ABB And Royal Caribbean Group Collaborate To Make Emergency Stops Safer And More Efficient

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  • ABB Ability™ Marine Braking Assistance helps ships minimize stopping time and distance, without compromising steering capability
     
  • Initially developed at the request of Royal Caribbean Group, the new digital solution improves safety for ships, seafarers and passengers
     
  • Automated braking saves wear and tear on critical ship control systems

As the world’s largest cruise ship Wonder of the Seas, departed on her maiden voyage in the beginning of March 2022, she was the first in the world to feature the new ABB Ability™ Marine Braking Assistance. Designed for safe and smooth emergency stops, the automatic braking system is the result of collaboration between supplier and owner, initiated at Royal Caribbean Group’s request.

Following full sea trials by shipbuilder Chantiers d’Atlantique and acceptance by the owner, the DNV-approved Marine Braking Assistance provides the latest example of how technology can be leveraged to improve safety for ships, seafarers and passengers.

Marine Braking Assistance, through the push of a button, triggers an automated braking sequence, optimizing the angles and power of all the Azipod® propulsion units based on vessel position, heading and speed to allow maximum braking efficiency. Critically, operators have time to attend to other urgent matters while retaining control over steering.

“We at ABB take great pride in introducing new technologies to the industry to improve safety and add value for our customers. Marine Braking Assistance is a good example of a co-creation project where we, in close collaboration with Royal Caribbean Group, developed a solution that makes a real operational difference,” said Kalevi Tervo, Global Program Manager of ABB Marine & Ports. “The adoption of an automated process that improves safety holds special significance at a time when regulators are moving forward on rulemaking for autonomous ships.”

The Marine Braking Assistance can be compared to an automated braking system (ABS) whose safety benefits car drivers today expect as standard. Automation of the braking sequence also minimizes the wear and tear systems experience due to vibration cavitation and the heating up of braking transformers under manual control.

Hard stopping a ship in an emergency situation can be highly stressful. Unlike slamming on the brakes of a car, for vessels with shaftline propulsion the turn to full astern results in losing steering ability. For a vessel equipped with podded propellers, the pod way emergency stopping procedure allows much faster stopping, with limited steering ability, but it demands step-by-step manual actions by the helmsperson, at a moment when other issues require immediate attention.

Anders Aasen, Vice President, Global Technical Operations, at Royal Caribbean Group states: “We have a long history of innovating to improve maritime safety. I am pleased to debut Marine Braking Assistance technology onboard our ships through close cooperation with ABB.”

ABB’s Process Automation business is a leader in automation, electrification and digitalization for the process and hybrid industries. We serve our customers with a broad portfolio of products, systems, and end-to-end solutions, including our # 1 distributed control system, software, and lifecycle services, industry-specific products as well as measurement and analytics, and marine offerings. As the global #2 in the market, we build on our deep domain expertise, diverse team and global footprint, and are dedicated to helping our customers increase competitiveness, improve their return on investment and run safe, smart, and sustainable operations. go.abb/processautomation

ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a leading global technology company that energizes the transformation of society and industry to achieve a more productive, sustainable future. By connecting software to its electrification, robotics, automation and motion portfolio, ABB pushes the boundaries of technology to drive performance to new levels. With a history of excellence stretching back more than 130 years, ABB’s success is driven by about 105,000 talented employees in over 100 countries. www.abb.com

Icon of the Seas: Culmination of Innovation of Royal Caribbean Ships

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When the Icon of the Seas launches service for Royal Caribbean International in early 2024, she will not only be the biggest cruise ship at sea but will be the result of a 12-to-15-year creative process that is essentially the culmination of building the most innovative cruise ships on the planet, said Jay Schneider, senior vice president and chief product innovation officer for the brand.

“It’s our first white paper ship in about 10 years,” he said, speaking to a group of media aboard the Allure of the Seas on its debut in Galveston, Texas.

It is not just a bigger brother or sister to the Oasis class, he stressed.

“When we started working on Icon it was smaller, and as we researched what people needed and wanted, it grew over time and we ended up with the largest ship in the world.”

Space has been “over-indexed,” he said, meaning more space per guest.

The new ship, which will be floated out in December at Meyer Turku, is a continued evolution of the Royal Caribbean brand, said Schneider, adding that guests are looking “for experiences, not things.”

The new class of ship was designed around five fundamentals, he said, including unrivalled water experiences (including pools, slides and more), adrenaline-pumping thrills, the ultimate family vacation, entertainment and food and beverage.

The popular neighbourhood concept from Oasis-class ships will be back, with some returning and expanded areas and also new concepts.

Schneider also said there will be over 40 food and beverage experiences on Icon, of which 23 will be completely new to the Royal Caribbean brand, plus an added emphasis on what he called “eatertainment,” blending entertainment and dining together.

Norwegian Cruise Line Confident in Europe 2023 Despite Baltic Limitations

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Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings is increasing its capacity by six per cent in Europe in 2023, coming at the expense of the Caribbean, according to Frank Del Rio, president and CEO, speaking on the company’s third-quarter earnings call.

He said that yields on ticket prices and onboard revenue for cruises in Europe were “dramatically better.”

And this is in despite of limitations in the Baltic, with ships not calling at Russia’s Saint Petersburg. 

“If you had asked me what is the single city in the world, port in the world that you cannot live without, I’d tell you it’s Saint Petersburg, and we lost it,” Del Rio said. “Very, very high yields, incredible shore excursion sales. So onboard revenue was just higher than any other itineraries that I can think of, and it’s a relatively long season. You can get (there) in mid-May and you can leave in mid-September.”

That limitation in 2022 sent one Norwegian ship elsewhere, as the Getaway moved to the Caribbean for the summer sailing from Port Canaveral.

“It did affect load factors and no question, it affected pricing. And the impact on EBITDA has to be in the tens of millions of dollars,” Del Rio explained.

But both the Baltic and the Mediterranean look encouraging for 2023, with Del Rio noting that Americans travelling to Europe book the highest cabin categories earliest.

“This revenge travel or pent-up demand that we’ve been talking about for months is really alive and well for Americans going to Europe,” he said.

“We believe that Europe is poised for an incredible 2023 season. That’s why we increased our capacity there by 6 percentage points of occupancy at the expense of the Caribbean. And I’ll take that trade all day long because the yields both on a ticket and on onboard revenue are so dramatically better for European cruises that we’ll take that trade.”