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September 2005 31 breaker of former years. Sakhalin's tough requirements have also provided the basis for two other ice- breaker newbuilds currently in hand. Aker Langsten, a west Norwegian mem- ber of Aker Yards, has contracted to pro- vide Bergen-based Rieber Shipping with an icebreaking tug, equipped for oil recovery and firefighting. Scheduled for delivery next year, the Ice 10-classed vessel will support tanker traffic and icebreaking operations in Sakhalin waters, promising high effec- tiveness through a bespoke hull design and twin 5-MW Azipod electric propul- sors. In addition, three ice-breaking off- shore supply vessels have been ordered by Swire Pacific Offshore for Sakhalin duties. The diesel-electric trio will employ the UT758-ICE design devel- oped by Rolls-Royce in Norway. Twin 7-MW azimuthing thrusters of the Ulstein Aquamaster type, meeting DNV Ice-15 criteria, will confer the requisite propulsive effect. Testament to the evolution in ice- breaker design, the high level of ice- breaking capability in the UT758 series will not detract from the essential off- shore supply function. The main thrusters are based on those used in the early 1990s in the two Finnish vessels Fennica and Nordica, which represented a design milestone by combining icebreaking in the Baltic dur- ing the winter months with the ability to carry out offshore tasks in the North Sea or elsewhere in the summer season. Sevmorneftegas has two multipurpose icebreaking supply ships under con- struction for work in the Prirazlomnaya area, at the eastern end of the Barents Sea, under the operation of the Far East Marine Company. At just under 100-metres in length, the Ice-15 class vessels are based on the Moss 828 MISV design and each has been specified with two Azipod propul- sors of 7.5-MW apiece. The build proj- ect has been assigned to the Norwegian company Havyard Leirvik, and the ves- sels are due to be operational next year. Compelling Predictive Navigation A PAN-European research endeavor has been launched to provide a tool to support navigational decision-making in the light of increased ship and system complexity and changes in shipboard organization and industry trends that have seen a reduction in the number of experienced crew typically carried. The initiative will entail integration of all factors affecting ship behavior and operation, including sea state, actual and forecast weather conditions, and opera- tional issues, towards the development of a predictive navigation methodology or decision support system. Studies are being partially funded by the European Union under the auspices of a project entitled ADOPT — Advanced Decision support system for ship design, operation and training — and the work is due for completion in spring 2008. The project approach is based on establishing loading conditions and environmental data affecting individual ships, so that motions and behavior in adverse circumstances can be calculat- ed, evaluated and presented according to set criteria, to help steer decision-mak- ing. Besides ship-related information, cri- teria would be derived from data provid- ed by satellite navigation systems, sea charts, radar and ship motion simula- tion. All data will then be integrated as part of a decision support tool, for vali- dation by risk-based simulation and onboard monitoring. A typical application could be to coun- teract extreme, adverse sea conditions, such as so-called rogue waves, through predictive determination of wave heights, period and direction by radar analysis together with combined motion and hull stress sensors. Wave measurement will be based on algorithms from the German firm OceanWaveS, with other such mathe- matical structures provided for compar- ison purposes by project partners Force Technology of Denmark and Norwegian classification society Det Norske Veritas. Once wave characteristics have been established, a decision support system can then be activated to select a suitable speed and course so as to avoid the onset of dynamic rolling and other effects. Trial systems using different sensor arrangements are to be installed aboard a large North Sea RoRo trailership of recent construction, DFDS Tor Line's Tor Magnolia, and interfaced for display via the vessel's Nacos 45-4 integrated navigation system. The ADOPT research consortium is led by Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft, builder of the Tor Magnolia-class, and Danish shipowning group DFDS and SAM Electronics of Hamburg are among the participants. Other parties to the study are the Dutch firm Uniresearch, UK systems specialist Herbert Software Solutions, Germany's GKSS Research Center, the Technical Universities of Denmark and Hamburg-Harburg, and the National Technical University of Athens. Circle 233 on Reader Service Card Circle 256 on Reader Service Card 3 I M P L E X # O M P A C T ¤ S L A E 3 - D A E O N L Y I N ' E R M N A Y A 3 L V R E 3 S E R A P 3 S E I O . N I E C R T R E M ! H I A C 3 I P M L X E E M ! R I S A C # , , N O L Y I N F S O I P M L E M A X E R I S A C O C M MR SEPTEMBER 2005 #4 (25-32).qxd 9/1/2005 11:56 AM Page 31
