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News

KAJ-EL project completed

Tuesday, February 15, 2022 - 15:59
tanker

The KAJ-EL project is now completed. It's purpose was to offer decision support to ports and shipping companies about the implementation and use of shoreside electricity in Swedish ports. More specifically, this project investigated several questions related to shore power.

READ MORE

AKTSAM report: Stakeholder collaboration for more energy-efficient modes of transport

Thursday, September 16, 2021 - 11:32
Energy-efficient shipping

A new report puts into light how stakeholder collaboration is of great importance to realize a shift to more energy-efficient modes of freight transport, such as railways and shipping. This, in turn, is important for achieving the long-term goals of a fossil fuels free society.

The report “Stakeholder collaboration for shifting goods to more energy-efficient modes of transport - the importance of trust and power” contributes to increased knowledge about drivers and barriers  to modal shift with a focus on collaboration between companies buying and providing transport.

InLog – Innovative logistics concepts for increased coastal and inland shipping

Wednesday, July 7, 2021 - 07:31
InLog – Innovative logistics concepts for increased coastal and inland shipping

How can innovative logistics concepts for increased inland and coastal shipping be developed? This has been in focus for the recently completed research project InLog, a collaborative project between SSPA and the University of Gothenburg, with industrial participation from Avatar Logistics and Seadvise.

- To accelerate the desirable modal shift from land to sea transport, we need to look beyond today's limitations in business models, regulations, freight flow, and ship concepts, says Vendela Santén,  project manager at SSPA. Among other things, a concept for an electric container vessel has been developed within the framework of this project.

SSPA business case support: Using wind to go green

Tuesday, July 6, 2021 - 11:15
SSPA business case support: Using wind to go green

The international shipping industry is in for some radical changes. Wind power is now an option that deserves to be taken seriously. SSPA has developed efficient prediction tools for both wind-propelled and wind-assisted ships to support the development of more sustainable maritime transport.

SSPA wins framework agreement

Thursday, July 1, 2021 - 14:29
SSPA wins framework agreement

SSPA has signed a framework agreement with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and the Swedish Armed Forces. This agreement, Marine Platforms - Amphibious Systems, covers consulting support within ship technical competencies. It includes, among other things, investigations and technical documentation, implementation of investigations, design documentation, delivery inspections and system work. The agreement is valid for three years, from the turn of the year in 2021, with the possibility of an extension for another four years.

- At SSPA we are of course very proud of this renewed trust from FMV and the Swedish Armed Forces, says Stefan Eliasson, CEO of SSPA Sweden AB.

Waterborne Technology Platform

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 17:49
Waterborne partnership

Recently launched Waterborne is a new European research and innovation platform for waterborne industries. SSPA is a proud supporter.

— Waterborne is an important step forward to strengthen the maritime industry, says Christian Finnsgård, head of SSPA Research.

Waterborne has been set up as an industry-oriented Technology Platform to establish a continuous dialogue between all waterborne stakeholders, such as classification societies, shipbuilders, shipowners, maritime equipment manufacturers, infrastructure and service providers, universities or research institutes, and with the EU Institutions, including Member States.

Strategic objectives are:

The influence of power and trust on modal shift from road

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 - 17:34
AKTSAM project

In the research project AKTSAM (Actor collaboration to realise modal shift of freight transport), financed by the Swedish Energy Agency, SSPA’s Sustainable Maritime Logistics team together with Linköping University have set out to explain how actor collaboration can facilitate increased use of rail and sea freight transport.

SSPA’s Sustainable Maritime Logistics team has long experience in modal shift research including the perspective of transport-buying companies, actor collaboration, increased use of sea transportation, and also inland and urban waterway transportation. In the AKTSAM research project both transport providers and companies sending and receiving goods have been interviewed and specific relationships studied in-depth.

Technical support of fast assault craft

Wednesday, January 20, 2021 - 15:26
Combat Boat 90

The technical expertise of SSPA has supported The Swedish Defense Material Administration (FMV) in the second part of the lifetime extension of Combat Boat 90 (CB90). The modifications have ranged from installing new engines to new interceptor type trim tabs. So far 73 boats have been modified and the last three will soon be completed.

Project aiming at reducing empty container positioning

Friday, December 18, 2020 - 15:15
container ship

A research collaboration between SSPA and Chalmers University of Technology aims at increasing transport efficiency, by understanding how empty container positioning can be reduced and made more efficient.

Model-scale underwater radiated noise measurements, new paper

Thursday, November 12, 2020 - 14:27
Cavitation tunnel at SSPA

SSPA has been involved in numerous acoustic-related projects and continually developing various predictive tools, making them available to assist customers in solving problems related to underwater-radiated noise (URN). SSPAs experts is contributing with more research in this area. In November, the well-known journal Ocean Engineering has published a new paper.

Oceanbird model tested in waves at SSPA

Thursday, November 5, 2020 - 15:01
wPCC in MDL

Recently, the research project wPCC (wind Powered Car Carrier) tested the concept Oceanbird with focus on the ship’s ability to manoeuvre and sail in waves. SSPA’s experts performed extensive model tests with a five-metre long ship model in the Maritime Dynamics Laboratory (MDL). Powered by wind, it is important that the vessel will perform well at the windy sea. The team wanted to verify that the model sails well without assistance from propellers, especially in more difficult conditions, for example larger waves, following waves and head seas. Since this was the first time a ship of this kind was tested in the basin, our experts had to develop the test techniques as well. 

Noise measurements of a cavitating propeller in different facilities, new paper

Thursday, October 29, 2020 - 10:13
Cavitation extension overview

SSPA participates in several international research collaborations with the aim of improving experimental methods. To better understand the accuracy and reliability of underwater radiated noise (URN) measurements, a test programme to compare results among several institutes was organized within the CoP Noise (Community-of-Practice “Noise”) by the Hydro Testing Forum, where SSPA is a partner. The well-known journal Ocean Engineering has published a new paper in the October issue.

Master thesis projects on wind propulsion

Monday, October 5, 2020 - 11:11
master thesis projects 2021

Currently, much research is focused on the possibility to use wind propulsion to reduce the green-house gas emissions from shipping. Two master thesis projects in this field are jointly supervised by both Chalmers University of Technology and SSPA. “Investigation on a harvesting propeller for wind propelled vessels” and “CFD investigation of wind powered ships under extreme condition”. 

Master thesis projects

Thursday, September 24, 2020 - 14:23
master thesis projects 2021

Together with Chalmers University Technology, SSPA announces two proposals of Master thesis projects. The current thesis projects that are available are “High-performance sailing: Fluid Structure Interaction of hydrofoils” and “CFD modelling of floating object’s motion decay”. The projects start in January 2021.

Introducing Oceanbird – the wind powered cargo vessel

Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - 16:11
Oceanbird

Oceanbird was recently presented and received worldwide attention. Together, Wallenius Marine, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and SSPA contribute with considerable resources and expertise to create new knowledge and understandings of vessel design incorporating wind propulsion. The research project is called wPCC (wind Powered Car Carrier), and in September 2020 the collaboration presented the concept Oceanbird. Wallenius Marine, owns the concept and SSPA and KTH are research partners.

Customer highlight: Model testing and CFD go hand in hand!

Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - 16:32
National Geographic Endurance

When Ulstein designed the newly delivered National Geographic Endurance from Lindblad expeditions, they chose SSPA as the hydrodynamic testing partner. Ulstein ran an extensive model test program in calm water and waves which supported their advanced CFD simulations of this state-of-the art-vessel. Ulstein has now revealed great pictures from the development phase. The renderings they have published illustrates how a thoroughly validated CFD model can capture the flow features in detail, but also how essential it is to run model tests to fully trust the CFD predictions. A meticulously validated CFD model can be used to explore in further details the results from model testing and to gain even more insight in full confidence.

SSPA supports the Swedish Navy with technical expertise and ILS management

Tuesday, July 7, 2020 - 13:31
HMS Modig

In a project to modernize and rebuild patrol crafts to underwater surveillance crafts, SSPA is supporting FMV (Swedish Defence Materiel Administration) with technical expertise and ILS management. The goal of the project is to boost the littoral ASW (Anti-submarine warfare) capabilities of the Swedish Navy. Because of a very tight schedule, the rebuild is carried out at three different shipyards simultaneously. The fifth of six vessels was delivered to FMV on the 1st of July 2020. SSPA has been involved since the design phase and is presently verifying the work of the shipyards on hull, machinery and auxiliary systems, and providing technical advice to FMV. 

FASTWATER project launched

Monday, July 6, 2020 - 13:05
FASTWATER

The research project FASTWATER (Track to Clean and Carbon-Neutral WATERborne Transport through Gradual Introduction of Methanol Fuel) has been officially launched, with a kick-off meeting held in early June. A consortium of Europe’s maritime research and technology leaders has launched the project. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of retrofit and newbuild vessels to operate on methanol as a pathway to fossil-free shipping. SSPA’s extensive experience with alternative fuels, including methanol, and design and development of ships with a focus on energy efficiency, will be utilised to help ensure the success of the project.

Collaboration to develop knowledge in ship hull structural dynamics

Wednesday, July 1, 2020 - 13:23
Stena Elektra

SSPA has developed techniques for analysis of ship hull structural dynamics over several years, i.e. analysis of the structural response due to wind and wave loads. In an article published in the International publication Ship & Offshore, issue 4/2020, our experts describe how we decided to share this information and join forces with our partners Stena, Chalmers University of Technology and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) to develop knowledge.

The best possible seakeeping behaviour for new RoRo vessels

Tuesday, June 30, 2020 - 12:28
Wallenius SOL

These days, most commercial cargo ships are built with keels reducing its tendency to roll and providing better seakeeping qualities. Wallenius SOL assigned SSPA to perform an assessment of the risk for parametric roll for their new RoRo vessels. A model with new keel solutions was tested at SSPA to evaluate the seakeeping characteristics.

Emission-free vessel concept for inland waterways developed

Wednesday, June 24, 2020 - 11:09
IWTS

Today there are no inland waterway vessels operating in Sweden. Current limited traffic consists only of IMO vessels. Using the inland waterways (IWW) to a larger extent would create positive benefits according to authorities, goods owners, shipping companies, ports and freight forwarders. How can SSPA develop an innovative logistic concept for coastal and inland shipping in Sweden? Is it possible to look beyond current limitations in existing business models, legislation, goods flow characteristics and vessel concepts? SSPA’s experts and researchers studied this in one of the research projects and has now developed a business concept with an emission free vessel, electrified, operating between the coastal port and a nearby inland port with high frequency. Read the full report: Battery electric inland waterway vessel.

