To The Bold Man Who First Ate a Raw Oyster
Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, September 2020 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the eighth article. For full article please click here.
Insights: Contracts are Overrated in Maritime
Published – Marine Link, April 23, 2020 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the seventh article. For full article please click here.
Letting the Sun Shine on Solar
Letting the Sun Shine on Solar Rik van Hemmen installed roof top solar on his house and this is a summary of his experience as presented at a local meeting. While he intended to explain how his roof top solar got installed and worked, in designing the presentation he realized he had to lay some… Read more »
Alcohol is NOT the Probable Cause
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, January 2020 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the sixth article. For full article please click here.
Taming Ferry Wakes & Reducing CO2 to Boot
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, November 2019 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the fifth article. For full article please click here.
The Use of Wave Focusing Technologies for Wave Energy Conversion Applications
Authors: Rik van Hemmen & Michael Raftery Published and presented at SNAME Maritime Convention, in Tacoma, WA, October 30, 2019. For a copy of this paper please visit SNAME.org
An Update on Large Scale Wave Energy Conversion
Authors: Rik van Hemmen & Michael Raftery Published and presented at SNAME Maritime Convention, in Tacoma, WA, October 30, 2019. For a copy of this paper please visit SNAME.org
The Inevitability of Change
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, October 2019 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the fourth article. For full article please click here.
AIS: Skidmarks on the Ocean
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, September 2019 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the third article. For full article please click here.
STEM is so “Yesterday”
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, August 2019 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board””. This is the second article. For full article please click here.
High Speed Container Transport … Will it Ever Work?
By Rik van Hemmen Published – Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, July 2019 Rik has entered into an agreement with Maritime Reporter and Engineering News to provide a monthly column titled “Design: Back to the Drawing Board”. This is the first article, and covers his ideas on high speed container transportation and discusses WISES or… Read more »
The Mechanics of Ship Explosions
By Rik van Hemmen Published – ASA Soundings, Summer 2019 This article discusses the mechanics of ship explosions and salvage implications. Since ASA Soundings is a bilingual publication, it is also provided in Spanish, which makes me wonder how they translated “tootling”. The sketches with the article were summary drawings of the findings on an… Read more »
Is This the Right Time for Large Scale Wave Energy Conversion?
“Is This the Right Time for Large Scale Wave Energy Conversion?” Author: Rik van Hemmen and Mike Raftery Presented at SMPE/SNAME/IMarEST joint meeting, December 18, 2018 Wave Energy Conversion (WEC) should be part of the sustainable energy toolbox. Solar and wind are now competitive sustainable technologies, but, even though there have been Wave Energy Conversion… Read more »
Engineering Ethics Clashes and Crashes
“Engineering Ethics Clashes and Crashes” Author: Rik van Hemmen Presented at SNAME NY Metropolitan Chapter, May 9, 2018 While most engineers intuitively behave to a high standard of ethics, their actual knowledge of engineering ethics actually tends to be quite superficial. This is a presentation on engineering ethics that Rik van Hemmen presented at USMMA,… Read more »
MAX1 Chronology
The MAX1 Chronology organizes documents and events related to shipboard MARPOL Annex I waste stream management in chronological fashion, in order to provide a comprehensive resource for historical issues on this subject. A large number of links to original documentation are also imbedded in the document. The latest version of the MAX1 Chronology can be accessed here…. Read more »
The Delightful Frustration of Cruise Ship Power Plant Design
“The Delightful Frustration of Cruise Ship Power Plant Design” Author: Rik van Hemmen, Kyle Antonini Presented at ASME/SAME/SNAME Philadelphia joint meeting, January 24, 2017 Cruise ships are self-sustained communities. Like space ships, they cannot grow their own food and need to carry power, but beyond that they provide every need for passengers and crew for… Read more »
There is Sufficient Sustainable Energy if We Increase System Efficiencies
