LIFERAFTS AND MESs | 59
Innovative MES systems launched for passenger ships
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nnovation is booming within the MES sector of passenger shipping, with several new products being launched or in the final phase of development. Viking Life-Saving Equipment (Viking) has launched a passenger vessel MES specially to meet the new IMO polar code. As its president of cruise and LifeCraft Niels Fraende told Passenger Ship Technology “We are the first to bring to market a developed system for the polar code, supporting the latest polar code 5 and polar code 6.” He credits Viking’s lengthy experience in the polar region, where its work has included supplying equipment for the Russian Navy. “When the polar code came into force last year it was pretty straightforward for us to come to market with something that was built specially for it,” he said. Introduced at Seatrade Cruise Global in March this year, the Viking VEC Plus Polar has already had orders from cruise ships being built or delivered this year. Approved to temperatures as low as -30°C, when the temperatures fall to below 5°C, the liferaft will start heating up automatically via electric power hooked onto the ship’s power supply. “This stops food over-icing and water from getting frozen, so if an incident happens the raft is ready.” The system includes 40% fewer mechanical components than earlier MES designs and includes cost-efficiencies for installation and servicing. For instance, the system only requires land-based servicing every 30 months, reducing costs related to administration and logistics. Mr Fraende added “We ice-tested the VEC Plus Polar at -30°C, to ensure it will work at the polar service temperature of -20°C typically required for polar code 6 class ships. Released by gravity and featuring measures for controlled descent, the system will launch safely onto ice as well as water.” He added that the entire system including the associated liferafts has been
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From the first passenger ship MES to meet new polar code requirements, to the first-ever slidebased system being developed for cruise ships, innovation is a trend within this sector
modified and reinforced to match the extreme conditions under which it may be required to save lives. This includes measures to store polar code mandatory personal and group survival kits along with rations for five-day survival directly at the MES station.
Cruise: first-of-its-kind system
Elsewhere, Survitec is trialling an escape solution never before seen in the cruise ship industry. It is a slide-based escape system, and while similar solutions are
Viking Life-Saving Equipment has launched the first MES solution for passenger ships that meets the requirements of the new polar code
Passenger Ship Technology | 3rd Quarter 2018