Ship accidents and near misses can be frequently attributed to the failure of structures and machinery. Accordingly, the latter increases the risk for crew and passengers’ injuries and fatalities, environmental damage and pollution, damage or total loss of the ship and its equipment as well as disruption of the ship’s operations which consequently lead to operational losses.
The maritime regulatory and administration authorities such as Flag states, Port State Control authorities and Classification Societies have increased their cooperative efforts towards the promotion of safe, secure and environmental friendly ship operations over the last years. The latter has occurred through both formal cooperation among countries (e.g. Paris Memorandum Of Understanding-MOU, etc.) as well as the form of guidelines introduced by other maritime stakeholders (e.g. OCIMF, IACS). In all cases, all relevant bodies attempt to preserve the highest standards in the maritime industry while at the same time make every effort in order to minimise the high-risk and sub-standard ships.
In an effort to address the rules and Standards for Ship Inspection and Survey Organisations, EC published regulation No 391/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with particular focus on the standardised and harmonised framework related to ship inspections and surveying (EC 2009).
On top of the above, ship managers/operators still try to find a way to combine the rich practical knowledge acquired in the actual marine field with the technological advances stemming from the relevant information technology sector in an effective way.
Besides the above, the overall risk analysis, risk management and maintenance process in the maritime sector still lacks the element of applying and implementing technologically advanced tools in contrast to applications in other industrial sectors such as the nuclear and aerospace industry which provide real-time monitoring (e.g. condition monitoring tools and techniques). In this case, condition based procedures in the maritime industry are not well established yet (Imarest 2011).
The INCASS project aims to bring an innovative solution to the integration of monitoring, inspection, data gathering (including real-time information), risk analysis and management and Decision Support for ship structures, machinery and equipment in an efficient and collaborative manner.
Partners
UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE, LLOYD´S REGISTER EMEA, RINA SERVICES SPA, UNIVERSITY OF BALEARIC ISLANDS, GLAFCOS MARINE LIMITED, BUREAU VERITAS-REGISTRE INTERNATIONAL DE CLASSIFICATION DE NAVIRES ET D AERONEFS SA, ATLANTEC ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS GMBH, TÉCNICAS Y SERVICIOS DE INGENIERÍA, S.L. SHIPCON LIMASSOL LIMITED, DANAOS SHIPPING COMPANY LTD, AP&A LTD
