Vision 2009 - Rolls-Royce

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VISION 1-2009. Rolls-Royce
The UK coastguard vessel
Anglian Princess of
UT 719 T design
was delivered in 2003.
A
Emergency
towing
Although the vast majority of vessels
complete their voyages successfully and
without incident, countries worry about
potential marine pollution incidents
connected to ships passing their
coastlines and visiting their ports.
Oil tankers and ships carrying
large quantities of heavy fuel
bunkers are seen as a particular
threat. Many incidents over the
years, Torrey Canyon, Amoco Cadiz,
Braer, Erika, Prestige to name but
a few, have caused extensive
pollution around the coast of
Western Europe alone.
Strategic points
One solution that has achieved
acceptance has been the
stationing of emergency towing
vessels (ETV) at strategic points
around the coast. The UK was
an early adopter and has had
considerable success, including
recently avoiding what could
After this container vessel broke its back, UT 515
Abeille Bourbon and UT 719 T Anglian Princess
successfully towed it to a designated beaching site.
D .
have been a serious pollution case
when the container vessel
MSC Napoli began to break up in
the Channel.
A survey of alternatives by the
UK Coastguard identified ETVs
as a costly but best solution,
and an ETV programme was
implemented in 1996.
Klyne Tugs, based in Lowestoft,
has the long-term contract. The
company deploys four vessels
around the UK coast: at Lerwick in
Shetland covering the north and
east, at Dover for the intensive
traffic in the narrow part of the
Channel, at Falmouth covering
the western approaches and at
Stornoway covering the west coast of
Scotland. A further vessel approved
for ETV-work can relieve any of the
main ships.
Powerful vessels
To meet the UK ETV-requirements,
Klyne Tugs had two powerful
purpose-built emergency towing
vessels constructed at the Yantai
Raffles yard in China. They selected
Rolls-Royce design and equipment.
Anglian Princess and Anglian Sovereign
were built to the UT 719 T design and
delivered in 2002 and 2003. Sovereign
is currently stationed at Stornoway
and Princess in Falmouth.
These two vessels are a special
development of the very seaworthy
UT 719 platform. The Klyne
UT 719 T sisters are optimised for
towing and have a FiFi 1 fire-fighting
outfit. They are 67.4m long with a
beam of 15.5m and a bollard pull
of 180 tonnes. Two medium-speed
engines totalling 12,000kW turn
Rolls-Royce CP propellers in nozzles.
Independent high lift rudders provide
manoeuvring capability, aided by two
Rolls-Royce 588kW tunnel thrusters
at the bow and a 660kW unit at the
stern. The main winch has a towing
drum rated for 300 tonnes pull and
can hold 1,500m of 76mm wire rope.
Two anchor handling drums are rated
at 300 tonnes, with a brake holding
load of 450 tonnes on the first layer.
Drum capacity is 1,500m of 76mm
wire. Other deck machinery includes
a pennant/store reel, a spare wire
drum, capstans, tugger winches, a
500 tonne stern roller, towing pins,
shark jaws and a double anchor/
mooring winch.
Ready for action
The primary aim of the ETV-system
is to tow clear of danger any ships
which may present a pollution
hazard, for example vessels in danger
of grounding due to machinery
breakdown. This is a business where
the best news is no news, where ETVs
are sitting doing nothing dramatic.
But the vessels have to be ready for
action at all times in any weather.
Probably the highest profile casualty
has been MSC Napoli, a large
container ship suffering structural
break-up in the western end of the
Channel. In an action which has
been widely regarded as a model
of its kind, Anglian Princess and the
French vessel Abeille Bourbon (also a
Rolls-Royce design) worked together
to tow the casualty to a designated
beaching location on the south coast
of England before it could break
in two and sink. Then, and during
subsequent salvage and dismantling
operations, pollution from bunkers
was avoided.
Klyne Tugs say they do not regret
selecting the open stern for their
purpose-built ETVs, finding the
offshore layout good where chains
are to be got on board or hazardous
floating objects such as lost
hatchcovers or containers need to be
decked.
In 2007 Klyne Tugs was taken over by
the old-established firm of J P Knight,
which specialises in towage, salvage
and transport. It has, however,
retained a high level of autonomy. A
New IO range
After 10 years the IO-box range (Input/Output-box) from
Rolls-Royce was due for a change. New needs and more
advanced control systems signalled a change of pace, and
now a new range is ready to hit the market.
IO modules are a key component
in all control systems, and this
is where physical measures and
activation of actuators take place.
Some modules read temperature,
pressure, position, power and
voltage, while others activate
valves, start and stop pumps, and
so on. The demand for increased
speed, accuracy and a higher
degree of standardisation made
Rolls-Royce take a step further.
“What is revolutionary with this
new range is that it uses the
same software for all systems,
and our customers will thus
experience common control by
using the same type of IO-box for
propellers, rudders, winches and
steering gear etc. In other words,
it will lead to a better system for
customers, since they only need
one type of box in their parts and
accessories department,” says
technical product manager Arve
Sivertsen.
The aim has been to commer cialise
the product, and climb upwards
in the chain by sourcing boxes
from an external supplier. “It
did not make any sense to use
internal resources to produce
these ourselves, so we defined
the specification and invited
tenders,” explains Sivertsen. The
prototype is ready and boxes are
likely to be released sometime
during the year.
New screen range
A new range of screens is also
on its way, and this implies
that today’s screens will be
replaced with a standard series
of screens. Rolls-Royce goes over
to wide screen format (16:9)
on the bridge, and these are
included in the ‘common look
and feel’ concept. The screens are
equipped with touch screen and
will be placed optimally on the
bridge.
Because the screen is
standardised customers
can reduce their spare parts
inventory, as opposed to today’s
situation where different screens
serve different purposes. Now
they can use the same screen
everywhere on the bridge. The
aim is to put the new screens
into operation by the end of this
year. In addition, a larger screen
is under development, but this is
not scheduled for production in
the near future. A
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VISION 1-2009 Rolls-Royce