Page 73: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2014)

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Alfa Laval’s PureBallast 3.0

Alfa Laval has re- de? ned its chem- ical-free ballast water treatment system. A 600 cu. m./hr. reactor has been added to the portfolio, enabling new con? gurations with fewer compo- nents and energy savings. The sys- tem has received

IMO type approval from DNV. An advantage of the

PureBallast 500 and 600 con? gurations is the re- duction in system components. Installation is sim- pli? ed and space is saved. www.alfalaval.com/marine

UT99 AG’s GL-Approved

Oil Mist Separator

UT99 AG man- ufactures oil mist separators for crankcase ventilation of combustion engines and for lubricating oil tank vent for turbines.

Environmen- tal and safety requirements in the marine and offshore sectors mean that with GL approv- al, the UT99 AG has proven that their products ful? ll highest demands on safety and reliability.

Discharge of emissions from crankcase ventila- tion and lubricating oil tank ventilation is almost eliminated. www.ut99.ch

PPG PMC Coats USS Freedom

PPG Industries’ protective and marine coatings (PMC) business received The Society of Protec- tive Coatings (SSPC) 2014 Military Coatings

Project Award of Excellence for the performance of AMERCOAT 240 and PSX 700SG coatings on the USS Freedom, the lead ship of the Navy’s lit- toral combat ? eet. The award is given annually by

SSPC to recognize exceptional coatings work per- formed on U.S. military ships or facilities. www.ppgpmc.com/northamerica 2008-published report, ‘Survival at Sea for Mariners, Aviators, and SAR Person- nel,’ Dr. Brooks writes about the inade- quacies of life rafts and life boats, stating: “…a whole new concept is required to de- sign a person-mounted life raft that may incorporate personal ? otation and hypo- thermia protection, and most important of all be easy to board….”

One answer could be a completely new class of PFD which has just been launched for the offshore sector, but could also help save lives in other areas such as ? shing, ferries and merchant ships. Cob- ham Life Support’s innovative wearable personal overboard survival system, Sur- vivor+, uniquely incorporates both a SO-

LAS-approved in? atable life jacket and a tethered personal life raft into a single compact vest. It enables the MOB to re- move themselves from the water and the elements in as little as 60 seconds, there- fore signi? cantly improving the chances of survival. The lightweight system can be worn without hindering movement, is easy to use and deploys automatically when the wearer is immersed in water, with a manual-only option also available. “We need a different perspective on how to save lives,” said Don Blackman,

Engineering Research Manager, Cobham

Life Support. “People are always going to end up in the water in the event of a disaster, but, if passengers or offshore workers had Survivor+ instead of just a regular life jacket, they will be able to be out of the water in only one minute. Sur- vivor+ will not take up any more room than the current life jackets and we be- lieve it would be less costly for the indus- try to adopt them.”

The major components of the Survi- vor+ system are already in use around the world. The personal life raft has been in use by the US, UK and other military services for more than 20 years and was originally designed to save the lives of pilots and air crew who might have to ditch or bail out over cold water, and then have to wait for some hours for rescue to arrive. The life jacket, as a SOLAS ap- proved device, is used in a wide variety of global maritime operations. Survivor+ is a commercial version of the survival system used by the military, but with en- hancements to make the product easy to use with minimal or no training.

Whatever the outcome of the current debate on future legislation surround- ing out-of-water-craft on vessels, there is a strong case for the use of Survivor+ systems. If more boats are forced to carry survival craft, Survivor+ could be the an- swer for older vessels. It is less costly and will not require vessels to undergo the necessary rebuilding work to accommo- date multi-person craft. “We certainly identify with both sides of the debate,” said Don Blackman. “We agree with the experts that you must get people out of the water as soon as possible and into their own personal safe environ- ment. We also recognise that the addition of large multi-person craft may not in fact save lives. They can be expensive and unwieldy, dif? cult to launch and dif? cult for people to board. Regulating the ship- ping industry to carry survival craft will not necessarily save lives if people can’t board them in a catastrophic disaster situ- ation. As with the recent Korean ferry that capsized very quickly, the captain stated he was worried about giving an abandon ship order because the passengers would end up in the cold water and potentially perish from hypothermia or cold water shock. These victims were unfortunately in a no-win situation.”

Awarded a certi? cate of compliance from Lloyd’s Register after successfully completing all the materials and perfor- mance testing required under the IMO

Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code,

Survivor+ integrates a life vest and raft, using Cobham’s own vacuum-packing technology, and is so ground-breaking, that no speci? c SOLAS category exists for it. Other distinguishing features of the

Survivor+ life raft include ballast bags and sea anchor to provide stability and a water activated strobe light ? xed to the top of the canopy for enhanced night de- tection. An integrated PLB option is also available.

The debate will continue about reducing loss of life at sea and ? nding pro-active solutions. Survivor+ looks certain to form a part of these discussions, a point rein- forced by Bruce McDonald, Technical

Manager for Fire and Safety for Lloyd’s

Register, who said: “Survivor+ provides a de? nite improvement to safety at sea.” “Out of the Water in 60 Seconds” (Continued from page 70)

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