Developments in the Design of

Specialised Marine Transports

Old Library, Lloyd’s

26th July 2016

Guy Dewdney – Naval Architect

g.dewdney@loc-group.com
 Presentation Contents

1. What are “Specialised Marine Transports”?

2. What can go wrong? Some examples
3. Design considerations – engineering a specialised marine transport
4. Regulations and design guidelines
5. The latest developments - voyage simulation using SafeTrans
6. Summary and conclusion
What are Specialised Marine Transports?
What are Specialised Marine Transports?
“Towing of barges, vessels and self-floating objects, as well as ship transportation of special cargoes”
What are Special Cargoes?
• Cargo or equipment that is considered critical
• Unusual shipping parameters (size, weight, specialist handling)
• Value
• Criticality of delivery
• Cargo that is not adequately covered by the ship’s standard transport procedures, by any stakeholder
• Insurers may stipulate certain conditions (warranty)
• The transport is usually weather sensitive
• The cargo may require seafastenings to be designed and built in advance of loading the cargo
• An amount of risk exists which must be minimised through careful planning and design
Examples of Specialised Marine Transports:

• Dry transportation of a semi-submersible drill ships or jack-ups

Examples of Specialised Marine Transports:

• Towage of topside structures and other project cargo on barges

Examples of Specialised Marine Transports:

• Wet tow of jack-ups

What Can Go Wrong?
 Damage to the Towed Vessel
There are many cases of jack-up rigs being lost or damaged under tow

West Gamma (sank in bad weather)

Sagar Pragati (failure of legs

under tow)
 Breakout of the Cargo
Wind turbine nacelles that have broken loose during transportation on heavy lift vessel:
Inadequate Seafastenings
Stability Issues
Marine Transport Design Considerations
 Voyage Route and Departure Date

• Route selection – inshore / offshore? Suez Canal or Cape of Good

Hope?

• The duration of the route – within range of weather forecasts?

• The departure date will influence the weather along the route –
seasonal variations, monsoon and tropical storms?

• Distance from ports of refuge

 Transport Vessel Selection

Cargo barge
• Must be towed by a suitably powerful tug
• Tow speeds are lower than self-propelled vessels
• Motions may be large depending on sea states experienced

Specialised Cargo Ships

• Used for transporting cargo and equipment that will fit in the vessel’s
hold
• Cargo can be floated, lifted or rolled on or off.
• Faster compared to towed barges, but expensive to charter

Self-Propelled Heavy Lift Vessels

• More expensive to charter
• Can be used to transport the largest cargoes and other vessels
• The cargo is floated or rolled onboard
 The Cargo

• The design of the cargo itself is an important

consideration in terms of:

• Stability: High VCG means lower stability BUT

large stability means increased accelerations

• Strength:
Has the cargo been designed with the
loads associated with ocean transportation
in mind?
Can the transport vessel withstand the
loads from the cargo?
 Vessel and Cargo Motions
• Motions of the vessel are caused by wind and wave
conditions experienced along the route

• These motions lead to forces on the cargo which

could cause the cargo to slide or tip

• To restrain the cargo, seafastenings are designed

and attach the cargo to the transport vessel
 Tug and towing equipment

For towed transports, the tug must be carefully

selected:
• How many tugs?
• Sufficient Bollard Pull?
• Speed of the tow
• Towing equipment suitable?
Regulations and Design Guidelines
 Regulations and Mandatory Requirements

• Flag State Regulations:

• SOLAS – Carriage of Cargoes – Cargo Securing Manual
• Intact Stability
• Classification Society Requirements
• Charterparty may stipulate that a Marine Warranty Surveyor is
appointed
 Design Codes and Standards
For special cargoes, industry standard design codes include:

• MWS Guidelines such as:

• LOC Marine Warranty Guidelines for Marine Operations
• Noble Denton Guidelines for Marine Transportations
• DNV-GL VMO Standard
• ISO 19901:6 – Marine Operations
• IMO MSC Circular 884 Guidelines for Safe Ocean Towing

These documents provide guidance on the methods and criteria to be applied in the
design of special transports
Background - Design Methods

Traditionally, the design of marine transports has been based on the following methods:

• Rule of thumb, e.g. “20 in 10” for roll motions

• Design wave method Increasing

Confidence
and Cost
• Tank tests
 Design Wave Approach
The most widely accepted approach for design of marine transportations is the ‘design wave
method’:
Gather Perform
Determine
Evaluate cargo and metocean
voyage
the route vessel analysis
duration
information along route

Determine extreme
Calculate vessel Design
conditions e.g. 10
accelerations seafastenings
year return
Design Wave Approach – Global Wave Statistics
 Design Wave Method Continued…

• The response of the vessel to waves with low

probability is calculated
• A hydrodynamic model is used for this purpose, together
with model tests if particularly critical
• The 1 in 10 voyage probability of exceedance
level is generally accepted
• I.e. 10% probability of exceedance per voyage
• The resulting cargo loads are calculated and
used in design

This method assumes that:

