Papers

SAFETY AT SEA AND MARITIME ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION WITH SPECIAL REFERENCES TO HUMAN FACTORS

Authors: PROFESSOR DR REZA ZIARATI, GERMAN DE MELO, HEIKKI KOIVISTO, LAKHVIR SINGH, AMIREHSAN BARZEGARSEDIGH, VANESSA MAKAR, ARIS CHRONOPOULOS

Keywords: Safety at sea, Marine environment protection, Quality Assurance, Human factors

Pareto Analysis of ISM Code Deficiencies

Authors: PROFESSOR DR REZA ZIARATI, GERMAN DE MELO, HEIKKI KOIVISTO, JANUZ URIASZ, LAKHVIR SINGH, AMIREHSAN BARZEGARSEDIGH, AMIR LAZEMPOUR, ARIS CHRONOPOULOS

The International Safety Management (ISM) Code concerns safety at sea and marine environment protection, primarily regarding SOLAS-class vessels. The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the importance of reviewing the outcomes of ISM external audits and port inspections, as well as analysing accident reports with a view to improving safety at sea and marine environment protection. The paper focuses on the outcomes of some 50,000 non-conformities noted by Administrations and Recognized Organizations (ROs) and over 100,000 deficiencies observed by Port State Control Officers (PSCOs) during their inspections. Included is a sample selected from approximately 300 accident reports to establish the root causes of non-conformities, deficiencies, and accidents at sea. In reviewing the root causes and contributing factors to the accidents, audit non-conformities, and inspection deficiencies, the paper attempts to identify those with the highest frequency of occurrence by applying Pareto analysis. This paper concludes with a taxonomy model identifying the key factors contributing to accidents, non-conformities noted by Administrations or ROs, and deficiencies observed by PSCOs during ship inspections.

Keywords: Safety at sea, Marine environment protection, Quality Assurance, Human factors

REPOSITORY AND KNOWLEDGE BASE ON INFECTIOUS DISEASES FOR SEAFARERS

Authors: German De Melo Rodriguez, Izabela Bodus-Olkowska, Tomaz Gregoric, Natalia Wawrzyniak, Natasza Blek, Kacper Dziedzic, Reza Ziarati, Vanessa Makar, Aris Chronopoulos, Janne Lahtinen, Heikki Koivisto

The DESSEV project, funded by the European Union Erasmus+ program, aims to enhance maritime health security through a Decision Support System (DSS) addressing epidemic threats on sea-going vessels. A primary outcome of this project is the creation of a comprehensive learning repository and knowledge base focused on infectious diseases relevant to maritime contexts. Additionally, the project developed an extensive database containing information on 22 infectious diseases, each described by 35 symptoms across 8 categorical groups. This accumulated knowledge underpins the construction of IF...THEN... rules, organized as decision trees, to support rapid, evidence-based responses to potential health threats on vessels. The DESSEV project contributes valuable resources for maritime health management, aiming to improve preparedness and response strategies for epidemic threats in sea-based environments.

Keywords: Maritime health security, Decision Support System (DSS), Epidemic threats, Infectious diseases, Sea-going vessels, Knowledge base

Predicting Demand for Products as Part of Intelligent Enterprise Resource Planning

Authors: Professor Dr Reza Ziarati, Başak AKDEMİR, Erdem BILGILI, Martin ZIARATI

Most Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are based on old Material Resource Planning (MRP) II philosophy and do not have facilities for intelligent assessment of the market place. In this paper, we have proposed a novel means of developing Intelligent Enterprise Resource Planning (IERP) systems. Accurately forecasting demand for a given product is a pre-requisite for any effective ‘Pull’ based intelligent ERP system. Here, ‘Pull’ means producing products based on actual demand and intelligence means the prediction system is capable of learning from the past trends and exercising choice which helps in decision support system.

Most companies, with or without ERP, either carry out an thoughtful assessment of the market before deciding on the number of products they should be producing or carry on producing goods, at worst hoping they would sell what they produce or at best, use conventional forecasting methods. What is of significance in deciding on the number of products which to be made is the accurate prediction of demand for these products. Research has shown that forecasting techniques using neural networks result in most accurate forecasts. It has also been demonstrated that Neural Networks if optimised could even produce more accurate predictions.

Keywords: Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial 3D Neural Networks, Artificial Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks

Design and Development of an Emulated Human Cognition using novel 3D Neural Networks

Authors: Professor Dr Reza Ziarati, Erdem Bilgili, Martin Ziarati, Osman Nuri Uçan

This paper describes the development of an Emulated Human Cognition (EHC) which is designed and based on a replicated human brain with a right- and a left- hand lobe, one a deductive side and the other a generic one. The emulated human cognition works in a very similar to the human brain. The right-hand lobe consists of a newly designed Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with a multi-hidden layer topology. The right-hand lobe is the deductive side of the EHC and uses logics as well as an integrative method applying iteration to determine a relationship between a set of input values and a set of output values. The left-hand lobe is a newly designed 3-dimensional cellular neural network. The left-hand lobe is the descriptive side of the EHC which uses a generic algorithm for defining the relationship between the adjacent cells (data).

Both lobes use the system equation, one using it in an iterative manner and the other as an integrative. The input variables presented to the EHC are immediately analysed for it to decide which lobe should be activated. Once the decision is made, the appropriate lobe takes the responsibility of computing the data and predicting the desired outcome(s). The EHC, when fully developed, has almost an unlimited memory capacity and is capable of immediate recall of any data in its almost unlimited memory locations. The EHC is capable of parallel processing if each lobe is used simultaneously. The EHC is an aid to any researcher wishing to establish a relationship between any two set of data. EHC has been used in several applications where neural networks have been used to establish relationship between two or more sets of variables. In this paper the EHC has been given two tasks; one to forecast demand for a given product and the other to compute the activity costs of building a new ship. The results have been very promising.

Keywords: 3D Neural Networks, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Cellular Neural Networks (CNN), Genetic Algorithm (GA), Neural Network Applications.

PROMETHEAS Project - Mental Health Data Research Hub for Seafarers

Authors: Professor Dr Reza Ziarati, Mariusz Dramski, Captain Heikki Koivisto, Tomaž Gregorič, Professor Germán de Melo Rodríguez, Aris Chronopoulos

Some 90% of the world visible trade is transported by sea. It is therefore of prime importance that the mental wellbeing of all seafarers onboard ocean-going vessels is seriously taken into consideration.

Mental health is a state of wellbeing in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Research at C4FF has shown that many seafarers endure a range of stressful situations and this is often not seriously studied.

Keywords: Mental Health, PROMETHEAS

THE TRANSPORT HIERARCHY: A CROSS-MODAL STRATEGY TO DELIVER A SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Authors: Amol Gulve, Ken Hart, Iain Flynn, Prof. Reza Ziarat, Thomas Moore

This report addresses the engineering challenges which must be overcome to reduce the transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions and identifies practical solutions in a UK context.

The objective is to support the public, government agencies and private sector bodies in their ambition to meet the target of net-zero emissions. To achieve this, the top three priorities of the Transport Hierarchy are considered as a framework.

The Transport Hierarchy prioritises maximising demand reduction, system efficiency/modal shift, and energy efficiency/renewable resources as critical priorities which can be applied to various transport modes. The policy statement discusses the three priorities and focuses more in depth on priority three for improved transport efficiency using renewable resources. Priority three is discussed in detail for each transport sector and various alternative solutions are recommended.

The road to net-zero emissions by 2050 is a clear mandate. However, any cost-effective and proven technology advancements and operational changes that can significantly reduce emissions from the transport sector, as opposed to eliminating them completely, should still be pursued and implemented, especially if they can be achieved in shorter timescales. The policy statement provides recommendations and identifies technology skills/ gap requirements that would need to be addressed to introduce technically and economically feasible solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to near zero.

