Roberta Weisbrod News

Following the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association’s (WFSA) Professional Program (held virtually on May 18, 2022), Awards were presented to finalist teams in the WFSA’s Ferry Design Competition, now in its ninth year.Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, WFSA’s Executive Director, said the specifications for the design ferry were crafted to be ever more challenging from year to year, but that this year’s objective creating a safe and affordable ferry for transiting India’s Brahmaputra River, “that…

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has announced the winners of the 8th Annual International Student Design Competition for a Safe, Affordable Ferry.Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, WFSA’s Executive Director, said: “This year, the students were tasked with designing a RoPax ferry to carry around 300 passengers, many of whom prefer the use of outdoor hammocks, plus vehicles and cargo on the Amazon River between Manaus and Tefé ona trip that is to last 20 hours. Because of the continuing spread of Covid 19 in Brazil and its transmission via river transport…

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) said it is adding new requirements for its 8th Annual International Student Design Competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry, in an action reflecting the unprecedented developments of 2020. This year, students have been tasked with designing a RoPax ferry for the Amazon River, between Manaus and Tefé, some 200 miles further inland.Due to the widespread impacts of COVID-19, the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association is asking registered and…

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) is pleased to announce that winners have been selected for its 2019 Ferry Design Competition. The awards will be presented at WFSA’s Ferry Safety and Technology Conference, which will be be held in Bangkok February 20‐22, 2019. In the contest, student teams were tasked with designing a passenger ferry for the Pasig River, the locus of commercial and public activities in Manila. Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, Executive Director of WFSA, had…

The 5th Annual Ferry Safety and Technology conference will be held in Bangkok Thailand on February 20‐22, 2019. The conference is designed to showcase the best practical technologies to improve safety particularly‐ but not solely, for the developing world.The conference is co‐hosted by the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) and the famed Chao Phraya River Boat Co. The conference features good news on multiple fronts: new high‐quality ferry systems; new development of inland waterways making them safe for ferries in India and Bangladesh (in a presentation by the World Bank)…

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) announces its sixth annual international student design competition for a safe affordable ferry, seeking designs for a passenger vessel to traverse the iconic Pasig River of Metropolitan Manila. Metropolitan Manila, composed of 18 municipalities (including the City of Manila), is a flourishing vibrant joyous city with a total population of 24 million people. The metro area would benefit from a ferry system to relieve congestion. The City of Manila itself (population 1.8 million) has the distinction of being considered the most densely populated city on earth. Like many other modern cities Metro Manila is rediscovering its river for passenger transport.

In October the world’s ferry operators gathered in Split Croatia for the Forty Second Annual Interferry Conference. The 470 or so delegates represented 210 operators and support companies from 27 countries. A trade show included firms from around the world including shipbuilders, naval architects, equipment suppliers, training and others of the diverse group that make up the ferry industry. In a panel on Mediterranean Ferries, Philippe Holthof, of the Belgian-based Shipax explained the huge size and complexity of the fleet.

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has announced the winners of its 2017 competition for the design of a safe and affordable ferry, chosen by a panel of judges. The awards will be presented on May 11, at WFSA’s Ferry Safety & Technology Conference. Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, the Executive Director of the WFSA, said, “Urban linear ferries like Bangkok and New York are in growth mode everywhere. The students have garnered useful experience, especially the awardees, in designing for a growing market.

There is a convergence of new advances in technology for ferries AND quantum leaps in ferry operations in Asia, Africa and North America. Can operating a ferry be made better safer and cheaper? Yes, says technology. What’s exciting about this year’s Ferry Safety and Technology conference, the Third Annual, is the promise of technology – how telematics, affordable sensors, and graphic visualization – enhance safety, and vastly benefit the quality and cost of operations. This isn’t a conference for nerds and geeks – it’s for those of who need to use technology to understand it.

“2017 may be the global breakout year for ferries,” says Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, Chief Executive of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA). She takes this viewpoint because of the tremendous expansion of ferries in India, Philippines, Thailand, new beginnings in West Africa, and the high profile expansion of the Citywide ferry service in New York City, where the  WFSA’s third conference on International Ferry Safety and Technology conference will be held on May 11-12, 2017.

The winners of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association’s (WFSA) Safe Affordable Ferry Competition, as determined by a panel of judges, have been announced by WFSA Executive Director Dr. Roberta Weisbrod. The requirements of this year’s competition were to design a safe and affordable RoPax ferry able to transport 185 passengers plus a crew of 15 and cargo carrying vehicles on a route linking five islands surrounding Indonesia’s Savu Sea. Taking home first place honors is the University of Strathclyde, which will earn a $5,000 prize for its Savutec ferry.

Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, Executive Director of the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has announced that the winners of its Safe Affordable Ferry Competition will be made known at the Ferry Safety and Technology Conference. The conference, in its second year, will be held in downtown New York, June 2-3. The competition, a project of the WFSA, challenges teams of Naval Architecture students to design a vessel that would serve a population dependent on ferry transportation.

