OOS Serooskerke

OOS Serooskerke gets software quality management notation

One of the world’s largest semi-submersible heavy-lift crane vessels OOS Serooskerke has been awarded the ABS integrated software quality management (ISQM) notation.

OOS Serooskerke; Source: ABS

ABS said on Monday that key operational software on the ABS-classed OOS Serooskerke, a 138m-long vessel with a hotel capacity for 750 people, underwent failure mode effects and criticality analysis as well as functional testing.

The vessel’s power management, dynamic positioning, ballast, and bilge and loading computer systems have all been evaluated per the ABS Guide for integrated software quality management.

Patrick Ryan, ABS SVP of global engineering and technology, said: “Due to the specialized, heavy-lift operations this vessel will undertake, all the systems evaluated by ABS are critical to the safety of both personnel and the asset. As the load is picked up, the ballast must be shifted quickly to maintain stability, so the software must achieve a high degree of reliability throughout its lifespan.

The ABS ISQM process provides a framework to allow the identification and mitigation of software-related issues that could negatively affect the safety of a unit and its crew.

It is one of the only viable software quality notations on the market and is an example of how the nature of class is evolving beyond steel and physical systems into the safety of systems that you cannot see and cannot touch“.

Dragan Maslovar, newbuilds director of OOS International, added: “I cannot say that we’ve learned the hard way the importance and full meaning of the ISQM notation only because we were lucky when, due to VCS and DPS software failure and, connected with poor commissioning and FMEA, one vessel suddenly lost control and start running on her own.

Only thanks to good luck and crew readiness and preparedness was an accident avoided. Since then, we have decided that all our new buildings will have the ISQM notation for all of the important software installed onboard”.

Regarding info on the vessel, OOS Serooskerke has a total length of the vessel is 137.75 metres, the molded width of 81.0 metres, and the molded depth is 12.0 metres, with the towing vessel formation then being at 399 metres in length and 101 metres in width.

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OOS International ordered the construction of two SSCVs, OSS Walcheren and OOS Serooskerke, from CMHI in August 2016. The vessel started sea trials in early October 2020.

OOS Serooskerke features two heavy lift Huisman cranes with a combined lift capacity of 4,400 tonnes with subsea lifting and active compensation capability and an enhanced dynamic positioning class 3 system (DP3) from Kongsberg.

The vessel will be used for offshore accommodation, decommissioning as well as offshore wind installation operations worldwide.

As for the ABS ISQM process and notation, it provides a framework to coordinate and control the way software development, integration, and maintenance are managed throughout the life of the equipment.