Virtual customer attendance for Towing Tank tests

Monday, June 22, 2020 - 15:33
Towing Tank tests

Almost all our customers have travel restrictions due to the Corona pandemic and are not able to attend the model tests on site at SSPA as usual. Our experts investigated the possibilities of a remote participation for our clients to be involved in the model testing without being physically present. SSPA has implemented a live video streaming service enabling our customers to participate while we are performing the Towing Tank tests from wherever they are in real time.

Determining the EEDI “minimum propulsion power”, new paper

Monday, June 8, 2020 - 10:24
kvlcc2

Recently, SSPA’s experts in seakeeping and ship performance in waves presented a new paper at an international conference, held by RINA (the Royal Institution of Naval Architects). A concise version of the presented paper and the results is available for download. The introduction of EEDI (the Energy Efficiency Design Index) almost a decade ago, slow steaming and the wish to reduce bunkering costs have resulted in a trend to install less powerful engines in ships. To avoid vessels becoming underpowered and unsafe, IMO (the International Maritime Organization) published an interim guideline. SSPA used the KVLCC2 tanker as a case study and followed the guideline step by step to find the minimum engine size. Our experts used a combination of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) and model tests. 

Innovations for wind ship propulsion, online conference

Thursday, May 14, 2020 - 14:39
Innovsail 2020

The latest scientific and technological research in the field of sailing will be presented on the international conference INNOV’SAIL 2020 in June. Chalmers University of Technology hosts the conference and SSPA is one of the co-organizers. Sailing shall not only be associated with racing and recreation. Sailing in commercial shipping is on its way back. SSPA is conducting extensive research and are contributing with the latest findings and will present several papers.

First model tests of the wind Powered Car Carrier

Thursday, April 23, 2020 - 13:36
Wind-Powered Car Carrier

Recently, the research project wPCC (wind Powered Car Carrier) entered a new phase when the new concept was tested at SSPA. The project aims to develop a sailing vessel that can transport 7,000 cars across the Atlantic, resulting in a reduction of energy consumption by approximately 90 percent. Designing and testing sailing cargo ships requires completely new calculation tools to be developed. The model tests were performed in SSPA’s Towing Tank to validate the computations. The results will be used to optimize the design of the rig, hull and appendages. The research project is led by Wallenius Marine, with the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and SSPA as partners.

Utilise the waterways with a floating recycling centre

Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 17:09
DenCity

DenCity is a Swedish research project that develops innovative solutions for sustainable and highly efficient passenger and freight transport in densely populated cities. It is a collaborative project between industry, academia and society in three phases. One pilot in this project has been to design a barge as a floating recycling centre. In autumn 2019, the first trial was performed on the river in central Gothenburg. During a seven weeks period, more than 2,500 people visited the floating recycling centre. It was great interest for this service, and it has already been decided that the barge will continue to run for another test period later in 2020. Maybe it will become a permanent part of the city recycling system.

New issue of SSPA Highlights

Tuesday, March 17, 2020 - 09:43
Highlights 67

We present results from our work and expertise in our company newsletter SSPA Highlights. The new issue is now ready. In this edition, several articles describe different actions that should be possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, directly or indirectly. We want to contribute with new solutions to be able to achieve a long-term sustainable and environmentally friendly society.

 

New Sales & Business Development Manager, Christian Schell

Monday, February 24, 2020 - 09:26
Christian Schell

SSPA has recruited Christian Schell, who recently took up the position of Sales & Business Development Manager in the Maritime Sales department. 

Soon ready, next issue of SSPA Highlights

Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - 10:55
Highlights

We present results from our work and expertise in our newsletter SSPA Highlights. We want to contribute with new solutions to be able to achieve a long-term sustainable and environmentally friendly society. Our vision is to be recognized as the most rewarding partner for innovative and sustainable maritime development. In this edition, several articles describe different actions that should be possible to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, directly or indirectly.

Seminar - Latest research on maritime analyses

Monday, January 27, 2020 - 14:43
Maritime analyses

To be able to reduce the risk of shipping accidents, the environmental footprint, and maritime infrastructure costs, researchers need to continue to develop and test new prediction methods and tools. Improved and innovative maritime analyses will allow experts to make more accurate predictions about the effects of certain changes made to routes, infrastructures or traffic patterns, and provide better decision support to maritime actors. In late December, the latest research on maritime risk and environmental analyses was presented in a seminar at SSPA in Gothenburg

Why some propellers have unexpectedly low value of relative rotative efficiency, new paper

Friday, January 10, 2020 - 15:05
Transitional Flow on Model Propellers and Their Influence on Relative Rotative Efficiency

ηR is the relative rotative efficiency of a propeller that reflects the torque difference for a propeller working in the open water and in the behind conditions. It is obtained during the scaling of model test results with the standard ITTC-78 method. A research article, published in the Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (JSME), presents our new findings and a thorough explanation about the cause of low ηR-value for the low blade area propellers. Model testing and a RANS method with a transition model were used in this work to study the near-wall flow characteristics in open water and behind conditions for three different propeller designs.

New framework agreement with Ports of Stockholm

Friday, December 13, 2019 - 12:57
Stockholm Norvik Port

Recently, we signed a framework agreement with Ports of Stockholm regarding ship simulations, maritime risk inventories and traffic-, incident- and accident investigations. SSPA had previously a similar framework agreement and has supported investigations and ship simulations regarding the establishment of the new Stockholm Norvik Port, development of Stockholm as a cruise destination and various minor jobs in Kapellskär.

Master Thesis

Thursday, December 5, 2019 - 10:17
Master Thesis

If you are enrolled at a Swedish technical university and would like to carry out your Master Thesis project at SSPA, please send us an application before 15 December, using the provided form. Note that you will not be an employee during the thesis work. 

Using a web-based simulation software in education – new paper

Wednesday, November 27, 2019 - 09:32
SEAMAN Online

Manoeuvring ships in confined waters is a complex issue and requires extensive education, training and practical experience. Together with Chalmers, SSPA has completed a new paper about the use of a web-based simulation software in education. SEAMAN Online™ is a novel ship manoeuvring training tool, allowing the students to practice from their own personal computers. It supports the students in their training and understanding of the complexity of ship behaviour in various manoeuvring conditions.

Master Thesis at SSPA

Monday, November 25, 2019 - 10:56
Master Thesis

We are looking for two students (one thesis) in the area of Maritime Management (or other relevant programmes) to take part in tasks related to ongoing research. The purpose of the master thesis is to explore the crew’s perspective on wind powered cargo vessels and the sailing operations. Interesting questions to raise are: What are operational effects from applying different wind powered technologies? What expectations and requirements have the crew on the operations? What operational performance is expected? How could the operational performance be measured?

Meet us at Marintec China

Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - 11:20
Marintec China

Launched for over 40 years ago, Marintec China has become a platform for the international maritime industry and SSPA has participated on a regular basis for several years. It is an opportunity for us to meet our customers and partners and to make connections with new maritime professionals. Come and meet us at the Swedish pavilion and discuss your future challenges and how we can help you to contribute to innovative solutions and new ways to enable sustainable development.

Apply for the trainee programme?

Tuesday, November 19, 2019 - 12:44
Karolina Malmek

The Swedish maritime industry joins forces to put together the best trainee programme for newly graduated master’s students. The trainee programme involves different actors in the Swedish maritime industry; shipowners, shipyards and manufacturers, classification societies, authorities, designers and more. The application for 2020/2021 opens 15 December 2019 and close 31 January 2020.

Latest research on maritime analyses - new seminar

Monday, November 18, 2019 - 14:46
MARIA – MARItime Analyses

On 17 December, SSPA will host a seminar, with the collaboration of Lighthouse, presenting the latest research on maritime analyses. To be able to reduce shipping accidents, environmental footprint, and maritime infrastructure costs, researchers need to continue to develop and test new methods and tools. Improved maritime analyses will allow experts to make predictions about the effects of certain changes made to routes, infrastructures or traffic patterns, and provide better decision support.

The role of transport-buying companies for increased shipping – new Swedish report

Thursday, November 14, 2019 - 13:50
The role of transport-buying companies for increased shipping

Increasing the share of goods transported by sea has received increasing political interest in Sweden in order to achieve sustainable transports. The benefits of moving goods from land to sea transport are for example less congestion, reduced environmental impact, lower cost for companies sending and receiving goods and improved road safety. Despite this, the share of sea transport is not increasing in Sweden.

WASP project launched

Thursday, November 7, 2019 - 10:43
WASP project launched
The Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion (WASP) project has recently been officially approved and launched. This project brings together universities, wind-assist technology providers with ship owners to research, trial and validate the operational performance of a selection of wind propulsion solutions. SSPA is one of the expert partners that will test wind propulsion systems on different types of vessels, routes and sea conditions. WASP is funded by the Interreg North Sea Europe programme, as part of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Testing proof of concept of SEAMAN Online - new paper

Thursday, October 24, 2019 - 15:44
Nicole Costa

Together with Chalmers University of Technology, SSPA has completed a study testing proof of concept of SEAMAN Online™ with students. SEAMAN Online is a novel web-based ship manoeuvring training tool allowing students and professional mariners to practice manoeuvres in ports and confined waters from their personal computers.

Seminar on inland and coastal shipping

Monday, October 21, 2019 - 14:46
Seminar on Inland and coastal shipping

How can inland and coastal shipping be used to a greater extent? On 15th of October about 100 participants from industry, academia and the public sector attended a seminar focused on how the use of inland and coastal shipping could be increased while another 30 watched the live stream. 

Master Thesis at SSPA

Monday, October 14, 2019 - 16:08
Master Thesis

If you are enrolled at a Swedish technical university and would like to carry out your Master Thesis project at SSPA, please send us an application before 15 November, using the provided form. Note that you will not be an employee during the thesis work. 

New electric ferry, Elvy

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 - 11:11
Elvy

Electrification of public transport is an important investment to achieve the target for reducing emissions. SSPA has supported Västtrafik, the public transport company in Gothenburg, Sweden, during the project to build a new ferry with battery-hybrid propulsion. The traffic across the river Göta älv in central Gothenburg has been a success and the passengers can continue to increase with the new ferry, Elvy. In late October, after naming ceremony and crew training, she will enter traffic. We are looking forward to travel across the river, more silent and with less emissions.

Inland and coastal shipping - What's on?

Monday, September 30, 2019 - 15:18
IWTS

How can inland and coastal shipping be used to a greater extent? How can a logistics concept be designed that could be realized? What is required and in what way do different actors need to take the initiative? These questions will be discussed during a seminar in Gothenburg, Sweden on 15 October. The seminar is organised as part of Interreg North Sea region IWTS 2.0 project by SSPA in collaboration with Lighthouse. 