Keywords: SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM, Pollution, Climate Change, COP26

TOWARDS ZERO SHIP EMISSIONS II – PROJECT GREENSHIP

Authors: Reza Ziarati, German De Melo Rodrigues, Heikki Koivisto

IMO's own International Shipping Facts and Figures report 2012 stated the number of vessels across the globe of 100 Gross Tonnage and over was 104,304, with cargo carrying vessels being 55,138 and expressed concern about the exponential increase of CO2, NO2, CH4 and so forth in recent year. The EU responded by setting targets. The EU 2050 objectives set some intermediate targets for Eco-Efficient Vessel Emission Reduction for key pollutants: CO2: >80% (-30% by 2020), NOx: 100% (-80% by 2020), SOx: 100% (-80% by 2020) and Noise Reduction: -3dB. A review of current research (Ziarati et al, 2018) clearly shows that the targets set for 2020 by both the IMO and EU were not achieved and the 2050 goals are unlikely to be achieved. The Industry is taking steps to reduce its air pollution and carbon footprint due to recent and upcoming IMO and EU regulations. The IMO GHG study, Buhang et al (2009) reports that the IMO has introduced some limits but has been unable to monitor ship emissions.

Keywords: Ship Emissions, Ship Energy Efficiency Management, Pollution, Climate Change, Energy Manager Training Program.

PROMETHEAS Project - Mental Health Data Research Hub for Seafarers

Authors: Reza Ziarati, Mariusz Dramski, Captain Heikki Koivisto, Tomaž Gregorič, Professor Germán de Melo Rodríguez and Aris Chronopoulos

Some 90% of the world visible trade is transported by sea. It is therefore of prime importance that the mental wellbeing of all seafarers onboard ocean-going vessels is seriously taken into consideration. Mental health is a state of wellbeing in which the individual realises his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Research at C4FF has shown that many seafarers endure a range of stressful situations and this is often not seriously studied. This paper reports on the outcome of an investigation carried by C4FF and its European partners into the mental health problems of seafarers focusing on identification of the problems which create or lead to mental health issues with a view to finding feasible solutions hence making life on board more pleasant. There have been several studies by C4FF reviewing seafarers’ difficult life on board ocean going vessels and looking at factors such as sleeping patterns which are known to impact on fatigue and stress in seafarers. Fatigue alone has led to many accidents and serious incidents at sea. Bullying is also a major subject of interest in the PROMETHEAS project but the work on bullying is planned for anther paper which will explore the reason why it is important to study the causes and effects of bullying?

Keywords: Mental Health, Seafarers

Digital Twin of an Internal Combustion Engine

Authors: Reza Ziarati, German De Melo Rodrigues, Lakhvir Singh

Professor Reza Ziarati presented a paper on Digital Twin of an Internal Combustion Engine at Maritime Transport VIII on 17th September 2020. The research paper reports on recent developments to construct a digital twin of these power units with a view to improve their performance and also as a means of monitoring their behaviour when changes are introduced. This paper is composed of two parts. Part 1 is the digital half of an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) which concerns the development of the mathematical model of the ICE and a suite of computer simulation programs which would allow the effects of various design and operational changes to be reliably and accurately predicted with the ultimate aim of producing cleaner engines and/or more efficient power units.

Keywords: Digital Twin

A Sample of Air Quality Assessment Reports in Several Cities in the UK with Special References to the Situations in the USA and the EU

Authors: Alireza Ziarati

This report is specially written for the local authorities and residents with a hope that it would shed some lights on ways that can be adapted to improve the quality of air we breathe in, and to reduce the adverse impacts of poor air quality on our citizens’ health and well-being.

Keywords: Air Quality Assessment

Digital Twin of an Internal Combustion Engine

Authors: Reza Ziarati, Ahmet Mert, Lakhvir Singh

The application of diesel engines in automotive and marine industries and its use as stand alone power units have been rapidly increasing in recent years mainly due to the development and applications of new technologies. These developments on diesel engines are focused on the performance increase and the emission control. To increase the performance, higher thermal efficiency and to control the emission, lower toxic gases are targeted. Improving diesel engine performance and reducing exhaust emissions as well as using environmental friendly fuels have become important research topics recently. Therefore, a reliable and functional diesel engine test unit is required to perform research and train maritime cadets.

Keywords: Digital Twin, Combustion Engine

GreenShip

Authors: Reza Ziarati, Martin Ziarati

Why? Background of project - A global approach for the development of energy efficiency systems including an effective emission control is led by the IMO on account of the continued rapid growth of the world trade in the maritime transport. (IMO, 2012). According to GL (2012), IMO has mandated certain measures related to energy efficiency in international shipping namely, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) which mandates energy efficiency standards for new ships; Energy Efficiency Operational Index (EEOI) to provide a tool for measuring the ship’s fuel efficiency in operation and monitor the effect of any variations e.g. more frequent propeller cleaning or improved voyage planning or introduction of technical measures such as a new propeller or waste heat recovery systems; and Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), a management tool for ship owners. These three standards came into force on January 1, 2013 within a new chapter of MARPOL Annex VI. Complex technologies will be involved in building a ship efficiency and emission control system by the marine suppliers bearing in mind the life expectancy of vessels which is estimated to be around 30 years and also of the mandatory regulations to be met as set by IMO (Ziarati et al, 2017, 2018, Oceana 2013).

Keywords: GreenShip, Energy Management

A NEED FOR SOME CHANGES IN THE COLREGs, ITS TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR PREVENTING COLLISIONS AT SEA

Authors: Reza Ziarati, Capt. Nicolai Velikov, Capt. Djani Mohovic, Capt. Himadri Lahiry, Dr. Eng. Ersin OzTurker, Dr. Basak Akdemir, Capt. Robert Mohovic, Capt. Renato Ivce, Mag. Eng., Mate Baric, Silja Teege

The term “navigation” implies actions undertaken to enable a vessel to sail safely from the port of departure to the port of arrival in a defined period of time. The navigation of the vessel is exposed to many dangers and accidents which can occur and may have far reaching consequences on people, society, property and the marine environment. By analysing maritime accidents in the past, it has been established that human error and incorrect interpretation of the Rules are the most frequent causes of vessels collisions. Recognizing this, the European Union approved the project "Avoiding Collisions at Sea" (ACTs) funded by the European "Leonardo da Vinci” programme. The purpose of this research was to identify skill gaps in the knowledge and teaching of COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 - Rules) for maritime professionals. The results have clearly identified gaps in the understanding of some parts of COLREGs due to the mis-interpretation and misapplication of the Rules. The only way to change this in the future is to improve learning methods, understanding and proper application of COLREGs inter alia using these research results. An investigation into collisions in multi-ship environments and situations in which more than one Rule is applicable, has shown that new learning materials and ship simulation scenarios could help in better understanding and application of the Sea Rules of the Road.

Keywords: COLREGs misunderstanding, skill gaps, training needs, improving teaching methodology.

An investigation into the Use of Multiple Choice Questions in Maritime English Tests – RZ Confidence Validation: Paper 2 - with Specific Test Questions Relating to Maritime English

Authors: Dr Martin Ziarati

This second paper on the same subject uses the validation method described in the previous paper for the use of ‘Multiple Choice Questions’ in specific test questions used in Maritime English competence-based testing. As stated in the previous paper the described methodology can in fact be applied in the validation of multiple Choice questions in any other tests developed for subjects other than Maritime English. Furthermore, the methodology can be used in ‘true or false’ type questions or similar types of testing. The methodology is based on the one developed by Professor Ziarati in 1981 for the testing of the knowledge of ship officer cadets at Highbury College when he noticed that some students often guessed the answers in some cases. The method he developed not only deterred guessing but also offered an opportunity for students taking these type of tests to inform the test developer/setter as to whether the test was easy, average or hard and identify which question posed the greatest challenge. This approach then enabled the test developer/setter to learn from the feedback received and make sure the future tests developed are more balanced and fair.

Keywords: Maritime English Tests, Confidence Validation.

