Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) will begin developing “UEC-LSGi,” low-speed, dual-fuel, marine diesel engines capable of using not only conventional heavy oil but also natural gas for their fuel. The new engine will be added to the lineup of the Mitsubishi UEC Engine Series, the company’s 2-stroke, low-speed marine diesel engine brand. Scheduled to be launched onto the market in 2015, MHI aims to reduce the economic and environmental burden on ship operators.
The MINOAS project (Marine Inspection Robotic Assistant System) is an European project under development. The project’s aim is the re-engineering of the methods that are being followed during a vessel inspection. The project introduces the concept of having locomotive robots inspecting a vessel (e.g. a cargo hold) which are under the direct command of a human inspector. Using virtual reality the inspector is able to concept that integrates human personnel with high locomotion-enabled robots, effectively “tele-porting” the human inspector from the vessel’s hold to a control room with virtual reality properties.
Fig.1 – MARC on Posidonia 2012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released interim guidance for ship owners and operators clarifying how the U.S. government will implement fuel availability provisions when ships are unable to obtain fuel that meets standards protecting against sulfur pollution along the coast. Sulfur pollution has been linked to respiratory illnesses, particularly in at-risk populations including children, the elderly, and asthmatics. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has officially designated waters off of the coast of North America, known as the North American Emission Control Area (North American ECA), as areas where stringent international pollution standards apply for ships, including fuel sulfur limits. The guidance provides background information on the North American ECA fuel sulfur standards, explains how owners and operators of vessels can establish compliance with these requirements, and describes how an owner or operator of a vessel who cannot obtain compliant fuel oil can make a fuel oil non-availability claim.
Air Tightness Test, is a test to verify the tightness of the structure by means of air pressure difference.
Figure 1: U-Tube
A turbocharger is a very sensitive equipment onboard a ship and it should be carefully handled. A turbocharger has a turbine on one side and a compressor on other side. Dismantling should start from the compressor side measuring the critical clearance which must be kept between the compressor side end cover mounting face and the compressor side end shaft.
Left side: Air inlet blades – Right side: exhaust outlet blades
New International Maritime Organization (IMO) regulations require that all vessels sailing in the Emission Control Areas (ECA) must reduce sulphur level in fuel oil to 0.1% or clean the exhaust gas to an equivalent level by 2015.
The Danish industry initiative, Green Ship of the Future, has concluded a study on comparing technologies that meet the International Maritime Organization’s emission levels for ships sailing in the Emission Controlled Areas (ECA).
The objective of the study was to compare the potential solutions able to meet the requirements of the IMO regulations regarding SOX in the ECA in 2015 and globally in 2020. Similarly in 2020, the global requirements will be a reduction of sulphur content in the fuel to 0.5% or alternatively the equivalent level measured in the exhaust gas.
Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries today announced that it has begun exporting its Hyundai HiMSEN H35/40GV gas engine.
The new gas engine runs on liquefied natural gas rather than heavy crude oil and has a maximum power output of 13,000 bhp. The HiMSEN H35/40GV may be used to produce power for onshore power plants, commercial ships or offshore facilities.
Test Run of HiMSEN H35/40GV gas engine
A welding structure in order to have the required reliability, during her lifetime, it should have satisfactory quality. This means that it should:
Welding quality is a relative term and this means that it is not necessary a construction to have better quality from what is needed according to the requirements. When the requirements are strict, that has as consequence the cost of production to be extremely high. On the other hand when the requirements are loose, that has as consequence the cost of maintenance to be high and the forecasting lifetime to be reduced.
The story so far
Oily Water Separators (OWS) are being used onboard ships as a regulatory requirement of MARPOL conventions. Their main use is to clear the water that has been accumulated in ship’s bilges and produce water that its contents is within acceptable limits in order to be discharged overboard.
OWS are mainly installed and used onboard to protect the environment and consequently the public interest. Therefore since they don’t produce any “measurable” profit for the ship owner and because they don’t play a critical role to the ship’s structural or operational safety, they don’t get the attention they should be given as a system.
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Officer of the Watch 