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tinue to operate even if it has experienced a signiÞ cant failure. Bj¿rn Valberg, GC Rieber ShippingÕs Technical Director, explains. ÒFail-to-safe means that even if a ship encounters a failure it is rendered in a safe condition. Our objective with this ship is to take that philosophy a step further.Ó ÒIn the case of this vessel a single fail- ure Ð such as a failure of a generator set, a single thruster or even an entire switch- board section (operating two generators and two thrusters) Ð will not threaten the redundant continuation of operations, giving charterers real peace of mind.Ó Valberg illustrates this with a real-life scenario involving subsea ß ex pipe lay- ing Ð an operation the new vessel is opti- mized for Ð where, if a single failure was encountered, a ÔstandardÕ ship would be forced to terminate operations as redun-dancy would be jeopardized. ÒAnd of course, if you are in deep waters with a substantial length of product, such as ß ex pipe, hanging from the ship, aban- doning that operation is, wellÉ itÕs quite obvious how difÞ cult, time-consuming and expensive that is,Ó he said. ÒThis new vessel, thanks to Ôoperation+Õ is protected against that scenario Ð it could continue with its assignment. ThatÕs a hugely im- portant characteristic of that vessel, help- ing the charterer meet the demanding ex- pectations of the market.Ó Far Left Members of the techni- cal design team: Per Arne Rik-sheim, Ann Katrin Barstad, Geir Sivertstøl and Terje Våge. Left ?This top-class vessel will strengthen our position in the high-end subsea segment,? says Irene W. Basili, CEO in GC Rieber Shipping pictured with managing director Karsten Sævik in Ulstein Verft. (Continued on page 13) Marine Technology Reporter 11www.seadiscovery.com MTR #8 (1-17).indd 11MTR #8 (1-17).indd 1110/3/2012 4:13:05 PM10/3/2012 4:13:05 PM