At Marintec, VIKING introduced its mandatory servicing of marine evacuation systems (MES) solution that enables shipowners and operators to significantly reduce servicing costs and administration.
Maritime safety equipment and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment showcased the patented VIKING VEC Plus. The new MES differs from existing systems in its ease of servicing and fewer mechanical parts, enabling lower lifetime operating costs, the company claimed.
Traditional MES servicing involves removing the entire system from the vessel and transporting it to a certified service facility. It is then serviced, returned to the vessel and reinstalled on board, a process which can take up to six days and needs to be completed every year.
“The VIKING VEC Plus system only needs to be serviced four times over a 10-year period, which means fewer costs resulting from having to shut down vessel operation and transport the MES to a servicing station,” said Niels Fraende, VIKING’s Vice President Sales for Cruise & LifeCraft. “We have simplified the design of a traditional MES and increased deployment safety by removing more than 40% of the technical components while using gravity-based rather than mechanical launching. This makes it easier for the crew to efficiently operate the system and for our technicians to service the system on board the vessel as well.”
Installing the VIKING VEC Plus is claimed to be easy on board almost any passenger vessel, whether it is a retrofit or a newbuild. “Choosing the VEC Plus as a newbuild option, for example, reduces installation time and costs at the shipyard, because the new, simplified system allows shipowners to incorporate new operating cost-efficiencies into their vessels,” Fraende said.
The VEC Plus is installed in a compact storage unit. The sleek visual appearance of the unit is largely due to a dedicated industrial design effort aimed at matching its exterior to modern ship aesthetics, while also instilling confidence in both passengers and crew, the company said.
“Passengers can be very safety-conscious, so we wanted the complete package to look solid and efficient, providing reassurance of its functionality via an up-to-date appearance and a visually high build quality. Being and feeling safe go hand in hand,” Fraende explained.
A VIKING VEC Plus comes not only with a conventional instruction manual, but also with VIKING Saatsea – a 24/7, on board, computer-based crew training solution that helps to ensure crew are certified, ready and able to maintain and deploy the MES in the event of an emergency. The unique solution allows managers to get an ever-updated overview of crew competencies, tracking and reporting their training progress.