STM Validation Project results

Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 11:07
STM final report

The Sea Traffic Management (STM) Validation Project was finished this summer and its final report with the project’s results was recently published. SSPA has been a partner in this project, where the SSPA Route Optimisation Service was developed and integrated into the ECDIS through the Maritime Connectivity Platform and tested with the involved partners and ships. Optimising the route has a strong impact on the operational costs for fuel and it is translated into GHG emission savings. Although the project has ended, the SSPA Route Optimisation Service remains active and new initiatives continue.

SSPA at Donsö Shipping Meet

Thursday, August 29, 2019 - 16:22
Donsö Shipping Meet

On September 3-4, some of our experts are visiting Sweden’s biggest shipping event. For two days, partners, customers and suppliers gather together to discuss shipping-related topics. This year, SSPA will take part in the exhibition in stand B24, presenting one new business area, ILS & Technical Information Services. We will also demonstrate SEAMAN Online™, a fully web based professional maritime manoeuvring training simulator. On stage, we will talk about the interesting topic "Sailing cargo vessels, a realistic path to achieve carbon-neutral shipping", research where SSPA is a partner.

Case study: S1000D for the Swedish Armed Forces’ Amphibious Battalion

Thursday, July 4, 2019 - 15:02
Combat Boat 90H

Accurate, complete, boat-specific and easily accessible technical information for vessels and boats not only enhances safety and accessibility, but also reduces the total lifecycle cost. SSPA has written a case study describing a recently finished S1000D project for the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The case study describes our work from start to finish, including pre-history, challenges, project lessons and visions for the future.

Simulations are an efficient tool for gaining valuable insights for decision-making

Wednesday, June 26, 2019 - 11:10
SEAMAN Online

Knowing how a vessel will behave in certain conditions can help answer many questions, for example; What is the operational window for ship-to-ship transfer?, What size and number of tugs are needed for safe berthing? Will the vessel roll heavily in the forecasted weather? In what conditions can the ship be safely moored? What engine power is required to be on schedule 98% of the time? One way to address these types of questions is to use advanced simulations. At SSPA, we have developed a toolbox, called SEAMAN Simulation, which can provide a solution for the issues above and much more.

Route optimisation based on AIS tracks

Monday, June 17, 2019 - 12:59
Route optimisation based on AIS tracks in the Baltic Sea

As a part of the FAMOS Odin research project, a route optimisation analysis was performed. SSPA presents the results of taking stored AIS tracks and optimising their route geometry as well as their speed to minimise fuel consumption, i.e. to minimise the shallow water resistance experienced by each ship. The results show key changes in traffic patterns, specifically fairway shortcuts that could be taken if there are no safety concerns.

AIS in maritime research – new paper

Tuesday, June 11, 2019 - 11:07
AIS in maritime research

A new research article is published in the journal Marine Policy. This paper provides an overview of how Automatic Identification System (AIS) can be used in different areas of maritime research. AIS data can be incorporated in various types of modelling approaches and play a small or large role as a source of data. AIS data can also be validated or used to validate research from other data sources. The researchers have identified and presents ten different research areas in which AIS is used today. In the future they propose making use of AIS data also in other research fields. Many stakeholders can benefit from the research in which AIS data is used.

Challenging applications in marine engineering

Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 15:36
Marine 2019

The eight Conference on Computational Methods in Marine Engineering (Marine 2019) was recently hosted by Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. This conference is a meeting place for researchers developing computational methods and scientists and engineers focusing on challenging applications in marine engineering. Researchers from SSPA, together with some of our research partners, presented interesting papers.

Knowledge of the effect that a rough surface has on skin friction

Wednesday, May 22, 2019 - 13:43
Skin friction database

It is not a trivial task for ship owners and shipyards to decide which coating to use or how often the surfaces should be recoated or cleaned based on cost/benefit analyses. SSPA has completed a research project with the aim to gain increased knowledge of the effect a rough surface has on skin friction. This project has also resulted in an interactive tool that can be used to estimate fuel consumption without requiring background knowledge in hydrodynamics. This tool is the “Skin Friction database”, which will hopefully contribute to better surface treatment of vessels, that in the end can reduce costs and emission of greenhouse gases from the maritime sector.

Paper awarded by RINA

Monday, May 6, 2019 - 11:19
RINA prize

The paper “Comparison of modern keel types for sail boats” was published in late 2017. The study systematically evaluated the hydrodynamic performance of different types of bulb keels. Recently, the paper was awarded with two prizes at the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) annual meeting. The Institution’s Medal of Distinction and the Austin Farrar Prize.

Workshop about the role of transport buyers for sustainable and increased shipping

Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - 11:03
Workshop about the role of transport buyers

Recently transport buyers, shipping companies, forwarders and researchers attended a workshop in Sweden to discuss barriers and opportunities for shifting goods from road transport to short sea shipping within Europe, and also environmental performance of sea transport. The workshop was organised by SSPA and partners as part of a research study. A project report concluding the research project will be available in August. 

How do you continuously manage technical publications for a large fleet of military assault and support crafts?

Wednesday, April 17, 2019 - 12:21
Interactive Electronic Technical Publication

You do this by implementing S1000D, the International Specification for Technical Publications. SSPA supports the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in several projects with information analysis, data conversion, restructuring, content revisions, and quality assurance.

CFD/EFD Combined methods

Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 11:07
CFD/EFD Combined methods

SSPA currently lead the ITTC Specialist Committee on Combined CFD/EFD Methods. CFD stands for Computations Fluid Dynamics and EFD stands for Experimental Fluid Dynamics, i.e. model testing. To facilitate the introduction of CFD/EFD Combined Methods in our community, the Committee has identified several research areas which need to be addressed. In this way, they wish to inspire researchers around the world to contribute to the development.

New issue of SSPA Highlights

Tuesday, March 12, 2019 - 15:41
Highlights 66

The latest issue of our company magazine, SSPA Highlights, issue 66 has been published. Read about; Skin Friction database, Route optimisation based on AIS tracks, Defining normal ship behaviour and safety distance, Logistical consequences of container port conflict, Implementing S1000D for military assault and support crafts, Thorough model testing required to make cruising in tough environments sustainable, The importance of high-quality data.

To calculate the load factor of ships on a larger scale - new pre-study

Thursday, December 27, 2018 - 14:26
container vessel

Transport activities can become more energy and cost efficient by improving the load factor, i.e. balancing the required and available capacity of transportation. Statistics about load factor are missing today, in particular for sea transports. There are unused opportunities to calculate load factor of ships by using innovative data collection techniques, enabled through digitalisation in terms of AIS (Automatic Identification System). SSPA’s experts has investigated how the load factor can be mapped from AIS-data and analysed the energy efficiency potential of an increased load factor in sea transports.

Time to apply for the trainee programme

Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - 14:00
Karolina Malmek

The Swedish maritime industry join forces to put together the best trainee programme for newly graduated Naval Architects. The trainee programme involves different actors in the Swedish maritime industry; shipowners, shipyards and manufacturers, classification societies, authorities, designers and more. The application for 2019/2020 opens 15 December 2018 and close 31 January 2019. 

Two-way knowledge flow

Friday, December 14, 2018 - 10:00
Propeller

Knowledge-based organisations like SSPA constantly have to adapt to a changing world. At SSPA, all specialist engineers can be involved in research and development (R&D) in addition to the commercial work. This facilitates a two-way knowledge flow between research and business. The decentralised R&D-organisation does, however, require very clear management with defined goals, roadmaps and prioritisation. Our strategic research plans help us to set the direction and to break down the challenges into manageable goals.

From ocean plastics to dinghies

Wednesday, December 12, 2018 - 17:45
Optimist för havet

It is a global issue with the 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.

STM Validation, final conference

Wednesday, November 21, 2018 - 10:00
STM Final conference

Recently, the STM Validation Final Conference was held at the headquarter of IMO in London. The conference lasted for two days and the interest was huge. 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.

Master Thesis at SSPA

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - 17:00
Master Thesis

If you are enrolled at a Swedish technical university and would like to carry out your Master Thesis project at SSPA, please send us an application using the provided form.

Strategies for low life cycle costs

Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 09:22
Life cycle cost
The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) is responsible for the Swedish icebreaking service and has conducted a pre-study on how the current icebreakers can be replaced. SSPA has supported SMA with investigations of different aspects, including forecast of future tonnage in the Gulf of Bothnia, evaluation of alternative fuels, alternatives for hybrid solutions, evaluation of different propulsion concepts and overall feasibility studies of different options’ capabilities. The results of these analysis are tools for decision-making. To support the decisions in an economic perspective, the life cycle costs of different key features were assessed.

New assignment - to analyse fossil free state-owned vessels

Monday, October 1, 2018 - 14:54
state owned vessels

Sweden has decided to analyse the conditions for a switch to fossil free state-owned vessels. SSPA has under a frame work contract been awarded with the task to support the Swedish Transport Administration (STA, www.trafikverket.se) in this analyse and the development of a strategy on how governmental owned ships and boats can operate with lower or no emissions of fossil carbon dioxide.

Air lubrication - to eliminate resistance at its source

Wednesday, September 19, 2018 - 14:56
Air lubrication
Air lubrication systems are divided into three categories: air film, microbubbles and air cavity. In an article published in the International publication Ship&Offshore, issue 5/2018, we describe and discuss some practical aspects of each method. SSPA has been involved in numerous projects to develop and test different systems of air lubrication for decades. Our experts has carried out investigations on all these methods by performing tests, simulations and design consultation.

Organic dinghy - building in a nutshell

Monday, September 17, 2018 - 12:50
Formula Sailing

In a project together with Chalmers Sports & Technology, SSPA has contributed to the design and build of a racing skiff dinghy where 70 percent of the hull is made of biomaterials. The dinghy will soon compete in a three-day regatta against other boats representing universities all over the world. This dinghy is one of a kind. The sail plan is very large in relation to the boat, the mast height (9.5 m) is more than two times larger than the boat length (4.6 m), making it rather extreme. 70 percent of the hull is made of bio materials. The hull and deck are a sandwich construction with skins of flax fibre in a cashew-based epoxy matrix, and a core of balsa wood. The principles of skiff dinghy design have been combined with innovative, more environmentally friendly materials

New member joins SSPA’s Management Team

Wednesday, September 5, 2018 - 16:20
Joacim Linder

As of September 3rd, Mr. Joacim Linder takes on the role of Head of Maritime Consulting. He will lead about 30 experts and consultants in three teams; Hull & Propulsion, Manoeuvring & Seakeeping, and Advisory. He is also a new member of SSPA's management team. Joacim has extensive experience in the maritime industry and has recently been responsible for the RoRo Competence Centre at Cargotec, MacGregor. He has an M.Sc. in Naval Architecture from Chalmers University of Technology.