Training the Trainees and Trainers in COLREGs

Authors: Reza Ziarati,Capt. Djani Mohovic, Capt. Nicolai Velikov, Tomaz Gregoric, Capt. Himadri Lahiry, Capt. Robert Mohovic, Capt. Renato Ivce, Igor Rudan, Ana Peric Hadzic, Silja Teege

The term “navigation” implies actions undertaken to enable a vessel to sail safely from the port of departure to the port of arrival in a defined period of time. The navigation of the vessel is exposed to many dangers and accidents which can occur and may have far reaching consequences on people, society, property and marine environment. By analysing maritime accidents in the past, it is known that human error and wrong interpretation of the Rules are the most frequent reasons for vessels collisions. Recognising that issue, the European Union approved the project "Avoiding Collisions at Sea" (ACTs) funded by the EU’s Leonardo da Vinci programme. The purpose of this project was to identify skill gaps in the knowledge and teaching of COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 - Rules) for maritime professionals. The research results obtained have clearly showed skill gaps in the understanding of some parts of COLREGs due to wrong interpretation and application of the Rules. The only way to change this in the future is to improve learning methods, understanding and proper application of COLREGs inter alia using these research results. The results of ACTs project are presented in Part 2 of this paper. Furthermore, it was noted that application of rules in multi-ship collision situations and when more than one rule applies in a collision created a new challenge for the research team. To this end, a second proposal, Avoiding Collisions at Sea Plus (ACTS Plus) was prepared and submitted to the European Commission (Erasmus +) for support. The project was approved in 2015 and led to new findings which are included in this paper. The results of ACTS Plus are presented in Part 3 of this paper. Part 1 of the paper gives the background to both projects ACTs and ACTS Plus.

Keywords: COLREGs misunderstandings, skill gaps, training needs, improving teaching methodology.

GreenShip

Authors: Professor Dr Reza Ziarati and Professor Martin Ziarati

Why? Background of project - A global approach for the development of energy efficiency systems including an effective emission control is led by the IMO on account of the continued rapid growth of the world trade in the maritime transport. (IMO, 2012). According to GL (2012), IMO has mandated certain measures related to energy efficiency in international shipping namely, Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) which mandates energy efficiency standards for new ships; Energy Efficiency Operational Index (EEOI) to provide a tool for measuring the ship’s fuel efficiency in operation and monitor the effect of any variations e.g. more frequent propeller cleaning or improved voyage planning or introduction of technical measures such as a new propeller or waste heat recovery systems; and Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), a management tool for ship owners. These three standards came into force on January 1, 2013 within a new chapter of MARPOL Annex VI. Complex technologies will be involved in building a ship efficiency and emission control system by the marine suppliers bearing in mind the life expectancy of vessels which is estimated to be around 30 years and also of the mandatory regulations to be met as set by IMO (Ziarati et al, 2017, 2018, Oceana 2013).

Keywords: Energy efficiency systems, Emissions Management

AVOIDING COLLISIONS AT SEA – FROM MULTI-SHIP TO SHIP-TO-SHIP ENCOUNTER

Authors: Capt. Djani Mohovic et. al.

It has been almost 50 years since the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea (known as the COLREGs) were introduced with only some minor amendments added since their introduction. Many studies and accident reports indicate that these incidents were primarily caused by either human error or, are associated with human error as a result of inappropriate human responses. Collisions commonly represent many of these incidents and they often happen in multi-ship encounters. The COLREGs were primarily written for ship-on-ship encounters yet they remain valid in their application in multi-ship encounters. However, teachers report that many students (and also senior officers) appear to have serious problems in applying the COLREGs in multi-ship encounters. This paper discusses the “Divida et Impera” approach of “ACTs plus” Erasmus+ project team to facilitate the application of COLREGs in multi-ship encounters. The “Divida et Impera” approach is based on splitting the multi-ship encounters into several ship-on-ship encounters. Then, usually contrary obligations of a single ship identified in several ship-on-ship encounters are interpreted to finally find the give-way vessel(s) and the most appropriate collision avoiding actions. This paper discusses the “Divida et Impera” approach in one example multi-ship encounter scenario. Many other multi-ship encounter scenarios, enriched with graphics, videos and quiz may be found at ACTs Plus online platform (advanced.ecolregs.com).

Keywords: COLREGs, collision avoidance, multi-ship encounters

Engineering Institutions as the custodians of Engineering Professions

Authors: Professor Dr Reza Ziarati

This paper is written in a generic form and should be of interest to all engineering institutions. It is clear from the recent discussion groups that many engineers especially the young ones do not see the benefits of becoming a member of the Institute. This is not a challenge just faced by Mechanical Engineers or Marine Engineers but also by several other institutions. So it seems the first task for engineering Institutions is to set in clear terms what is the added value to a working engineer in industry, commerce and in academia for being a member of a professional institution. In doing so the Institution should define their main reason for their existence viz., what are they for, is it for their individual members and/or organisations/companies and/or non- or Governmental entities, and if for all then in each case the institution should state the main reasons for supporting each category followed by a clear statement of value added.

Keywords: Continuous Professional Development, STEM

MARITIME ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (MARIEMS) ONLINE DELIVERY PLATFORM

Authors: Ziarati, R., Bhuiyan, Z., Melo, G., and Koivisto, H.

Maritime accounts for approximately 90% of trade in the world today. The maritime transport emits around 1000 Mt of CO2 per year about 2,5% of global GHG emissions (3rd IMO GHG study).The forecast of new scenarios about the shipping emissions predict an increase between 50% and 250% by 2050, depending on future economic and energy development. The Industry has taken steps to reduce its Air Pollution and Carbon footprint. IMO introduced several new regulations such as the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), & Energy Efficiency Operational Index (EEOI), while the MARPOL Convention new regulations have imposed strict emissions caps in emission control areas. Ship owners have reacted to fulfill these requirements meeting the future environmental requirements set for 2025.

Keywords: maritime energy management, energy efficiency, online, e-learning

Investigating Ship Building Supply and Demand Forecasting Trends – Overview

Authors: Akdemir, B., Ziarati M., Stockton, D. and Khalil, R.

The huge importance of the maritime shipping industry to the global economy was confirmed by the United Nations specialised agency for maritime affairs, the International Maritime Organization, which reported that the world has changed to the point where almost no nation can be fully self-sufficient and that the global economy simply could not function without a vibrant shipping industry. Of all the world’s great industries, shipping is perhaps not only the most international, but also it is the one that has considerable effect on most of the world’s population. The shipping industry has a major effect on the transportation of goods, intercontinental trade of raw materials, import and export of food, fuels and manufactured goods. Production of goods increasingly takes place in more than one country and this is one of the main reasons for the growth of seaborne cargo in recent decades. Increasingly goods are often partly made in one country, processed in another and finalised or assembled in a third with components coming from all over the world. This globalisation has given the shipping industry a major responsibility since it has a significant effect on the end price of all goods it transports. Having forecasting information about how many ships of different types are required, and when, would have a substantial positive impact on efforts to reduce the ever increasing costs of sea transportation. Here, cost reduction impact would be achieved by better matching the type of ship, and its operating costs to the type and volume of goods requiring transportation. The main aim of this research illustrated in this paper was to develop an accurate and reliable method of forecasting supply for various types of ships. To achieve this aim several key questions were identified leading to a number of objectives which were transformed into a set of tasks. A number of variables were identified that needed to be predicted in terms of the features of types of vessels involved and the goods they transport. Here the main variables to be analysed had to be identified along with their effects on the supply and/or demand for given types of vessels. The volatile nature of shipping was considered and required the intended forecasting model to be able to monitor trends on a regular basis and to sense sudden changes in demand or changes which may have an impact on the reliability of the accuracy of the predicted value. The research identified the most effective forecasting technique which was the neural network model developed for this work. Additionally, the work here identified the relationships between supply and demand for shipping with a view to exploring the nature and the strengths of these relationships. It was noted that there is a very strong relationship between supply and demand hence providing a means of accurately estimating the demand values from predicted supply values for various types of ships.

