Hca News

The main aim of Cowes Harbor Commission’s (CHC) investment into the new Cowes Breakwater was to provide a true sheltered harbor, thereby unlocking its full potential and creating a catalyst for major inward investment and employment generation. The protection provided by the Cowes Breakwater has now enabled the planned marina element of the Cowes Outer Harbor Project (OHP) to move forward. The OHP is a long-standing strategic partnership between CHC and the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA).

Recent severe storms in the U.K. North Sea have resulted in a number of floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) being shut down in order to assess and repair the damage caused. Notwithstanding the possible safety implications for operations crew, oil and gas majors are facing weeks, if not months without a critical asset which in turn, is having a significant impact on future production. The design and operation of an FPSO in remote locations requires detailed information on the structural response of the vessel within the local environment offshore.

Kongsberg Seatex, Kongsberg Maritime’s position reference specialist division, is launching two new Motion Reference Units (MRU). Both products have been designed specifically for survey and crane operations, and outside installations, such as heli-deck monitoring. The new MRU 3 is designed for roll, pitch and heave compensation applications, including real-time heave compensation of echo sounders during survey operations and active heave compensation of offshore cranes. It provides heave measurements to meet IHO standards, ensuring that echo sounder data is highly accurate pre- and post-processing, while offshore crane safety and efficiency can be also be improved. The MRU 3 achieves reliability by using solid state sensors with no rotational or mechanical parts.

On May 31st 2011 FLAGSHIP, a part EU-funded maritime transport project, will conclude having facilitated the research and development of no less than 10 new maritime solutions, from multiple European companies. All the new products and systems directly and indirectly improve the safety, environmental friendliness and competitiveness of European maritime transport – in precise alignment with the FLAGSHIP programme’s objectives. Mr Emanuele Grimaldi, CEO of the Grimaldi Group, commented…

FLAGSHIP, the Pan-European maritime transport project part funded by the EU, has successfully developed software that can forecast the condition of a ship’s hull over time to help improve the efficacy of surveys and reduce the amount of time a ship is out of service. FLAGSHIP-HCA (Hull Condition Assessment) is designed to accurately predict the condition of a vessel’s structure, coating and components, enabling ship owners and operators to schedule maintenance in a more efficient manner and thereby reduce maintenance costs while improving safety at sea.