The impact of light

Monday, August 27, 2018 - 11:41
Sunset Lars Markström

Among all the factors on board that affect sleep and alertness, the impact of light may be less known. SSPA performed an overview, funded by the Swedish Mercantile Marine Foundation. With a greater insight about the effects of light; mariners can adapt new routines to improve their well-being. We can all benefit from knowing how to use light to maximise our performance, but it is even more important for mariners who are working and living 24 hours a day in a harsh environment where good recovery is important for safe operation and health.

Strategies for coping with slow-steaming, new paper

Thursday, August 9, 2018 - 09:46
Strategies for coping with slow-steaming

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.

Comparison of modern keel types for sailing yachts

Friday, June 29, 2018 - 12:42
Comparison of modern keel types for sailing yachts

Have you ever reflected over the different types of bulbs chosen for yacht keels? Today there is no general agreement on which bulb type is preferred for different types of yachts and very little scientific investigation has been done in this area. SSPA and Chalmers have carried out a study, where the hydrodynamic performance of different types of bulb keels were systematically evaluated. A paper is published in the International Journal of Small Craft Technology (IJSCT), a RINA Publication

Safer traffic in Kattegat and Skagerrak

Wednesday, June 20, 2018 - 10:45
New roueting system

Sweden and Denmark has jointly developed actions to improve the shipping traffic in Kattegat and Skagerrak to be safer and more environmentally friendly. SSPA has supported the Swedish Transport Agency with comparative consequence analyses for the proposed new routing systems. The IMO Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has now approved the proposal for new ship routes that will be in place from July 1, 2020.

Sustainable Marine Methanol solutions for smaller vessels

Wednesday, May 30, 2018 - 14:47
Saturnus

SUMMETH, the Sustainable Marine Methanol project, which investigated and advanced development of methanol engine and fuel solutions for smaller ships, has recently been completed and the final reports are now available. The project concludes that methanol can be used efficiently as a combustion fuel for smaller vessels, resulting in significant environmental benefits. Particulate emissions are greatly reduced, there are no sulphur emissions, and large reductions in GHG emissions are possible if renewable methanol is used. SSPA was project manager and contributed work on environmental assessments, feasibility of sustainable methanol supply, and safety assessment.

Predicting underwater-radiated noise, new paper

Friday, May 18, 2018 - 11:15
Ocean Engineering

Pollution in the ocean is also about the ambient noise closely related to maritime shipping and seismic exploration by the oil/gas industry. SSPA has been involved in numerous acoustic-related projects and continually developing various predictive tools, making them available to assist customers in solving problems related to underwater-radiated noise (URN). SSPAs experts are contributing with more research in this area. In August, a new paper will be published in the well-known journal Ocean Engineering.

The Sports & Technology initiative continues to combine passion for sports with expertise in science and engineering

Wednesday, May 16, 2018 - 09:59
Max Salminen
Modern Finn dinghies are flexible in sections of the hull. The subjective perception of the sailors is that this makes the boat faster in waves. In a research project together with Chalmers Sports & Technology and Max Salminen, a two-time Swedish Olympic sailor and current World Champion, SSPA will attempt to verify this. We are now evaluating the tests that we have made with a modern Finn dinghy with a soft hull (Max Salminen’s own Olympic Finn dinghy) and a full-scale model built for previous rudder trials to represent a rigid hull. Can we verify that a soft hull makes the boat faster in waves? Is it possible for us to measure the hydrodynamic resistance between these two different hulls?

The way forward for maritime digitalisation

Thursday, May 3, 2018 - 15:06
Efficency2 final seminar

One of the research projects that our experts share knowledge in, is the EU-funded project EfficienSea2. Recently this project concluded the findings from three years of research of maritime digitalisation. The project has involved 32 European partners and has developed solutions such as the Maritime Connectivity Platform in order to create a more secure and seamless data exchange in the maritime world.

SSPA Highlights - No 65 2018

Monday, April 23, 2018 - 09:42
Highlights 65 2018

Contents

  • Hull air lubrication: future and challenges
  • Assessing costs for new Swedish icebreakers: a 25-year perspective
  • The Nobel Prize and its implication for mariners’ health and performance
  • Maritime spatial planning and ship routeing systems
  • Strategic research plan for hydrodynamics
  • Ongoing hydrodynamic research project

GreenPilot Final Seminar to be held 3rd May 2018 in Göteborg

Friday, April 13, 2018 - 10:06
Green Pilot

The GreenPilot Project final seminar, “Guiding the Way to Sustainable Shipping”, will be held 3rd May 2018 in Gothenburg, Sweden and all are welcome to attend. The seminar will include presentations of results from the project to convert a pilot boat to methanol operation, as well as presentations covering sustainable methanol production, safety and performance of methanol, and perspectives from ship operators regarding methanol operation.

New pre-study on electrification

Thursday, April 5, 2018 - 15:57
electrification

The needs and possibilities of electrification within shipping is analysed in a pre-study, conducted as a Swedish collaborative project by Lighthouse, SSPA, Chalmers and RISE. This report is a synthesis of previous projects and interviews with actors within the shipping industry and closely related areas. The aim is to give an overview of the technical development within electrification of sea transportation and analyse parameters that influence the performance and costs of maritime electrification. The study also investigate the perspective of industry actors regarding their drivers for maritime electrification as well as existing challenges. Several project ideas has been formulated based on those insights.

To gain a deeper understanding

Wednesday, March 21, 2018 - 12:02
Utilisation of data sources in simulations for the various sources that form the basis of the simulation system.

There are multiple reasons for carrying out accident investigations, but the primary reason is often a need to gain a deeper understanding of the course of the events from both a human and technical perspective. From this analysis, conclusions can be made that may result in recommendations for decreasing the risk of a similar accidents occurring.

How do we determine the unknown weather factor?

Friday, March 2, 2018 - 11:00
Power prediction and fw

Legislation on the Energy Efficiency Design Index (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?

The VCT method is taking us forward

Monday, January 22, 2018 - 11:00
Flow visualisation at the stern of a twin-screw vessel
Manoeuvring performance generally features too late in the design process in SSPA’s experience. Sometimes shipyards have to face costly and time-consuming last-minute changes to the design (when the IMO standards for ship manoeuvrability are not met). And what if the manoeuvring performance is “too good”? Is the rudder too big? (Resulting in resistance that is too high). The use of a new method of CFD calculations enables SSPA to offer early-stage manoeuvring predictions with much higher accuracy than before.

MaRINET2 – Providing support for offshore renewable energy developers

Monday, January 15, 2018 - 14:10
marinet2 banner

MaRINET2, the Marine Renewables Infrastructure Network, is composed of 39 organisations who collaborate to progress offshore renewable energy technologies in Europe. It aims to accelerate the development of wave, tidal and offshore wind energy technologies and infrastructure by opening up access to 57 test facilities across 13 European countries. The project is now in its second iteration, and it is supported by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.

New interim CEO at SSPA

Monday, January 15, 2018 - 09:34
Stefan Eliasson

The Board of Directors at SSPA has decided to strengthen SSPA’s core business and to review the company strategy plan. As part of this process, the board has appointed Stefan Eliasson as acting CEO & President during the on-going recruitment of a new permanent CEO.

Learning from and assisting actors in developing innovative waterway solutions

Friday, January 12, 2018 - 16:01
NÖKS

SSPA are working with projects on the development of innovative logistics solutions and energy efficient vessel concepts for increased use of sea transportation in general and inland waterway transportation in particular. Within this area, SSPA has a large role in two large collaborative Interreg projects, NÖKS II (ending in June 2018) and IWTS - Inland Waterway Transport Solutions (running until late 2020). 

Time to apply for the trainee programme

Thursday, December 21, 2017 - 09:37
Trainee programme SSPA

The Swedish maritime industry join forces to put together the best trainee programme for newly graduated Naval Architects. The trainee programme involves different actors in the Swedish maritime industry; shipowners, shipyards, manufacturers, classification societies, authorities and more. SSPA is one of the companies involved in this trainee programme. The application for 2018/2019 opens 15 December 2017 and close 31 January 2018.

Replacing an old bridge is never easy

Thursday, December 7, 2017 - 11:00
One example of a difficult manoeuvre is when the bridge and barges are moved around the island of Stora Essingen

The railway bridges in Stockholm city centre are to be replaced. Needless to say, this is a very sensitive operation and the Swedish Transport Administration wanted to acquire as much information about the problem as possible, as early as possible. One way of managing the impact of the operation on traffic was to transport and install the bridges over water.

Renewal of Sweden's icebreaker fleet – prestudy completed

Friday, December 1, 2017 - 10:32
Renewal of Sweden's icebreaker fleet – prestudy completed

It is a major infrastructure initiative to renew Sweden's icebreaker fleet. The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) has procured expertise from SSPA to support them with several investigations and the results are utilized in a prestudy. Our experts have conducted investigations and analyses within ten different areas in order to find answers of key issues and to support the decision-making process. In the prestudy, SMA concluded that the design of the first new icebreaker should begin shortly and by 2030 the five state-owned icebreakers, existing today will either be replaced or life-time extended.

Demonstrating the use of urban and inland waterways

Tuesday, November 28, 2017 - 11:00
The barge “Helena” and towing vessel “Dragaren 6” transporting waste and goods on the urban waterways in Gothenburg. Photo: Christian Finnsgård

Demonstrating new logistics solutions is shown to be an important step for gaining understanding of system prerequisites for commercialisation, both with regard to technical issues such as vessel design characteristics and cargohandling equipment, and social matters such as the importance of practitioner involvement and the evaluation of performance criteria.

Master Thesis at SSPA

Thursday, November 23, 2017 - 15:11
Master thesis at SSPA

If you are enrolled at a Swedish technical university and would like to carry out your master thesis project at SSPA, please send us an application before December 1, using the provided form. You can either propose your own project idea or select one of the projects that we suggest.

New study - Logistic consequences of the Gothenburg container port conflict

Thursday, November 16, 2017 - 13:53
Logistic consequences of the Gothenburg container port conflict

The conflict in APM Terminals in Port of Gothenburg has led to a large reduction in volumes handled in the port. We can observe consequences within the supply chain and large companies across the country stress the negative implications in terms of increased cost as well as problems of sending/receiving goods on time. SSPA and the University of Gothenburg (School of Business, Economics and Law), will jointly investigate the consequences of the conflict from a national perspective. This knowledge will benefit both authorities and industrial actors.

