Ro-ro ships
Ro-ro cargo ships and passenger vessels pose specific safety challenges. Bureau Veritas works to address these risks while meeting owner requirements.
The non-standardized designs of ro-ro vessels present specific safety risks, notably relating to strength, and transverse stresses in the form of racking. Ro-ro ships are designed to carry specific, often in some cases atypical cargo, which poses additional structural and stability risks. And vibration, also resulting from non-standardized designs, can impact safety and comfort. Finally, owners seek to improve energy efficiency to improve fuel consumption and performance.
Bureau Veritas analyzes your ro-ro design by performing direct calculations, before applying the loads to a complete Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model. We take all factors into account, including cargo to be carried and meteorological data on the routes the vessel will travel. Our goal: to reduce or eliminate risk, remove uncertainties and optimize cargo arrangement. For ropax vessels, we also help you improve passenger comfort.
Bureau Veritas’ approach to strength analysis goes beyond IACS’ unified requirement for longitudinal strength. Using our Hydrostar seakeeping analysis tool, we perform direct calculations for verification of design wave, and shear force distributions. We model real conditions, without relying on hypotheses, to remove uncertainty.
As passenger ships restart operations in the second half of 2020, owners must address a range of vessel-specific health, hygiene and safety risks. Restart Your Business with BV provides a standard-based framework for operators, helping them implement key protective measures for passengers, crew, surveyors and onshore personnel. Once an independent audit is performed and compliance with local, national, and international guidelines is demonstrated, vessels receive Bureau Veritas’ globally recognized Safeguard label.
Our calculations are applied to a complete FEA model (VeriSTAR Hull). Every part of the vessel can be reviewed with accuracy for yielding and buckling, and oblique seas are also taken into account. The model enables optimization of scantlings to improve structural strength. It also enables analysis of global vibration by calculating resonance.
Ro-ro vessels carry atypical cargo, for example, vehicles or industrial equipment. Bureau Veritas assesses cargo arrangement at the design stage, analyzing point loads on deck, and proposing optimizations.
Bureau Veritas’ classed fleet includes a wide range of ro-ro cargo ships and ropax vessels. Unique examples include a ro-ro cargo ship used to carry Airbus 380 parts; dual-fuel (LNG and diesel) vessels featuring battery power; and a dual-fuel luxury ro-ro ferry.
LNG is an increasingly attractive fuel choice for ro-ro ships operating in Emission Control Areas. Several cargo and passenger vessels in the Bureau Veritas classed fleet or under construction have followed our dedicated Rules for use of gas as fuel.
Technological advancements such as intelligent data and real-time, connected equipment have also presented new challenges for shipping. Digitalization means that tanker managers and owners must protect their fleets from cyber-attacks. As such attacks grow in number and sophistication, cyber security must become a priority for shipping industry actors.
Bureau Veritas knows that cyber security is essential to safety management in shipping and offshore operations. For this reason, we have built on our deep knowledge of industrial control systems, smart ships, networks and telecommunications to provide best-in-class cyber security services: