Ship Maintenance Research Articles

Marine Accidents in the Brazilian Amazon: The Problems and Challenges in the Initiatives for Their Prevention Focused on Passenger Ships

The Brazilian Amazon is part of one of the largest river systems in the world, in which the transport of cargo and passengers is commonplace. However, several accidents still occur to passenger ships, causing fatalities. Transportation occurs commonly in remote regions, where there are transport inequalities, and emergency assistance is hard to find. This can affect sustainability in communities with considerable levels of economic and social vulnerability. More information is needed about accidents involving inland transport in the Amazon, to identify the threats to ships and propose strategies for accident prevention. This paper addresses the main problems that long-distance passenger ships face in the Brazilian Amazon, presenting an integrated framework towards accident prevention. First, the present situation is characterized in terms of ship description, spatial distribution, and regulations that are applicable. Next, possible causes of passenger ship accidents are discussed, including topics of concern that should be considered in the Amazon waterways. Finally, measures to help minimize passenger ship accidents are proposed, and the social relevance is discussed. It was found that accidents in the Amazon are due to a combination of human and environmental factors. Stakeholders should strengthen the technical and legal training of ship operators. The use of new technologies for navigational aid and necessary maintenance of ships is suggested. Marine accident prevention initiatives should consider local conditions, such as environmental preservation, cultural respect, and difficulties related to navigation through the complex riverine system of the Amazon region.

A variable neighborhood search and mixed-integer programming models for a distributed maintenance service network scheduling problem

ABSTRACT Ship maintenance service optimisation is of great significance for improving the competitiveness of shipbuilding enterprises. In this paper, we investigate a ship maintenance service scheduling problem considering the deteriorating maintenance time, distributed maintenance tasks, and limited maintenance teams. The objective is to minimise the service span. First, we construct an initial mixed-integer programming model for the studied problem. Then, through the property analysis of the problem with a single maintenance team, an exact scheduling algorithm is proposed. In addition, the lower bound of the problem with multiple maintenance teams is derived. A scheduled rule is developed to obtain the lower bound for the problem. Based on the property analysis, the original mixed-integer programming model is simplified to an improved mathematical programming model. Since the studied problem is NP-hard, this paper proposes two heuristic algorithms and an integrated metaheuristic algorithm based on the variable neighbourhood search to obtain approximate optimal solutions in a reasonable time. In computational experiments, the two models can solve problems on small scale, while metaheuristics can find approximately optimal solutions in each problem category. Moreover, the computational results validate the performance of the proposed integrated metaheuristic in terms of convergence and stability.

The U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry’s considerations of coastal hazards resilience - a baseline survey

ABSTRACT Climate change and associated coastal hazards can disrupt the United States shipbuilding and repair industry’s operations. These disruptions present risks to military and commercial ship orders, ship maintenance and repairs, and the nation’s overall shipbuilding strength. Through an online survey of representatives from 45 shipbuilding parent companies, individual shipyards, and ship repair and maintenance facilities, this research gauges how the industry considers coastal hazard resilience and addresses the possible impacts on shipbuilding and repair contracts and deliverables. Survey results suggest that the industry is ill-prepared for future coastal hazard events and that critical measures are needed to ensure a resilient shipbuilding and repair environment.

A safety supervision tool toward digitalization of maritime HRA applications: the case of MMOHRA.

This study proposed a safety supervision tool to HRA-based monitoring of ship maintenance operations via a digital platform. It is conceptualized to assist safety supervisors in the best proactive measures along with maintenance works onboard ships. The tool refers the marine maintenance and operations human reliability analysis (MMOHRA) concept. Moreover, it facilitates the timely and consistently practice of MMOHRA. Indeed, it accurately identifies critical tasks and associate recovery acts. Fundamentally, a rule-based mechanism supported with relation matrix response to general task type selection, EPCs' assignment, and human error probability (HEP) calculation, respectively. Then, the system automatically calculates, visualizes and manages HEP values of operation steps. Consequently, this study digitalizes maritime HRA investigations particular to maintenance operations. The proposed tool, compliance with the relevant sections of updated inspection regimes such as SIRE 2.0 and DryBms, has very high utility to effectively control human element onboard. This study also enables a further research potential to conduct an extended human reliability database in ship fleet level.