Meet us at Marintec China

Tuesday, November 14, 2017 - 11:09
Welcome to visit SSPA in the Swedish Pavilion at hall N1, stand no. N1K01.

In early December, the trade show Marintec China will be held in Shanghai. SSPA has participated in the exhibition on a regular basis for several years and it is an opportunity for us to meet our clients and partners and to make connections with new maritime professionals. Come and meet us at the Swedish pavilion if you are visiting the trade show.

Increased interest in battery hybrid installations

Thursday, November 9, 2017 - 11:00
The figure shows total propulsion power along with the available power for an icebreaker during a typical icebreaking mission. Illustration: SSPA.

The maritime industry is currently experiencing a significant increase of interest in battery hybrid installations for new buildings and retrofits. The driving forces include the current development in battery technology, potential for lowering operational costs, increased capacity of drivetrain and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Virtual Captive Tests on NuTTS 2017

Thursday, October 19, 2017 - 13:48
Flow visualisation at the stern of a twin-screw vessel

The 20th Numerical Towing Tank Symposium (NuTTS 2017) successfully ended on 3 October in Wageningen, the Netherlands. This two-day’s symposium attracts experts, researchers and young Ph.D. students all over the world to meet together to disseminate the latest results, work in progress as well as encountered challenges. Two experts from SSPA participated with their knowledge on hydrodynamics and the new tool Virtual Captive Tests (VCT).

Traffic analysis using AIS-data

Wednesday, October 18, 2017 - 15:47
The Swedish Transport Administration is investigating if a traffic management system can be useful to minimize conflicts between different modes of transportation.

A new bridge is being built in the centre of Gothenburg, Sweden. The Swedish Transport Administration is investigating if a traffic management system can be useful to minimize conflicts between different modes of transportation. SSPA has supported this investigation and our experts has performed an extensive traffic analysis based on AIS and ship data. When using our database of AIS-data we have the capacity to map, describe and visualize traffic patterns on shipping lanes.

Seakeeping, fw-factor and combined CFD/EFD methods hot topics at the ITTC Full Conference in Wuxi

Friday, September 29, 2017 - 14:36
ITTC Wuxi 2017

The International Towing Tank Conference (ITTC) has an important role as a cooperation platform for all towing tank organizations. It gives SSPA, as an active member, an opportunity to influence the worldwide shipping community. At the ITTC’s 28th Full Conference, the Seakeeping Committee presented a recommended procedure for determining "fw". The procedure is largely based on work by SSPA’s experts. After a suggestion from SSPA, the conference took the decision to start up a new Specialist Committee on Combined CFD/EFD Methods that will run at least during the next three years. The Chairman is one of SSPA’s experts.

SSPA Highlights - No 64 2017

Friday, September 22, 2017 - 14:12
SSPA Highlights

The latest issue of our company magazine, SSPA Highlights 64, has been published.

Dynamic design of ships

Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 14:30
Stena Elektra

There is a big potential in optimising the construction of ships by reducing weight and steel. Transports can become more energy efficient and reduce the environmental impact at sea. To find out more, a pre-study was conducted in 2016 and now a collaboration is established. SSPA together with Chalmers, KTH and Stena Teknik will conduct research on methods for dynamic ship dimensioning and the understanding of dynamic loads on ships will be able to enhance. During the project, a vessel model will be equipped to measure structural loads, model wave tests, and numerical calculations will be validated against model trials. Stena's concept vessel Stena Elektra is chosen as a model vessel.

JOULES project presents solutions for ultra low emission shipping

Thursday, September 7, 2017 - 13:48
Energy grids for 11 different ship types were simulated

The EU-funded JOULES project recently presented its final results at a conference in Hamburg. SSPA was a partner in the four-year project, which developed simulation and assessment tools that were used to develop ship designs for two future scenarios (2025 and 2050), with significant reductions of energy consumption and emissions of greenhouse gases and other air pollutants.

Increase port efficiency by using Value Stream Mapping

Monday, September 4, 2017 - 15:13
Value Stream Mapping; the current state map, analyzing/assessing the current state map and the future state map

Port operators are experiencing pressure to improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. One option could be to implement Lean Production concepts and thereby working with continuous improvements. In a collaboration between SSPA and Chalmers University of Technology, Value Stream Mapping was applied to four different seaport container terminals of varying sizes. Several improvement areas were identified and the project provided the terminals with improvement proposals to increase their efficiency, including increasing the collaboration between actors and consider to automate certain processes in the handling of containers.

Electric powered vessels, challenges and opportunities

Monday, August 28, 2017 - 11:49
The electric powered road ferry 336 MAJ, build in year 2000. Photo: Peter Jansson Peterberg.

The maritime industry is currently experiencing an increased interest in electric powered vessels. The driving forces include the current development in battery technology, potential for lowering operational costs, increased capacity of drivetrain and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. One of the crucial aspects is finding out when battery and hybrid propulsion is a feasible way of meeting the targets for a specific ship, including its operational profile. A number of recent projects shows that SSPA has the tools and knowledge to support our clients with answers to their questions and to evaluate different alternatives for propulsion, from batteries and fuel tanks to propellers. We will share our expertise in a seminar in Gothenburg on 30 August.

Sailing, aerodynamics in waves - new paper

Friday, July 7, 2017 - 16:50

Prediction and analysis of added hydrodynamic resistance in waves is an established research topic, with several accepted methods, but the study of sail aerodynamics in waves is an open research area. The unsteady aerodynamic behavior of sails in waves can greatly influence the performance of a yacht, by providing increased driving force in some conditions, but decreased driving force in others. SSPA and Chalmers are cooperating in the Sports & Technology initiative, with several research projects in sailing. The leading journal Ocean Engineering has recently published a paper titled “CFD prediction of steady and unsteady upwind sail aerodynamics”.

Sports & Technology, new papers presented

Monday, July 3, 2017 - 12:56

High performance in sports are closely coupled to technology. SSPA and Chalmers University of Technology are cooperating in Sports & Technology, with several research projects in sailing. A team with researchers recently visited a conference in France to present their papers. About 100 researchers was gathered at one of the sailing world's major conferences. Results and findings from the research projects "The Foiling Optimist", “The Paper Boat” and “Ranking of 7 Rudders for the Finn Dinghy” was presented.

Port safety manual on LNG bunkering procedures

Thursday, June 29, 2017 - 15:12

The Port of Helsinki has recently published a safety manual on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) bunkering procedures. The safety manual has been developed by SSPA in collaboration with the Port of Helsinki and the Finnish authorities. The safety manual outlines the safety regulations and demands that are required for safe handling in LNG bunkering operations, including ship-to-ship (STS) and truck-to-ship (TTS) operations within the operating area of the Port of Helsinki. The manual details the minimum requirements for shipping companies and LNG suppliers that wish to perform LNG bunkering at the port in a clear and practical manner.

What can be considered a good open-water design when it comes to vessels trading in areas obstructed with ice?

Monday, June 19, 2017 - 11:07

Good vessel design will reduce the impact on the environment and have a positive effect on the financial life-cycle cost for the ship and its operators. This much is clear, but how do we achieve this? The answer lies in a correct interpretation and adaption to the operational profile for the trade or service intended for the vessel. But how do we ensure that this performance is attained? It is obvious that an icebreaker operating in the Port of Sabetta has different requirements for open-water performance than an ice-breaking LNG (liquefied natural gas) carrier operating to ports in Northern Europe or for polar research vessels or even exploration cruise vessels. They all operate in icy waters, but with different purposes and different operating profiles. What is most important, the consumption and emissions for a single design point or for the intended sea route? 

Seminar - Shipping as a guide towards sustainable transport

Monday, June 12, 2017 - 10:12

Welcome to an international seminar on the 15th June, presenting the outcome and lessons learned. In order to reach the national target of fossil free transport by 2030, emissions reduction in the transport sector needs to accelerate on a technical and operational level. Several on-going and ground breaking projects are contributing to the development of different sustainability solutions.

Testing and verification of new functions for autonomous ships, using an open-source framework

Friday, June 2, 2017 - 13:15

The development of smart functions for shipping is revolutionising the industry. The trend is to use software to increase the efficiency, safety and environmental aspects of ships. SSPA is invited to speak at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2017, on 6 - 8 June in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. SSPA will present an open-source framework and show how it is used in the development of new functions for autonomous ships. At SSPA, we supports our clients with hydrodynamic knowledge and tools to make them able to test their smart future functions. 

New member joins SSPA’s Management Team

Thursday, June 1, 2017 - 09:05

As of 1 June, Ph.D. Christian Finnsgård takes the role as Vice President, Head of SSPA Research. He succeeds Ph.D. Peter Grundevik who retires. Christian Finnsgård has been working as a senior researcher and project manager at SSPA since 2014, heading international and national research projects ranging from maritime logistics to sports research. 

Investigating manoeuvring performance?

Wednesday, May 31, 2017 - 10:59

All merchant ships longer than 100 metres must fulfil the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) standards for ship manoeuvrability. The best way to validate the criteria is model tests. Running model tests will avoid the risk of very unpleasant surprises during full-scale sea trials. The manoeuvring model tests are usually performed late in the design process. If the requirements are not fulfilled at this time, undesired design changes may be needed at the very end of a project. 

The GreenPilot project shares results achieved to date

Tuesday, May 23, 2017 - 09:21

The GreenPilot project has converted a pilot boat to methanol operation to show how a methanol conversion of a smaller vessel can be carried out in practice and to demonstrate the emissions reductions that can be achieved. The project began in March 2016 and the partners are ready to share their latest results. Project representatives will be attending the Nor-Shipping 2017 Exhibition, held May 30th to June 2nd in Oslo, to discuss the project. A project seminar will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden on June 15th, 2017. SSPA is committed to developing sustainable solutions for shipping, and we have dedicated experts who are excited to be part of this project team.

Focus on energy efficiency

Monday, May 15, 2017 - 11:25

Widely used so-called energy efficiency indices and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) measure Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions and there is indeed a connection between energy and emissions, but the distinction should be made clear. In practice, energy efficiency refers to optimisation in hydrodynamics, technical solutions and operational profiles. The challenges of energy efficiency and reducing emissions have to be approached internationally and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has focused on emissions and energy efficiency for a considerable time. An upcoming regulation is the European Union (EU) MRV Regulation 2015/757.

