Norwegian Research Council News

Compliance, performance, profitability, sustainability; take the biggest ‘pain points’ for almost any shipping company and watch NAVTOR’s digital ecosystem work wonders. Here Tor Svanes, Founder and CEO, explains how NAVTOR has grown to lead the smart shipping world, why the recent merger with Voyager Worldwide was so critical, and how he hopes to help steer the industry towards brighter, simpler, and more intelligent horizons.“The morning of the announcement I got a text from the boss of one of our biggest competitors…

Shipshave has won the Most Innovative Proven Technology Award in the inaugural SNIC Innovation Awards for its in-transit hull cleaning solution that removes biofouling to boost fuel efficiency and decarbonization.The prize was handed out at the Singapore Norway Innovation Conference (SNIC) 2023, with the theme Innovate to Zero, that is hosted annually in Singapore by the Norwegian Business Association Singapore (NBAS).Shipshave earned the accolade for having “the most innovative…

Shipbuilder VARD has received 4,95 million Norwegian crowns (currently around $2,66 million) from the Norwegian Research Council to research the possibility of digitalized heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. These systems will contribute to obtain zero-emissons for Service Operation Vessels at offshore wind farms."The urgent demand for renewable energy production has resulted in many offshore wind projects. To build and operate offshore wind parks in a sustainable way…

Shipbuilder and designer Ulstein is looking to take its revolutionary Thorium powered vessel concept from the drawing board to the deep blue sea. Is this the solution that industry, and society, have been searching for to enable a truly sustainable maritime future?Everything about the launch of ULSTEIN THOR was unexpected.The vessel concept, a 149m 3R (Replenishment, Research and Rescue) design with a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), took the industry, and wider society, by surprise.

Finnish maritime technology firm Wärtsilä and Grieg Edge, the innovation hub of Norwegian shipping group Grieg Star, are working on a joint project to launch an ammonia-fuelled tanker producing no greenhouse gas emissions by 2024. With Norwegian government support worth 46.3 million NOK (4.4 million EUR), the partnership aims to build what will be the world's first green ammonia fuelled tanker."The MS Green Ammonia project is the result of a Nordic industrial collaboration group founded from the Zeeds (Zero Emissions Energy Distribution at Sea) initiative…

While there is no consensus on the marine industry ‘fuel of the future’ that will meet ever tightening international emission mandates, a group of organizations has commenced what it is calling the world’s first long-term, full-scale, testing of ammonia as a fuel in a marine four-stroke combustion engine. Wärtsilä, Knutsen OAS Shipping AS, and Repsol, and the Sustainable Energy Catapult Center, have teamed for the effort, as ammonia offers promise as a carbon-free fuel for marine applications…

It was Canadian whalers, the Norwegians tell us, who first noticed that a dead whale does not bob in the waves. The carcass didn’t pitch or roll, either, and it was somehow “self-propelled” — its fins giving it forward motion and acting as stabilizers, or foils. The story still inspires Trondheim company Wavefoil, maker of scalable, retractable foils that offer ship owners and designers fuel savings and passenger comfort. In Norway, high-speed ferries, cruise ships and fishing vessels are the first customers for retrofits and newbuilds.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA), Høglund, the marine solutions and system integration company, ferry operator Fjord1, and the classification society DNV GL have completed the first testing phase of the ROMAS (Remote Operation of Machinery and Automation Systems) project.As ship systems become more complex, operators increasingly rely on the suppliers of individual systems to operate and maintain them. At the same time, finding machinery engineers who have the skills to deal with these sophisticated systems and are willing to work on board for weeks or even months is challenging.One way of dealing with this is through remote operations.

Marine propulsion manufacturers are not just responding to but are anticipating tighter performance demands from the U.S. EPA  and the IMO by introducing both new and upgraded systems based on state-of-the-art propulsion technologies. Tom Mulligan reviews the latest engine product launches.AIP for MAN cryo Liquid Hydrogen Fuel-Gas systemMAN Cryo, a subsidiary of MAN Energy Solutions, has developed a marine fuel-gas system for liquefied hydrogen in cooperation with Fjord1 and Multi Maritime 0f Norway.

Rolls-Royce has been delivering energy storage systems for ships since 2010, but the actual energy storage units were previously supplied by an external party. The company announced today it is launching its own lithium-ion based energy storage system.Energy storage can be a major green investment for a ship owner, with maximized returns when the system is correctly dimensioned for the specific ship, and includes intelligent power control.Rolls-Royce said its new SAVe Energy liquid cooled battery system is cost competitive…

Project partners Eidesvik Offshore, Wärtsilä Norway and DNV GL have announced the closure of the FellowSHIP research project. The cooperation has explored the use of battery, hybrid and fuel cell technology in the maritime industry for over 15 years.“FellowSHIP has been a flagship research project,” states Bjørn-Johan Vartdal, Maritime Programme Director for Technology and Research in DNV GL Group. “The results from FellowSHIP have shaped our knowledge of battery and hybrid power on board ships and enabled the industry to implement innovations which will help to enable the next generation of more efficient and sustainable vessels.”In 2003…

KONGSBERG said it has signed a Research & Innovation (R&I) contract with technology acceleration organization PILOT-E for the development of zero emission, full-electric, autonomous ferry concepts. The overall vision for the PILOT-E Autonomous Ferry concept is to develop a state-of-the-art ferry as an integrated, zero emission aspect of a total national transportation plan. The PILOT-E program, a collaboration between the Norwegian Research Council, Innovasjon Norge and Enova…

