The Arctic has entered an exciting era where climate, political and economic changes are facilitating unprecedented access to the region, fuelling great expectations in the shipping sector. Yet navigating safely in ice-infested waters requires not only ice-strengthened and winterized ships, but also people skilled in operating in this challenging environment. Demands on seafarers are increasing due to the changing profile of Arctic shipping.
Four key trends are driving today’s focus on the human element of safe and efficient Arctic operations.
Trend 1 – Growth The Arctic shipping market is growing. Cruise ship activity in the region has doubled over the past six years, at the same time that oil shipments from the Russian Arctic have jumped from insignificance to 12 million tonnes per year. This growth has continued: an estimated 20 million tons of oil and gas will be transported through the Barents Sea in 2009, and terminal capacity in the region is expected to reach 100 million tons in 2015.
Rapid expansion in Russia’s oil exports has led to a demand for tankers that can operate in ice-infested waters, especially tankers with higher levels of ice strengthening. In the early 1990s, only three per cent of the world tanker fleet had some form of ice classification; today, this figure tops ten per cent.
Growth in the Arctic shipping market means the maritime industry needs more seafarers fit for operating in this demanding region. More bridge officers with ice navigation skills are required, as are engineers skilled in keeping their ships running in a sub-zero environment with limited external support.
Trend 2 – Accessing new regions, year-round Today, Arctic operations are expanding in both time and place. As the Arctic heats up, the ice edge is retreating northwards, the ice is becoming thinner and weaker, and the occurrence of perennial ice along Russian coastal areas is diminishing.
These changes have opened up new possibilities for tourism, resource exploration, development and marine transport. Ships are able to reach previously inaccessible regions. They are also operating for longer and longer periods, beginning earlier in the Spring and ending later in the Autumn than the traditional Arctic navigation season has allowed. Ice-breaking bulk carriers are already servicing base mineral mines in the Russian and Canadian Arctic on a year-round basis. This trend will only continue, as offshore oil and gas development will demand year-round operational capability.
Winter shipping operations in the Arctic considerably increase the physical, psychological, responsibility and knowledge demands placed on people. The darkness of the polar Winter substantially complicates the task of navigating through an ice field. Ice surveillance is poorer in winter. Darkness and extreme cold hasten fatigue and can lead to the impairment of complex mental tasks, cognition and decision making. To successfully cope with the challenges posed by the polar environment, seafarers not only must be adept at using advanced technological tools, they also need to follow appropriate routines and procedures to keep themselves physically and mentally fit.
Trend 3 – Independent operations The third major trend in the Arctic is the move towards independent operations. At the same time as Arctic shipping is growing, the icebreaker support offered to commercial shipping by national administrations is declining. The Canadian and US national administrations do not have plans to increase their icebreaker support for commercial Arctic operations, and Russia’s icebreaker modernization plans will likely only maintain current levels of service.
In response, commercial operators are taking matters into their own hands, developing their own icebreakers and ice-breaking cargo ships. Lukoil has two icebreakers to support its Varandey oil terminal in the Pechora Sea. Norilsk Nickel has built a fleet of six double-acting ice-breaking bulkers that allow it to carry out year-round operations between Dudinka and Murmansk, independent of icebreaker support.
To operate independently, seafarers need advanced navigation skills that are typical of icebreaker officers. They cannot rely on the availability of outside expertise or assistance. Rather than following dutifully in an icebreaker’s track, they must make it themselves. To do this safely and efficiently, today’s Arctic seafarers must be able to recognize ice types and judge ice conditions, interpret information from satellites and other sources, plan a safe route, and manoeuvre their ship safely in all types of ice conditions.
Trend 4 – New regulations A fourth trend is towards greater regulation. Alarmed by several recent incidents in the Antarctic, including the sinking of the cruise ship Explorer in 2008, IMO member countries have recently proposed a variety of mandatory requirements for application in the Polar Regions.
Seafarers are particularly in the regulatory spotlight. At present, there are no requirements for the training and certification of crews serving in the Arctic or Antarctic. This could soon change, as Norway and Russia have proposed that the STCW Convention introduces mandatory minimum requirements for the training and qualification of navigators serving on ships operating in ice-covered waters. These proposals are currently under consideration as part of the comprehensive review of the STCW Convention and Code.
What is DNV doing? DNV has been classifying ships for more than 140 years to ensure Ships fit for purpose. DNV has turned its attention to the seafarer, and is now committed to the global competence challenge and also focuses on People fit for purpose. Under this banner, DNV has targeted the Arctic for special attention, given the unique demands the region places on seafarers.
DNV ice navigation standard DNV published competence requirements for ship officers responsible for ice navigation in October 2008 in the DNV Ice Navigation Standard; it aims to help shipping companies improve navigational safety and prevent pollution from ship operations in ice-covered waters.
The DNV Ice Navigation Standard specifies the competence requirements for officers responsible for navigating a vessel in different ice conditions throughout the world, whether operating indepen¬dently or with icebreaker assistance. This standard will assist the maritime industry in recruiting, training and assessing officers to safely pilot ships through ice. Maritime training centres can use it as a guide for developing courses in ice navigation, which DNV can in turn certify as being in compliance with the standard.
DNV’s new standard represents an important step in developing detailed competence requirements that the maritime industry can use on a global basis.
DNV SeaSkill™ developed the standard in concert with ice navigation experts from around the world, including representatives from all of the Arctic-rim countries. The process began in August 2007 with an expert working group session hosted by the Finnish Maritime Authority. DNV circulated drafts of the competence standard among nearly 100 experts for further review and input before finalizing it for publication in October 2008.
Assessing international standards for working in the Arctic As part of its involvement in the Barents 2020 Project, DNV is leading a review of international standards to ensure they are up to the challenge of securing the safety and efficiency of people working in the polar environment. Barents 2020 is a bilateral initiative that teams Russian and Norwegian industry experts in seven working groups in an effort to harmonize standards for oil and gas operations in the Barents Sea.
The expert group on Working Environment and Human Factors is reviewing standards to ensure the optimal safety, performance and decision making of people working on vessels and installations in Arctic-environment conditions. The focus of this group is on minimizing risks to health, the risk of accidents and elements which affect human work capacity, including:
fatigue;
the impairment of physical tasks and work efficiency; and
the impairment of complex mental tasks, cognition and decision making.
To this end, the expert working group will draw on Russian and Norwegian experience with cold climate operations to assess whether existing maritime and offshore standards are capable of maintaining the same high safety levels when pitted against Barents Sea conditions. The group will develop a list of recommended changes in which it identifies shortcomings in the existing standards. These proposals will be submitted to national and international standardisation organisations and authorities for their consideration.
The Barents 2020 expert group includes industry experts from Gazprom, StatoilHydro, Eni Norge, Transocean and the Central Marine Design and Research Institute, and is led by DNV.