Keywords: Forecasting, shipping, demand and supply, market trends , future shipping trends, ship life cycle, forecasting capacity, forecasting methods, expert systems, neural network, correlation, regression

An investigation into Use of Multiple Choice Questions in Maritime English Tests – RZ Confidence Validation

Authors: Martin Ziarati

This paper provides a validation method for the use of ‘multiple Choice questions’ in Maritime English competence. The described methodology can in fact apply in validation of multiple Choice questions in any other tests developed for subjects other than Maritime English. Furthermore, the methodology can be used in ‘true or false’ type or similar type of testing. It was developed by Ziarati in 1981 for testing of the knowledge of ship officer cadets at Highbury when he noticed that some students often guessed the answers in some cases. The method he developed not only deterred guessing but also offered an opportunity for students taking these type of tests to inform the test developer/setter as to whether the test was easy, average or hard and identify which question posed the greatest challenge. This approach then enabled the test developer/setter to learn from the feedback received and make sure the future tests are developed to make the test more balanced and fair.

Keywords: Maritime English Tests

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPUTER CONTROLLED MARINE DIESEL ENGINE FACILITY FOR MARITIME ENGINEERING RESEARCH AND TRAINING

Authors: Ahmet MERT, Sarper OZKAYNAK, Reza ZIARATI, Suleyman OZKAYNAK, Haluk KUCUK

The application of diesel engines in automotive and marine industries and its use as standalone power units have been rapidly increasing in recent years mainly due to the development and applications of new technologies to curtail the two main disadvantages of diesels viz., exhaust emissions and engine noise. To improve diesel engine performance and reduce exhaust emissions the researchers in diesel engines as well as relying on new technologies have been working on environmental friendly alternative fuels in place of conventional diesel fuels. To assess the feasibility of using alternative fuels including bio-diesel and to carry out diesel engine research and training, two diesel engine test rigs have been developed at TUDEV/Piri Reis University. The first rig is a research facility and is fully instrumented using a range of sensors and a computerized data processing and analysis system. The second rig is established for training of Marine Engineers at the TUDEV/Piri Reis University. The research rig is capable of computing diesel engine performance characteristics. The laboratory is separated into two facilities, one holding the instrumented engine and the other computing and display units with a view to improve safety and to decrease noise. Analogue or digital control and measurement signals supplied by sensors and actuators in the engine room are conditioned and displayed on the graphical user interface using Labview® and logged by transferring signals from the engine room to the computerized engine control room. The facilities have proven to produce accurate and reliable experimental results at varying engine loads and speeds. The application of Labview and the engine software are novel features of the new engine rigs at TUDEV/Piri Reis University.

Keywords: Computer controlled test; Engine test; Measurement; Labview; Data acquisition

Design and Development of Ships Using an Expert System Applying a Novel Multi-layered Neural Networks

Authors: Sualp Urkmez, Prof Reza Ziarati, Erdem Bilgili, Martin Ziarati and David Stockton

In this paper a neural network was designed and tested for estimating the cost of the activities and the hours of the activities in the shipping industry, by considering the ship parameters such as length of the ships, width, tonnage, etc. Multi-layered feed forward neural network trained by back-propagation algorithm was used in that work. Its results encouraged the research team to develop a new neural network model for representing also the indirect cost of ship construction. A neural network model was configured also for establishing the relationship between the cost of the activities and the indirect costs. The new network was trained by using data of eighteen different ships in order to finalize the design of four new ships.

Keywords: Expert System, Multi-layered Neural Networks, Design and Development of Ships

MARITIME ENERGY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (MARIEMS) ONLINE DELIVERY PLATFORM

Authors: Prof Reza Ziarati, Zakirul Bhuiyan, German de Melo and Heikki Koivisto

Maritime accounts for approximately 90% of trade in the world today. The maritime transport emits around 1000 Mt of CO2 per year about 2,5% of global GHG emissions (3rd IMO GHG study).The forecast of new scenarios about the shipping emissions predict an increase between 50% and 250% by 2050, depending on future economic and energy development. The Industry has taken steps to reduce its Air Pollution and Carbon footprint. IMO introduced several new regulations such as the Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), & Energy Efficiency Operational Index (EEOI), while the MARPOL Convention new regulations have imposed strict emissions caps in emission control areas. Ship owners have reacted to fulfill these requirements meeting the future environmental requirements set for 2025.

Keywords: maritime energy management, energy efficiency, online, e-learning

Avoiding Collisions At Sea – Pareto Analysis

Authors: Prof Reza Ziarati, Capt. Nicolai Velikov,Capt. Djani Mohovic,Capt. Himadri Lahiry, Dr. Eng. Ersin OzTurker, Dr. Basak Akdemir, Capt. Robert Mohovic, Capt. Renato Ivce, Mag. Eng., Mate Baric, Silja Teege

It has been almost 40 years since the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea known as COLREGs were introduced, and regular amendments have been taking place accordingly ever since. Over the last half-century despite improvements in navigational aids such as ARPA and attempts to raise the standards of training through the various STCW conventions, collisions still occur. Many studies and accident reports indicate that the accidents were caused by either human error or are associated with human error as a result of inappropriate human responses. Collisions commonly represent many of these accidents. This paper discusses key issues regarding the application of Collisions Regulations (COLREGs) at sea, reports on the outcome of a recent EU funded eCOLREGs project known as ACTs and a report on a Pareto Analysis supporting the work being carried out in a new project called ACTS Plus which considers more complex cases where there are several rules applied or where there are more than two ships involved in a collision. This paper does not attempt to examine each and every rule included in regulations but the EU Project ACTs and ACTS Plus online platform include some 300 scenarios, many developed and videoed in ship simulators, for those interested to review and explore more. This paper discusses the importance of studying cases where the applications of certain rules or where more than one rule applies are open to misinterpretation.

Keywords: COLREGs, maritime education and training, collision avoidance, Pareto Analysis

Literature survey of business models and competitive advantage of Family Businesses in Turkey

Authors: Kaptanoglu, S. and Ziarati, R.

Existing research reveals that many family businesses do not survive after the first two generations. This has been found to be due to management approaches prevalent in these types of businesses, viz. the lack of cooperative decision making processes and the owners’ unwillingness to involve non-family members in the decision-making processes.

The paper provides an in-depth literature survey of business models and competitive advantage. This paper is a part of research programme to investigate the development of a business knowledge framework, containing the necessary knowledge for managing a family business. This paper reviews a number of business models and provides an in-depth analysis of characteristics of these models focusing on core aspects such as management practices and competitiveness generally. It was concluded that a business is a set of activities and, how and when these are performed to earn a profit.

Keywords: Family Business, Business Model

LEANSHIP - Design and Development of a High Fidelity Integrated Ship Management System for Matching Engine Operations to Sea and Air Conditions

Authors: Ziarati, R. and Akdemir, B. Y.

This paper reports on a project that aimed to regulate the navigational equipment and engine performance parameters for minimum fuel consumption and exhaust emissions by taking advantage of wind and sea conditions while ensuring compliance with EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index) without the risk of intentional reductions of speed. The primary experiments have shown substantial fuel saving potential. To achieve this aim, key operating factors affecting the efficiency of ship operations were investigated and methodologies to optimise navigation and engine control systems for safe operations and efficient performance were developed. Also a set of high fidelity tools and processes for the accurate and efficient analysis of air and sea conditions were considered. The project included hydrodynamic analysis for ships’ operational performance in normal running conditions as well as slow speed behaviour. The project work concerned the adaptation of multi-objective optimisation and integrated design environments for holistic operational performance and minimum powering requirement predictions; this is expected to ensure safe application of the design rules whilst guaranteeing the right balance between economic efficiency, environmental performance and safety. The main deliverable of this project was a decision support system to provide navigation knowledge to regulate engine running conditions for minimum fuel consumption and lowest feasible CO2 emission. The project is ongoing and the overall system is expected to comprise a standalone platform composed of all hardware and software systems.

Business Process Improvement By Advanced Innovation Process Management In SME

Authors: Urosevic, L., Reimer, P., Kotte, O., Guelcu, N., Elorriaga, A., Lopez, S. Ziarati, R., Ziarati, M. Singh, L.