Creating Value for Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) in Ship Machinery Maintenance from BIG Data and Artificial Intelligence

Seagoing ships transport nearly 90% (International Maritime Organization, in IMO’s contribution to sustainable maritime development, 2012) of the world trade by volume worldwide through a large network of maritime logistics companies located in different time zones making it the lifeline of the global economy. This makes it challenging for the shipping companies to run their operations economically ensuring the safety of life at sea and a pollution-free environment. The introduction of Electronic Chart Display and Information System onboard ships to improve safe navigation and the use of sensors to monitor machinery parameters and track real-time ship performance have paved the way for digital transformation in the maritime industry. These performance monitoring tools though fundamental to improving fleet performance, fetch enormous data, however, their complexity makes it challenging to deal with the 4 Vs, volume, velocity, veracity, and a variety associated with big data terminology. This paper describes how ships can benefit by deploying Big Data analytics, the Internet of Things and Artificial intelligence (AI) in enhancing the value of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) in ship maintenance and thus are indispensable for the RCM. The author believes that the synergy that will be created by using Big data, RCM and AI concepts will enable the creation of a maintenance business model that will eventually develop a new growth engine for the stakeholders in the shipping industry.

ANALYSIS OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING THE COST OF SHIP REPAIRS IN THE ISLAND OF JAVA AND KALIMANTAN

The national shipbuilding industry is primarily responsible for maintaining and repairing ships at ship repair facilities to ensure their seaworthiness. Each shipyard offers variable pricing for ship repair, mainly if the work is performed on different islands, in Java and outside of Java. By understanding the differences in ship repair costs between shipyards in Java and those outside of Java and the factors that influence these discrepancies, a ship owner can choose a repair shipyard for docking his vessel. Ship repair data were collected from shipyards in Java and Kalimantan, with data collection and direct surveys conducted at three Industries which are located in the island of Java, and three industries in Kalimantan Island, it is processed to determine the difference between the average cost of ship repairs at shipyards in Java Island and Kalimantan Island, revealing that the cost of repairing ships at shipyards in Java Island is higher than the cost of repairs at shipyards on Kalimantan Island. However, there are also increased costs associated with ship maintenance activities in shipyards in the island of Kalimantan. After processing the difference data, the identification of the factors that cause the difference in repair costs forms, and the identification results indicate that the difference in ship repair costs at the shipyards in Java and Kalimantan is influenced by differences in service costs, productivity figures, geographical location of the shipyards, supply chains. materials, as well as the completeness, quality, and capacity of repair support facilities at the shipyards.

Tersanelerdeki İş Kazası Nedenlerinin Önem Düzeylerine Göre Belirlenmesi

Since approximately 75% of the world's surface is covered with seas and it is economical, the majority of the cargoes subject to international trade are transported by sea. This situation increases the importance of the construction, maintenance and repair of ships, which are transportation vehicles, and therefore the importance of shipyards. Shipyards have important contributions in terms of ensuring the continuity of the maritime transportation system, providing production, employment, foreign exchange income and meeting the defense needs. In addition to these, shipyards are industrial areas where occupational accidents occur frequently, as they contain many business lines. In this context, it is aimed to determine the causes of occupational accidents in shipyards according to their importance levels. The four main criteria that caused the accident by literature review; Alternatives such as "personal factors, material/equipment-related factors, environmental factors, administrative factors" and 19 sub-criteria related to these, such as "organization, ensuring the suitability of the working environment, training and human-machine harmony" have been determined for the prevention of accidents. In order to compare the main criteria and sub-criteria with each other, a questionnaire was prepared using the comparison values of 1-9 and the importance level of the causes of the accident was tried to be determined according to the evaluation of the experts working in the shipyard. The analyzes were made using the Super Decisions v2.1 program, which operates with the AHP method, one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods, depending on the survey evaluations. In the evaluation among the main criteria, "personal factors" came to the forefront as the most important cause of accident. Among the sub-criteria of the personal factor criterion, "psychological/mental problems" came to the fore as the most important cause of accident. In addition, among the alternatives determined for the prevention of accidents, "organization" has resulted as the most important of the measures to be taken.

DIGITAL PLATFORM ENABLING ROBOTIC SURVEY, REPAIR & AGILE MANUFACTURING OF SHIPS AND WATERCRAFT

A recent development in Friction Stir Welding (FSW) processes allow welding of steels underwater, as a result, there is a possibility to incorporate this technology to perform in-situ repair and maintenance of ships in water. The FSW requires process parameters which are chosen and monitored by experts during welding. Having such expertise on board can enhance the operation costs of the ship and make the technology expensive to adopt by small-sized European shipping industry. In this work we propose a Digital Platform (DP) that allows experts to monitor the FSW parameters and condition indicators remotely in the form of real-time visualisations. This approach potentially reduces the labour cost as the man hour of the expert can only use during the welding process. The real-time data is also stored in a central data lake which allow users to perform further analysis and determine the overall integrity of the weld.