“Containerization V2.0” The adoption of a five foot standard width for short distance cargo and passenger transportation. Author: Rik van Hemmen Presented: November 4, 2016, SNAME Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA This paper elaborates on earlier papers on the subject and comments on David MacKay’s analysis of human energy use. It indicates that David MacKay underestimates… Read more »
Maxi Taxi
The marine industry is incredibly dynamic, and of all its innovative concepts, most probably, containerization has been the most world altering maritime innovation. Peculiarly, the system benefits and efficiencies of containerization have been ignored in road transportation. Maxi Taxi is a design exercise that mimics the standardization benefits of the international shipping container as applied… Read more »
Benefits of Standardized People Transportation in Maritime
“Benefits of Standardized People Transportation in Maritime” Author: Rik van Hemmen Presented: June 21, 2016, National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC Containerization was a great idea that had existed for a while, but it needed a killer app. Malcolm McLean found the killer app, and the 8 foot wide cargo container changed the world. This… Read more »
MAX1 Cost Analysis
As a follow up to our National Fish and Wild Life Foundation study on OWS effectiveness, in 2016/17, Martin & Ottaway was tasked with a study dealing with the costs associated with MARPOL Annex I compliance. The study was specifically focused on identifying capital and operating costs associated with the regulation, as well as quantifying costs… Read more »
The Search for Oil Spill Data
“The Search for Oil Spill Data” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: Spring 2016 issue of Soundings A 2014 article in the US Navy Proceedings appeared to indicate that ship operations constitute a significant portion of all the oil that is released into the seas. The numbers did not make sense and one of our interns… Read more »
MAX1 Studies
MAX1 Studies was a six-month study commissioned by the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and managed by M&O that primarily responded to two questions: How effective are shipboard Oily Water Separators? What can be done to further increase the effectiveness of shipboard oily waste management? The study focused on oily waste streams as defined in MARPOL Annex I,… Read more »
MAX1 Partners
In order to facilitate stakeholder engagement, we asked maritime companies and organizations through various publications to get involved in the study as Partner Organizations. Partner organizations were asked to elect a representative who would follow the study (mainly via the email updates), and contribute to efforts as they deemed appropriate. The following companies and organizations… Read more »
MAX1 Survey
The MAX1 Survey had the following overarching goals: To establish the current state of shipboard waste stream management and OWS knowledge across a wide range of maritime occupations and roles To determine perceived effectiveness of current waste stream management and OWS systems To solicit opinions on increasing the effectiveness of waste stream management and OWS… Read more »
MAX1 Conference
A conference with all interested parties was held on June 24, 2015 in Wilmington, North Carolina. The main objective of the conference was to engage stakeholders in discussions and deliberations regarding the path forward for machinery space waste stream management. Conference Agenda Conference Speaker & Panelist Bios To view presentation slides from the speakers, go… Read more »
MAX1 Library
The following presentations from the MAX1 Conference have been made publicly available: Offshore Industry Perspective; Timothy Sullivan Cruise Industry Perspective; James van Langen Chronology & Horizon; Rik van Hemmen Bilge water Management Case Study: MCRIP Horizon Lines Program; Joseph Breglia OWS Effectiveness and the Armed Forces Vessels Perspective; Debra Falatko MAX1 Studies, Outcomes, and Areas… Read more »
Micro or Macro Design?
“Micro or Macro Design?” (The challenge of environmentally sound and sustainable ferry design) Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: July 2015 issue of Marine Technology Ferries are not generally included in overall transportation system designs. This is a shame since ferries can provide incredibly efficient transportation solutions, even though the vehicle itself may be less efficient… Read more »
Ferry Revival
“Ferry Revival” (Lessons learned from the creation and development of a New Jersey/New York service) Authors: Gary R. Dunzelman and Rik van Hemmen Published: July 2015 issue of Marine Technology This is a case study about the development of the Monmouth County Seastreak ferry system, which shows that starting a ferry system is very difficult… Read more »
How is your Salvage Data Doing?
