Predictability and the modern maritime environment

Abstract

With the continuously increasing competition in the shipping industry, it is of utmost importance that each part of the vessel performs safely and efficiently. This thesis targets the main engines as delivered by MAN Energy Solutions – former MAN B&W on a specific RoRo vessel.

As everything from spare parts to fuel is constantly becoming more and more expensive, this author finds it relevant to involve the term prediction. In this thesis there will be a map presenting possible failures on component level and an investigation on how to predict these failures by looking at expected symptoms. Furthermore, an investigation of historical events ranging from the year 2015-2022 was made to understand if there are certain patterns of activities and events related to the operation of the main engines. This material acts as the largest informational input per extent for the research and according to the findings the author selected some interesting additions of techniques that mainly target improved monitoring to understand long time equipment behavior. Improved monitoring in this context aims to improve on-board situation awareness as well as adding a remote monitoring solution – the MAN PrimeServ Assist to benefit from the knowledge of the genuine engine manufacturer.

This complete thesis, as well as the research relies on the vessel acting as case study and the technique as it was delivered in 2001. It is therefore important to understand that the suggested updates mean retrofitting an existing installation with additional automation to improve operational safety and efficiency and that certain limitations are present.

In this context safety targets failure avoidance while efficiency aims to maintain operation in accordance with design parameters. Therefore, this study does not focus on major changes to the existing setup to drastically improve efficiency (reduce fuel consumption) but instead the target is set on maintaining the engine performance and reliability in accordance with the initial design parameters set by the manufacturer at delivery. This is what the author finds to be the most cost effective solution on this particular vessel.