Enter the hybrid

The move towards the use of alternative evacuation systems (AESs) is gaining momentum within the passenger ship industry while the use of marine evacuation systems (MESs) has increased.

Richard McCormick, group head of MES sales for Survitec Group, told Passenger Ship Technology: “The big buzzword in the passenger ship industry in terms of liferafts/MES is the hybrid - the AES. I am absolutely sure it will be more of a trend. The industry is crying out for an alternative to the lifeboat, as MESs have a significantly better safety record. I see a definite trend to move towards more rapid evacuation.”

He added: “The lifeboat has not evolved in 100 years, while the MES has only been in the market place for the last four decades. In that time it has evolved considerably and the uptake has grown more and more.” He singled out how P&O Ferries’ Spirit of Britain and Spirit of France ferries exemplify the growing trend for new technologies. The majority of its evacuation system consists of MESs, being equipped with Survitec’s RFD Marin Ark1 systems on board.

However, there is an obstacle that hinders the use of more MESs rather than lifeboats – and that is regulation. This specifies that a minimum of 75 per cent of the total evacuation systems used must be lifeboats on cruise ships, and a minimum of 30 per cent for ferries.

Mr McCormick expanded: “Regulatory change is a long process and all we can do is keep at it. New technologies have to be adopted and we need to have a better uptake. The use of lifeboats over MESs is driven by rules. We need rules to be more flexible, in order to have the safer MESs used, but it is a matter of time.”

Emphasising the use of AESs, he said: “An AES brings all the benefits of an MES with added propulsion. We need to allow these alternative safer technologies.”

Indeed, he highlights how the take-up of AESs and more MESs will potentially have a great impact on passenger ship design. “I think it will drive innovation in terms of design as well. If cruise ships did not have to accommodate all those lifeboats, imagine how much flexibility the vessel would have by simply accommodating smaller inflatable AES or MES packages? It could drive a whole new class of vessel with enhanced evacuation capability and a more efficient ship in terms of lighter weight and fuel savings.”

Survitec has been developing an AES and is in the process of patenting it. “We just need the industry to move. The technology is there; we just need the industry to take it up. We have been working on propulsion concepts,” Mr McCormick said.

Another major driver behind the development of hybrid AESs is the requirement for speed. With the trend for building increasingly larger vessels, marine evacuation systems are presented with the huge challenge of evacuating large numbers of passengers within the 30 minutes that are required by Solas. Viking Life-Saving Equipment’s new hybrid evacuation system LifeCraft has been built for the largest cruise ships. The system reached a major milestone in February this year, when it passed its sea trial. Viking passenger segment director Niels Fraende anticipates that the first LifeCraft systems will be on board cruise ships in 2017.

The system consists of two main elements: the LifeCraft itself, which is a self-propelled inflatable vessel, and a storage and launching unit, which is either placed on deck or built in. With capacity for up to 800 persons per system, Mr Fraende says that LifeCraft has one of the largest evacuation capacities available and copes with considerable variations in evacuation height.

Speaking about the development of the LifeCraft system, Mr Fraende told Passenger Ship Technology: “The tendency to build larger, wider vessels heralds a new challenge for suppliers of marine evacuation systems like us. Not only must the new systems cope with increasing numbers of passengers, but they must also be flexible enough to cope with increased vessel list and trim. So a lot of focus on our side has been on the list and trim conditions. We wanted to create a unique evacuation system that is superior in performance in list and trim situations, and the result speaks for itself.”

Asked whether he believed that the launch and development of hybrid lifesaving systems like the LifeCraft will become a strong trend, Mr Fraende commented: “Long term it will be a trend, but there is one issue linked to this, and that is resources. It will take visionary management to replace existing lifeboats and liferafts with the LifeCraft system, especially since current regulations do not stipulate the use of evacuation systems like that. However, on newbuildings it is already happening. And it is not just the lifesaving capabilities of the LifeCraft that are hitting the headlines. The system also takes up less room than lifeboats, freeing up deck space for shipowners keen to provide their passengers with more cabins, shopping opportunities and other journey enhancements.”

Step one, he pinpointed, is the growing trend among passenger ships to use MESs as opposed to davit-launched liferafts. “The current development is that more and more ships are deploying MESs on board, as they give a more controlled evacuation than davit-launched liferafts. The reasons are twofold. Fewer crew are required for an MES, and having fewer crew designated to an evacuation system gives the possibility of training them to a higher level than if you were to train a larger number of people.” He said that the use of davit-launched liferafts might require 100 crew members on an average sized cruise ship, while using MESs could take this figure down to 20. Furthermore, using an MES allows an operator to go from eight stations per shipside to one. “This makes crowd control much easier, as an evacuation spot is much more strongly identified.”

Like Survitec and Viking, other companies within the liferaft sector are developing new solutions. The drive to make evacuation systems safer and more efficient is highlighted by the latest developments at Liferaft Systems Australia (LSA). The company’s research and development department is working on significant enhancements to the LSA system that managing director Mike Grainger hails as being quite revolutionary.