Safe and green ship operation in ice-covered waters

Thursday, April 27, 2017 - 11:20

The consequences of global warming may reduce the need for icebreaking assistance in certain shipping areas, but will also open up for increased sea traffic and offshore activities in pristine Arctic areas. This situation provides opportunities to reduce the carbon footprint from maritime transport through reduced fuel consumption in sea areas such as the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland, and also through favourable conditions for transoceanic short cuts in the Northern Sea Route (NSR). But it also entails considerable environmental and safety risks that must be carefully assessed and controlled. SSPA is currently engaged in a number of client assignments and inter-disciplinary research projects related to oil-spill risk assessment and safe traffic management in ice-covered waters.

Logistic solutions for future dense cities

Wednesday, April 19, 2017 - 13:39

A demo for investigating the opportunities for using waterways in the city of Gothenburg has recently taken place in Sweden. The DenCity project is studying how waterways can become part of the city transport solution. Cities becomes denser, more people, more goods and more waste needs to be transported. The waterways are almost an untapped resource in Gothenburg. There is a great deal of space available for transporting goods and waste, and moving the transport to waterways would relieve the pressure on the roads and reduce both congestion and noise pollution. SSPA will evaluate how the use of the city waterways could be scaled up and become a commercial solution in the future.

The Optimist Dinghy proves it can fly

Thursday, April 6, 2017 - 13:39

Students and researchers from Chalmers Sports & Technology and SSPA, has together designed and developed an optimist dinghy with supreme capabilities. By using a composite with added graphene, the hull is made stronger. Hydrofoils are added to lift the boat, decreasing drag and allowing greater speeds. After tests performed in SSPA’s facility, the towing tank, the dinghy was ready to be tried out at sea. By this project, SSPA has increased the practical knowledge concerning the particular challenges of construction, configuration and testing of hydrofoil craft.

Why perform Life Cycle Cost analysis?

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 - 14:00

We are all aiming to avoid future economic surprises, to “think first” and to make wise decisions. But unfortunately, economic surprises sometimes arise. One of the main reasons for this is that when a new product or system is to be acquired, it is common to investigate only the cost for acquisition, with ownership costs frequently forgotten. Thus, just one part of the life-cycle cost is considered. This well-known problem is often visualised using the famous LCC iceberg, which shows that the acquisition cost is “merely the tip of the iceberg”, and that the ownership costs are hidden under the surface, e.g. cost for human resources, training, repair, upgrades and disposal; costs that constitute the largest part of the total life cycle cost in most scenarios.

Ongoing demo tests for urban waterways and city logistics

Wednesday, March 8, 2017 - 15:18

During the spring, several projects are performing demo tests with the goal to develop the potential of inland waterways and city logistics in Sweden. SSPA is involved in several of these projects and our experts in logistics and shipping have knowledge to share. Waterways in urban areas have unused capacity which could be used for transport of people, goods and waste. An increased use of inland waterway transport and city logistics can reduce the strain on the road network with positive environmental effects such as less noise and lower emissions.

Hydrodynamic testing of the new DSME 1400 AIP Class Submarine

Monday, March 6, 2017 - 10:46

Under contract with DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co. Ltd), SSPA has been testing and simulating the hydrodynamics of the new DSME 1400 AIP Class Submarine. SSPA performed the model testing on a scale model, manufactured and equipped with propeller, active aft control surfaces and forward hydroplanes. 

MaRINET2 - to facilitate research test infrastructures for actors in offshore renewable energy

Friday, February 24, 2017 - 09:48

The second Marine Renewables Infrastructure Network (MaRINET2) program has recently been launched and SSPA is a partner. The aim of the project is to facilitate research test infrastructures for actors in offshore renewable energy, free of charge. The European Commission Horizon 2020 program supports and finances the project that runs from 2017 to 2021. SSPA offers four major test facilities, Maritime Dynamics Laboratory, Towing Tank, Cavitation Tunnel and a Simulator, that are well suited for marine energy testing. 

User-friendly electronic technical information for the Swedish amphibious battalion

Friday, February 17, 2017 - 11:24

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has procured SSPA to support with revision of technical information for CB90 (Stridsbåt 90H) and the support vessels LTRB (Lätt Trossbåt). The current technical information has become invalid and needs to be updated and modernised regarding content, layout and quality. Using the international documentation standard S1000D, SSPA will produce user-friendly electronic technical information customised specifically for each vessel. This project makes SSPA a part of raising quality and availability of technical information on-board, and part of making the amphibious systems safer and more available.

Air bubbler system for suppressing ice on inland ferry routes

Wednesday, February 15, 2017 - 16:37

Ice-free waterways and harbors can be desirable during a greater portion of the year than what might be possible on behalf of nature. A possibility for suppressing ice formation at such locations can be the use of air bubbler systems. SSPA has just finished a project for STA Road Ferries (Färjerederiet) for proposing and comparing different design alternatives and pipe routes for an air bubbler system intended for a ferry route close to Östersund, Sweden.

SSPA Highlights - No 63 2017

Monday, February 13, 2017 - 15:12

The latest issue of our company magazine, SSPA Highlights, has been published.

Technical support and expertise, lifetime extensions on CB90

Friday, January 27, 2017 - 13:00

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has delivered updated combat boats, used in the amphibious battalion. The project includes in total 29 combat boats (CB90) that will acquire so called "lifetime extensions". Recently twelve CB90 was finalized and the remaining will be delivered during 2017. The goal is to increase the combat boats operational efficiency and technical availability. SSPA supports FMV with general technical support and expertise throughout this project.

Costs, not SECAs make RoRo steam slow

Thursday, January 26, 2017 - 11:16

The issue of speed is more complex for RoRo/RoPax vessels than other segments. A Swedish team with researchers from SSPA and the University of Gothenburg has addressed the preconditions for introducing slow steaming in Northern Europe and asked operators in Scandinavian waters how they prepared and have acted under SECA. An article about this study was recently published in HANSA International Maritime Journal.

Validation of the STM concept begins. The worlds’ largest maritime test?

Thursday, January 19, 2017 - 11:45

Sea Traffic Management (STM) is an initiative to establish standardised information sharing with open interfaces. Now the STM Validation Project, which is a continuation of MONA LISA 2.0, starts to validate the Sea Traffic Management concept on 300 ships and in 13 ports, testing real-time information sharing to authorized parties in the maritime transport chain. A large part of the work relies on AIS data processed with the SSPA EGAC (enterprise GIS analytics cluster), which capacity has evolved dramatically during the last few years.

Time to apply for the trainee programme

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 14:21

The Swedish maritime industry join forces to put together the best trainee programme for newly graduated Naval Architects. The trainee programme involves different actors in the Swedish maritime industry; shipowners, shipyards, manufacturers, classification societies, authorities and more. SSPA is one of the companies involved in this trainee programme.

Aiming for the Olympic games

Thursday, December 15, 2016 - 15:31

Max Salminen, a two-time Swedish Olympic sailor, aims towards the Olympic games in Tokyo 2020. To prepare himself in the best possible way, he wants to find out what rudder is the best for him and his Finn. To find out, he teamed up with Chalmers Sports & Technology and SSPAs experts in hydrodynamics and sailing to test different existing rudders. 

Methanol as an alternative fuel for smaller vessels

Thursday, December 8, 2016 - 14:04

Interest in methanol as an alternative fuel for meeting emissions requirements continues to grow, and there are currently both a retrofit solution for a large Ro-Pax ferry and chemical tanker newbuilding projects underway. Methanol is also a good alternative for smaller ships operating on coastal and inland waterways, but has yet to be tested in these applications. SSPA is coordinator of the project, “Sustainable Marine Methanol” (SUMMETH), which is focused on developing methanol solutions for smaller vessels.

Olympic dinghies tested at SSPA

Thursday, November 24, 2016 - 15:15

Chalmers, Sports & Technology and SSPA collaborates with several Swedish national team sailors and Olympic aspirants for Tokyo 2020. Some of the sailors are students at Chalmers and part of Riksidrottsuniversitet. In the Olympic classes athletes constantly strive to improve performance. To achieve this, they can either make changes on the dinghy or the way they sail. The hydrodynamic experts at SSPA performs different tests in the 260 metres long towing tank.

Risk analysis for ship-to-ship operations, new paper

Friday, November 11, 2016 - 15:59

Currently there is a strong drive in the marine business sector to increase use of alternative fuels for propulsion, e.g. LNG fuelled ships. To supply alternative fuel, ship-to-ship operations play an important role, since it is the only way to transfer required bunker volumes for merchant ships in reasonable time, when terminal supply is restricted to less than a handful locations on an entire continent. Introducing an alternative fuel in large scale requires that the risks are evaluated in an efficient manner. SSPA is invited to present a paper on the Gas Fuelled Ships (GFS) Conference, taking place in Hamburg, 16-18 November. The paper “Simulator based risk management for LNG bunkering”, presents a tool for risk assessment, based on simulations, which is used for development and evaluations of equipment, ships, ports, operations and guidelines.

Full-scale tests in Stockholm, for high-speed electric commuter vessel

Thursday, October 27, 2016 - 13:17

The development of the BB GREEN Air Supported Vessel has been ongoing for several years. Now, a demonstrator called “AiriEl” has been delivered from the shipyard in Riga to Stockholm for optimisation and sea trials. This Air Supported demo vessel utilizes electric propulsion and the aim is to reach a cruising speed of 25 knots. SSPA has been commissioned by Stockholm County Council to conduct and verify the model tests previously carried out by SSPA for the prototype. The goal is new fast ferries that enables rapid and environmentally friendly public transport in cities.

When is it safe to bunker LNG ship-to-ship?

Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - 11:15

If looking on this issue from the perspective of a potential ship-to-ship LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) bunker supplier or its client, the most important question is: - Under what circumstances and in which location is it possible to perform a ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation with an acceptable risk level? 

Air Supported Vessel technology

Friday, September 23, 2016 - 10:06

Lowering environmental impact, increasing comfort and control at sea, are effects and characteristics many ship owners and operators are searching for. The Danish shipyard Tuco Marine, in collaboration with Effect Ships International AS, Norway, has taken one step closer to these goals with an 18 metres carbon sandwich Air Supported Vessel (ASV) Soft Motion Demonstrator. The hull solutions has been tested and verified at SSPA.

The widest ship in the world

Thursday, September 1, 2016 - 09:25

The Ramform Titan launched a new class of seismic ship that is easily the most powerful and efficient in the world. They quickly recognized that the silent operations and wide stern made her perfect for seismic acquisition. The unique broad stern design and ultra-stable hull enables quick and safe deployment and the retrieval of massive volumes of towed seismic equipment. 