• The ‘design wave’ is experienced
• The worst loads on the cargo occur when the ‘design wave’ is experienced
Developments in Transport Design:

Voyage Simulation using SafeTrans

 Development of Response Based Design Methods

A more sophisticated design approach is now possible due to improvements in computing

power:

• A complete voyage can be simulated, rather than just one ‘storm’

• The conditions encountered can better reflect the actual route taken by the vessel

• By repeating voyage simulations many times, each with different departure dates, the
probability of a certain response being exceeded can be determined

• There is increased confidence that the maximum response of the vessel for that voyage has
been captured, since the whole voyage is modelled
SafeTrans Software
SafeTrans is a voyage simulation software

It is a tool for the planning and design of marine transports

• Route selection
• Voyage duration
• Risk of delay
• Establishment of weather criteria
• Cargo and vessel accelerations
• Vessel selection (e.g. size, speed, bollard pull)

SafeTrans is able to model operational factors affecting marine transports including

weather routing
 SafeTrans Background

• Formed from a JIP involving 32 companies and led by Marin

• Applications:
• Wet/dry tows
• Self propelled voyages
• Heavy lift/offshore operations
 SafeTrans Output
Statistics are produced based on a large number of
simulations

The statistics include the “P90” value – or 90% non-

exceedance value

• Voyage duration
• Time spent waiting on weather
• Accelerations at any location on the vessel and cargo

• Wave heights along the route

• Wind speeds along the route
Benefits of SafeTrans

• It provides a rigorous method for determining design criteria for transports that include
the effect of weather avoidance

• The results are based on hundreds of repeated voyages, so taking into account the
probability of the transport actually experiencing the largest waves

• Greater understanding of the parts of the voyage where loads are likely to be greatest

• Can predict the voyage duration and risk of delay with more confidence
• May highlight risks in a transport plan that have not been considered
Cautionary Note
Powerful software is not a replacement for engineering judgement!
• Are weather routing criteria appropriate?
• Assuming that transports can weather route may be unrealistic due to their slow speed
• What is stopping designers simply reducing criteria if the design does not work…?

• What about redundancy?

• Designers must consider what might happen if towline fails / engine fails / loss of steerage etc.

• Is the vessel speed realistic?

• What factors of safety are being used?

• Recognised design codes and minimum seafastening forces should be applied
• This is to account for uncertainties

• Other factors?
• Commercial implications
Case Study I – Transport of FPSO Turret

Background
• An FPSO Turret structure was transported from
Singapore to Korea by Self-Propelled Heavy Lift
Vessel
• The 10 year return period wave height for the route
was 7.8 m
• SafeTrans analysis had been performed based on
avoidance of seas > 5 m significant wave height.
• Motion and wave monitoring equipment onboard
Case Study I – Transport of FPSO Turret

Voyage
• During the voyage, encountered wave heights
were greater than forecast
• Two independent forecasts were inaccurate
• The transport came close to exceeding the wave
height and acceleration limits
• Vessel speed was consistently slower than
expected

Date Forecast Hs [m] Actual Hs [m]

18 / 10 2.9 – 3.3 4.0

20 / 10 1.3 – 2.6 3.5

22 / 10 1.4 – 2.8 5.6

23 / 10 1.3 – 3.1 4.5

Case Study I – Transport of FPSO Turret

Lesson
• Vessel and cargo arrived safely, but…
• Voyage took longer than expected
• The design conditions were nearly exceeded
• If the weather avoidance criteria had been
lower, the design safety factors may have been
reduced or exceeded
• Importance of reliability of information – A new
weather forecast provider was sought after this
voyage!
Case Study II – Gorgon Project

Background
• Modules for LNG plant designed for sea transport using SafeTrans
• Proposed transport vessels were unknown
• Later, vessel operators analysed each transport individually and verified the SafeTrans results
Case Study II – Gorgon Project

• Later in the project, a 2 year overrun meant only smaller transport vessels were available
• Traditional ‘design wave’ approach suggested cargo reinforcement would be needed
• SafeTrans was employed to analyse the voyages accounting for weather routing
• Vessels were on long term charter and would not take unnecessary risks
• Client was conservative – dedicated marine adviser, MWS had ability to give recommendations
on route

Cost and time was saved through prudent

use of SafeTrans in combination with
conservative operational procedures
Summary and Conclusions
Summary
• Specialised Marine Transports require careful planning and design

• Every transport is different and the engineering must be tailored to the specific transport as far as
possible

• Voyage simulations are increasingly used and offer a more realistic method of determining design
conditions compared to traditional design methods

• If used improperly un-conservative transport designs can result

• Still requires engineering judgement from experienced engineers and Master Mariners to perform
the analysis and interpret the results properly

• Where weather avoidance is assumed in design, conservatism must be ensured through safety
factors, operational procedures and increased emphasis on reliability of information

• Commercial and other external factors always need to be considered

Developments in the Design of
Specialised Marine Transports

Old Library, Lloyd’s

26th July 2016

Guy Dewdney – Naval Architect