Business process improvement, as an unavoidable component of the companies’ strategy, particularly for SMEs, is deeply interwoven with innovation in general and both are condition for surviving and thriving in the global economy. This paper describes an approach and ICT system for supporting business process improvement following a structured way to innovation process management. The innovation process management approach based on agile principles in methodology and a corresponding ICT supporting solution is presented. Two application cases, one dealing with development and manufacturing of weighing systems against specs and regulations and one dealing with development and manufacturing of systems for Monitoring and Control of Assembly Processes in the manufacturing industry, where the system prototype was tested, are briefly described as well.

“The paper was presented in International Working Conference ’’Total Quality Management – Advanced and Intelligent Approaches’’, 4th – 7th June, 2013. Belgrade, Serbia"

Keywords: Process improvement, Innovation management, Decision support system.

Design Of An Innovation Platform For Manufacturing SMEs

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati, L. Singh

This paper reports on the conception of a collaborative, internet-based innovation platform with semantic capabilities, which implements a new methodology for the adoption of a systematic innovation process in globally-acting networked SMEs. The main objective of the innovation platform is to stimulate the generation of ideas, the selection of good ideas and their ultimate implementation. The platform will support SMEs to manage and implement the complex innovation processes arisen in a networked environment, taking into account their internal and external links, by enabling an open multi-agent focused innovation system, facilitating customer, provider, supplier and employee-focused innovation. The solution is specifically focused on the needs of manufacturing SMEs and will observe product, process and management innovation. The paper presents the key elements of the innovation model and makes references to a novel approach concerning the development of a robust and flexible Central Knowledge Repository for the innovation platform.

“The paper was presented in the 11th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR 2013), Cranfield University, Cranfield UK, 19-20 September 2013, pp 51-55, ISBN 978-1-907413-23-0, ISSN 2053-3373."

Keywords: Innovation Modelling, Innovation Platforms, Knowledge Repositories.

Looking into the Future – LeanShip LeanShip: Development of an Integrated Ship Management System Ensuring Efficient Propulsion and Minimum Emissions of Pollutants

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati, L. Singh

The paper reports on the outcome of research that investigates the key design and operating factors affecting the safety of ship operations, and develops methodologies to optimise navigation and engine control systems for safe operations and efficient performance, in view of the introduction of the new International Maritime Organisation (IMO) standards related to energy efficiency, in particular the EEDI (Energy Efficiency Design Index). Furthermore, the paper includes the necessary safety requirements of the vessels currently not covered by the EEDI, in anticipation of future energy efficiency requirements for these categories of vessels. There are references to the development of high fidelity tools and processes for the accurate and efficient analysis of safety and performance-sensitive hydrodynamic problems.

Keywords: Efficient Ship Propulsion, Ship Engine Management; EDDI, Lean Ships

What Is Wrong? A Review of National, European and International Efforts in Improving the Standard and Quality of Maritime Education and Training

Authors: R. Ziarati

It is continually reported that 80% of accidents at sea are due to human factors, and yet no progress has been made towards reducing this percentage despite many changes and amendments to the IMO STCW Code. The question remains, why? This paper reports on the role of the national, European and international bodies, such as the national administration, EMSA and IMO in recent years, and their efforts towards improving the standards and quality of maritime education and training (MET). The paper reviews the recent changes to the IMO STCW in 2010 and identifies several deficiencies which still need the attention of the maritime community. There are special references to the grass root efforts, including the work of the networks such as MariFuture to support the wider efforts by national administrations, EMSA and the IMO.

Removing Barriers to Mobility of Seafarers

Authors: M. Ziarati, R. Ziarati, U. Acar

Every seafarer would like to have the freedom to work on board as many foreign flag vessels as possible using her/his qualifications acquired in her/his own country. The certificates issued by a national administration are expected to satisfy the minimum requirements set by International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which should ideally satisfy the national requirements of member states of IMO and hence acceptable to all IMO member states. However, in reality this is not a case and the certificates issued by one country are not universally accepted or transferable to other flags. This situation restricts the mobility of seafarers; thus causing nationally qualified professionals often to be excluded from working on/commanding identical vessels other than those registered by the seafarer’s own national flag. Considering that there are imbalances of surpluses and shortages of officers and ratings in most countries, current situation does not help to address the shortages by taking advantage of the surpluses elsewhere.

Keywords: TRECVET, Small Commercial Vessels, Qualifications

Establishment of a Common Platform for the Maritime Education and Training

Authors: E. Demirel, R. Ziarati

MET acronym stands for Maritime Education and Training and is primarily concerned with the Seafarers’ education and training aspects in particular seafaring officers. The maritime industry is a vital sector in the world economy, which covers more than forty professional areas and it is inherent that most of them have close relations with the seafaring profession. The recent SAIL AHEAD project studies demonstrated that seafaring officers may easily be adapted to most jobs in the maritime industry with some additional education and training efforts. Many of the jobs ashore are carried out by experienced seafarers.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training, Maritime Industry

Developing A Maritime English Programmes For MarTEL And MarTEL Plus – Project SeaTALK

Authors: M. Ziarati, R. Ziarati, A. Şıhmantepe, S. Sernikli, U. Acar

The SeaTALK project concerns the development a standard International online English language course for seafarers. The course will be in line with IMO requirements and the European Qualification Framework. The project is expected to support the Maritime English standards developed as part of the EU funded MarTEL and MarTEL Plus projects. The course will be incorporated in the EU funded UniMET Project when concluded in 2015. MarTEL and MarTEL Plus developed a set of standards (tests) in English language competency for seafarers and UniMET is a set of complete training programmes for all types and ranks of ship officers. SeaTALK will form the English Language competency development material and tools for UniMET.

Keywords: Maritime English, Maritime English Standards, Maritime English Course Development, Language Competency, English Language Competency.

Validating Maritime English Learning Outcomes And Competences

Authors: A. Şıhmantepe, S. Sernikli, S. Toncheva, D. Zlateva

SeaTALK Project aims to establish a harmonized comprehensive framework for Maritime English Education and Training where a standard approach to teaching, learning, assessment and transparency of qualifications throughout Europe is established for each type and rank of seafarers. It will seek to establish Maritime English ECVET model for mutual recognition and transparency of learning outcomes and competences.

Keywords: Maritime English, SeaTALK, Competence, Learning outcome, validation, Seafarer language skills

Piecemeal Approach to Development of STCW and the Consequences – A Case for Comprehensive Review of the Current Maritime Education and Training Standards

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati

This paper reports on the outcome of recent research works which point out the need to bring together the main stakeholders, such as IMO and EMSA, as well as the key sector innovators, in order to review the requirements of the shipping industry. The paper argues for a new set of standards for the education and training of ship officers and ratings.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training, UniMET, Offier Class Standards, Master Class Standards

IMPACT - Innovative Maritime Training Products

Authors: H. Koivisto, R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati, U. Acar

The IMPACT project partners are five major European Maritime Education and Training (MET) organisations. These are C4FF’s Maritime Education based in UK, TUDEV Institute of Maritime Studies from Turkey, Satakunta University of Apllied Sciences in Finland (member of IAMU), the National Maritime Collage of Ireland and Spinaker based in Slovenia.

Encouraging research in maritime education and training

Authors: T. Albayrak and R. Ziarati

This paper intends to discuss innovative MET (Maritime Education and Training) projects to encourage future research collaboration which might be of interest to other higher education and training institutions.

Keywords: Higher Education, innovation, MET Programmes. research projects

Validation of the MarTEL Test: the Importance of Validity of the Test and the Procedure for Validation in MarTEL

Authors: M. Ziarati, J. Yi, R. Ziarati, S. Sernikli

This paper reports on the development of the EU funded Leonardo project called MarTEL. MarTEL concerns the development of a novel set of Maritime English Language Standards. MarTEL is designed to test mariner’s Maritime English through a series of online tests designed to cater for all types and ranks of seafarers.

