Unified Bridge News

The very first Brunvoll BruCon DP2 dynamic positioning system has passed third party verification onboard the offshore vessel Stril Mar.The BruCon DP2 installation was part of a larger power and energy management system upgrade onboard Stril Mar, delivered by SEAM AS. The upgrade and sea trial took place at Westcon Yards AS, in Ølensvåg. Through supplier SEAM AS, Simon Møkster Shipping AS ordered all batteries, a power management system upgrade, a retrofit to Brunvoll’s BruCon DP2 system…

Spanish shipbuilder Freire is constructing a new oceanographic research vessel for Belgium. The IMO polar code compliant vessel will be designed to carry out research and survey tasks in the North Sea and its adjacent sea areas, but also in the Mediterranean and more northern areas.The research vessel will cater for the requirements of the Belgian marine scientific community when performing advanced marine research and education at sea – today and in the coming years. This will include research within the fields of geology and sedimentology…

As the luxury yacht/adventure sector of the global cruise market continues to gain strength, Maritime Reporter & Engineering News recently received insights from Hurtigruten, a clear leader in the sector. William Harber, President of the Americas Region, Hurtigruten, explains the path forward. Please discuss Hurtigruten’s plans to ramp up its North American presence. We are indeed ramping up our presence in the Americas. From a distribution perspective, Hurtigruten is developing stronger, deeper and more strategic partnerships to drive our expedition cruise products.

Rolls-Royce. The words have been used by many to signify excellence – though not with the company’s permission, of course. Rolls-Royce Marine is taking a leading position in developing and introducing the systems and technologies needed for the running of a successful business in the maritime industry of the 21st century. At a company presentation held in London earlier this year, Mikael Mäkinen, President of Rolls-Royce Marine, outlined the company’s vision for the future and its strategies to put these new systems based on new technologies into place.

Rolls-Royce signed a deal with Norwegian shipbuilder Kleven to supply its automatic crossing system, for two new double-ended plug-in battery-hybrid ferries being built for Norwegian ferry company FosenNamsos Sjø. The system controls the vessel’s acceleration, deceleration, speed and track. The system will control the ferries as they cross the fjord between Flakk and Rørvik connecting the peninsula of Fosen with Trondheim. New ferry contracts in Norway have strict yearly limits on energy consumption as part of the commercial agreement between the ferry operator and the customer…

Hurtigruten CEO Daniel Skjeldam pressed the button to officially kick off the construction of hybrid expedition cruise ship MS Roald Amundsen – “the greenest cruise ship the world has ever seen,” according to the ship owner. The new ship is the first of a new generation that will change expedition travel forever, Skjeldam said during the ceremony at Kleven Yards on the western coast of Norway. When launched in 2018, MS Roald Amundsen will be the world’s first expedition cruise ship powered by hybrid battery technology.

The Rolls-Royce portfolio of equipment and services extends well beyond the engine room, leveraging decades of experience in myriad business sectors. The words ‘Rolls-Royce’ can roll right off your tongue, and when they do, the average person in the maritime space probably thinks first of big, powerful, and environmentally-correct marine engines. That might have rung true just two decades ago, but today, that visual doesn’t give justice to what the firm has evolved to become. That’s also where Jay McFadyen, Rolls-Royce Senior Vice President for Ship Intelligence, comes in. In a candid interview given at this year’s SMM Exposition in Hamburg, Germany, McFadyen laid out for Marine News not only what Rolls-Royce is up to today, but also where it is headed tomorrow.

Norwegian explorer cruise line Hurtigruten is to build two new expedition ships using a new and environmentally sustainable hybrid technology from Rolls-Royce making fully electric propulsion on a passenger ship possible. The Rolls-Royce designed MS Roald Amundsen and MS Fridtjof Nansen, about to be constructed at Kleven Yard in Norway, will be packed with innovative Rolls-Royce technology. In addition to the hybrid power solution, the vessels will have the latest automation and control systems…

Rolls-Royce has signed a contract worth about $33m with the ship building company Kleven in Norway for design and ship equipment to two new polar cruise vessels, with an option for two additional vessels. The contract between Kleven and Rolls-Royce follows the conversion of a letter of intent into a firm contract signed between Kleven and Hurtigruten. Helge Gjerde, Director of Offshore and Merchant Solutions, Rolls-Royce, said: “Hurtigruten and Kleven have agreed to build state-of the art passenger vessels…

Cammell Laird has selected a Rolls-Royce design for the U.K.’s future polar research ship, which, when built, will be one of the most advanced scientific maritime vessels ever constructed. Rolls-Royce will also supply machinery and equipment for the vessel in a deal worth $43.6 million. The 128 meter long ship, which will be named RRS Sir David Attenborough, will be built at the modular construction hall at Cammell Laird’s site in Birkenhead on Merseyside. Cammell Laird, which offers a range of marine and heavy engineering services including shipbuilding…

Today, at Gondan Shipyard in Figueras the New PSV for the Norwegian Ship-Owner, Simon Møkster Shipping, has been named as STRIL MAR. The event was attended by the CEO of the Owner, Anne Jorunn Møkster, accompanied by other members of the Management of the Ship-Owner company; as well as representatives from the Shipyard and Main Suppliers. The new PSV Vessel, with UT 776 WP “Wave Piercing” Rolls Royce Marine design, has a length of 92m and beam of 20m. Although she was built based on “Stril Luna” design -delivered in 2014 to the same Ship-Owner company-, as a difference this new unit has a FiFi II system, with monitors installed at the stern, allowing much safer and more efficient fire fighting operation in offshore facilities.