A Preliminary Web-Based Intermediary Application Design For Ship Repair Planning Services

According to data from the 2019 Ministry of Transportation Statistics Book, the number of national shipping fleets or ships in the country from 2015-2019 has doubled. However, from the potential of the current operating fleet, it shows that more than 75% of the fleet are over 20 years old. With such conditions, it is necessary to plan for ship maintenance and repairs to be as good as possible and to spend as little time as possible. This research aims to design a web-based intermediary application for ship repair planning services that can be accessed by using a website browser. The initial stage is to observe the condition of ship repair and planning from shipyard and shipowner perspectives through the literature and field study. From the result of the observation, then analyze what problems occur in the field and then arrange what functions or features are needed to be included in the design of the application to be able to solve these problems. Application design is done by making mock-ups, designing interfaces, creating databases and coding of the application system. After that, the application is tested and verified to find out that the application can run as intended and know the strengths and weaknesses of the application. The features in this application are designed to intermediary shipyard and shipowner in the ship repair planning process. The result of this preliminary web-based application design is by using this application, ship owners can search for docking space in available shipyards according to the schedule and place desired by the shipowner. In addition, by using this application, the shipowner can find out when the ship’s certificate expires so that they can prepare a schedule for conducting a survey. Then, both the shipyard and the shipowner can use this application to monitor and report on the progress of ship repair work.

Kalman Filter and PID Application on Underwater Vehicles

Unmanned underwater vehicles (ROV/AUV) are autonomous or remotely controlled robotic systems that can move underwater at any desired angle. Unmanned underwater vehicles; It is used in areas such as underwater image taking, ship maintenance and repair, coast guard, examination of shipwrecks, underwater cleaning. In this study, the software design of the balance control of underwater vehicles was carried out using the PID algorithm. For the PID algorithm trial, a two-motor test setup with an IMU sensor was prepared. After the data from the sensor were recorded in MATLAB using the Kalman filter, the transfer function of the system was obtained using the System Identification Toolbox. With the obtained transfer function, the stable operation of the system is provided in real time. As a result of the research on software and hardware integration, microcontroller ARM-based STM32 was used.

The study on contamination of bottom sediments from the Odra River estuary (SW Baltic Sea) by tributyltin using environmetric methods

We present the first comprehensive study on the occurrence of tributyltin (TBT) in the Odra River estuary (SW Baltic Sea) that encompasses both densely populated and urbanized agglomeration Szczecin city, and sparsely populated biosphere reserves “Natura 2000”. Relationship between TBT and physicochemical parameters of bottom sediments such as granulometry total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), acid volatile sulfide (AVS), As, and metals: Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Ni, Mn, Mo, Pb, Sn, and Zn was investigated in 120 samples collected in 2017 and 2018. The highest TBT concentrations were over 3000 ng g−1 (dry weight). They were observed in samples collected in the vicinity of the ship maintenance zones of the Szczecin city. Despite the EU ban on its use since 2003, TBT is still present in the environment. Environmetrics analyses such as correlation, cluster, and principal component analysis of obtained results revealed that the main source of sediments contamination by TBT, metalloids, and metals is likely related to the maritime industry: shipyards, ship maintenance as well as ports and marines. TBT is still present in the bottom sediments because of its emission to the environment with dust and paint chips formed during sandblasting cleaning of ship surfaces. The pollutant is further transported with water current to remote localization in the Szczecin Lagoon. Slow water exchange between the Szczecin Lagoon and the Baltic Sea favors accumulation of pollutants in the lagoon sediments. Therefore, it is necessary to implement environmentally friendly methods into ship maintenance and management of the materials from dredged waterways, harbors, and marinas.

Analysis of the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Income of Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) Fishers in Darmaraja District, Sumedang Regency

This study aims to determine fishers’ income, and health application protocols among tilapia fishers (Oreochromis niloticus) in Jatigede Reservoir, specifically, in Darmaraja District, Sumedang Regency, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purposive sampling technique was used, where data collection is done using a questionnaire technique. Primary data was obtained using a questionnaire to determine knowledge about the COVID-19 pandemic, and its health protocols. Secondary data were obtained from various sources such as literature, journals, theses, books, and the Sumedang District Fisheries Service. The amount of profit obtained from the revenue price minus production costs, which are divided into fixed costs (ship maintenance costs, machinery, and fishing gear depreciation), and variable costs (consumption costs and fuel costs). The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on fishers understanding and the application of health protocols. This resulted into decrease in the number of fishing trips and a decrease in fish prices affecting supply and demand instability leading to reduction of tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fishers profits in Darmaraja District, Sumedang Regency.