Keywords: Maritime English, Test Validity and Reliability, MarTEL

The Novelty of CAPTAINS – the Communicative Learning Approach of Maritime English and its Facilitation by Technology

Authors: M. Ziarati, E. Malinowska, S. Tsekeridou, J. Kallergi

This paper presents one of the many novel aspects of the CAPTAINS project: developing rich media interactive educational software in which learners are able to record and self-assess their performance in communicative English, in addition to 3D virtual interactive learning environments, in which they are able to interact and"talk" to virtual maritime characters about handling situations at sea, in standalone mode but further published in an e-learning 2.0 platform, Kwebo, developed by AIT.

Keywords: Maritime English, communicative language teaching (CLT), CAPTAINS, authencity, richmedia interactive educational multimedia, 3D virtual learning environment, online learning community, e-learning 2.0 platform, KWEBO

The importance of developing test specification in the process of the Enhanced Oral Test

Authors: S. Toncheva, D. Zlateva, and M. Ziarati

The paper will explain the factors taken into consideration in the development of the Enhanced Oral Test, which is one of the outcomes of the EU Funded Leonardo MarTEL PLUS project. The development of an International test of the speaking skills of seafarers will be by its nature a very high stakes test and should be based on solid testing principles to ensure validity and reliability of the test scores.

Keywords: test specification, Enhanced Oral Test, Construct validity, sustainbility, test design, MarTEL, Maritime English Test

Combining Vocational and Academic Requirements in the Maritime Education and Training

Authors: E. Demirel, R. Ziarati

The main aim of the EU Vocational Education and Training (VET) is primarily to provide qualified people to support the economy. In order to achieve this aim the cooperation between business sector and VET institutions is necessary.

Keywords: Vocational Education and Training, Maritime Education and Training, Education-Industry partnership

Harmonising Maritime Education and Training at Sea and Ashore

Authors: R. Ziarati, U. Acar, M. Ziarati

The IMO developed the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) that includes the minimum requirements for the maritime education and training (MET) of seafarers in 1978. There have been several major and minor amendments; most recent revisions were announced in June 2010.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training unification, UniMET, Master Class Standards

IMPACT: Integrated Maritime Platform for Innovative Training Products

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati, U. Acar

This paper reports on the development of a network called IMPACT which has been formed to promote the results of five highly successful completed EU funded maritime vocational education and training (MVET) projects. These projects have been directly addressing particular problems and deficiencies in MVET. Their selection has also been based on the fact that they applied innovative information and computer technology methods and tools in lifelong learning of seafarers.

Keywords: Maritime Innovative Leonardo ICT projects, Project selection, MET, IMPACT Project.

An investigation into colregs and their applications at sea

Authors: U. Acar, R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati

It has been almost 40 years since the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea known as Colregs were introduced and there have been several amendments to Colregs rules since then until now. Collision avoidance is believed, in a sense, to prevent groundings, the striking of fixed obstacles and ships colliding. Over the last half-century despite improvements in navigational aids such as ARPA and attempts to raise the standards of training through various STCW conventions, collisions still occur. Many studies and accident reports indicate that the accidents are caused by either human error or are associated with human error as a result of inappropriate human responses. Collisions commonly represent the majority of these accidents.

Keywords: Colregs, maritime education and training, collision avoidance

Collisions and groundings – major causes of accidents at sea

Authors: U. Acar, R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati

A careful study of the accident reports reveals that 85% of all accidents are either directly initiated by human error or are associated with human error by means of inappropriate human response (Ziarati, 2006). This is in line with the findings of a recent paper (IMO, 2005) that 80% of accidents at sea are caused by human error. Turkish Government is also aware that collision is the most common type of accident in Turkey and this was again confirmed by the latest data published by the Main Search and Rescue Coordination Centre of Turkey in 2009. Collision amounted to 60% of all accidents if grounding and contacts are included.

Keywords: Colregs, maritime education and training, collision avoidance

Piloting The MarTEL Standards

Authors: H. Lahiry, M. Ziarati and R. Ziarati

The MarTEL projects (MarTEL and MarTEL Plus) aim at creating a series of innovative Maritime English language tests and learning materials. The MarTEL Project created the first international Maritime English standards for Cadets, Deck and Engineering Officers, and Senior Deck and Engineering Officers and also for Port Officials in the Merchant Navy. The MarTEL project‟s aims at widening the user group of the existing e- learning platform by providing a series of tests and learning materials. The projects are supported by the European Union through its Leonardo da Vinci programme.

Keywords: Maritime English, Assessment, Maritime English Testing, MarTEL

European Boat Design Innovation Platform – Learning From The Automotive Industry

Authors: R. Ziarati, and A. Sayakci

Design and manufacturing innovations are the keys to maintaining the competitiveness of the European boat industry in world markets. There are many similarities between the small boat and motor car design and manufacturing practices. While the automotive industry invests billions in R&D, the marine industry has been unable to match anything near the investment by the automotive industry. The sophistication of design and production practices in the marine industry has not been to the levels noted in the automotive industry.

Keywords: Boat Design, Boat Design Skills, Transfer of Technology from Automotive to Boat Design

Communication And Practical Training Applied In Nautical Studies

Authors: R. Ziarati, O. Bigland, M. Ziarati and U. Acar

Communicative language training set in the context of real-life situations at sea has hardly been part of any curriculum for training merchant navy officers. It is found that English language skills of the ships‟ crew is at a very low level, resulting in ineffective communication and it has also been identified that ineffective communication is the major cause of the many accidents. This fact along with the cultural diversities of multi-national ship crews creates a major current problem.

Keywords: Maritime English, communication, maritime education and training

Management Of The Safety Of Automation Challenges The Training Of Ship Officers

Authors: S. Ahvenjarvi

Management of the safety of the increasing automation onboard ships is a challenging task for ship officers. In this paper, the competency requirements and the training of deck and engine officers on the area is discussed.

Keywords: Ship automation, safety, training

SURPASS – A Response To The Increasing Automation Failures At Sea And In Ports

Authors: R. Ziarati, H. Koivisto and M. Ziarati

Safety is a key issue at sea and in ports. The number of accidents due to automation failures has been on the rise. Increasing automation onboard ships has created a major challenge for operators, owners and ship crews. In this paper, the competency requirements and the training of Deck and Engine Offi cers are discussed. It is important to understand what is essential for successful management of safety on board vessels. The recent research has shown that for successful management of safety, ship crews must be able to operate the automation systems safely, not only in normal operational conditions, but also in emergency situations.

Keywords: Ship automation, safety, training

International Cooperation For Maritime Education And Training

Authors: R. Ziarati, E. Demirel, H. Lahiry and M. Ziarati

This paper gives a background of MarEdu (Maritime Education) a partnership between Turkish Maritime Education Foundation (TUDEV) and Centre for Factory of the Future (C4FF) and its contributions to the development of MET (Maritime Education and Training) programmes and practices and its role in facilitating other MET and international maritime organisations to cooperate to achieve a common goal. The close cooperation and coordination with national and international counterparts enhances and provides mutual benefi ts for all concerned parties. European Union projects have become an essential tool in providing a catalyst and the cohesiveness of efforts that focus towards a common goal, providing mutual benefi ts to all participants. Research projects and common vocational studies play a signifi cant role in improving new methodologies, procedures and techniques.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training, Cooperation for MET

Innovation In MET For New Career And Mobility Opportunities

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati and U. Acar

This paper reports on the recent development and changes to Maritime Education and Training (MET) identifying the defi ciencies and best practices across Europe in order to create common STCW compliant MET programmes as well as provide seafarers with an online guidance tool to enable them to have professional careers support. This paper reports on the EU Transversal UniMET project which intends to harmonise MET practices across Europe by identifying the best practices. The UniMET partnership, working in collaboration with major awarding, accrediting and licensing bodies intends to crossreference and include the international and local/national requirements into the UniMET programme with the aim of embedding the programme.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training harmonisation, Maritime Education and Training, e-learning, Online tool, career

Developing Scenarios Based On Real Emergency Situations

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati and U. Acar

This paper reports on the outcome of the recent research carried out on accidents and incidents to develop a range of scenarios in full-mission simulators as well as on the development of e-learning/assessment platform for ship crew skill development primarily to prevent emergency situations and to manage emergencies when they occur. In the IMO MSC 82 meeting a great deal of emphasis was placed on the role of human factors in accidents at sea, focusing particularly on how human errors have led to great losses of life and property.

