LECTURE: New Ship Specification & Tender
IMarEST TV recording by the East of England Branch on the 22nd March 2022. This webinar was presented by Commodore Robert Dorey MA FIMarEST, Director of Operations at Trinity House.
Trinity House requires a replacement for the ageing buoy tender Patricia, which was built in 1983 and has delivered sterling and reliable service for 40 years. It became evident that a new tender would require careful specification to ensure it has a long and productive life, delivering long term value to Trinity House and the stakeholders who pay for the Marine Aids to Navigation service.
Performance in specific areas must improve, compared with existing vessels, while through life costs and the ability to adapt to change are key factors in this design and build project. The new build will therefore need to consider what can be included now and how change might be accommodated through life, with an understanding that we are in an era of rapidly moving technologies and environmental considerations and potential changes to legislation. The role of the vessel itself will also need to adapt to the changing technologies used in the safety of navigation, along with changes in the navigational risk landscape of our waters.
Put all these together, to design a ship with future proofing in mind presents a challenge. Reliability, ease of maintenance and high availability are key, so as well as embracing the future, there is also good value in understanding what we can learn from the present and the past. Rob will take us through the approach by Trinity House to attend to these challenges at the specification, design and tender stages of ship procurement.
About the speaker
Commodore Robert Dorey MA FIMarEST is Director of Operations at Trinity House providing the marine aids to navigation for shipping around the coast of England, Wales, the Channel Islands & Gibraltar. Rob started his career as a cadet in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary service in 1980 and rose through the ranks to be the Commodore, responsible for running the RFA fleet covering tankers, stores, ammunitions and passenger vessels.
In 2015 Rob left the RFA and moved ashore to his current role as Director of Operations at Trinity House. Trinity House has a long heritage covering over 500 years continually engaged in the welfare of the mariner and safety at sea. Rob was formerly President of IMarEST in 2019 and continues to play an active role in the Institute, currently as Chair of Marine Management (Holdings) Ltd, which manages investment in commercial ventures, the income from which supports IMarEST and its objectives.
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