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34 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News With a commitment to safe and efficient navigation for its burgeoning fleet of high-value ships, Royal Caribbean International started the process nearly six years ago to outfit all of its vessels with identical bridge layout and bridge operating procedure. — by Greg Trauthwein Captain William Wright senior vice president, Marine Operations, for Royal Caribbean International is a self- described anamoly: an American cruise ship captain. He stands out in the high- profile cruise niche, though, for reasons beyond his nationality. Capt. Wright was largely responsible for driving through the idea that all Royal Caribbean International ships — a fleet that will number 20 with a delivery in May 2006 — should be outfitted with identical integrated bridge layout and operating procedure. While the notion that ship- ping would benefit from installing iden- tical bridge systems, akin to the airline industry, the idea has little if any real possibility to take hold as ships are built in much smaller production runs, than say a Boeing 777. Equally important is the ownership profile found in shipping: a diverse, wide-spread international lot, dominated by a few corporate giants yet sustained by thousands of small, private companies. RCI, of course, is one of the three major players remaining in the international big ship cruise segment, and the company has been steadfast in its mandate to raise the technological bar, both in the traditional marine engi- neering as well as the accommodation space. Royal Caribbean and its sister- brand Celebrity have garnered accolades for helping to bring technologies as gas turbines and azipod propulsion in the machinery space to the cruise sector, and for installing the first rock climbing wall and ice skating rink ever to set sail to sea. In reality it was the development of the Voyager class of ships — the largest cruise ships ever built when the first, Voyager of the Seas, was delivered in November 1999 — that ultimately led the company to mandate Sperry Vision IBS. It really started in 1998, and had a bit to do with the development of the Voyager class" said Capt. Wright. "With (the ship's) unprecedented size and oper- ations scope, we had to give them the best tools available to help them navi- gate the ship safely." At the same time, RCI and the entire cruise shipping industry in fact, were embarked on unprecedented growth, with newer, larger and more technologi- cally advanced ships coming on-line and, at the same time, training and edu- cation mandates for ship officers grew ever more rigid. "As we brought in new officers, we found that with different navigation systems and bridges, bridge resource management was a real prob- lem," Capt. Wright said. "It is important, of course, for them to understand not only the capabilities but the limitation of the systems on the bridge. At the same time, we had a variety of products and systems, and it was simply decid- ed that standardization made perfect sense." In fact, Captain Wright counts the training as one of, if not the, biggest advantage. "The major benefit is from a training perspective, as the crews must learn to use very advanced systems, and it takes time and practice." Enter Sperry Marine and STAR Center. At the time, by Capt. Wright's estimation, Sperry Marine was ahead of the IBS technological curve. "We already had many Sperry systems on board, and they have a very strong reputation and are one of the major sup- pliers of marine equipment around the world," Capt. Wright said. Together both RCI, Sperry and STAR Center partnered for the development of one of the world's first ship specific sim- ulators. "The main mission simulator at Star Center is an exact replica of our Voyager and Radiance Bridge: radars, azipod controls, etc. When our officers are training there, they are training on what they will basically find onboard our ships. If we didn't have the training component, we wouldn't have had a very complete package" The feel aboard all Royal Caribbean bridges is that of a cockpit, rather than following the traditional notion that the bridges were designed to "keep the offi- cer walking." Instead of walking about the bridge to collect and process data, the officer is comfortably seated with information and controls at their finger- tips. "The idea of officers sitting down was pretty radical at the time," Capt. Wright admitted, "but we felt we needed to surround them with the information that they needed in a comfortable envi- ronment, and it has proven to be very successful." Another major technological advan- tage is that found in the Dynamic Positioning System, as Capt. Wright explains: "The system takes ship han- dling to the next level as your situation- al awareness is dramatically increased. I think its something about the way in which our brains are wired, but when our 'hands go on the sticks' much of the focus is on that. When using DP, cap- tains are able to step back a bit and get a bigger picture." We are also able to change the transit strategy on in difficult ports by utilizing DP. A channel transit that might require 12 knots and a couple of degrees of crab angle with conventional ship handling can be executed with DP at 4 knots, right on the ranges and zero crab angle with full utilization of thrusters and azipods." The Vision FT IBS The latest RCI cruise ship with the Sperry system is for the next-generation Ultra Voyager cruise ship, which is being built at Kvaerner Masa-Yards in Finland. When completed in 2006, the Ultra Voyager will be the world's largest cruise ship, roughly 15 percent larger than the five previous Voyager-class vessels, and will carry up to 3,600 guests and 1,400 crew. The Ultra Voyager installation will be based on the new-generation Sperry Marine Vision FT integrated bridge system. Vision FT features large, high-resolution flat- screen displays, convenient console lay- outs, ergonomic controls and new oper- ating software. The bridge layout will, of course, be identical to those on other Royal Caribbean ships. All displays and con- soles will be arranged in a U-shaped configuration. The systems can be con- trolled with trackball devices built into the pilot chairs' armrests. All critical components are duplicated, providing total redundancy and continuous safe operation in case of any failure or mal- function. Sperry introduced its next- generation integrated bridge system — Vision FT — early in 2004, a system designed to incorporate the latest advances in marine navigation technolo- gy and combines all of the ship's navi- gation sensors and systems -- including radars, electronic chart display and information system, gyrocompass, depth sounder, speed log, differential global positioning satellite (GPS) receivers and autopilot — into a com- pletely integrated package. The centerpiece of the system is Sperry Marine's Voyage Management System (VMS) software, which is designed to provide easy and precise route planning and gives a clear real- time picture of the ship's precise posi- tion and movement, along with radar targets and automatic identification sys- tem data, on an electronic chart display and information system. "The Sperry Marine system enhances safety and nav- igation efficiency by improving situa- tional awareness for the ship's bridge watch officers," said Frank Soccoli, director of marketing for Sperry Marine. "With the Vision FT system, we have incorporated the best proven features from our existing integrated bridge sys- tem (IBS) technology and added impor- tant improvements to take advantage of current and future technologies to meet customer requirements." Marine Electronics: Integrated Bridge System RCCL Builds the Bridge of the Future Development of the Aker Kvaerner Masa Yards-built Voyager class — at the time the world’s largest cruise ship — was an impetus to develop and install similar inte- grated bridge systems aboard the entire Royal Caribbean International fleet. Pictured left is the Sperry Vision FT IBS. MR FEBRUARY 2005 #5 (33-40).qxd 2/2/2005 9:52 AM Page 2