The Worldwide Ferry Safety Association’s (WFSA) international student ferry design competition, geared toward developing a Safe Affordable Ferry, enters its third year receiving more entrants than ever before. For this year’s competition for a RoPax (passenger-truck) ferry for Indonesia, 21 student teams have registered, nearly doubling the number of entrants from previous years. A large percentage of the students are from academic institutions in the developing world: there are seven teams from Indonesian universities, four from India and three from Bangladesh. WFSA’s Executive Director, Dr. Additional entries have been received from schools in Canada and Germany (two each) and one from the World Maritime University in Sweden, one from Scotland and one from the U.S.

Registration opened for Third annual International Student Design Competition for Safe Affordable Ferries. Today the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) announced its latest competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry, with entries being sought from naval architectural students from all over the world. WFSA’s Executive Director, Dr. Roberta Weisbrod, said: “The goal of the design competition, now in its third year, is to elicit new approaches for ferry design for and with the developing world, where there are still many accidents. Focus on Indonesia, a nation of islands: The 2015 Design Competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry will be focused on an Indonesian inter‐island RoPax vessel. Indonesia is the fourth largest nation in the world in terms of population.

Passenger vessel safety isn’t just a third world problem. It’s a worthy challenge to take up in 2015 and at the same time, a completely sobering way to ring in the New Year. As the clock ticks down on yet another year, I couldn’t help but take note of the new cruise ship passenger drill requirements, effective from 1 January. These rules involve heightened requirements for mustering of newly embarked passengers prior to or immediately upon departure. Appropriately, the amended regulation in the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea was adopted in 2013 in the wake of the Costa Concordia incident. This is intended to ensure that passengers undergo safety drills, including mustering at the lifeboat stations, before the ship departs or immediately on departure.

A convergence of forces makes for market opportunities for new safe ferry systems in the developing world. Need, policy, and funding are poised to provide a moment of opportunity. The expanding global economy has resulted in economic and population growth in developing world cities, resulting in horrendous road congestion. In response, governments and businesses have begun planning for intra-urban ferries wherever possible. Ferries in the developing world have a deserved reputation for being unsafe.

The World Ferry Safety Association (WFSA) has announced the results of its Second Annual international student design competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry. The goal of the design competition is to elicit new approaches for ferry design in the developing world as well as to encourage designers to enter this arena for which there is a need and a developing market. Ms. Roberta Weisbrod, WFSA’s Executive Director, said: “The Sewol disaster reminds us that these are all our children. The top prize of $5,000 is to be awarded to the student team from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, which designed a double-hulled vessel using such standard and affordable features as mild (low carbon…

Marine Engineering and naval architecture students provide a fresh perspective on design, safety and innovation, too. When most of us board a passenger ferry, thinking about the safety and stability of the vessel will rarely cross our minds. Typically, those thoughts are obscured by other “more important” things, along with the distractions of electronic devices that keep us so pre-occupied that we even tune out the essential safety briefing that occurs during departure. While the record of U.S.

More than 250 top-level delegates attended trade association Interferry’s 38th annual conference in Malta to debate the major factors affecting ferry operations around the world. Under a new format mixing presentations with panel discussions and audience input, the event underlined the diversity of political, technical, operational and commercial issues challenging the industry. Among several sessions focused on safety, a former airline pilot confirmed the alarming certainty of human error…

Today the results of the World Ferry Safety Association international student design competition for a Safe Affordable Ferry were announced. The goal of the design competition is to elicit new approaches for ferry design in the developing world as well as to encourage designers to enter this arena, for which there is a need and an emerging market. An announcement of the winners, chosen by an esteemed team of judges (see below), and a recognition of all participants, will take place at the Annual Meeting of Interferry, in Malta, on October 7. Following the submissions, Dr.

The trade association event takes place in Malta from October 5-9 with an agenda dominated by safety issues. Insights on how the aviation industry builds and maintains safety culture will come from special guest speaker Jarle Gimmestad of Norway-based operational safety consultancy Gimmestad AS. He was previously with Scandinavian airline SAS as a captain and then as human factors and crew resource manager, which included working with the accident investigation group. Pointing to the continuously improving safety record of air travel, he noted, “There is a significant tendency - while undesired events used to be caused by technical insufficiency, we now realize that most are contributed by human error. We have left the myth of perfection. Human error is a natural part of human behavior.

Student teams from seven maritime universities have submitted proposals for the designcompetition for Safe Affordable Ferries sponsored by the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA). A panel of six judges will review the submissions and will announce the winners by early Fall 2013. The top prize is $5,000 with second and third prizes also to be awarded. The student teams were from (by alphabetic order), Istanbul Technical University, Maine MaritimeAcademy, National Technical University of Athens, Tolani Maritime Institute, India, University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, University of British Columbia and Webb Institute in New York. Dr.

Registrations are now being accepted for the Worldwide Ferry Safety Association (WFSA)’s annual student competition for the design of safe affordable ferries to serve developing nations. Ferries are to be designed according to specifications of a particular developing and emerging market nation, this year: Bangladesh. The top prize is $5,000 with additional prizes of $3,000 and $1,000, with winners invited to an award ceremony. Those interested in registering should contact the WFSA, though email at [email protected] to receive further information and a registration identification number. The registration period closes April 1, 2013. Submissions are due electronically by June 1, 2013.