Revolutionary lifesaving appliances are being launched within the passenger ship market, including hybrid and MES systems
The VIKING LifeCraft, developed by VIKING Life-saving Equipment, recently obtained type-approval from Lloyd’s Register – making it the first alternative evacuation system to achieve this.
With the approval now in place, VIKING is looking to close first orders for the system very soon, VIKING Life-Saving Equipment vice president sales, cruise and LifeCraft Niels Fraende tells PST.
The type-approval from Lloyd’s Register went through in May this year. “While it is an alternative design, the type-approval lends a solid foundation for flag states and other class societies to go in, evaluate and confirm the foundations for approval and the eligibility of the system,” says Mr Fraende.
Final piece in puzzle
This is the “final piece in the puzzle” on the journey to bring the VIKING LifeCraft to market, says Mr Fraende, adding the next step is the first order, which is “really close”.
Explaining the significance of the LifeCraft for the industry, he says, “It’s a game-changer. LifeCraft can replace both lifeboats and MES systems with significant savings in deck space. Also, the electric-powered survival craft features excellent manoeuvrability that can be applied for station keeping to pick up evacuees in the water. In operation, it features advanced digital system monitoring and is easier for crew to maintain and master in terms of training.”
VIKING Life-Saving Equipment has launched another new cruise and ferry evacuation solution called VEDS Helix marine evacuation system (MES). Mr Fraende says, “It breaks with all MES traditions. It is a simplistic approach both technology and installation wise.”
The MES had its heavy weather sea trials in October last year, and the first system delivery was to a major cruise vessel shipyard in Europe just months later. Several more deliveries are confirmed for the near future.
Highlighting the simplicity of the system, Mr Fraende says, “MES systems typically have bowsing arrangements welded to the ship side which can be affected by waves, ice and port operations. If there is damage to these arrangements, they will need to be repaired rapidly. This issue is avoided with our system, as it relies on innovative and simplified gravity-based technology to keep the system in place during evacuation and does not require bowsing lines.
“Over the years, MES systems have become more and more technically complicated, and we wanted to break with that development to create something with a focus set firmly on deployment reliability, evacuation efficiency and user friendliness. Therefore, this new system has 70% less technical elements, making it very simple in basic appearance while bringing functional safety to a new level.”
World’s largest inflatable lifeboat
Survitec’s Seahaven, which it says is the world’s largest inflatable lifeboat, was launched at this year’s Seatrade Cruise Global after completing the IMO tests required by Lloyd’s Register.
The 1,060-capacity inflatable lifeboat solution for cruise vessels successfully completed the tests, including ship sinking scenarios and a timed evacuation, which was achieved in less than 22 minutes. Under SOLAS rules, evacuation should not exceed 30 minutes. The A.520 tests follow the December 2021 success of heavy weather sea trialscarried out in line with SOLAS requirements for Novel Appliances.
Survitec product manager AES and MES Richard McCormick tells PST, “The industry has been waiting too long for a real alternative – lifeboats have just got bigger and bigger, they have not been evolving or innovative, just meeting the needs of bigger ships. Now we have something game-changing for them.”
He adds, “This technology has the potential to completely revolutionise ship design. We have brought in a lot of new technology, brought in a lot of innovation, new fabric, we have been testing with a full reliability programme (which is unusual and goes above SOLAS requirements).”
Seahaven launches with the push of a button and automatically inflates, taking four minutes to deploy. The slide-based Survival technology solution has an improved passenger evacuation time without compromising on safety. Once deployed, the inflatable lifeboat can travel independently for 24 hours at a speed of 6 knots.
Survitec began developing the solution following its early involvement with the EU-led and -funded Safedor project, which worked with classification societies, operators and flag states to integrate safety as a design objective into ship design and risk assessment into approval frameworks. The recent tests and sea trials represent the culmination of this process for the company.
Survitec displayed a cruise ship model at Seatrade Cruise Global to illustrate to attendees the design of Seahaven versus traditional lifeboats. The model showed Seahaven has a one-deck height as opposed to two decks for lifeboats, and it also showed how much more passenger space Seahaven creates.
Mr McCormick says, “With lifeboats, some cabins have obstructed views, with a window on to the back of the lifeboat, but with Seahaven, these cabins can now be balcony cabins, creating more revenue.
“As well as being more effective in terms of safety and capability in terms of abandonment, we are also giving back real estate to operators for better use.”
He sums up, “This is a hybrid, it has taken a lot of rules from lifeboats and MES and mixed them.”
Survitec announced at Seatrade Cruise Global it is teaming up with Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd, Independent Maritime Advisors Ltd and a major shipbuilder to deliver a cruise ship design incorporating Seahaven. The companies established the industry working group with a view to installing Seahaven advanced evacuation system as the primary means of evacuation on board Norwegian Cruise Line’s next ground-breaking Prima-class of ships.
Enter LSA’s new SAFE
Liferaft Systems Australia (LSA) has recently launched its LSA single activation fast evacuation (SAFE). This is a mini slide-based MES system mainly for lower freeboard passenger-only vessels.
It has been approved for operations in North America and LSA is hoping to complete the heavy weather sea test in Q3 this year, which will then give it full EU market approval and enable the company to sell in Europe to any suitable vessel.
LSA European manager Peter Rea tells PST, “We know there is a market for smaller passenger-only vessels. For example, zero-emissions and electric ferries all have that similar sleek design and require evacuation from lower freeboards. There are products on the market, but those products tend to be quite complicated from a deployment perspective. We wanted to bring the main elements of the LSA MES with a product with a single activation deployment, minimal manoeuvring in position and with equipment deployed without any further crew intervention.”
Elsewhere, LSA is strengthening its supply chain in the aftermath of Covid.
Mr Rea explains, “We are making sure we have multiple sources for key raw materials such as liferaft fabrics, inflation systems and so forth, as Covid gave us concerns that some of our major suppliers were feeling the impact of the pandemic. We want to make sure we have no gaps in the supply chain or risks, and if anything did happen to a major supplier, we have a second or even third source supplier.”
2022 is an important year for LSA, as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. It has come a long way, Mr Rea reflects, from being a ’young start-up’ to being a renowned global supplier to ferries, naval ships and super yachts across the world, and is now entering the cruise market for the first time, with the provision of its systems to Mystic Cruises.
The company has recently provided equipment to new vessels for Fred Olsen, Fjord Line, Torghatten, Boreal, Naviera Armas and the latest Salish-class ferry for BC Ferries, Salish Heron.
Looking ahead, LSA has a strong orderbook with contracts for MES delivery out to 2027. With new products, increased manufacturing facilities and a strengthened workforce, LSA looks forward to a very bright future.
