14th MARCH 2005: ANNUAL AWARDS AT IMarEST

One of the final, and most enjoyable, tasks in the year of duty for the President of IMarEST – the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology – is to present award certificates and medals for technical papers and technical examination results during the 2003/2004 technical session. Shipping safety; the safety of maritime engineering applications; foul-release coatings; dry docking; ship structural strength assessment; and offshore engineering are topics that have won their authors medals.

Dr Bil Loth, the outgoing President presented two Denny Medals, the SMI Donald Maxwell Award, Stanley Gray Medals and the William Theodore Barker Award to authors from the UK, Malaysia, Belgium, Singapore, New Zealand and Sri Lanka at a ceremony at IMarEST on 10 March. The award ceremony took place shortly before this year’s AGM at which his successor, Maurice Storey CB, was officially adopted as President of the Institute.

The evaluation for IMarEST awards and medals for technical papers is carried out by the Institute’s Proceedings Supervisory Board. Twenty-nine papers were considered for awards for the 2003-2004 period; the winning papers serve to demonstrate the wide interests of members of the Institute.

Two Denny Medals
Two Denny Medals were awarded. The Denny Medal – the Journal of Marine Engineering and Technology for the most worthy paper by a member or non-member published in this journal went to Dr How Sing Sii, Professor Jin Wang (both Liverpool John Moores University but Dr Sii has now returned to Malaysia), Professor Tom Ruxton (Staffordshire University), Professor Jian-Bo Yang (UMIST) and Dr Jun Liu (UMIST) for their paper ‘Use of Fuzzy Logic Approaches to Safety Assessment in Maritime Engineering Applications’ which was published in the IMarEST Proceedings Part A5.

“Safety assessment based on conventional methods may not be well suited for dealing with innovative systems having a high level of uncertainty particularly in the feasibility and concept design stages of a maritime engineering system,” explained IMarEST Director General, Keith Read CBE. “By contrast safety models using fuzzy logic approaches employing fuzzy IF-THEN rules can model the qualitative aspects of human knowledge and reasoning processes without employing precise quantitative analyses. This paper focuses on the development and representation of linguistic variables to model risk levels subjectively and these variables are then quantified using fuzzy logic set theory. The development of two safety evaluation frameworks are presented and the proposed approaches are illustrated by example.”

The second Denny Medal - the Denny Medal – the Journal of Marine Design and Operations for the most worthy paper by a member or non-member published in this journal goes to Professor Douglas Faulkner FREng (Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow) for his paper ‘Shipping Safety: A Matter of Concern’ which was published in the IMarEST Proceedings Part B5.

Keith Read explained: “Shipping today carries about 95% of international freight and this trade seems likely to increase to meet the growing consumer and raw material needs of developing countries. However the average age of ships remains high and about 30% of ships which are lost are unable to survive the rough weather they experience. Professor Faulkner’s paper outlines shipping statistics and trends, perceived weaknesses of the industry and the achievements in recent formal ship safety measures. It reviews recent R&D to improve rough weather design and examines future ship design trends before concluding with thoughts on possible remedies for the industry’s problems.”

Shared task

The SMI Donald Maxwell Award of £500 is awarded annually for the best paper presented to or published by the Institute by a member or non-member of any nationality on the research and/or development of some aspect of marine equipment and its market potential; and Keith Read called upon John Murray, Chief Executive, Society of Maritime Industries to present the award to Professor Colin Anderson (International Coatings), Professor Mehmet Atlar (University of Newcastle), Dr Maureen Callow (University of Birmingham), Dr Maxim Candries (formerly University of Newcastle, and now in Belgium), Mr Alex Milne (Consultant - UK) and Dr Bob Townsin (Consultant - UK) for their paper ‘The development of foul-release coatings for seagoing vessels’ which was published in the Journal of Marine Design & Operations Part B4.

“Foul-release coatings are essentially low surface energy, silicone elastomeric materials, which can be applied by airless spray,” explained Keith Read. “This paper describes the development of a practical product as an applicable low surface energy antifouling followed by an account of ongoing research into the surface characteristics and fluid drag of these novel coatings, not only on ship hulls but also on propellers. The paper closes with an account of the world-wide environmental and economic advantages of foul-release coatings.”

Spreading the net

Recent revisions to the IMarEST annual awards and medals structure have meant that two new awards – the Branch Certificate and the Stanley Gray Medals - specifically for branches have been introduced.

“The Branch Certificate is awarded by each Branch for the best paper presented to them during the technical year (May-April),” explained Mr Read. “This year 17 branch certificates were awarded worldwide.

“Each Divisional Council (of which there are five) awards the Stanley Gray Medal to the best paper presented to Branches within the Division during each technical year. To be eligible for this award, Branch Certificate winners must submit a full technical paper, based on their presentations for consideration by the Divisional Council. This is the first year that the Stanley Gray Medals have been awarded and I am delighted to announce that this Medal has been awarded by three of our Divisions.”

The Stanley Gray Medal – European Division was awarded to Mr Joseph McKee for his paper ‘Project Management of Dry Docking’ which was originally presented to the Aberdeen Maritime Branch in December 2003.

“The demand for Management of Marine Projects, complex in nature with attendant financial penalties for failure, has increased in recent years, however there is little written instruction on the Subject. Mr McKee’s paper offers the Novice and Seasoned Professional, a structured approach to Project Management. A range of proven Management systems tools and techniques are demonstrated, that can be adapted to suit the skills of the individual and the complexity of the Project to be undertake,” said Keith Read.

The Stanley Gray Medal – East Asia Division was awarded to Dr. M. Abdul Rahim for his paper ‘Advanced Ship Structural Strength Assessment of Double Hull Tankers and Bulk Carriers’ which was originally presented to the Singapore Joint Branch in December 2003. And the Stanley Gray Medal – ANZPAC Division was awarded to Mr Dominic Harvey for his paper ‘Offshore Engineering’ which was originally presented to the Wellington Branch in June 2003.

Technical exam results - an award for Sri Lankan member
The Institute annually awards the prizes to the Engineers achieving the highest marks in the United Kingdom Maritime & Coastguard Agency examinations for the Certificate of Competency examinations. This year’s William Theodore Barker Award of a cheque for £250 and a Certificate for the best results in 2004 by a member of the Institute in the Chief Engineer Certificate of Competency examination was won by Mr K M Wijegoonewardane of Sri Lanka who is an Associate Member of the Institute. As he is currently at sea, arrangements are being made for a presentation at the IMarEST Sri Lanka Branch on his return.

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