Keeping Machinery Spaces Safe

Fire in the engineroom is one of the largest causes of ship casualties around the world, a fact highlighted in a recent Salvage Association annual review. Finland's Marioff Oy — a well-regarded supplier of fire suppression systems — now offers a dedicated HI-FOG water mist fire protection system for ship's enginerooms. The supplier of water mist fire protection systems for ships is gearing up for unprecedented demand for its tailor made HI-FOG local application system following the May 1999 meeting of IMO's Maritime Safety Committee. Following this meeting, IMO requires, in addition to the main ship system, that the engine rooms of most ships be fitted with a water based local application fire fighting system. IMO's latest circular covers the following ships: •new passenger vessels over 500-grt by July 2002 •new cargo ships over 2,000-grt by July 2002 •existing passenger ships over 2,000-grt by October 2005 "Marioff's solutions will prove most attractive for shipowners," believes Dr. Maarit Tuomisaari, Marioff's Research & Development Manager. "Our innovative, yet simple GPU is ideal for this application as it requires no external power. The system can be activated immediately with no danger to personnel, so extinguishing will normally be very fast. I believe that the use of our system will make primary gaseous systems redundant." Alternatively, the HI-FOG local application system can operate with one of Marioff's other pump units, using either electric pumps or diesel-driven ones. These are usually selected when the ship is also protected by a sprinkler system. The diesel-driven pump is typically used on retrofits, without sufficient electric power. One of the latest vessels to feature a HI-FOG system in its engineroom is the world's largest passenger ship, the 142,000-grt cruise ship Voyager of the Seas. Delivered recently from Kvaerner Masa-Yards New Turku Shipyard in Finland to Royal Caribbean International, this 1,020 ft. (311 m) long giant features 300 sprinklers in its machinery spaces, providing total fire protection for the vessel's diesel-electric prime movers and auxiliaries. In addition the accommodation, public and service areas are covered by a complete HI-FOG sprinkler system. The remaining two vessels in this series, Explorer of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas, feature similar HI-FOG fire protection.