Next generation of Swedish icebreakers – the design phase has now started

Friday, August 26, 2016 - 14:00

The Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) has procured SSPA to support them with technical expertise in a prestudy regarding a new fleet of icebreakers. The SMA is responsible for the Swedish icebreaking, and owns five icebreakers.

Increasing interest in underwater radiated noise from shipping

Friday, August 12, 2016 - 13:17

A recent article in the magazine Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery highlights the growing concern about environmental impact of ship noise emissions. Organisations such as IMO (MEPC), United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and EU (MFSD) are addressing the problem. This has lately been brought to wider public attention through articles published by national newspapers, e.g. The Guardian in the UK and The New York Times in the US.

Marine Propulsion & Auxiliary Machinery highlights SSPA as an example of companies that offer services to help maximise both energy and environmental efficiency: “In addition to offering services such as ship design and hydrodynamics, safety and risk management and alternative fuels, the company offers a portfolio of energy efficiency and environmental tools and services relating to underwater radiated noise.”

Technical support for amphibious systems

Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - 15:36

The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has granted SSPA a framework agreement covering the supply of technical consultancy services in amphibious systems for the Swedish military.

Amphibious systems are used where water meets land and the Swedish Armed Forces are using speed boats such as combat boats, ferries and hovercrafts.

GreenPilot project holds kick-off seminar

Friday, July 1, 2016 - 13:11

A seminar was held in Göteborg to introduce the recently initiated GreenPilot project and present the status of methanol as a marine fuel.

SSPA is a partner in the project, which has the goal of converting a pilot boat to methanol operation to show how a methanol conversion of a smaller vessel can be carried out in practice and to demonstrate the emissions reductions that can be achieved.

SSPA Highlights - No 62 2016

Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - 11:58

The latest issue of our company magazine, Highlights, has been published.

Methanol and Ethanol as Marine Fuels

Friday, June 10, 2016 - 09:42

A study for the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) on the use of methanol and ethanol as marine fuels has been completed by SSPA, together with sub-contractor Lloyds Register. The study evaluates the potential of these alternative fuels as solutions for shipping to meet more stringent emissions requirements.

Finnish Maritime Cluster signs with ZVT

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - 10:27

The maritime industry is in the middle of a paradigm shift. It’s therefore with great pleasure that we like to announce that the Finnish Maritime Cluster project (FMC) signs a cooperation agreement with Zero Vision Tool (ZVT) to widen the use of the ZVT collaboration method for a safer and more environmentally, climate and energy efficient, while still profitable, transport at sea. A unique industry driven cross-border triple helix way to move forward together.

The 7th Hydro Testing Forum meeting were held at SSPA, April 19-20

Friday, April 29, 2016 - 15:00

The Hydro Testing Forum (HTF) network has members of recognised hydrodynamic research organisations worldwide. The objective is to discuss in small expert groups the challenges of measurements with advanced equipment, discussing new methodologies for high-tech measurements and therewith improve learning curve and achieve good practices in an efficient manner.

Olympic rowing tested at SSPA

Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 11:19

SSPA, in collaboration with Chalmers Sports & Technology, experiments with rowing boats in the 260 meter towing tank.

SSPA awarded a contract from EU, for research and improvement of oil spill response in the Arctic

Monday, February 29, 2016 - 10:00

What is the best possible way to limit the damages caused by oil spills in the Arctic? SSPA is participating in a major EU Horizon 2020 project searching for answers. Set to launch in March, the 3.5-year project will involve a total of 13 research institutes and companies from nine different countries. The full name of the project is “Integrated oil spill response actions and environmental effects – GRACE.” 

Water in the city - supporting growth or a barrier?

Thursday, January 28, 2016 - 13:05

This upcoming event is organized in Gothenburg on 11 March. Meet experts from SSPA that will speak about the challenges and opportunities of waterborne transport in the city.

The NÖKS II project focus on Blue Modal Shift

Monday, January 18, 2016 - 10:07

In the NÖKS II project (Närsjöfart i Öresund – Kattegat – Skagerrak) SSPA coordinates a total of 21 partners in three countries (Denmark, Norway and Sweden). The project’s main objective is to contribute to a more environmentally friendly and low-carbon transport system in the region, while also developing and enhancing the maritime transport system and encouraging the transfer of freight from road to sea. This will be achieved by developing solutions, tools and techniques to improve the quality and environmental performance of shipping services through the development of cost-effective, secure, flexible and competitive short sea shipping concepts. 

Trainee Programme

Thursday, January 14, 2016 - 10:43

SSPA is one of the companies involved in Lighthouse Trainee Programme. The application for 2016 close at 31 January. Interested? Read more about the application process at www.lighthouse.nu.

SSPA Highlights - No 61 2015

Thursday, December 10, 2015 - 14:00

The latest issue of our company magazine, Highlights, has been published.

PowerKite – Power Take-Off System for a Subsea Tidal Kite

Friday, December 4, 2015 - 12:20

Developing the next generation technologies of renewable electricity.

The EU Horizon 2020 project PowerKite will design, build and deploy a power take-off system (PTO) for a novel tidal energy collector concept, the Deep Green subsea tidal kite by Minesto. The project has a budget of 5.1M Euros and gathers 9 partners from 3 countries. Over 30 months, the project will progress the state of the art in several fields: PTO modelling, electrical design, mechanical design, data acquisition, analysis and optimisation. 

SSPA at Marintec China

Wednesday, November 25, 2015 - 15:37

Marintec China 2015 will be held on 1- 4 December in Shanghai. Welcome to visit us at the Swedish Pavilion, hall N1, stand no. N1H01. 

The Visby class Corvette project delivered

Thursday, October 22, 2015 - 13:58

The entire series of five ships have been delivered to and accepted into full service by the Swedish Armed Forces and the Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN). The Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) have recently executed final delivery of the project. During the project SSPA has supported FMV with expertise and consultancy services in a number of technical areas.

Motorways of the Sea Conference

Thursday, October 15, 2015 - 12:14

The forthcoming GotMoS Conference on "Benefits to the society, maritime climate investments and job opportunities” will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 9-10 of November. Results from our pilot pilot projects, Pilot LNG and Pilot Scrubber, both co-financed via MoS TEN-T, where LNG infrastructure is established with terminal, newbuildings/conversion of vessels and scrubber evaluated and implemented onboard, will be presented.

Final Conference on MONALISA 2.0

Monday, October 12, 2015 - 10:43

The Final Conference on MONALISA 2.0 on 10–11 November will share the results from two years’ work with Sea Traffic Management and Safety. Presentations, demonstrations and exhibitions will bring the ideas and solutions to life.

SSPA rewarded for work on prediction of under-water radiated noise

Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 12:47

The 18th Numerical Towing Tank Symposium (NuTTS) was successfully ended on the 30th of September 2015 in Cortona, Italy. Dr. Da-Qing Li from SSPA participated at the symposium and presented a new paper on prediction of under-water radiated noise and the symposium organization rewarded him with this year’s “Landrini Award”.

Two new members join SSPA´s Management Team

Tuesday, September 1, 2015 - 14:19
SSPA´s Management Team has two new members; Mr Johan Algell, Vice President/ Head of Maritime Operations and Mrs Christina Forslund, Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Ship design for the Midway Alignment project

Monday, June 29, 2015 - 13:00

The Midway Alignment of the Bothnian Corridor is a vital, year-round maritime transport connection between Sweden and Finland. The project includes a complete transport system for both goods and passengers and was initiated by the city of Umeå in Sweden and the city of Vaasa in Finland. SSPA’s experts are supporting the Project Management team during the first phase, until the end of 2015. Some of the activities that SSPA are closely involved with are the project analyses, the concept development and the design of the ferry.

SSPA supports the Sports & Technology initiative at Chalmers by building dinghies in different materials

Friday, June 26, 2015 - 13:00

High performances in sports are closely coupled to technology, both when it comes to new materials and motion analysis. SSPA and the Sports & Technology at Chalmers University of Technology are cooperating in one of the sports, sailing. During Volvo Ocean Race in Gothenburg, Chalmers showed an exhibition with unique optimist dinghies. This was a result from research projects where the students made the calculations needed to construct the dinghies in different materials. SSPA supported and helped building the dinghies. The Sports & Technology initiative has attracted attention from the Swedish Television that published a story, when the students launching the cellulose dinghy, “Will a boat of cellulose remain floating?” This clip was filmed at SSPAs facility Maritime Dynamics Laboratory.

Documentation from the Swedish Maritime Day

Wednesday, April 29, 2015 - 13:00
SSPA was one of many organizers behind Swedish Maritime Day 2015. The Swedish Maritime Day team has collected documentation such as videos and presentations from the event.

Hydrodynamic Optimization of Energy Saving Devices in Full Scale

Tuesday, December 16, 2014 - 14:42

On November 7, SSPA presented the paper, “Hydrodynamic Optimization of Energy Saving Devices in Full Scale”, on the 30th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics in Hobart, Australia. The presentation was held by one of the authors, Keunjae Kim from SSPA.

Motorways of the Sea Conference

Friday, October 31, 2014 - 15:13

Registration and agenda for the Motorways of the Sea Conference "Sustainable Shipping for Reduction of Emissions"

On behalf of Brian Simpson, the European Coordinator for Motorways of the Sea (MoS), I would like to invite you to the forthcoming MoS Conference on "Sustainable Shipping for Reduction of Emissions". The Conference will take place in Gothenburg, Sweden, on the 18-19 of November. Opens at 08.30 day 01 and ends at 16.00 day 02.

Improving the EEDI of a ship – There’s many ways to solve an equation

Friday, October 3, 2014 - 13:36
To investigate the impact of the EEDI on ship design, RINA (The Royal Institution of Naval Architects) invited papers from naval architects, class societies, regulators, operators and researchers to be presented at the International Conference “Influence of EEDI on Ship Design”. On September 24, SSPA presented a paper, “Improving the EEDI of a ship – There’s many ways to solve an equation”.

SSPA supports SLU, SMHI and KBV investigating new research vessel

Wednesday, August 20, 2014 - 14:37

On 14 August, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) and the Swedish Coastguard (KBV) submitted a joint report to the Ministry for Rural Affairs.

The report presents the results and recommendations of an investigation regarding a new research vessel for SLU/SMHI. Two alternative vessels have been studied; a new-build vessel and a conversion of an existing coast guard vessel, the KBV 001. 

SSPA supports the Norwegian Public Roads Administration in the design of safe crossings of Bjørnafjorden

Wednesday, August 20, 2014 - 09:42

SSPA Sweden proudly announces the assignment from the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) to conduct risk analysis and simulations of maritime traffic with different floating bridge and submerged floating tunnel design options for “Project Bjørnafjorden”.

