Safety of Winter Navigation in Dynamic Ice
A prediction system is being developed to aid large ship navigation in ice prone regions
The SAFEWIN project aims to develop an efficient ice compression and dynamics forecasting system which can increase the safety of winter navigation in ice prone conditions. This system is particularly useful for large, AFRAMAX size or larger, oil tankers navigating in the Baltic, Okhotsk Sea as well as the western Russian Arctic. The hulls of these tankers are not especially suitable for ice breaking, a hull rupture would thus lead to catastrophic consequences in the Baltic. Additionally, the Baltic Icebreaker Management (BIM, see www.baltice.org) is making every effort to increase the awareness for winter operations and ice conditions, but also an awareness about the ice service products. Finnish and Swedish icebreaker services have observed that the crews of the ice strengthened vessels do not have the necessary experience for winter navigation. Operational advice and ice navigation in a form of ice charts and ice forecasts, enhanced throughout this project will reduce the risk of human error in interpreting ice conditions and selecting a route through ice. The SAFEWIN project also hopes to fully understand the effect of ship structures in relation to the risks of compressive ice damages. This knowledge will then be used to redesign certain aspects of the structure in order to achieve the best possible damage resistance with reduction in structural weight. For more information please contact: marija.zaputovic@as2con.com
PRESS4TRANSPORT is funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research under the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7)