Analysis of the Implementation of the Repair Business Development Strategy Using the Balanced Scorecard at PT PAL Indonesia

The shipbuilding industry, which is an economic support as a builder and maintenance of ships connecting areas between islands in Indonesia, is therefore needed in the face of an increasingly complex business environment such as today, a performance measurement method that can assess company performance accurately and thoroughly. In this case the method that can be used is the Balanced Scorecard. The purpose of using the Balanced Scorecard method is to measure company performance from four perspectives, namely: a growth and learning perspective, an internal business process perspective, a customer perspective, and a financial perspective. The author takes measurements at PT PAL Indonesia (Persero) using 2020 data to analyze financial perspectives, while for other perspectives using company data and questionnaire calculations distributed to PT PAL Indonesia (Persero) employees in the current year. From the results of the measurements that have been taken, it is known that the overall performance of PT PAL is quite good, this is indicated by the Scorecard value generated from each perspective. Accurate performance measurement results are very important for management, both in the planning, decision-making and control processes, as well as in realizing the company's vision and mission.

Gökova Körfezi Kıyı Hattında (Muğla, Türkiye) Çok Değişkenli İstatistiksel Analizler Kullanılarak Yüzey Suyu Kalite Parametrelerinin Değerlendirilmesi

In this study, some physico-chemical parameters of seven selected sampling sites (SSs) along the northern coastal line of Gökova Bay were investigated monthly. Then collected data were evaluated through the multivariate statistical analyses. Monthly distribution of water quality parameters was created using box plot across the SSs. When the parameters were examined with Spearman's rho correlation, the highest positive correlations were found to be between DO (Dissolved oxygen)‒SO (Saturated oxygen), EC (Electrical conductivity)‒Salt (Salinity), DO‒BOD5 (Biological oxygen demand), SO‒BOD5, TP (Total phosphorus)‒PO4 (Ortho-phosphate), while the highest negative correlations were found to be between WT (Water temperature)‒DO, EC‒NO3 (Nitrate nitrogen), Salt‒NO3, WT‒SO. When Kruskal Wallis Test was applied to water quality parameters, WT, DO, SO, SUS (Suspended solids), TP, NO2, PO4, NH4, NO3, BOD5 differed significantly in terms of sampling months (p

Study of QR Code Technology Application for Monitoring Activity of Ship Planned Maintenance System

System and outfitting in a ship vary with different brands and treatment methods. These conditions can be an issue if the operator has undisclosed damages due to a lack of knowledge about the ship's maintenance records. An electronic planned maintenance system (ePMS) is a system that is currently used to collect the ship maintenance recorded data. However, the use of ePMS still has drawbacks. The appearance is less interactive, available information about the outfitting used in ships is limited, and the operator needs to search the outfitting manually with scrolling. This research aims to study the application of QR code technology for monitoring maintenance activities of ship systems and outfitting. This research was conducted based on field observation of ePMS, designing a QR code module for the ePMS application, developing algorithms, and creating programs for website and android based applications. In addition, trials of the application and calculation of the costs incurred for implementing the QR code method are also carried out. The distribution of questionnaires for practitioners accompanied the trial. Based on that, the implementation of QR code in ePMS can be applied, easy to use and facilitate the supervision of ship system and outfitting activities with a mean score of 4.39 or equivalent to strongly agree. The addition of the QR code module is costed IDR120,426,000.00, where the process of recognizing and searching for ship systems and outfitting to view maintenance plans and maintenance history on the ePMS application is enough by scanning a QR code.

Experimental Research on Overwater and Underwater Visual Image Stitching and Fusion Technology of Offshore Operation and Maintenance of Unmanned Ship

The new way of offshore operation and maintenance based on unmanned ships has outstanding advantages. Aiming at the problem of lack of overall understanding of the complex environment above and under the water surface during the operation and maintenance of unmanned ships, a stitching and fusion technology of overwater and underwater visual images for unmanned ships is proposed. The software and hardware framework of the overwater and underwater visual image fusion system is constructed, the image processing methods in different environments are defined, and the accurate acquisition of obstacle information is realized. In the two experimental scenarios, the stitching accuracy of the obstacle model based on an extended neighborhood method can reach more than 85% within the obstacle distance of 8 m and more than 80% within the obstacle distance of 14 m. An image-driven Frustum–PointNets detection algorithm is proposed to obtain comprehensive obstacle avoidance information. In addition, the average accuracy of the three-dimensional detection of the algorithm is up to 91.40%. These results are significant and have a good reference value, as it demonstrates that the stitching and fusion method can effectively obtain the comprehensive information of overwater and underwater objects for unmanned ship.

