Last month’s meeting of the Cyprus technical committee focused on the new Common Structural Rules (CSR), which will come into force in April 2006 through IACS. Other topics included winterisation of ships, ice class, and software developments.
The Cyprus technical committee members heard DNV’s Technical Director, Olav Nortun, give a detailed presentation of the implication of the Common Structural Rules, which come into effect in April of this year. Added steel weight in the region of four to six per cent for a VLCC is one result of the new rules. According to Nortun, “this adds cost, but makes the construction more robust. Another benefit is that class rules are the same from all class societies.”
Harmonisation of the rules for tankers and bulk carriers was also discussed. “The current plans are for a five-year harmonisation period. One year for a feedback period after implementation of CSR for tankers, then three years of working on the rules themselves, followed by one year of implementation of the CSR for tankers,” said Nortun.
Talking of winter in Cyprus
The committee consists of representatives from some of the largest ship managers and owners on Cyprus, and it’s clear that the energy boom in Russia is high on their agenda these days. So even in warm Cyprus, the discussions turned to winter, and winterisation of ships, equipment and staff training requirements for cold climates.
“As per the end of October 2005 there were on order more than 200 ice-classed tankers, combined measuring more than 12,000 dwt. Of these, DNV is to class the clear majority,” said Jan Koren, business director – Tankers, during his presentation of trend information and DNV’s capabilities relating to cold-climate shipping.
Unicom alone, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russian Sovcomflot, has a large order for new winterised ships.
“The strategy from Sovcomflot is to enter into energy shipping. We believe that in the next five to ten years, 20 per cent of the world’s energy sources will come from the Arctic, and we are strategically placed for operating in that area. Currently we are running three Aframaxes, and ten arctic-class smaller tankers. In the building stage we have eleven ice-class ships: two LNG carriers, two Suezmax, four medium range vessels, and three ice-breaking tankers of 70,000 tonnes each,” says Robert Thompson, fleet director and deputy managing director of Unicom.
Software developments
Software is developing fast and becoming more and more pervasive in ship-control systems. The discussions on software focused partly on the critical lack of integration of all ship software systems, which could lead to fatal failures. One solution here from DNV is to simulate these complex systems and test software integration.
Another software development is enabling support for Common Structural Rules. Here DNV has been in the forefront, delivering rule-checking software to the yards worldwide.
“For shipowners, the software development from DNV has had a lot of focus on ship 3D models, which are excellent for communication support but may be a bit challenging to use for superintendents.
A new target for the development is to make the systems simpler and more intuitive, which we already are getting good feedback from customers on,” says Svein Arne Brustad, manager for the Nauticus products.
Another target is to offer services related to the available software systems, such as inspection manuals and extended condition reporting.