Athens: A new very large crude carrier (VLCC) has been delivered, providing better comfort for the crew. The 320,000 dwt MARBAT, delivered one month ago, is the first of a new series of VLCCs to comply with the strictest noise and vibration requirements.

The Marbat, which is originally owned and currently managed by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC), was built by Samsung Heavy Industries, Korea, as the first of a series of 3 ships. Following a sea trial in early May, DNV confirmed that the vessel had been assigned the COMF-V(1), the highest comfort class notation for merchant vessels, nearly similar to the standards of high class cruise ships. This is the second series of VLCCs to NITC built to this highest comfort class.

“Having a Comfort class notation for a vessel is mainly a question of the safety of the ship. High comfort increase the performance and alertness of the crew, by reducing human fatigue,” states Einar Brubakk, vice president and head of DNV Maritime’s noise and vibration section. “The crew need proper rest in order to work and operate their ship safely and statistics have shown that accidents are reduced after implementation of the Comfort Class”.

Comfort class was initially developed to ensure – as its name implies – comfort for passengers on board cruise vessels. This type of vessels has over the past ten years had great focus on and succeeded in reducing noise, avoiding vibrations and ensuring a pleasant indoor climate.

At the moment, more than 400 DNV-classed vessels have been assigned various Comfort class notations. Although the cruise segment has always been in focus, most of these 400 are offshore support vessels. “However, in my experience, there is a trend towards more and more focus on noise and vibration comfort onboard tankers as well,” says Brubakk.

“When it comes to the Marbat, there has been close cooperation between the owner, yard and class in order to pinpoint possible problem areas based on the Comfort Class notation’s requirements and then to solve these problems in a way that meets the requirements,” says Parviz Sangin, Project Director at NITC.

The final result is a new VLCC where the noise level is less than 50 dB(A) inside the crew’s cabins, less than 55 dB(A) inside all the crew’s public areas and is even less than 70 dB(A) inside the engine control room. (For reference, ordinary speech at a one meter distance usually generates 55 to 60 dB(A)).