He told Passenger Ship Technology: “The new system will be significantly safer, lighter than our current products, and more compact in size.” He was not able to give any more details about the system that is being developed other than that it was the same proven design with significant improvements to key components. He said that prototype testing is well underway and that the company is expecting to start approval testing the equipment in the coming months.

LSA currently has several projects within the passenger ferry sector. It is providing evacuation systems for two LNG-powered ferries for the Norwegian operator Boreal Transport Nord, which are being built by Fiskerstrand Verft. The vessels are to be delivered in 2015 and will each have two LSA 14m MESs with 100 person self-righting liferafts. This follows on from the successful completion of a four-ship contract for the same owner, also built by the same shipyard, for LSA’s liferafts and MESs. The double ended conventional ferries each have two 14m MESs. Two of the vessels had LSA 128 person open reversible liferafts installed, while the other two had LSA 100 person self-righting liferafts installed.

When these latest newbuilds are delivered they will bring the number of Boreal Transport Nord ships with LSA MESs installed to 14. LSA European manager Peter Rea told Passenger Ship Technology: “Boreal has decided to standardise LSA MESs across its fleet of conventional ferries. One of the main reasons LSA equipment was chosen is that the system is so simple to operate. It permits each vessel to operate with the minimum amount of crew.

“Furthermore, the new LNG ferries can run for up to 18 hours a day, so they ideally need an MES that is simple and straightforward to remove and reinstall in only six hours of the vessel being alongside.” LSA has consolidated its relationship with the ferry operator by ensuring high quality yet low cost service facilities in Sandnessjøen, Norway. This, coupled with the provision of exchange service equipment, enables Boreal Transport Nord vessels to operate all year round without having to reduce passenger capacity or remove ships from service due to annual maintenance requirements. Mr Rea said that speed was important, too, due to the long operating hours of the LNG ships and the little downtime they have. “The ease and speed with which one MES can be removed and the exchange service unit installed is crucial. It takes just 20 minutes to remove an MES and 30 minutes to install a replacement,” he said, explaining that removal and installation were made significantly easier as LSA’s equipment has no complicated hydraulics or bowsing winch arrangements.

LSA is consolidating its position in the North American market, as well, with recent deliveries to repeat customers such as Alaska Marine Highway System, British Columbia Ferry Services and Washington State Ferries. Its most recent projects are the installation of LSA mini slides and 50 and 100 person liferafts to BC Ferries’ Tachek and Quadra Queen II.

Mr Grainger also felt that the trend with passenger ferries was orientated towards the use of liferafts rather than lifeboats and opined that liferafts were inherently safer, more compact, and simpler and safer to deploy. He pointed out how the retrofitting of passenger ferries demonstrated the trend to use liferafts. “In Greece we have retrofitted a number of ferries where they have removed the lifeboats altogether and remained with MESs. This is because of improved safety, weight issues and the deck space that lifeboats take up compared to MESs.”

Another growing market for LSA is large private yachts, or superyachts. “This sector has seemingly not been affected by the financial crisis. LSA has proved very popular with superyacht designers due to the reduced weight and size required to install our MESs. Furthermore, the complete MES unit can be installed behind flush fitted, exterior fitted doors which complement the aesthetic appearance of the vessel. This has been one of the many reasons for the development of this market for LSA,” said Mr Rea.

As passenger ferries have increased their capacity, liferafts are also expected to grow in size. But Mr Grainger flagged up a concern. He believes that large capacity liferafts need to have more than one crew member, to ensure that all safety concerns are addressed. Currently the regulations require only one crew member per liferaft, irrespective of the liferaft’s capacity, but he believes that any liferaft that can take 135 persons or more should be allocated additional crew as a mandatory requirement. LSA’s largest liferaft is for 128 persons. Mr Grainger said he has had discussions with flag administrations about the need to add crew members to larger liferafts, in the same way that lifeboats have addressed concerns about large numbers of people in a confined space and in an emergency scenario.

The last year has also been a busy one for Survitec, and not just in terms of developing new technology. At the end of last year the company acquired Brude Safety from the Kopperneas Group in Norway, enabling it to add a new MES element to its portfolio.

Mr McCormick said: “The company has been concentrating more on acquisitions; in the last 12 months we have been acquisition-driven. From a customer point of view, this completes our portfolio and gives us a more diverse range. It also allows us to drive costs down and drive best practice in the group. It expands our customer reach in terms of our customer support network, as well.”

The Brude MES acquired by Survitec through the purchase of Brude Safety enables the company to support the smaller to mid-sized ropax and fast ferry market.

Survitec recently provided two RFD Marin Ark2 systems to the newly delivered Regal Princess, consisting of two 632 passenger capacity systems, and in the last 12 months Stena Line has upgraded four vessels - Stena Danica, Stena Saga, Stena Vision and Stena Spirit - with RFD Marin Ark2 systems.

Elsewhere, one of Viking’s latest installations is on the Costa Diadema newbuild, where it supplied a high capacity evacuation system for 800 people similar to the systems found on Royal Caribbean International’s Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas. PST