Technology Report News

The Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF) is currently developing an updated and enhanced version of its Ship Inspection Report Program (SIRE) tanker risk assessment tool, the ship inspection regime that has become central to supporting safety and best practice in the marine industry. The new regime, SIRE 2.0, will replace the current system from Q2 2022, delivering a more comprehensive inspection regime with enhanced tools, strengthened governance processes and more in-depth reporting outcomes…

Decade long, and ongoing, research program has developed a clearer understanding of the forces imposed on ship structures. Lloyd’s Register’s updated Containership Rules came into effect in July 2014 and these new rules are supported by Lloyd’s Register ShipRight Procedures covering whipping and springing analysis. Following the ShipRight Procedure will enable the granting of new Lloyd’s Register class notations ShipRight WDA – Whipping design assessment procedure, and ShipRight FDA (SPR) – Springing fatigue design assessment procedure, to enhance the response of ships’ structures that are subject to springing and whipping at sea. While the basic rules that underpin containership structural strength are well established…

The November 2013 edition of Lloyd’s Register’s Gas Technology Report is dedicated to LNG as a marine fuel. Highlights include a look at developments in Canada – a shipowner, the regulator and a shipbuilder talk about gas fuelled shipping, progress made by the Maritime and Port Authority in Singapore to develop LNG bunkering, the CEO of Viking Line talks about the LR classed Viking Grace and interviews with SIGTTO and the newly formed Society for Gas as a Marine Fuel (SGMF). Luis Benito…

Adoption of, and interest in, LNG-as-fuel for ships is gathering pace but challenge is as much in safe bunkering and port operations as in ship design. LNG bunkering guidance is one of the key subjects addressed in LR’s latest Gas Technology Report. The growth in gas production is important for shipping and LR’s gas technology insight in to the issues being faced today is more relevant than ever. "It has been a big year so far for gas in shipping," comments Luis Benito, LR’s Global Marine Marketing Manager.

The use of computers to solve hydrodynamics problems in shipbuilding started in early days of scientific computing – as early as in aerodynamics and aerospace. Due to limited computing resources at that time, potential flow model was used in both aero- and hydrodynamics. However, while simulations based on Euler equations, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANSE) and most recently partially resolved Navier-Stokes equations (so-called “large-eddy” – LES – or “detached-eddy” – DES – simulations) have become established tools in aerodynamics…

The use of computers to solve hydrodynamics problems in shipbuilding started in early days of scientific computing – as early as in aerodynamics and aerospace. Due to limited computing resources at that time, potential flow model was used in both aero- and hydrodynamics. However, while simulations based on Euler equations, Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations (RANSE) and most recently partially resolved Navier-Stokes equations (so-called “large-eddy” – LES – or “detached-eddy” – DES – simulations) have become established tools in aerodynamics…

The Duke University Center on Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness (CGGC) recently completed a study on ocean technologies, including remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), for a consortium led by Nova Scotia’s Department of Economic and Rural Development and Tourism (ERDT). Excerpts from the report on the market and technology trends in ROVs and AUVs are provided in this article. Global ROV vehicle sales in 2010 totaled approximately $850 million.

Irving Shipbuilding’s successful C$25 billion bid for the combatant portion of the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy (NSPS) illustrates the strength of Nova Scotia shipbuilding industry. Under the program, Irving Shipbuilding, Inc. (ISI) will build six to eight Arctic/Offshore Patrol Ships and 15 Canadian Surface Combatants for the Department of National Defense (DND) over the next 20-30 years. The NSPS contract is in addition to ISI’s contract to build nine mid-shore patrol vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard…

SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings has published two new collections of surface preparation reference photographs: SSPC-VIS 4 and SSPC-VIS 5. SSPC-VIS 4 illustrates the appearances of steel surfaces prepared by waterjetting while SSPC-VIS 5 shows steel surfaces prepared by wet abrasive blast cleaning. Both contain a written guide and explanatory notes, as well as additional photographs that depict degrees of flash rust after cleaning. SSPC-VIS 4 and SSPC-VIS 5 were developed in collaboration with NACE International under the direction of the SSPC/NACE Joint Task Group on Wet Blast Visual Standards. SSPC visual standards and reference photographs are used to access the condition of coated and/or uncoated steel before and after cleaning…

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the largest independent institution of its kind in the world, recently began developing a new piston corer for retrieving sediments from the ocean floor. Once complete in 2006, the deep-water coring system will be the largest in the U.S. and among the biggest in the world. The corer’s enormous weight — 25,000 pounds — coupled with the environmental demands associated with working in water up to 20,000 ft. deep presented major technical challenges to the system required to lower the corer to the sea floor then recover it, along with its ancient sediment samples. Located in Cape Cod, Mass.…

A corporate vice president at Northrop Grumman Corp. was confirmed by the Senate yesterday to be the new secretary of the Navy, according to a Washington Technology report. Donald C. Winter most recently served as president of Northrop Grumman’s Mission Systems sector. He also formerly worked as president and CEO of TRW Systems, said the report. In the early 1980s, Winter worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as program manager for space acquisition. Winter earned his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Rochester and a master's and doctorate in physics from the University of Michigan. In 2002, Winter was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Source: Washington Technology