The Safe Return to Port regulations have changed the requirements for the design of passenger vessels having the keel laid on or after 1 July 2010. Shipyards and designers now need to prove that their vessel design attains a specific level of system redundancy for a large set of systems onboard. The overall concept is that the vessel is its own best lifeboat and hence it is crucial to maintain availability of all critical systems to support life at sea.

The problem

The impact of these regulations on the design of passenger vessels is profound. Shipyards need to evaluate, by regulation, the survivability and redundancy of a vast array of systems onboard. Not only must they understand the effect of direct damage (from fire or flood) to all the systems in that compartment, but they must also understand the consequential damage. When it comes to physically large passenger vessels and cruise lines, and systems supporting thousands of passengers and crew, the scale of the problem becomes enormous.

The solution

Systema™ is a software solution that allows its users to create a digital twin model of all systems onboard, pairing location information with a system dependency model. Systema™ uses a 2.5D modelling approach to minimise modelling time and improve overall efficiency. System availability functions for each critical SRTP system are developed by the user with total flexibility. The software is then able to analyse the systems’ model against the defined availability criteria and to apply each and every scenario for flood, fire and MVZ damage. This is the only way to ensure a comprehensive and thorough analysis of system redundancy and identify critical spaces, piping, cabling and items of equipment.

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis is currently the most widely used methodology to solve this problem. But it is a manual process, and relies on the understanding and experience of system failure modes of the few people involved. It is not repeatable, cannot deal with ‘what if’ scenarios, is not extendable and provides no ability to extend the analysis post-refit.

Systema™ is a modern, efficient and effective solution to this complex engineering problem. It embraces the power of digitisation and can provide benefits throughout the life of the vessel.

Services

Consultancy and support services Safety at Sea engages with your design process to deliver Safe Return to Port analysis throughout the design cycle to support your business in obtaining regulatory compliance.

Engaging us early in the design process can provide great benefits to you: we can assist you in defining your overall SRTP philosophy, and we can work beside you, defining your systems in our Systema™ product and advising you on critical issues, reducing rework and ensuring compliance from the outset.

Software solution

Systema™ provides a proven and complete SOLAS Safe Return to Port solution to support the design, verification and approval of ship systems’ redundancy and to provide evidence to Class and Flag. The software enables both an overall and detailed assessment on a casualty-by-casualty basis, delivering effective compliance at design and throughout the life of the vessel.