The oil prices are low and so are the freight rates for dry bulk shipping. The tankers are doing better than any other ship types. While the industry continue to be in gloomy days, we have been witnessing incidents where ships run aground or collide with each other and fire on board. The ship owners/managers are the ones who are mainly affected due to such loss which are on top of gloomy market conditions.
Let us take one of the recent maritime incident where MFAME published it dated 25 July 2016 regarding Fire in the Engine Compartment Onboard a Cruise Ship. The news and actual case discussed about various modes of Fire prevention such as Hi-Fog system, Duplex filter improvement and so on.
MFAME contacted Thermographic expert – Mr. Rajagopalan, Head of SVL Services, Singapore. We requested him to throw some light on fire prevention with his condition monitoring expertise.
While many concentrate on containment and extinguishing a fire, all these are good after a fire bursts out. Is there a way by which we could detect it well before and thus eliminate such potential for damage?
Mr. Rajagopalan answered “Yes” with great confidence. Here are his explanation on Thermographic condition monitoring to prevent fires.
The basic elements for Fire to exist are Heat, Oxygen and Fuel/ Hydrocarbon. Mr. Rajagopal says that the one which is easily controllable is HEAT. Here are some examples where heat source is not controlled or not attended properly.
Mr. Rajagopalan of SVL services says that he has witnessed such poor insulation or high potential zone for a fire to burst out in more than 80% of the vessels which he has inspected. He further added that in all the cases, it was a Solas violation to have surfaces exposed beyond 220 Deg C. Such exposed source of heat surfaces are the main one which need immediate attention in an attempt to prevent fire.
SVL services are ready to assist ship owners/managers to go on board ships for a thermographic survey and identify potential dangerous zones to prevent such fires on board.
Cost-Effectiveness:
Cost for SVL Expert survey for 8 Hours = US $1000
Engine room fire and complete retrofit in E/R = US $8 million to the ship owner.
In addition to locating HOT spots in the manifold areas, SVL experts also identify machineries malfunction causing higher than normal temperatures. Our inspections prior to docking is very popular to the ship managers and in addition to using Thermal Imaging, the experts also use Ultrasound and Vibration techniques to further assist Owners in preparing their docking specifications. These inspections have huge cost saving potential.
Do not hesitate to contact SVL services or for FREE consultation – please write to: experts@mfame.guru
About the Author:
Mr. Rajagopalan, is the CEO of SVL Singapore services, who has a combined Marine experience of 72 years. The company is specialized in Thermal Imaging, Ultrasound, Vibration & Noise control audits and the company strongly believes that condition based maintenance is always cost effective and can predict faults well before catastrophic failures.
MFAME readers have the privilege to consult Mr. Rajagopalan for FREE. Please contact Mr. Raja or SVL Singapore Services by writing to: experts@mfame.guru
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