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New equipment allows rescue helicopters to fly farther and in worse weather
Earlier this year, a completely new emergency towing system was tested off Norway’s northern west coast.
Bad weather and challenging rescue conditions are common scenarios when ships need help at sea. In such situations, it's important to stabilise the ship and tow it to a safe harbour.
Researchers at SINTEF, together with several partners, have now developed new and improved emergency towing gear. It is both lighter and smaller than before.
“We will train personnel to board an abandoned vessel and attach a towline. This is expertise that we haven’t had in Norway before, so it's an important step forward,” says Kjetil Aasabø.
He is head of the department for operations and coordination within the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s environmental preparedness department. Aasabø has the professional responsibility for Norway’s towing preparedness.
“The new equipment is specially adapted for this purpose. We haven’t had similar equipment before. Rescue operations are much more challenging with the old equipment," says Aasebø.
In 2028, new and stricter rules for emergency towing will come into effect, particularly for large ships over 20,000 gross tonnes.
Every year, between 140 and 170 ships drift in Norwegian waters while waiting to be rescued. The most serious incidents are when ships drift uncontrollably towards land and run aground.
A brand new emergency towing system was tested earlier this year off the Lofoten islands.
In the middle of the rescue exercise, a real Mayday message came in. A bulk carrier en route from Russia to Colombia lost engine power and was drifting out into the Norwegian Sea.
New equipment makes rescues easier
When a hazardous event occurs, the rescue operation must get underway quickly.
“The equipment to be used must be easy to handle and at the same time able to withstand the extreme forces it’s subjected to,” says senior adviser Ørjan Selvik at SINTEF Ocean, who led the emergency exercise.
Transferring a towline from one vessel to another can be difficult. If the crew has abandoned the at risk ship, that leaves no one on board to receive and secure the towline. Nor is there anywhere to aim the towline if the mooring deck is covered.
The vessel responding to the emergency may also lack the necessary equipment. Rescue work often takes place in very harsh weather conditions.
In those cases, the only option may be to transport the towline by helicopter.
Until now, emergency towing equipment has been extremely heavy. It can weigh up to one tonne, making it difficult to transport. As a result, such towing equipment has been transported in bags under the helicopter.
“When the load is hanging outside, the helicopter cannot fly as far or in as severe weather. The new towing system, by contrast, weighs only 75 kilos and can be taken into the helicopter itself,” the researcher says.
The new equipment consists of a lighter towline and a specially designed bag, called a helibag. The towing equipment is packed in the bag to make it easier to transport into the helicopter and carry around the ship.
A challenging operation in tough conditions
During the exercise in Lofoten, the cruise ship M/S Spitsbergen is pretending to be in distress at sea.
The ship is on a seven-day voyage between Tromsø and Lofoten with 220 passengers on board. The Norwegian coast guard ship KV Barentshav is already in place. The rescue helicopter takes the new equipment, circles over the cruise ship, and then the rescuer and equipment are lowered onto the ship.
“When the equipment is safely on deck, the crew carries the helibag to the mooring deck and deploys the towline. The whole setup only takes ten minutes,” says Selvik.
Those are precious minutes if it had been a real emergency.
Meanwhile, a real emergency situation is getting serious in another part of Norway. The bulk carrier LMZ Pluto has lost engine power west of the Haltenbanken oil and gas province in the Norwegian Sea. The crew is being evacuated by helicopter, but the ship is left drifting in the waves.
The Norwegian Coast Guard is following the situation closely and is continually calculating the ship’s drift path using a system that was also developed by SINTEF.
Back at the exercise in Lofoten, the air cannon is being prepared to fire the towline from the cruise ship to the Coast Guard ship, which is now ready to tow the cruise ship.
Captain Marius Fjellvær of M/S Spitsbergen follows the operation closely.
“It’s absolutely great for us to be part of such a comprehensive exercise, and one that involves so many parties," he says.
It is not unusual to train for possible incidents, but the exercises are often theoretical. On this day in March, however, a full-scale, realistic exercise involving numerous participants is carried out.
Light towing gear that can withstand great forces
The emergency tow must be able to withstand strong forces from ships and the ocean when it has to tow or stabilise a vessel weighing many thousands of tonnes in rough seas. The rope itself was developed by Offshore & Trawl Supply (OTS).
Each individual component is based on known technology, but for this purpose they are combined in new ways, creating new solutions. The line can either be fired over to the damaged ship or delivered using a sea drone.
“The best innovations are usually intuitive,” says SINTEF’s Ørjan Selvik.
The exercise has several objectives.
“One aspect of the test is seeing how the new towing technology works and figuring out what can be improved further. In addition, everyone needs to practise conducting emergency towing simulations. We need to professionalise the effort,” he says.
Straight from practice to the real deal
A few days after the exercise, specially trained crews from the Bergen Fire Department are lowered onto the bulk carrier that experienced engine failure out in the Norwegian Sea to connect an emergency towline.
“The crew members who trained on the exercise were the same ones who were lowered onto the LMZ Pluto,” says Aasabø.
The crew attaches a tow to the stern of the LMZ Pluto, which is 190 metres long and loaded with fertiliser. This allows them to gain control of the ship that has been drifting around without a crew and keep it away from offshore installations.
The realistic exercise in Lofoten suddenly became the real deal when the real Mayday message came in.
“It was exactly the type of situation we were practising for,” says Aasabø.
Even though the equipment used during the exercise was not part of the real rescue operation, the crew had trained together and built up a sense of trust among themselves.
“We can see how valuable the new equipment really is. It’s easy to handle and doesn’t take up much space. Now more training sessions need to happen so that rescue personnel know how to use the new equipment,” says Aasabø.
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