“How is your Salvage Data Doing?” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: Summer 2015 issue of Soundings In maritime there is public data and company private data. Often data is kept private not because it needs to be private for competitive reasons, but rather because nobody has pointed out that it could be better managed in the… Read more »
General Salvage Project Safety Considerations
“General Salvage Project Safety Considerations” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: Summer 2015 issue of Soundings Safety in a potentially dangerous situation such as salvage can still be achieved, but it requires a few basic rules and the right culture. This article explains how the basic pieces come together. To download the full paper click this… Read more »
Lunch + Learn
These are some powerpoint summaries of lectures that were provided by Martin & Ottaway personnel and that may be of interest. Some of these lectures were provided at seminars or client training sessions while some were provided as pro-bono efforts or industry support functions. Please feel free to contact us if you would like us… Read more »
Game Theory for the Maritime Professional
“Game Theory for the Maritime Professional” Authors: Hendrik F. van Hemmen and Hannah van Hemmen Published: October 22, 2014 For presentation at the 2014 SNAME Maritime Convention, Rik and Hannah co-authored this paper. The idea was to provide a more thorough treatment of Rik’s “Game Theory for the Maritime Professional” PowerPoint presentation, specifically geared towards… Read more »
Anti Antifouling Clause Discussion
“The Anti Antifouling Clause Argument” Author: Rik van Hemmen Presented at the New York City Marine Insurance Day seminar on October 10, 2014 The antifouling clause has been drifting through marine insurance policies for decades, if not centuries. Underwriters often have separated antifouling coating from the insured components aboard a ship. This may have made sense… Read more »
The Quest for QESTH
“Systems Design for Meeting New and Existing International Regulations” Author: Rik van Hemmen Presented at the SNAME 2012 Annual Meeting, Providence, Rhode Island M&O’s involvement in marine environmental issues has resulted in a steady flow of technical papers that analyze and improve on the state of the art. This paper goes one step further and… Read more »
Are Solar Panels Jumping the Chasm?
“Determinants of International Solar Panel Adoption” Author: Hannah van Hemmen Published: August 2011 Dalhousie University Senior Thesis The paper does not spring directly from M&O business but reflects M&O’s support of photovoltaic solar panels. It investigated variables that contribute to differing levels of solar panel adoption across country borders. The paper is a fascinating look… Read more »
Wave Energy Conversion Potential Off New York and New Jersey
Wave Energy Conversion Potential off New York and New Jersey Presenter: Michael Raftery, M.E. June 2, 2011 To download the full presentation click this link: Wave Energy Conversion Potential off NY-NJ
Determining and Controlling Peak Energy Density Location
Determining and Controlling Peak Energy Density Location during Water Wave Deformation Presenter: Michael Raftery, M.E. February 14, 2011 To download the full presentation click here: Determining and Controlling Peak Energy Density Location 14Feb2011
National Science Foundation Study
M&O performed a detailed and wide ranging study for the National Science Foundation that evaluated the logistics for Palmer Station in Antarctica. The study evaluated the present logistics arrangement, including research support and personnel delivery, and provided wide ranging options in optimizing research effectiveness, reduced environmental impact and increased logistics efficiency. The study was presented… Read more »
Key Engineering Issues for Economically Viable Ocean Wave Energy Conversion
Key Engineering Issues for Economically Viable Ocean Wave Energy Conversion Presented By: Michael Raftery October 2009 To download the full presentation click here: Key Engineering Issues for WEC
Ships are a Huge Collection of Filters
“Filtration Challenges in the Marine Industry” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: September 2008 Presented at American Filtration & Separations Society Conference Rik van Hemmen was asked by the American Filtration & Separations Society to present a paper on filtration issues aboard ships at their annual meeting. This was a novel question and novel questions tend to… Read more »
Whatever Happened to Human Factors Aboard Ships?
