Engine Room Reliability and Standardization Efforts
Koji Jinnouchi,
Manager, Plannig Team, Technical Group, Nippon Yusen Kaisha
1: Abstract
Why now is standardization necessary?
100 years ago, merchant ships which entered service between Europe and Japan presented almost no problem, even with a one week delay from their original schedule.
However, in the present-day shipping environment, ships are never permitted to delay even if it's a two hour delay due to linking services such as from ship to train or trailer.
Strict customer requirements to be on schedule are the norm.
In the era in which speedy and timely service is required, without a doubt high reliability of the ship's engine room which includes main propulsion system, essential equipment and control system etc. is one of the most important factors.
In the case that trouble does occur with machinery/equipment or the control system onboard, immediate action must be carried out, in particular with a system which has no redundancy, or the total reliability of the ship is lost.
If this happens to be the case, what then is the main factor to increase total reliability? I believe that it is the reliability of each piece of equipment and system which must consistently meet a high set of standardization for each.
On the other hand, the following circumstance surrounding the ship's reliability has changed over the last 20 years. For example,