The SESAME Straits project utilizes e-Navigation concepts to reduce maritime traffic congestion and hot spots, as well as improve traffic safety and efficiency. Leading up to the recent Singapore Maritime Technology Conference, the project conducted a successful demonstration in close collaboration with Maritime and Port Authority in Singapore. The SESAME Straits project (Secure, Efficient, and Safe maritime traffic Management in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore) is a 3-year joint Singapore and Norway project…

The DNV GL-led joint industry project, WIN WIN (WINd powered Water INjection), has completed its first phase and determined that wind power could be used to power offshore water injection. The project is currently moving into its second phase, which includes refining and testing the electrical systems, and investigating possibilities for broader applications. The project consists of four partners: DNV GL, ExxonMobil and ENI Norge – all part of the first phase – and the Norwegian Research Council – a new participant for this second phase.

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science scientist Mark Donelan and his Norwegian Meteorological Institute colleague captured new information about extreme waves, as one of the steepest ever recorded passed by the North Sea Ekofisk platforms in the early morning hours of Nov. 9 2007. Within the first hour of the day, the Andrea wave passed by a four-point square array of ocean sensors designed by the researchers to measure the wavelength, direction, amplitude and frequency of waves at the ocean surface. Using the information from the wave set—a total of 13,535 individual waves—collected by the system installed on a bridge between two offshore platforms…

NTNU spin-off company Eelume collaborates with Kongsberg Maritime and Statoil to develop swimming robots for subsea inspection and light intervention. Kongsberg Maritime and Statoil have signed an agreement with Eelume, a NTNU spin-off company, to accelerate new technology that will significantly reduce costs related to subsea inspection, maintenance and repair operations. NTNU and Sintef have conducted research on snake robotics for more than 10 years. Eelume is now developing a disruptive solution for underwater inspection and maintenance in the form of a swimming robot. “Eelume is a good example of how new technology and innovation contributes to cost reduction.

BIMCO has today announced that it has taken ownership of the unique Shipping KPI System that allows shipowners and managers to compare their ships’ efficiency against the performance of the industry and sector averages. The Shipping KPI System is unique because it is based on a standard of 64 different performance indicators (such as ship unavailability and number of environmental related deficiencies) to allow the most specific and accurate comparison of ships – within each sector and more broadly across the industry – that is currently available. The data collected is anonymised, so it does not compromise commercially sensitive information. ·         technical performance.

India and Norway closer to one another in questions related to Polar Research and a new proposal for polar research co-operation is on the anvil, reports Press Trust of India. The Norwegian Research Council and the Ministry of Earth Sciences in India will announce a new proposal for polar research very soon, Minister Counsellor at the Norwegian Embassy in India, Sigvald T Hauge said. This will further strengthen, we believe, the long-standing polar collaboration between the two countries. Indian scientists are carrying out important researches at the 'Himadri' Arctic research station in Svalbard in Norway. President Pranab Mukherjee…

Bergen, Norway – May 20, 2014 – A newly established research center on Norway’s west coast hopes to improve subsea operation and maintenance by bringing risk management into real time. Integrated Well and Subsea Instrumentation (IWSI) is the latest development from independent technology research institute Christian Michelsen Research AS (CMR), which aims to establish an arena for subsea and well instrumentation research and development to find real time risk management solutions for reduced cost and improved safety – on the Norwegian continental shelf and internationally. Working in collaboration with the University of Bergen, University of Stavanger…

NLI Solutions and Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions have received Approval in Principle from DNV on a jointly developed LNG Fuel Tank solution based on the NLI LNG tank design. Oslo, 4th of June 2013. Wilhelmsen Technical Solutions (WTS) and offshore oil and gas engineering specialist NLI Solutions (NLI) have received Approval in Principal (AiP) from the Norwegian class society Det Norske Veritas (DNV) on their jointly-developed LNG fuel tank design. The two companies have worked…

Norwegian-led consortium targets the development of cost-effective pre-installed seabed foundations for offshore wind. NorWind Installer AS, together with partners OWEC Tower AS, Vestavind Offshore AS, MENCK GmbH, BAUER Spezialtiefbau GmbH, Strathclyde University, Glasgow and the Centre for Integrated Petroleum Research (CIPR) at UNI Research, have been awarded support from the Norwegian Research Council for an innovation project for renewable energy. “The project will develop new and improved solutions for the location, design and installation of pre-installed seabed foundations for offshore wind turbines”, says Ivan Østvik at NorWind Installer who has been the R&D project developer.

Effect Ships International AS (ESI) is reporting extraordinary results from tank testing of two Air Supported Vessel (ASV) hull forms, a catamaran- and a mono candidate. A reduction in hull resistance of up to 50%; or more than 40%  net powering cut, after deduction of fan powering, has been documented with the ASV mono concept. Lately, air assisted hulls forms have gained increasingly more interest from the maritime sector. In December 2011, Marine Link, presented results from Marin on air lubrication techniques…

The Shipping Key Performance Indicator Project, initiated by InterManager but now administered by the independent KPI Association Ltd, has passed an important milestone: Performance statistics from more than 1,000 vessels are now being inputted into the project’s website – enabling the KPI system to produce informative and meaningful performance measurements for the industry. “This is excellent progress for the project and indicates a great deal of industry involvement and support,” said Captain Kuba Szymanski, on behalf of the KPI Association.