Five insights from the IMarEST Annual Conference
Offshore energy and food production, human element, AI in maritime, cyber security and the energy transition were among the key themes.
This year’s IMarEST Annual Conference, held online from July 4-8, offered a week-long opportunity for 655 attendees from 56 countries to take part in an exciting series of webinars, live debates, one-to-one talks and expert panel discussions.
Our five takeaways from the sessions that took place during the conference.
1. Offshore energy and food production
In his excellent presentation — Floating OWF: Challenges and opportunities on the road to Net Zero — Ed Walker, an environmental consultant at energy specialist, Xodus Group, explores the key challenges facing the deployment of floating offshore wind infrastructure at scale, while also addressing the related practical, commercial and consent obstacles.
“Although all of the floating offshore wind arrays installed at the moment are relatively small in scale, commercial-scale arrays are now on their way — so, globally, there will be lots of interesting opportunities out there,” he explains. “In fact, some offshore wind developers are also now exploring the idea of creating energy islands, along interconnected international multi-point routes, that could be paired with hydrogen production units.”
IMarEST Fellow Alan Crowle, meanwhile, outlines — in his detailed presentation, Inshore construction requirements for floating wind turbines — the practical problems involved in assembling and maintaining massive floating wind turbines that are holding back progress.
“The growth of floating offshore wind is slow because of the high capital costs and a lack of appropriate shipyard facilities as huge strong cranes are required to put them together.
“New methods have to be developed to assist in their construction and maintenance.”
An intriguing offshore design concept was also put forward by Rasim Asgarov, director, Brigantine Marine, during the same conference session— a rectangular multi-level floating farm that would incorporate fish farms, mushroom and poultry farms, and hydroponics.
2. Human element issues
With supply chains becoming longer and more fragile, concern is growing about the increasing time pressure being applied to those aboard ships who are least able to resist it.
“Time pressure is not new, it’s not being addressed, and it’s not getting better,” argues Martin Shaw, IMarEST’s president elect, in his compelling presentation — A Sustainable Solution to a Titanic Problem. “More than one hundred years after the sinking of the Titanic we know that time pressure is still there — but is it being dealt with? I don’t believe that the shipping industry actually has a safety culture. Some components of it may aim towards a safety culture, but the industry, as a whole, does not have a consistent safety culture, and that includes charterers, owners and the people aboard ships.”
3. Artificial intelligence in the maritime sector
A view of the maritime sector’s digital transformation through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning is set out lucidly by Mark Warner of Lloyd’s Register in his first-class presentation, Artificial Intelligence in Maritime - a learning curve’.
“Working with the right kind of data is critical,” he advises. “In my experience the maritime industry has sometimes been overwhelmed by having too much data and then decides to not use that data. In the early days when digital solutions were first introduced, a lot of shipping companies were keen to build their own systems, but it’s important to look for the right kind of partnerships to leverage expertise and truly understand the possibilities of AI.”
Warner goes on to describe a number of important case studies, including Orca AI — which is helping reduce the cognitive strain on seafarers — and Furuno’s HermAce digital health management system — which uses digital twin technology to relay real-time information from a ship’s bridge to help identify, diagnose and rectify onboard problems remotely.
4. Cyber security issues
In her presentation, Understanding Cyber Related Risks and Vulnerabilities, Dr Kimberly Tam, a cyber security lecturer at the University of Plymouth and academic lead for the Cyber-SHIP Lab, examines the rapidly developing problems now facing the maritime sector.
“The cyber security threat landscape is changing quickly because technology is evolving exponentially,” she explains. “Not only are individual ships’ systems becoming more sophisticated, they are also becoming more interconnected, and are now being used for decision-making in critical operations that would once have been manual in the past.
“The Cyber-SHIP Lab at the University of Plymouth has been designed and built to study maritime specific cyber security issues on ships, ports and autonomous systems. It allows us to configure systems in a physical twin to mimic certain vessels and then subject that model to testing, to see what the real vulnerabilities are — and how we can fix them.”
The Cyber-SHIP Lab currently has an ongoing research partnership with the Royal Navy and will soon begin working with US Coast Guard Cyber Command. It is also working with major industry partners including ABS Group, Babcock International, BMT and Lloyd’s Register.
5. Energy transition
In Molten salt reactors for surface ship propulsion, two naval architects from BMT — Benjamin Scott and Kaya Nightingale — set out the potential of thorium molten salt reactors (MSRs) for the future propulsion of vessels to help significantly reduce vessel emissions.
“Our research has found that MSRs could be a feasible power source for marine propulsion given necessary changes in legislation,” says Scott. “The biggest hurdle in using nuclear energy is public perception. If that can be overcome, government backing and legislation reform could enable the technology to mature enough to become commercially viable.”
“And to achieve a necessary level of safety and cost, a standardised marine MSR unit needs to be developed,” adds Nightingale. “This would reduce cost, increase safety, and allow naval architects to make some concept designs and carry out feasibility studies.”
Meanwhile, Dr Brian Sweeney from technology supplier Calix, outlines, in his presentation — RECAST, a low-cost route to zero carbon shipping — the possible benefits of ocean liming.
“Offsetting CO2 using ocean liming would be the lowest cost route to shipping decarbonisation,” he says. “Lime goes into the sea, captures CO2 and becomes calcium bicarbonate, for which the ocean has a huge capacity. It’s alkaline, so it counters ocean acidity. It’s good for the ocean, and it’s extremely good for the atmosphere.
“The responsible ongoing use of fossil fuels by many ship types is, therefore, available using ocean liming. It is a low-cost option that is easily retrofittable to ships and cruise liners.
“Ocean liming is, though, currently prohibited by the London Protocol (Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972), so there is a need for a consortium of universities, industry, classification societies and national marine bodies to solidify current research, propose new regulations, then interact on the issue with the IMO and UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
Watch the 2022 Annual Conference online
Keep a look out for the full set of conference presentations on IMarEST TV in the coming months.
Many thanks to this year's sponsors, Fugro and Bangladesh Marine Academy.