“The Need for Additional Human Factors Considerations in Ship Operations” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: September 2008 Presented at the Second International Symposium on Ship Operations, Management & Economics in Athens, Greece Many of Martin & Ottaway’s investigations of environmental crimes, collisions and other shipboard non-conformances have indicated that crews are very heavily stressed as… Read more »
The First Principles of Tanker P&I Surveys
“Tanker Surveys (Oil Carriers) – Inspection from a P&I Surveyor’s Perspective” Authors: Wayne Thomas and Pierce Power Published in The American Club “Currents” Issue Number 25, November 2007 P&I condition surveys predate most of the large number of vetting surveys that ships are subjected to today. For all these surveys there is an underlying theory… Read more »
How Insurance Deals with the Confusing Bits
“Tales from the Cutting Edge” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: October 2007 Presented at the Annual Meeting of The Association of Average Adjusters of the United States, New York, NY M&O occasionally comments on insurance/marine surveying issues at the Average Adjusters Annual Meetings. In 2007, M&O was asked to comment on how unexpected technical issues… Read more »
Ocean Surface Wave Energy Harnessing Development
Ocean Surface Wave Energy Harnessing Development at Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) By: Michael Raftery and R. Stolkin Center for Maritime Systems Stevens Institute of Technology To download the full paper click this link: Ocean Surface Wave Energy Harnessing Development 2007
Ad Hoc Wrap-up
“Remarks on Oily Water Separators” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: 2006 Presented to Connecticut Maritime Association This is the text of a presentation at the Connecticut Maritime Association. It was supposed to be a summary of OWS developments but, as often happens, by the time the comments were on paper it had become something slightly… Read more »
SNAME T&R’s Hard Work
“Initial Recommendations for Bilge Oily Water Separator System Design and Operation” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: March 2006 Presented initially in February 2006 at ASNE MEETS Symposium, Crystal City, VA The Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers‘ hidden gem is its Technology and Research Panel system. This system allows engineers to evaluate emerging technologies… Read more »
More on OWS
“Oily Water Separators: 30 Years Experience and No Consensus” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published in the Summer 2005 issue of Cleaner Seas This paper was the start off point for the SNAME T&R OWS effort and asked more questions than it provided answers. While OWS systems had been aboard ships for decades, USCG investigations revealed… Read more »
A Point in Time
“International Shipping Regulation Update” Author: James Dolan Published: April 2004 IMO has been the main developer of international maritime regulations. These regulations develop at a very rapid pace, and ship owners and operators often struggle to keep up with and make sense out of emerging regulations. This 2004 Jim Dolan paper provides a status update… Read more »
This is How International Maritime Moves
“The ISPS Code – International Ship & Port Facility Security Code and SOLAS Amendments 2002” Author: James Dolan Published: November 2003 After 9/11 nations turned to the international shipping community to determine whether terrorist activities could also be performed with ships. It is almost miraculous to consider that using ships as terrorist devices had not… Read more »
Another Point in Time
“The Marine Environment – A Marine Consultant’s Perspective” Author: James Dolan Published in Cleaner Seas in Summer 2003 This Cleaner Seas article by Jim Dolan summarizes the history of maritime environmentalism and M&O’s involvement and activities with environmental issues. To download the full paper click this link: The_Marine_Env_A_Marine_Consultant’s_Perspective
The Right Way to Conduct a Forensic Investigation
“The Joint Field Survey Process” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published in the June 2000, Volume XVII No. 1 issue of the Journal of the National Academy of Forensic Engineers There is a distinct difference between land based and maritime forensic investigations. Rik van Hemmen is a fellow in the National Academy of Forensic Engineers and… Read more »
The Beginning and End of Charters
“Charterer’s Legal Liability” Author: David Tantrum Published: June 1999 David Tantrum explains the role of the charterer’s surveyor when evaluating damage issues. In the simplest terms, a damage to ship or cargo is distributed between hull, cargo or liability underwriters. But when the ship is sailing under a charter party or a sub-charter party (or… Read more »
Getting to a Real “Yes”
“The Art of Saying No!” Author: Henk van Hemmen Published: February 1999 In this 1999 address to the Society of Marine Consultants, Henk van Hemmen explains the ethical issues a marine consultant may encounter. He explains it as the “art of saying no,” but it shows that appropriate “noes” result in much stronger “yeses.” Too… Read more »
So What Really Happened?
“Incident Investigation and Root Cause Analysis” Author: James Dolan Published: October 1998 While M&O had performed root cause analyses for decades, in 1998 the concepts of root cause analysis started to become a more regular and formal process in ship operations offices and aboard ships. In this paper Jim Dolan provides a root cause analysis… Read more »
Dutch Uncle
“Call Them As You See Them” Author: Henk van Hemmen Published: October 1, 1998 The Association of Average Adjusters of the United States and Canada is a society of average adjusters and professionals that interact with average adjusters such as underwriters, admiralty attorneys and marine surveyors. Only licensed average adjusters can be full members and all others… Read more »
Recent Change in 1000 Years of Change
“The Changing Role of the Average Adjuster” Author: Henk van Hemmen Published: September 30, 1998 Henk van Hemmen discusses changes in the marine industry and how it affects average adjusters. Papers discussing change are often difficult to judge. Is what we see at any point in time really transforming or simply today’s impression of what… Read more »
Is This What the Future Will Be?
“Marine Insurance Claims in the Coming Millennium” Author: Pierce Power Published: 1997 When Pierce Power was asked to provide comments about the future in his 1997 paper “Marine Insurance Claims in the Coming Millennium,” he did what all Martin & Ottaway consultants do; he ran his ideas by the other consultants in the office. Wondering… Read more »
Will the Future Look Like the Past?