THE DOCK ESTABLISHMENT TO SUPPORT MARITIME SECURITY OPERATIONS IN BANGKA BELITUNG

Navy Base of Bangka Belitung is a type B Navy Base under the operation of Main Navy Base III Jakarta. As a base, it has an important role in the series of Integrated Fleet Weapon Systems (Sistem Senjata Armada Terpadu, SSAT). Nave Base of Bangka Belitung has the main task of supporting administration and logistics for operation elements. Besides that, it plays the role of a unit that enforces the law and maintains maritime security, and also plays an active role in empowering the marine defense area. The port is an important facility in supporting the presence of navy elements that can provide a deterrence effect against threats to maritime security. However, the absence of a dock at Bangka Belitung Navy Base will limit the power of the navy element, that is why the process of law enforcement at sea will be carried out optimally with the presence of a dock. The purpose of this study was to analyze the dock establishment to support the navy power in Bangka Belitung Navy Base securing its maritime area. The theories used were sea power theory, maritime security, dock concept, and International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS Code). This study used the literature review method, primary data obtained through important files related to the object of research and supported by secondary data in the form of books, journals, and documents related to the construction of the Navy Base of Bangka Belitung. The results showed that the dock can improve the performance of Bangka Belitung Navy Base elements in the support function of anchorage facilities, support for ship maintenance and repair facilities as well as support for supply facilities, support for law enforcement, and maintaining maritime security, as well as empowering marine areas

Characterization and distribution of plastic particles along Alexandria beaches, Mediterranean Coast of Egypt, using microscopy and thermal analysis techniques

Microplastics (MPs) contamination has become a global concern with potential impacts on the marine environment. Alexandria is the second-largest city in Egypt and a significant contributor of plastic litter inputs into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The current study provides an in-depth analysis of the plastic particles accumulated along Alexandria beaches. Types, composition, and potential sources of MPs were investigated using microscopy and thermal analysis. A mean value of 389.1 ± 285.9 items kg−1 dry weight was detected in the shore sediments similar to other records from the Eastern Mediterranean region. An average of 457.4 ± 281.8 items m−3 was recorded in the surface water, which was the highest recorded MPs density in onshore waters of the Mediterranean region. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that plastics made up 0.5% - 72% of the materials extracted from the sediment samples, and 0.58% - 20.6% from the water samples. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) identified ten semi-crystalline polymers. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene vinyl acetate (PEVA) were the common polymers. The single-use plastic bags and detergents were the land-based sources of marine plastic litter. The sea-based sources included antifouling paints, maintenance of ships, and abandoned fishing gears. Proper management plans of domestic waste input, polluter-pay strategy, and education programs aiming at the Fishermen and how plastic pollution would impact their livelihood are urgently needed.

Environmental Impact of Underwater Noise

The description of sound as a form of energetic pollutant is very complex as is also its impact on aquatic life. Human activities causing continuous and implosive underwater noise, such as marine traffic, maintenance of ships, coastal tourism, marine research, military, offshore energy platforms, generation of ocean energies and construction operations are expected to increase. The paper analyses current approach to minimise the impact of underwater noise and limit its emissions, examines regulatory approach and discusses the possibilities to control this type of pollution in order to ensure the preservation of natural underwater soundscape. The timely implementation and further development of the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive and its provisions related to underwater noise is of exceptional importance for the Adriatic Sea, which is facing increasing pressure from various industries generating underwater noise.

A Study of Hybrid Predictions Based on the Synthesized Health Indicator for Marine Systems and Their Equipment Failure

Ship mechanical system health prognosis is one of the major tasks of ship intelligent operation and maintenance (O&M). However, current failure prediction methods are aimed at single pieces of equipment, and system-level monitoring remains an underexplored area. To address this issue, an integration method based on a synthesized health indicator (SHI) and dynamic hybrid prediction is proposed. To accurately reflect the changes in system health conditions, a multi-state parameter fusion method based on dynamic kernel principal component analysis (DKPCA) and the stacked autoencoder (SAE) is presented, along with construction of a system SHI. Taking into consideration that the system degradation process includes global degradation trends, local self-healing phenomena, and local interference, a dynamic hybrid prediction model is established after SHI decomposition. The performance of the proposed approach is applied to a ship fuel-oil system to show its effectiveness.