Siport21 Presents Its Project to Young Professionals of ATPYC

During the celebration of X Technical Meeting of Young Professionals of ATPYC, Siport21 has presented the project “Nautical Studies and Ship Manoeuvring Simulation Training for the Access and Operation of Large Vessels at Ports”. Also,  this year the company has participated as an official sponsor of the event, which has developed on board of a vessel from Barcelona (Spain) to Civitavecchia (Italy). 

The project encompasses a series of technical studies developed with the aim of analyzing the feasibility of the access and operation of new vessels for present ports. This subject affects all kind of vessels, such as LNG carriers, container  vessels, cruisers and megayachts.

This work covers the nautical point of view (navigation, manoeuvre, safety, mooring, etc.) aimed to verify the applicability of the nautical regulations (meteorological limits, tide limits, tug requirements and emergency procedures) and the  capacity of the facilities and equipment (fenders, mooring systems, compatibility of loading systems and ship access, etc.). The results of the analysis might result in updating the regulation, upgrading of the equipment or reinforcement of  the port infrastructure.

The project sums up some of the most significant cases developed by the company. Regarding LNG projects, after the appearance of large vessels Q-Flex and Q-Max, Siport21 carried out studies in Barcelona Port and Sagunto Port.  Another study was executed for Bilbao Port, where the first Q-Max of 267000 m3 operated out of Qatar.

Regarding container vessels, the operation of “Emma Maersk” and her sister vessels was studied (397/376 x 56 x 14 m) a few years ago. It meant a remarkable change in the design vessel for new international terminals. Nowadays, the design vessels are changing again because the “Triple E” begins to operate in a short time, and it could be this vessel would operate in some Spanish ports (Algeciras, Barcelona, Valencia).

The great mining developments in South America have carried out the creation of bulkcarriers with more capacity. The limit is in the Valemax and Chinamax vessels (360/353 x 65 x 23 m). Their huge dimensions and displacement are a  serious limitation to the access conditions and tug requirements.

The access of this kind of vessels is only possible in very deep terminals, under demanding tide conditions. The optimization of this process usually requires applying advanced calculation methods using a probabilistic methodology,  combining meteorological conditions (waves) and tide (high water levels) in the area to establish a global access policy to optimize exploitation.

The joint work of Port Authority, Harbour Masters, PiIots, Terminal Operators and Captains is very relevant in order to collect all types of expertise and different viewpoints. The definition and implementation of training programs in the  bridge simulator before the new ships start service is very useful to gain knowledge of the new situation.

Thus, in recent years the Siport21 Simulation Center has hosted hundreds of seafarers, including Captains, Officers, Pilots and Harbour Masters that have carried out numerous training courses.

Over the past six years there have been more than 90 Training Programs for 30 shipping companies, among others: BP Shipping, Shell, Knutsen OAS Spain, Elcano, Teekay, Golar, Höegh, NYK, MOL, etc.

These involved almost 300 Captains and Officers from multiple countries (Russia, UK, Croatia, Belgium, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.).

It is usual to involve Pilots from the ports, both in Spain (Tarragona, Barcelona, Valencia, La Coruna, Gijon, Sagunto, Algeciras, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Palma de Mallorca,) and in other countries: Lazaro Cardenas, Manzanillo and Altamira  (Mexico), Bahia São Marcos (Brazil), Callao (Peru), Bahia Blanca and Rio de La Plata (Argentina), Tunisia, Funchal (Portugal).

Moreover, some marinas and repair shipyards must deal with a new business. The number and dimensions of the superyachts or megayachts, vessels more than to 50 m length, require facilities with a very high level of quality. The largest  existing ship (“Eclipse” 165 m in length, 2010) has just been surpassed by “Azzam”, 180 m.

[mappress]

Siport21, October 7, 2013