Coastal countries began to develop green energy, and offshore wind power equipment in coastal areas was gradually built. Since coastal wind power generation often requires carrying out maintenance between wind turbines with the assistance of service operation vessels, this situation may cause coastal areas to be prone to people falling into the water. However, traditional maritime search and rescue plans take a long time to gather information from man overboard incidents. In order to minimize injuries to people in distress, the maritime search and rescue process must be as short as possible. Despite that all the search and rescue plans are based on the concept of the shortest path, the efficient plans must not only consider the distance but also consider the cost of search and rescue. Therefore, this study established a set of practices applicable to the on-site commander (OSC) to dispatch rescue ships, as well as the planning of maritime search and rescue route models. Based on the easy-to-observe state of the target in distress, the model is analyzed and calculated by Floyd–Warshall algorithm and Grey relational analysis so as to sort the rescue plan and optimize the effect of the search and rescue route at sea. According to the simulation analysis, when the man overboard incident occurs in the coastal area, the OSC can immediately use this model to plan the best search and rescue route and dispatch a reasonable number of rescue ships.
In the new inspection regime (NIR) of port state control (PSC), the criteria for being judged as a standard risk ship (SRS) is too broad. Some ships are classified as SRS even though they have a large number of ship deficiencies. This paper develops a selection system to identify the hidden risk of target ships in the SRS category using PSC inspection records. This system allows the target ship to be used to help reduce cases of flags being greylisted or blacklisted, which can cause huge shipping losses. This study analyzes ship deficiency data in the Tokyo memorandum of understanding (Tokyo MoU) database. It adopts the multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) model as a data processing technique to build a risk assessment scale. It uses fuzzy importance performance analysis (F-IPA) and technology for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) for its analysis. Subsequently, the weights of F-IPA and TOPSIS are adopted into the MCDM model. This article also consulted the Tokyo MoU database. It has been verified that the next time PSC inspection, the system hits 83.3% of the hidden risk ships in the SRS category. Thus, this system will help inspectors be more insightful for target ships.
The concentrated inspection campaign (CIC) is a derivative of the port state control (PSC) supplement, which is a fixed single series of deficiency inspections performed for three consecutive months at the end of each year. This study used grey relational analysis (GRA) and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to analyze the data of 71,376 deficiency records with 496 deficiency codes and 21 ship types in the Paris MoU for the last three years so as to improve the existing focus inspection pattern, which uses only the most accumulated number of deficiency series of the previous year’s PSC inspection. It also combines the three-sigma rule to find the inspection items most likely to be found as deficient by the port state control officer (PFSO) of the member country and creates a new rolling CIC scheme with deficiency inspection data for the last three years, which can filter out the significant deficiency codes with high numbers of deficiency inspections and use them as a modified CIC. It can not only solve the existing CIC’s lack of thoroughness, but also avoid the problems of missing important inspection codes, missing substandard ships, and failing to meet the inspection consensus. The new CIC inspection mechanism created in this paper can indeed identify potential substandard ships more effectively and fill the inspection gap of the existing port state control.
1 January 2023 in Journal of Marine Science and Technology
The implementation of port state control (PSC) has been challenging in Taiwan due to the lack of port state control officers (PSCOs), and foreign ships berthing at ports in Taiwan that cannot be effectively inspected. PSCOs of Taiwan are subordinate to the public service system and restrained by the number of personnel by the Executive Yuan. Compared with similar professions, their salaries are significantly different from those of the industry, making recruiting and retaining PSCOs a difficult task. Accordingly, this study improved the salary structure of PSCOs by conducting field interviews with existing PSCOs in Taiwan and applying the Fuzzy-AHP method as an analysis model. The results of the analysis indicate that priority should be given to improving the adjustment of the “profession allowance” for PSCOs. This work seeks to provide shipping authorities a reference for improving the remuneration structure of PSCOs to achieve effective recruitment and retention.
Currently, the field of microgear manufacturing faces various processing challenges, particularly in terms of size reduction; these challenges increase the complexity and costs of manufacturing. In this study, a technique for microgear manufacturing is aimed at reducing subsequent processing steps and enhancing material utilization. This technique involves the use of trough dies with extrusion-cutting processing, which enables workpieces to undergo forming in a negative clearance state, thus reducing subsequent processing time for micro products. We conducted finite element simulations using microgear dies, measuring stress, velocity, and flow during the forming process of four types of dies-flat, internal-trough, external-trough, and double-trough dies. The results indicated that the buffering effect of the troughs reduced the rate of increase in the material’s internal stress. In the cavity, the material experiences a significant increase in hydrostatic pressure, leading to the formation of a “hydrostatic pressure wall”. This pressure barrier imposes substantial constraints on the flow of the material during dynamic processes, making it difficult for the material to move into the remaining areas. This effectively enhances the blockage of material flow, demonstrating the critical role of hydrostatic pressure in controlling material distribution and movement. In addition, combining the characteristics of both into a double-trough die enhances the overall stability of forming velocity, reduces forming load and energy consumption, and maximizes material utilization. Results further revealed that microgears manufactured using double-trough dies exhibited defect-free surfaces, with a dimensional error of less than 5 μm and tolerances ranging from IT5 to IT6. Overall, this study offers new insights into the traditional field of microgear manufacturing, highlighting potential solutions for the challenges encountered in current microstamping processes.
3 November 2026 in Journal of Marine Science and Technology