Page 55: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 2015)

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First ShipArrestor Delivered 1. The ShipArrestor container 1 1 is lifted by the helicopter.

2. The ShipArrestor buoy marks the tow line.

3. The ShipArrestor en route to a drifting ship.

4. The ShipArrestor lassoes a target vessel during a trial.

ollowing a full product trial in restor give it the strength and ability to

New Zealand, the Norwegian quickly turn any size of ship, from a

Coastal Administration (NCA) trawler to a supertanker, into the wind

F signed its acceptance of the ? rst and halve the speed at which it is drift- of two ShipArrestor systems from Miko ing. The ShipArrestor was developed

Marine, making Norway the ? rst coun- by salvage technology specialists Miko try with a system that gives it the ability Marine, which led a consortium of eight 2 2 to protect its shores from the danger of European organizations partly funded by drifting oil tankers and from the disas- the European Union. trous pollution that can result when they Coppins Sea Anchors Ltd of Motueka, run aground. New Zealand joined the team as co-

ShipArrestor was put through a com- developers of the ShipArrestor in early plete customer acceptance trial in Tas- 2014. man Bay, New Zealand using chartered miko.no helicopters and vessels. The system kystverket.no consists of a large fabric parachute-style sea anchor that is looped by a helicop- ter onto a ship drifting without engine power. This is achieved without any in- volvement of the ship’s crew after which a line terminating with the sea anchor in a container is paid-out upwind by the he- licopter. When the container is dropped 4 4 into the sea it releases the fabric anchor, a recovery line and a buoy that shows its location. The sea anchor cuts the speed of the ship’s drift and consequently in- creases the time available for a rescue tug to reach the ship and take it in tow before it runs aground and ruptures its tanks.

As designed, when the rescue tug ar- rives it can lift the buoy on board and use its line to tow the ship to safety. The advanced materials used by the ShipAr- www.marinelink.com 555555555

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