will spur the automation of existing processes and functions, and have a positive impact on safety and environmental performance. Ships today are developing into sophisticated sensor hubs and data generators.

Dr. Gerd-Michael Würsig, Business Director LNG fuelled ships at DNV GL – Maritime, looked at some of the current issues in the LNG industry and provided an overview of what DNV GL is doing to support growth in this segment. “The main drivers, in order of importance, are price, availability, and of course legislation. LNG as a fuel has the potential to become the most important fuel solution for environmentally sustainable shipping over the next few years,” explained Würsig. In a low cost market with a vast number of liquefaction plants commissioned or under construction, DNV GL expects global LNG production to grow by around 40 percent over the next four years (as compared to figures from 2014).

At the annual Seatrade Cruise Global 2016 conference in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, classification society DNV GL introduced a new form of reporting that revolutionizes survey reporting for fleet managers. The newly structured report defines safety barriers and trends, utilizing DNV GL's extensive experience with barrier management in the offshore oil and gas industry. In collaboration with a major cruise line, DNV GL successfully implemented the new barrier management reporting programme. Survey data from 23 cruise ships was included in the pilot programme. The test enabled the project partners to identify and present high-impact risk control measures more efficiently than ever before. This allowed the customer to easily measure the effectiveness of risk-control actions.

Classification society DNV GL introduced a new form of reporting that it claims revolutionizes survey reporting for fleet managers. The newly structured report defines safety barriers and trends, using DNV GL's experience with barrier management in the offshore oil and gas industry. In collaboration with a major cruise line, DNV GL implemented the new barrier management reporting program. Survey data from 23 cruise ships was included in the pilot program. The test enabled the project partners to identify and present high-impact risk control measures more efficiently than ever before.

The State University of New York Maritime College’s 140th Anniversary Speaker Series presented a panel discussion on March 26 in the College’s Maritime Academic Center. The topic was Environmental Issues in Shipping. Panelists included Michael C. Carter, Director of the Office of Environment, U.S. Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration; John Hatley, Americas Vice President Ship Power, Wärtsilä North America; and Paal Johansen, Vice President and Regional Director, Regional Office Americas Houston, DNV GL – Maritime. The panel discussion was moderated by Clay Maitland, Chairman, North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) and Managing Partner, International Registries, Inc.

The fishing vessel industry fatality rate is 30 times higher than the average of all U.S. industries. To address this, U.S. legislation requires that all new fishing vessels larger than 50 feet must be built to classification rules. DNV GL is the only classification society to develop rules specifically for the U.S. domestic fishing fleet, addressing how fishing vessels are designed, built and maintained for safety. “The United States is the fifth largest fishing nation in the world, with approximately 110,000 commercial vessels. This means that there are more than 100,000 U.S.

The fishing vessel industry fatality rate is 30 times higher than the average of all US industries. To address this, US legislation requires that all new fishing vessels bigger than 50 feet must be built to classification rules. DNV GL is the only classification society to develop rules specifically for the US domestic fishing fleet, addressing how fishing vessels are designed, built and maintained for safety. “The United States is the fifth largest fishing nation in the world, with approximately 110,000 commercial vessels. This means that there are more than a hundred thousand US fishermen who have their daily work in fishing vessels that often operate in harsh conditions and rough weather.

Conference organizers have announced the speaker lineup for the 21st annual Hellenic-American and Norwegian-American Chambers of Commerce conference, often called the New York Shipping Conference. Entitled “The Life of a Ship”, the conference will feature luminaries including Steinar Nerbovik of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Ben Ognibene of Heidmar, Craig Stevenson Jr., Joseph Hughes of Shipowners Claims Bureau, Paal Johansen of DNV GL, and Angela Chao of Foremost Group . The event will be held on Wednesday, February 11 at the Waldorf-Astoria starting at 8:15 a.m. with conference registration and continental breakfast sponsored by DNB Bank ASA. The luncheon keynote speaker will be Sturla Henriksen, CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, organizers said.

DNV GL announced it has mapped out what is necessary to be in compliance with U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) requirements to operate FOIs, FSOs and FPSOs in U.S. waters. In what DNV GL is calling the first comprehensive overview of its kind , the roadmap document entitled “Verification for compliance with United States regulations on the outer continental shelf”, follows from the USCG’s policy letter last year, accepting approval plans and inspections from the class societies DNV GL, Lloyd’s Register, and ABS as basis of USCG approval.

In the first comprehensive overview of its kind, DNV GL has mapped out what is necessary to be in compliance with US Coast Guard (USCG) requirements to operate FOIs, FSOs and FPSOs in US waters. The roadmap document called “Verification for compliance with United States regulations on the outer continental shelf”, follows from the US Coast Guard’s policy letter last year, accepting approval plans and inspections from the class societies DNV GL, Lloyd’s Register, and ABS as basis of USCG approval. However, differences in the accepted rules and standards, and the subsequent variety in the complementing requirements from the CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) led to uncertainties among operators, both about requirements and final approvals.

Lindsay Malen, Director of Business Development, Marine Response Alliance/TITAN Salvage, will speak on the topic “Salvors:  Partners in OPA90 Compliance & More” at the North American Marine Environment Protection Association’s (NAMEPA’s)  “Compliance, Cost and Competency in America” seminar being held at the 2014 Posidonia conference in Athens, Greece on Thursday, June 5, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. “Compliance, Cost and Competency in America” will examine the environmental challenges facing today’s shipping industry. Highlights include: regulatory challenges in the U.S.

When talk turns to marine propulsion and the host of surrounding topics – emissions, efficiency, fuel consumption – we turn to class for answers. While there are just two questions, the ensuing answers from leaders at ABS, BV, ClassNK, DNV GL, LR and RINA are voluminous & enlightening. The stricter environmental regulations and rising fuel costs lead to technology development in design, size, propulsion and operations. This goes well beyond LNG as fuel, and we believe we will see a more diversified mix, with batteries, hybrids, methanol and so on.