Keywords: Maritime Training and Education, Safety at sea, accident investigation, e-learning

Maritime Testing Of English Language: The Search For A Supranational Standard

Authors: U. Tezer and S. Serhan

Testing one's English Language in general is more or less standardized today. Standards of TOEFL and IELTS are widely accepted by international bodies and national institutions around the world. But when it comes to the testing of a language for a specific purpose which is mostly English, our view of the matter is not very clear. To the native speakers of English, the language for a specific purpose is a natural part of the learning when one studies maritime sciences. But to those who study maritime sciences in another language, it is an additional study, an extra effort to comprehend and express their learning in a foreign language.

Keywords: Maritime English, Testing, MarTEL

M’aider: Maritime Aids’ Development For Emergency Responses

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati and O.Turan

This paper reports on the outcomes of recent research carried out on accidents and incidents instigated to create a range of scenarios for training applications in full-mission simulators relating to emergency situations. In the IMO MSC 82 [2006] meeting a great deal of emphasis was placed on the role human elements play in the cause of accidents at sea, focusing particularly on how human errors have led to great losses of life and property. It has also been acknowledged that emergency situations and the use of simulators have not been fully taken into consideration in the training of merchant navy officers. This industry would benefit immensely from a user-friendly/accessible training tool and programme for its sea-going and port personnel that would focus on emergency situations; the causes for these situations and how they are handled.

Keywords: Merchant navy education and training (MET), Safety at sea, e-learning

European Boat Design Innovation

Authors: R. Ziarati and S. McCartan

The European marine industry has a 26% share of the world market but growing competition from Asia and North America is threatening Europe’s future market share, as they adapt their products more closely to consumer demands. A recent review of research has indicated that European boat manufacturers must be able to respond to their customers and offer exciting innovative products. They will have to learn to react quickly to changing consumer preferences and engage in continuous research and development. Design and manufacturing innovation are the keys to maintaining the competitiveness of the European boat industry in world markets. The opportunity created by the EBDIG (European Boat Design Innovation Group) project to transfer innovations from the automotive industry to the boat industry is expected to result in optimised design methodologies, leading to more cost effective design practices complementing and improving the knowledge and skills of small craft designers.

Keywords: Boat design, Design skills, Telematics, Sustainability, High technology applications in automotive industry

Training: Onboard And Simulation Based Familiarisation And Skill Enhancement To Improve The Performance Of Seagoing Crew

Authors: T. Albayrak and R. Ziarati

Today development of Maritime Education and Training system is a dynamic process under the pressure of rapidly improving maritime technology. An ideal development cannot be achieved by considering the existing practice and internal processes and procedures only and needs to have a wider perspective by reviewing best practices and establish the necessary benchmark.

Keywords: MET, Skill enhancement, Advanced simulators, Onboard training

Safety At Sea – Applying Pareto Analysis

Authors: R. Ziarati

This paper reports on a major European Union funded project instigating an integrated programme of education and training for merchant navy officer including higher ranks. The project has adapted cross-referencing techniques and an analysis methodology viz., Pareto, to identify the problems that offer the greatest potential for improvements by showing their relative magnitudes and frequencies.

Review Of Accidents With Special References To Vessels With Automated Systems

Authors: Professor R. Ziarati, Dr M. Ziarati

TUDEV‟s new research and development project to make automated vessels safer has been approved by the Turkish National Agency and the European Union. The project was jointly developed by Professor Ziarati and Mrs Sadan Kapanoglu. The project is named Short Course Programmes for Automated Systems in Shipping (SURPASS).

New Methodologies And Technologies In Met

Authors: Capt. Taner ALBAYRAK, Prof. Dr. Reza ZIARATI

The radical amendments to the STCW Convention agreed in 1995 only came into effect in 2002, and the provisions concerning the need for governments to submit quality standards reports to IMO, concerning their national training and certification systems, were only required to be met as recently as 2004. However, sufficient time has probably elapsed to assess the extent to which the amendments have been a success in fulfilling their underlying objective – restoring confidence in the validity of seafarers‟ certificates of competence regardless of the country of issue. On the other hand, since 1995, there has been rapid revolution in design of ships and the equipment used in the navigation and propulsion systems on board these ships and yet there has been no serious attempt to revise the STCW and/or the International model courses.

Keywords: MET Programmes, STCW Code, short courses

Review Of Accidents With Special References To Vessels With Automated Systems – A Way Forward

Authors: R. Ziarati

The modern ships particularly container and fuel carrying vessels are becoming increasingly automated. The automation has brought with it two problems, one concerning the inadequacy of existing seafarers‟ education and training viz., that if any aspects of automation fails the crew often are not trained to use alternative systems and hence respond to it effectively (IMO MSC 82, 2006; Ziarati, 2006). The second problem has arisen from the review of the arguments from recent IMO Maritime Safety Committee (reports MSC 82/15/2 and MSC 82/15/3, 2006) namely that the human operators rarely understand all the characteristics of automatic systems and these systems‟ weaknesses and limitations which have now been found to be one of the main causes of major accidents. Also, concerns were expressed about the English language competency of seafarers of various ranks. These reports concluded that there is a need to improve the content of all maritime training to include knowledge, skills and understanding of automation and that teaching of English in maritime institutions should be improved. The paper refers to several serious and recent accidents at sea some due to automation failure and reports as to how serious attempts could be made to address both problems identified and improve the situation regarding the teaching of English in maritime institutions.

Design And Development Of A Diesel Engine Computer Simulation Program

Authors: S. OZKAYNAK, R. ZIARATI, E. BILGILI

This paper concerns the development of a diesel engine mathematical model and a suite of computer simulation programs which would allow the effects of various design and operational changes to be reliably and accurately predicted with the ultimate aim of producing cleaner engines and/or more efficient power units. The model has been tested against the experimental results of the Paxman engine at Newcastle University and earlier against the Atlas engine at Ricardo, Brighton, UK. The predicted results and the experimental data are in good agreement.

Improving Safety At Sea And Ports By Developing Standards For Maritime English

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati, B. Çalbaş

The work reported here shows how communication failures can be addressed through removal of existing deficiencies in the training of the seafarers in Maritime English. EU funded Leonardo MarTEL project is addressing this deficiency through development of standards for Maritime English. The strength of the MarTEL Project is that it takes into consideration the language skills as well as the competency levels in each skill needed for each type and rank of seafarer. One important aspect unique to MarTEL is that it is ‘Maritime Test of English Language’ and not and ‘English Test of Maritime Knowledge’. The research reported in this paper has been used to underpin the development of standards for Maritime English within the MarTEL Project.

Keywords: Maritime English, MarTEL Standards, Safety at Sea, Communication Failures

Design And Development Of Ships Using An Expert System Applying A Novel Multi-Layered Neural Networks

Authors: S. Urkmez, R. Ziarati, E. Bilgili, M. Ziarati, D. Stockton

In this paper a neural network was designed and tested for estimating the cost of the activities and the hours of the activities in the shipping industry, by considering the ship parameters such as length of the ships, width, tonnage, etc. Multi-layered feed forward neural network trained by back-propagation algorithm was used in that work. Its results encouraged the research team to develop a new neural network model for representing also the indirect cost of ship construction. A neural network model was configured also for establishing the relationship between the cost of the activities and the indirect costs. The new network was trained by using data of eighteen different ships in order to finalize the design of four new ships.

Application Of Forecasting In Shipping Industry

Authors: B. Y. Akdemir, M. Ziarati, D. Stockton, R. Ziarati

The research presented in this paper is an attempt to forecast trends in shipping for 11 types of ship design in the last few decades by using conventional and neural networks. In this paper only the results for the bulkers will be presented. The results show that neural networks offer the best results and that it is possible to use information available in the market to complement and improve the reliability of neural network predictions.