NPRA is investigating a gigantic infrastructure project related to the 1,100 km long “Coastal Highway Route E39”, where it will be exploring the options for replacing seven existing ferry crossings between Kristiansand and Trondheim with fixed links. The fjords are both broad and deep, which requires large investments and larger structures than anything that has previously been built in Norway.

Documentation from the Swedish Maritime Day

Tuesday, May 6, 2014 - 17:00
SSPA was co-hosting Swedish Maritime Day on 8 April. We participated in the afternoon session on Marine management, with the headline, “Decision support system for improving safety and energy and transport efficiency.” Our experts Lars Markström, Project Manager and Peter Grundevik, Vice President Research shared their knowledge from “Research in decision support system for improving safety, energy and transport efficiency".

Sports Technology – new collaboration

Friday, February 14, 2014 - 09:39
High performance in sports is closely coupled to technology, both when it comes to new materials and motion analysis. This connection is addressed within a new project, a co-operation between the sports community, the industry including SSPA, and Chalmers University of Technology.

SSPA at Marintec China 2013

Monday, December 16, 2013 - 10:48
SSPA participated at the exhibition Marintec China 2013, in Shanghai, 3-6 December. More than 1,700 exhibiting companies from 34 countries/regions visited Marintec China this time. During the exhibit we had a daily half an hour presentation on “Green Ship Hydrodynamics”, at our stand in the Swedish Pavilion.

Vessel design and trials discussed with the Navy Attaché of Mexico

Tuesday, December 3, 2013 - 10:19
The Mexican Navy includes over 189 ships and they attempt to maintain a constant modernisation program. Last week, The Navy Attaché of Mexico Captain Aurelio Rodriguez, visited SSPA. The meeting had special focus on vessel design.

SSPA at Marintec China

Thursday, November 14, 2013 - 09:26
Marintec China 2013 will be held on 3-6 December 2013 in Shanghai. Welcome to visit us at the Swedish Pavilion, hall N1, stand no. N1H11-1.

SSPA at Donsö Shipping Meet

Friday, June 28, 2013 - 11:43
SSPA will attend Donsö Shipping Meet, September 3-4, 2013.

Auxiliary kite propulsion contribution to ship thrust

Friday, June 14, 2013 - 09:00
The 32nd International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering (OMAE 2013) took place in Nantes, France, in June 9-14, 2013, www.ooae.org/omae-2013. Heng Ran, from SSPA, presented "Auxiliary kite propulsion contribution to ship thrust” at the symposium about Ocean Renewable Energy.

SSPA at Nor-Shipping

Monday, June 10, 2013 - 11:28
SSPA participated at the exhibition Nor-Shipping 2013, in Oslo, Norway, June 4-7, 2013. Among other things, we showed our portable SEAMAN Simulator.

Invitation to EffShip seminar, 21 March 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013 - 13:32

The EffShip project began in December 2009 and is based on the vision of a sustainable and successful maritime industry that has a minimal environmental impact. The project has been co-financed by Vinnova (the Swedish Innovation Agency) and the project partners. The conclusions from the EffShip project will be presented at a seminar on the 21 March.

Swedish Maritime Day 2013

Monday, February 11, 2013 - 12:29
The Swedish Maritime Day on April 9, will be a day for both overview and specialization in marine and maritime industries with great importance for the future of Sweden.

ASV Mono SM model tests confirm expectations

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 11:00

Effect Ships International (ESI) in Norway completed tank testing of its “soft motion” monohull Air Supported Vessel (ASV) or ASV Mono SM, which it believes is equally suitable for use as a fast naval vessel or as a ferry. A week of testing took place in the end of 2012 at SSPA´s towing tank in Sweden. An article was published at Warship Technology, a publication of The Royal Institution of Naval Architects.

EU said yes to the Swedish-Finnish maritime suggestion

Friday, December 14, 2012 - 15:49

When defined actions are conducted the participants of the Swedish-Finnish maritime suggestion “Make a Difference” will be co-financed by the EU via the Trans-European Transport Network. The estimated total cost of the work packages is € 2 494 000 of which € 1 247 000 will be granted. The organizations conducting the work are Preem, Sirius Shipping, Viking Line, DNV, FKAB, Swedish Shipowners’ Association, and SSPA.

SSPA experts at 29th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics

Friday, August 24, 2012 - 18:39

We are pleased to announce that the following SSPA employees (shown on the pictures) presents and/or are involved in Papers that will be addressed during the 5 day long arrangement The 29th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics; Keunjae Kim, Da-Qing Li, Abolfazl Shiri, Björn Allenström, Michael Leer-Andersen and Sofia Werner.  

 “Performance and Vortex Formation of Flettner Rotors at High Reynolds Numbers” by Da-Qing Li, Björn Allenström and Michael Leer-Andersen  

“Hydrodynamic Optimization of Pre-swirl Stator by CFD and Model Testing” by Keunjae Kim, Michael Leer-Andersen, Sofia Werner and Michal Orych, Youngbok Choi 

Press release: Naval Hydrodynamics Symposium

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 10:07

The 29th Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden, during the week of Sunday, August 26 through Friday, August 31, 2012. The Symposium is jointly organized by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Chalmers University of Technology and SSPA Sweden AB.

Global Symposium on Naval Hydrodynamics to Gothenburg

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - 09:56

 Jellyfish inspire tomorrow's shipping

More than 100 of the world's experts in naval hydrodynamics will be coming to Gothenburg 26–31 August to discuss the latest in fluid dynamics and shipping. This year's international symposium is a joint arrangement between the US Office of Naval Research, SSPA Sweden AB and the Chalmers University of Technology to promote the exchange of marine research and innovation between countries. Bio-inspired design is one of the topics that will be in focus during the symposium.

LNG in the Caribbean - study for the IMO

Friday, June 1, 2012 - 10:38

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is responsible for regulation of international shipping, in particular to prevent from marine pollution. Next area to look into is the Wider Caribbean Region (Caribbean and the surrounding coasts), how can this area adapt to the same emission requirements as other Emission Control Areas (ECA), where the Baltic Sea region is an example. On behalf of the IMO and together with White Smoke, will SSPA conduct a LNG feasibility study, which in many ways is following the same structure as the one that SSPA and ÅF conducted for the Danish Maritime Authority in the the Baltic Sea region, but in a smaller scale. The most important aspect of the work is to identify barriers and enablers.

The Swedish Minister for Infrastructure visits SSPA

Monday, May 7, 2012 - 00:00

Blue Growth and innovation was on the agenda when the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure, Catharina Elmsäter-Svärd and her advisors David Erixon and Tomas Brolin visited SSPA today.

Working for MSB with Shoreline response in the EnSaCo project

Saturday, May 5, 2012 - 10:10

SSPA's has been working for The Swedish Contingencies Agency in the EnSaCo Oil Spill Project, an EU InterReg IV project. The assignment has been to generate material to harmonise a GIS tool which presents the environment sensibility for oil spill along the Baltic sea costs depending on season as well as looking into the avalable response resourses. A manual has been produced for how to plan, implement and evaluate such an oil spill response in the HELCOM area. 

ZVT in Svenska Skeppshypotek's Yearly Report

Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - 09:51

"In 2011, the Svenska Skeppshypotek supported the model Zero Vision Tool (ZVT) created by SSPA and the Swedish Shipowners' Association, a collaborative platform for safe, environmental and energy-efficient shipping." The co-operation continues.

To read the Svenska Skeppshypotek's yearly report for 2011, including ZVT and it's Joint Industry Projects; SS 2011

Arctic issues discussed with Canada's Ambassador and Honorary Consul

Friday, March 16, 2012 - 09:01

Canada's newly appointed Ambassador Kenneth Macartney and the Honorary Consul Per Jessing visited SSPA yesterday. The meeting had a special focus on Arctic issues and environmental impact, since it corresponds to The Arctic Council's ongoing work, where Sweden holds the Chairmanship (2011-2013).

- The experiences and knowledge of risk management in Arctic operations as well as oil spill management in ice was discussed, says Jim Sandkvist. The recent study for the Maritime Administration to use the Swedish icebreakers as essential components of an international rescue team during the summer in the Arctic, was presented, he continues.

E-navigation in the North Sea

Thursday, March 1, 2012 - 00:00

ACCSEAS is a new EU INTERREG North Sea projects designed to improve accessibility for maritime traffic in the North Sea region through a coordinated implementation of e-Navigation among the nations in the region. An e-Navigation test-bed will be created to demonstrate and test solutions. ACCSEAS will develop new navigation and communication concepts and the platform is designed to alleviate traffic congestion, bottlenecks and accident risks. SSPA will implement the SSPA Dynamic Predictor into the platform and explore the possibility of exchanging the information between ships and tugs. The technique will be tested in a simulator.

BB Green and NRK (Norwegian TV) at SSPA

Monday, January 30, 2012 - 08:36

"High efficiency air supported hulls tank tested at SSPA Sweden" Read two of the articles that was generated from the visit;

Maritimt Magasin

Green 4 Sea

See part of the towing tank test at 50 knots (90 km/h) at YouTube

Accidents and risk - interview in Swedish radio P1

Monday, January 23, 2012 - 08:23

An interview with Björn Allenström and Peter Grundevik regarding the Estonia evaluation, the project DESSO and MONALISA is sent in the Swedish Radio P1 "Vetandets Värd" where risk handling and solutions are discussed. Link to the program POD/MP3 (in Swedish) sverigesradio.se/

Gain extra speed or consume less fuel

Friday, May 27, 2011 - 14:14

Despite if you are planning, constructing or operating a vessel you will gain from talking to us. We can show you how to gain extra speed, consume less fuel and save money.

If you attend the Donsö Tanker Meet 2011,
you can meet us in booth no: 105

If you like to contact us to find out more please
call +46 31 772 90 00 or e-mail info@sspa.se

SSPA + MONA LISA = TRUE

Friday, May 13, 2011 - 14:10
Activity Leaders of the project are the Swedish, Finnish and Danish Maritime Administrations. The aim is to minimize the risk of running aground and create the most efficient route plan for each transport in terms of weather, currents, ice conditions, traffic and availability of berths and pilots.

ÅF Industry and SSPA win contract on LNG in Europe

Wednesday, May 11, 2011 - 14:17
With an aim to make framework recommendations to establish a maritime LNG infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, North Sea and the English Channel the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) has chosen ÅF Industry AB and SSPA Sweden AB to fulfill a feasibility study and test of recommendations encompassing both technical as well as economic issues.

SSPA believes in:

  • Long term relationships
  • Knowledge as a tool
  • High integrity
  • Dedicated employees

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