On April 11th, convened by Mr. Francesco de Lorenzo, one of the main experts in noise and vibration in ships, a conference between experts in Underwater Radiated Noise (URN) was held in Trieste. The conference was organized by FINCANTIERI shipyard and in it, different topics with regard to the novel topic of underwater radiated noise by civil ships were discussed.
This conference accounts with the presence of important shipyards, like FINCANTIERI and STX-FRANCE, the most important European classification societies, like BUREAU VERITAS, LLOYD´ s REGISTER, DNV-GL and RINA and the Spanish SME TSI- TÉCNICAS Y SERVICIOS DE INGENIERÍA, as noise and vibration consultant in the design of “Silent Ships”.
In the mentioned conference, organised in different seasons, experts and stakeholders shared the latest experiences and progress made in this sector. Shipyards and ship owners exposed their main concerns regarding this new topic, which classification societies and standardization bodies are dealing with by the development of international measurement standards and optional class notations and the new initiatives of public and governmental bodies to encourage ship owners to reduce the URN of their ships. In this regard, it is to be noted the action taken by Port of Vancouver to reduce the fees for those ships proving that has a controlled acoustic signature by the corresponding URN Class Notation like BV-NR614 (URN).
TSI, represented by its general manager Publio Beltrán and technical manager Alfonso Moreno, and based on their experience gathered in BESST, SILENV and AQUO presented the methodology designed by TSI and employed for 30 years to assist ship owners and shipyards in the design of silent ships in compliance with these class notations and regulations regarding the underwater radiated noise by ships. In that presentation, a series of successful cases with ships granted with the NR614 (URN) class notation of Bureau Veritas were shown. The attendees of the conference concluded the following:
- There is clear need in the standardization of the current measurement procedures in both, deep and shallow waters, along with the applicable limits for different types of ships.
- The need for fishing research vessels, with underwater noise requirement of fulfilment with ICES CRR report 209, to be certified by an independent third party.
- The importance of the “validation of the efficiency of the different methodologies” as a previous step to the generation of “Design Guidelines” applicable to the Marine Sector.
- The double role of the Classification Societies as certificate and consultant simultaneously does not contribute to the transparency of this market.
Finally, the fact that a shipyard like FINCANTIERI, which leads the construction of cruising ships, encourages this type of meetings reveals a clear conscience and commitment of the Marine Sector with the challenge of reducing the Underwater Radiated Noise by ships and its impact in the marine ecosystem.