Keywords: Shipping, product cycle, forecasting, neural networks

Activity Based Costing For Maritime Enterprises

Authors: S. O. Urkmez, D. Stockton, R. Ziarati, E. Bilgili

This paper reports how data used in constructing five ships was applied to configure a neural network with the intention of establishing, on the one hand, a relationship between the cost of the activities in building a ship and the ship’s identity parameters (length, width, tonnage, etc.) and on the other hand, to establish a relationship between the hours of the activities for a ship applying the same identity parameters.

Keywords: Activity Based Costing, ship building and neural networks

Sustaining Competitive Advantage Through Cooporative Decision Making In Shipping Industry In Turkey

Authors: S Kaptanoglu, D. Stockton, R. Ziarati

This paper focuses on long term, medium term and short term decision making process under strategic, tactical and operational categories and reports on the outcomes of an investigation into types and phases of shipping family businesses as well as other subjects relating to the business environment. This is carried out by seeking the views of a sample of companies in the shipping sector using a structured questionnaire followed by one-to-one interviews.

Keywords: Competitive advantage, decision making, shipping, family business

Development Of Standards For Maritime English – The EU Leonardo Martel Project

Authors: R. Ziarati, H. Koivisto, J. Uriasz

This paper reports on the progress of the EU funded Leonardo project MarTEL which concerns the development of a set of standards for Maritime English for application in Merchant Navy education and training programmes for cadet officers and officers of various types and ranks. The standards are based on transfer of innovation from existing English language standards and maritime English model courses such as International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Model course 3.17 and the IMO’s SMCP (Standard Maritime Communication Phrases, 2001). Recent reviews by several IMO member countries had identified that ‘there is a compelling need to promote a high level of working maritime English language skills’ for merchant navy officers.

Application Of Novel Artificial Intelligent Techniques In Ship Building Using Activity Based Costing And Neural Networks

Authors: S. O. Urkmez, E. Bilgili, R. Ziarati, D. Stockton

In this paper, a new neural network model was configured for establishing the relationship between the cost of the activities and the indirect costs. The new neural network model is a multi-layered, feed forward neural network. The output layer gives the indirect costs. The proposed neural network has been trained using back-propagation training algorithm. It has been trained by using data of sixteen different ships with a view to design five new ships.

Keywords: Activity based contents, Ship building, system design and manufacturing, knowledge-base-system, neural networks

Developing Competitive Advantage Through Cooperative Decision Making In Shipping Family Businesses

Authors: Ş. Kaptanoğlu, R. Ziarati, D. Stockton, Capt. T. Albayrak

This paper builds on the outcome of a recent paper titled, ‘Sustaining Competitive Advantage through Co-operative Decision Making’ by the same author which argued that only 2% of family businesses last more than three generations. The reasons were reported to be due to deep psychological factors preventing elaborate strategic and succession plans to be realised often due to poor delegation, poor leadership, lack of coordination and lack of expertise. It was also noted that many family businesses are transformed into other forms of businesses for commercial and/or financial reasons.

Keywords: Competitive Advantage, Shipping, Decision Making, Family Business

Surpass - Short Course Programme In Automatedsystems In Shipping

Authors: R. Ziarati, M. Ziarati

This paper report on the development of a short course programme design, delivery and assessment on automation in order to fill the gap created as the result of emergence and application of the automated systems. The delivery and assessment will be based on the results from two recent EU funded investigations regarding the development of an online learning (developed and tested in Leonardo Pilot EGMDSS, 2006) and eassessment (developed and tested in Leonardo MarTEL. 2009) will also be included in the paper. The internet platforms have facilities for self-learning and assessment.

Keywords: Automated ship-borne maritime systems, maritime education and training, SURPASS, ship automation

Encouraging Research In Training Institutions

Authors: R. Ziarati, T. Albayrak

Education and training are vital to the development and success of today's knowledge society and economy. The EU's strategy emphasizes countries working together and learning from each other while the EU education and training policy underlines that knowledge, and the innovation it sparks, are the EU's most valuable assets, particularly as global competition becomes more intense in all sectors under the hardships of the global economic crisis.

Keywords: MET Programmes, innovation, research projects

Developing an Effective Maritime Education and Training System- TUDEV Experiment

Authors: E. Demirel, R. Mehta

The purpose of maritime education and training (MET) is to supply manpower for the shipping industry. Furthermore, it aims to establish the fundamentals of the seafarer‟s discipline. MET covers a wide spectrum of training institutions which range from those delivering short-time courses to post-graduate studies. The ship, core element of the shipping, operates worldwide in a multinational, multicultural and multifunctional environment. To facilitate working in such a complicated environment, the seafarers must be trained taking into account the entire aforesaid environments, taking into consideration, all international standards and related regulations.

Keywords: MET, Maritime Standards, Navigation Engineering Programmes, Nautical Science Programmes, Maritime Education and Training

Fusion of Content and Skill in MarTEL Maritime English Standards

Authors: S. Sernikli, A. Sihmantepe

Starting point of MarTEL Project was to create standards in testing Maritime English (MarE) of three groups of seafarers, namely; the would-be cadets of maritime academies (Phase 1), graduates of these academies and the officers of junior rank (Phase 2) and the seafarers of senior level who are captains, chief engineers, pilots and other high level port authority personnel (Phase 3). Furthermore, the project also aims to create some sort of standardization for teaching of MarE by way of designing “study guidelines” and “study units” for each of its phases.

International Standards Of Maritime English As A Means To Improve Safety At Sea

Authors: N. Demydenko

This article gives background information about MarTEL Project and its achievements. The MarTEL Project is being developed by several European countries within the frameworks of European Union Leonardo da Vinci educational programme in order to establish international standards in Maritime English. In 2009 Ukraine – Kyiv State Maritime Academy, in particular, joined the project. Ukraine occupies the 5th place in the world in manpower for different ranks and classes of seafarers working on multi-national and multi-flagged vessels. The participation of the a Ukrainian higher educational institution in this project is one indication that Ukraine is interested and involved with international co-operation in order to reduce merchant vessels incidents and accidents caused by the human factor relating to Maritime English communication failure on board ships and in ports.

Keywords: Maritime English, international standards, safety of shipping, Leonardo projects.

Evaluation, Assessment, And Testing In Maritime English: Measuring Students’ Competence And Performance

Authors: R. Ziarati, T. Albayrak

Research has shown that the weakest link in Maritime Education and Training (MET) is the identification of the communication problems due to lack of standards for Maritime English. Communication failures have caused many accidents and incidents in the past. There have been many attempts to reduce communication failures and improve both the content and delivery of Maritime English. A recent EU Leonardo Project MarEng considered a great success in enhancing the current efforts in improving content and delivery of English Courses by MET providers. However, there are no international or European standards yet for the evaluation, assessment and testing in Maritime English to measure students’ competence and performance in this very important subject.

Keywords: Maritime English, Testing, Study Units, EU Leonardo Programme

Innovation in Maritime Education and Training

Authors: R. Ziarati, T. Albayrak and E. Demirel

The extensive amendments to the STCW Convention agreed in 1995 only came into effect in 2002 with some additional changes in January 2003. The provisions concerning the need for governments to submit quality standard reports to the IMO, concerning their national training and certification systems, were only required to be met as recently as 2004. The paper argues that sufficient time has elapsed to assess the impact of the changes introduced particularly the prime objective of the changes i.e. whether confidence is stored in the validity of seafarers’ certificates of competency regardless of the country of issue.

Keywords: STCW, Maritime Education and Training, European Maritime projects

Cadets Views On Undergoing Maritime Education And Training In English

Authors: R. Ziarati, E. Demirel

Several studies clearly indicate that most accidents at sea are related to human errors many of which are due to communication difficulties and are most frequently based on lack of appropriate knowledge of the English language. This language barrier is most common amongst multinational crews and port authorities, particularly in restricted waters. The correct use of English in the global maritime profession is considered crucial to avoid incidents at sea and to facilitate a more effective means of communication between ships and ship and port as well as to harmonise management and operations onboard vessels with multi-national crew. The number of ships with multi-national crew is rapidly increasing and this trend is expected to amplify in the future.

Keywords: Maritime Education and Training, Maritime Safety, Maritime English