Page 22: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2006)

Dry docking of ships and vessels is a small but spe- cialized part of the shipbuilding and repair industry.

San Diego based DM Consulting, Inc. specializes in dry dock training, education and consulting.

The U.S. Government has two publications that pro- vide good guidance for the dry docking process and dry dock maintenance programs, Naval Ships'

Technical Manual Chapter 997 "Docking Instructions and Routine Work in Dry Dock" and Military

Standards 1625 "Safety Certification Program for

Drydocking Facilities and Shipbuilding ways for U.S.

Navy Ships."

Besides these two publications, there is little written about the drydocking of vessels. Engineering and

Naval Architecture books include very little specific information on the drydocking of vessels. Often these books will state only that drydocking is very similar to the grounding of a vessel.

To help bridge this gap of information, DM

Consulting conducts Dry Dock Conferences, Basic

Dry Dock Training courses and consults with compa- nies requiring dry docking assistance.

The fifth in a series of Dry Dock Conferences is scheduled take place at the Hilton Jacksonville

Riverfront, Jacksonville, Fla., from March 28-30. This international conference is targeted for Dock Masters,

Docking Officers, Engineers, Naval Architects and

Port Engineers representing shipyards, engineering/consulting firms and government agen- cies. International dry dock industry personnel from six continents have attended past conferences.

The goal of the conference is to stimulate the transfer of knowledge and information to personnel in the dry dock industry. The first two days of the conference will be a series of presentations by experts in the dry dock field or fields related to docking. On the third day, a couple of presentations will be followed by a tour of

Atlantic Dry Dock's dry dock facilities.

This years scheduled topics include: • Caisson maintenance analysis. Damaged submarine dry docking. Dry dock equipment. Dry docking a submarine without a plan. Dry docking with shores (without side blocks). Dry dock related software programs. Dry dock structural analysis and tow plan. Economic and environmental advantages of using rubber docking blocks. Floating dry dock automated systems/alarms/ sensors. Floating dry dock ballast system. Floating dry dock tow and work-ups to service. Graving dock maintenance. Hurricanes lessons learned. Inclining experiments. Marine railways. Safety of floating dry docks. Ship launchings. Ship stability. Submarine launching/dry dock ship transfer operations. Test of dry docking with rubber blocks. Underwater camera dry dock systems.

For more information on the conference, visit www.drydocktraining.com or call 858-705-0760 22

Training & Education

Dry Dock Conference Planned for March 28-30

The DockMaster for Windows

DM Consulting and Neptune Systems have teamed to produce "The DockMaster," a Windows based software program designed to assist dry dock personnel in the planning and preparation of dry docking vessels. This program was designed specifically to support the dry docking of vessels. Other Naval Architecture software programs can be used to assist dry docking calculations, however, they are difficult to use without an engi- neering degree. Dock Masters for Windows was designed solely to guide dry dock personnel through the planning and calculations of dry docking/undocking vessels.

Program features include: Docking and Undocking Calculations; Ship Loading Calculations; Dock Loading

Calculations; Emergency Loading Calculations; Tidal Graph Generator; Pumping Plan Generator (floating dry docks); and Calculates in US or Metric Units

The program is an accurate, time saving tool for the individual tasked with ensuring safe dry docking and undocking evolutions. All the standard docking and undocking calculations can be computed using the pro- gram including ship size; load limitations; ship stability; corrections for list and trim and; dock loading.

A Weight and Moment spreadsheet provides a fully integrated tool for managing weight changes that occur while the vessel is in dry dock. Additionally, the spreadsheet can be used prior to docking to determine off- setting weights to counter act excessive list and trim. Computations tabulated are vertical, trimming and heel- ing moments for each weight change or movement. The resultant vessel list, trim, displacement, drafts and stability is automatically updated and displayed.

An Emergency Loading calculation section of the program computes the required side block support require- ments for the emergency conditions of high winds or seismic events. The fully integrated Title Graph gener- ator uses results from the docking or undocking calculation and the expected tides to determine time periods for safely dry docking vessels. For yards with floating dry docks, a Tank Loading calculator can tailored to the specifications of the docks tanks. Numeric and graphical results provided for average and estimated load on each tank. With the loading calculations, tank pumping plans are generated.

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