“Marine Insurance Claims in the Coming Millennium” Author: Pierce Power Published: 1997 Pierce Power, as a younger surveyor but with wide ranging marine experience and access to an uncommon amount of experience around him, was asked to provide his thoughts on the future of marine insurance at the 1997 Association of Average Adjusters Seminar. These… Read more »
Ship Wakes Fade but the Paper Trail Remains
“Chasing the Paper Trail, Discovery for Claim Recovery” Author: Pierce Power Published: 1997 A ship collision leaves no skid marks, but we are often asked to figure out what happened. The examination of physical evidence is very important, but even when no physical evidence remains, a ship still leaves a paper trail. This 1997 paper… Read more »
You Paid How Much for That?!
“The Reasonable Cost of Repairs” Author: David Tantrum Published: 1996 Presented to the Association of Average Adjusters of the United States “Fair and reasonable cost of repairs” is one of a large number of time tested marine concepts like “utmost good faith,” “GWWP,” “salvage” and quite a number of others. Like many concepts, if you… Read more »
Hull Policies are Fair, but it is Not Always Obvious
“Unrepaired Damage – Cause and Effect in Today’s Market” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: 1996 Unrepaired damage claims are a classic recovery option under a marine policy. While the process used to be much more common when ship bumping and grinding was more common and when deductibles were smaller, it is still being used today,… Read more »
The Finer Points of Allegations
“Heavy Weather vs. Wastage and Corrosion” Author: Harry J. Ottaway Published: 1994 Presented to the Association of Average Adjusters of the United States The allegation under a hull policy can be a make-or-break proposition. Harry Ottaway discusses some of the finer points, especially in the context of choosing between differing options. Two common differing allegation… Read more »
Is ISO What I Think It Is?
“ISO 9000: Practical Consideration Towards Ship Operators Classification” Author: James Dolan Published: 1994 Presented at the Ship Operations, Management and Economics Symposium, U.S. Merchant Marine Academy In the days before the Exxon Valdez and shortly thereafter it had become apparent that ship maintenance and safety was not evenly applied across the worldwide merchant marine fleet,… Read more »
The Greatest Maritime Generation
“Engineering in the World War II Shipbuilding Program” Authors: Harry Ottaway and Henk van Hemmen Published: 1992 Harry Ottaway and Henk van Hemmen prepared this paper to present at a joint SNAME/SMPE meeting. The paper described their impressions as young men first encountering the maritime technology that was produced by the United States during World… Read more »
So How Good Are Those Double Hulls?
“Merits of Double Bottoms in Crude Oil Tankers as Applied to the ‘Exxon Valdez’ Spill of March 24, 1989” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: June 1992 The Exxon Valdez spill was a true game changer in our industry. Almost immediately it resulted in the development of regulations that would reduce oil outflow in the event… Read more »
This Was The Cutting Edge in 1986
“Twelve Meter Design: State of the Art in 1986” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: April 1986 Presented to the New York Metropolitan Section of SNAME and published in October 1986 issue of Marine Technology Rik van Hemmen prepared this paper to summarize his experience as the Chief Engineer for the EAGLE Syndicate on the… Read more »
A Classic
“Ship Appraisals: Their Use, Misuse and Abuse” Author: Harry Ottaway Published: 1985 Presented to the Association of Average Adjusters of the United States Ship valuation is as old as shipping (I’ll pay you three buckets of clams for that dugout there, not a clam more). Oddly the practice of ship valuations was never very carefully… Read more »
A Remnant of The Cold War
“The Monoform Ship Concept: Design Principles and Preliminary Performance Characteristics” Author: Rik van Hemmen Published: May 1982 Presented at the Chesapeake Section Meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Laurel, MD This short paper describes a ship concept that was developed by Dr. Adorjan Szeless, Naval Architecture, Marine Engineering, Submarine Design and… Read more »
The Bucket List
“The Jake 4011, a Self Launched Glider Design” SSA second place winner, Rik van Hemmen, Team Leader, Virginia Tech, 1982 (apologies to lost teammate names) Aerospace engineering and naval architecture and marine engineering are very closely related. And a case can be made that naval architecture is more complicated. However, when Rik van Hemmen had… Read more »