Owners, Yards Develop Industry Standard on Speed Trials

After a three-year study, twelve leading shipowners and six major yards have set an industry standard on speed trials. “Best Practice” for conducting speed trials, as well as a recommended analysis procedure have been developed. The Sea Trials Analysis (STA) joint industry project was initiated in 2002 by Shell, P&O/Nedlloyd, Maersk and Dutch research institute MARIN, to develop a common methodology for speed trials for new ships coming into service. The new standard contributes to higher quality ships as the speed/power performance upon delivery can now be derived with transparent and reliable methods, the group state. Within the project a review of trial procedures was conducted using ISO 19019 and 15016 as a starting point. New analysis methods were developed including correction methods for conditions deviating from the contract specification. In particular, correction methods for wind and waves were developed as it was found from 20 trial case studies that existing methods were not reliable for present day ships and can lead to substantial trial speed deviations. Chairman of the Sea Trials Analysis project group, Hans Huisman of ER-Schiffahrt, said: “This is the best practice we could achieve with our knowledge and experience of today; it is an important step forward for the shipbuilding and shipping industry as it will increase the quality of our work.” Already, the new standard and software have been verified and demonstrated by application during sea trials on five recent newbuildings in Korea. According to Henk van den Boom of MARIN; “With this new practice the speed/power performance of ships can now be assessed within 0.1 knots, whereas in the past, trial speed deviations of up to 1.0 knot have been found”. The best practice is documented in the “Recommended Practice for Speed Trials” which is available from MARIN for use by owners and yards worldwide. The developed speed trial analysis methods have been documented and incorporated into a software package, QSTAP, for on board analysis and reporting of speed trials. The group decided to make QSTAP commercially available. The Sea Trials Analysis group will continue to exchange their experiences of speed trials. And at the same time, a new joint industry project called “Service Performance Analysis”, examining performance increase and fuel cost reduction for ships in service is starting on November 1, 2006. The Sea Trials Analysis group will also continue as a user group and is open to new owners and yards.