Rolls-Royce announced that its Unified Bridge Design has won this year’s Ergonomics Design Award, presented by the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors. The award recognizes industrial design which puts the customer at the heart of the process using their views to generate ideas, develop concepts and test prototypes and finished products. Rolls-Royce describes its Unified Bridge as a complete redesign of the ship bridge environment, including consoles, levers and software interfaces…

At high tide today at Gondan Shipyard in Figueras, the New PSV (TBN) for the Norwegian Ship-Owner, Simon Møkster Shipping, was launched. Different personalities related to the sector have attended the ceremony as well as authorities from the Ministry of Industry. In addition, the event was attended by the CEO of the Owner, Anne Jorunn Møkster, accompanied by other members of the Management of the Ship-Owner company. For his part, the Director of the Shipyard, Alvaro Platero, thanked the Owner’s confidence in the firm, while he highlighted the fact that this construction shows, once again, the Shipyard’s high technical capability of being eligible for building ships of extreme complexity.

In 2013 alone, Rolls-Royce invested £1.1 billion on research and development while at the same time supporting a global network of 31 University Technology Centers, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research. Today, Rolls-Royce predicts that Ship Intelligence will be the next major transition for the shipping industry as ships become ever more complex. As that happens, managing high levels of data in order to operate on-board systems will be a big part of that reality. At first, says Roll-Royce, this will better manage propulsion and navigation systems. Later, it could potentially lead to autonomous vessels.

For decades the maritime industry has long-theorized of emulating the “airline model” in uniformity and technical capability of its own ship and boat integrated bridge platform. Enter Rolls-Royce and the VTT Technical Research Center of Finland which together have launched a ship intelligence system that it believes could be the next major transition for the shipping, able to gather, process and reasonably present increasing amounts of complex and high-level data from onboard systems to manage propulsion, navigation and potentially lead .to autonomous vessels.

Rolls-Royce, together with VTT Technical Research Center of Finland, unveiled its latest vision of Ship Intelligence, a bridge concept which it said could become reality by 2025. Rolls-Royce has worked together with VTT’s researchers and Aalto University to develop the new bridge, known as the Future Operator Experience Concept or ‘oX’. It offers the crew smart workstations, which automatically recognize individuals when they walk into the bridge and adjust to their own preferences.

Rolls-Royce has won a £12 million order to provide design, integrated power and propulsion systems and equipment for a highly advanced multipurpose service vessel for the Norwegian ship owner Myklebusthaug Management to be built at the Beşiktaş Shipyard in Turkey. This latest contract will see the first UT design vessel to be built by a Turkish shipyard. Around 800 Rolls-Royce UT vessels have been built or are under construction since the first one entered service 40 years ago. The vessel is a brand new design type from Rolls-Royce. The UT 7521 WP will be prepared for a range of offshore duties. The overall length of the vessel will be 98.9 metres with a beam of 21 metres and deadweight of approx. 6000 tons.

Rolls-Royce inform that Norwegian ship owner Simon Møkster Shipping has received its new offshore vessel, 'Stril Luna', from Gondan shipyard in Spain. 'Stril Luna' is the first vessel to enter operation with Rolls-Royce’s Unified Bridge and has now arrived in Norway to begin a long- term contract with Statoil. Unified Bridge is a physical work environment that has been adapted to a person’s natural movements, representing a new, ergonomic approach to the work on the bridge of a vessel. All monitors, instruments and levers are designed and positioned so that the crew have full control and feel less strain during long shifts, leading to safer and more efficient operation of the ship.

Global power systems company Rolls-Royce signed an £11 million contract with Spanish shipyard Gondan for a wave piercing offshore vessel to be delivered to Simon Møkster Shipping in Norway. According to Rolls-Royce, the vessel is designed to pierce through the waves under harsh weather conditions, making it possible to keep a more constant speed, reduce the use of fuel and increase on board safety. This fits with Simon Møkster’s philosophy of developing the most environmentally friendly fleet possible.

Rolls-Royce informs it has won a contract worth approximately £13.5 million to deliver a unique package of advanced ship equipment for a new offshore construction vessel (OCV) currently being built in Turkey for the Norwegian ship owner Volstad Shipping AS. The vessel is 125 meters long and is designed with ice class for operations in Arctic waters. It is a ST-259 design by Skipsteknisk and is due to be delivered from the Tersan Shipyard, Turkey, in the second half of 2015. The package includes the new Unified Bridge from Rolls-Royce…

The offshore market remains buoyant, with exploration and production driving new fleet investment, design innovation in vessel efficiency and reduced environmental impact. Operations in more challenging offshore environments are also demanding enhanced vessel maneuverability, station-keeping and overall safety, in line with tightening regulations. The sector’s opportunities and its cutting edge technology will be on show at Europort 2013, the maritime exhibition taking place at Ahoy Rotterdam November 5-8, 2013, said Raymond Silliakus, Europort Exhibition Manager.

The first installation of Rolls-Royce's Unified Bridge will feature in Simon Møkster Shipping's new Platform Supply Vessel. As offshore ships have become more technologically advanced and able to perform more highly specialised duties, their bridges, as the command centres for the ship, have become more complex. The Rolls-Royce Unified Bridge has been designed to deal with this issue based on both our own research and feedback from customers. It simplifies the range of controls…