It is a global issue with plastics as marine pollution. Several initiatives have started around the world to influence people’s behaviour. In Sweden there is an awareness campaign called “Optimist för havet” (Optimist for the sea). Three Swedish organisations is behind the project and they all share the love for the sea. SSPA supports with building five prototype boats (optimist dinghies) from recycled plastic waste as a national flagship activity to raise awareness.

Recently, the STM Validation Final conference was held at the headquarter of IMO in London. We discussed how Sea Traffic Management affects safety, efficiency and the environment as well as how the industry is looking at digitization. SSPA’s experts was represented and took part in the demonstrations of the solutions in use and the early results of Route optimisation and Normal behaviour of ships.

The trend of reduced sailing speed, or slow-steaming, presents shippers with new, complex challenges. SSPA has together with Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg studied how the Swedish industry has met and managed these challenges. The study has recently been published in Journal of Shipping and Trade.

Renewing Sweden’s icebreaker fleet is a major infrastructure initiative. The existing icebreakers have been in operation for almost 50 years and the new icebreakers are expected to have a similar lifetime. Operational costs for such a long lifetime have a huge impact on the vessels’ total life cycle costs. Based on a number of investigations of key features, SSPA has conducted life cycle cost assessment of a new Swedish icebreaker.

The high and rapidly increasing demand for maritime space for different purposes, as well as the multiple pressures on coastal resources, requires an integrated planning and management approach. Rerouteing of shipping lanes and the introduction of new routing systems may be needed to ensure high maritime safety and sustainable co-existence of various marine activities. SSPA’s toolbox and experience assist planning and maritime authorities to prepare sustainable and efficient plans.

Legislation on the EEDI requires the determination of a “weather factor” – fw – reflecting the percentage of its calm-water speed that a ship can maintain in Beaufort 6 and corresponding waves. The higher the fw value, the smaller the speed loss and the better the ship will perform in a seaway. But how do we determine this unknown fw factor, and how do we strike a balance between accuracy and costs? As a member of ITTC, SSPA is actively involved in developing guidelines.

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