IMCA puts spotlight on DP developments

摘要

Having decided to accept input via its website, IMCA M 103 Guidelines for the Design and Operation of Dynamically Positioned Vessels, was one of the first documents to be the subject of an open forum on the IMCA website, enabling all with an interest in guidance being written or revised to play an active role. Now, IMCA M 166 Guidance on Failure Modes and Effects Analyses (FMEAs) is also available for input. As Richard Benzie, technical director at IMCA, explained, the current IMCA document M 103, although revised over the years, has its origins in the Dynamic Positioning Vessel Owners Association (DPVOA), which published it in 1991. Mr Benzie's colleague, technical adviser Andy Goldsmith, recalled, "Back then, I was a dynamic positioning officer (DPO) on a diving support vessel, and there was still some debate about the principles of redundancy. I recall one story doing the rounds at the time of an acoustic beacon being fitted to a tautwire weight and the two systems being accepted by some DPOs as two separate position reference systems. This clearly would not be the case today. The DP industry has moved on substantially since those times."