The first results are promising.
'We've established that all three concepts are able to intercept the vessel,' says William Otto, MARIN's Offshore project manager
. 'The drag anchors of the buoy string dissipate the drift energy evenly, so that the vessel stays afloat across the waves. The anchored underwater hook heads the vessel into the waves, so reducing roll. That means the vessel remains in place while being exposed to relatively low forces. The smart suspension net initially showed too much droop, but with a bit of fine-tuning we were able to get this functioning too. Over the coming months we will go on to assess the various pros and cons of these systems.'The various concepts and all test results are being shared as an open innovation project to enable further development of the most promising concepts. The initiative has also sparked widespread international interest.
Representatives of the following Dutch maritime and offshore organizations were involved in this project: Bluewater Energy Services, Mooreast, Vuyk Engineering, Heerema Marine Contractors, Boskalis, GustoMSC, KRVE (Rotterdam Boatmen), Pinkster Marine Hydrodynamics, Huisman Equipment, Orca Offshore en SBM Offshore.
In 2025 Bernard Hulsman drew MARIN's attention to the idea he had previously developed of a safety net to stop ships and prevent accidents. He launched this idea in response to an incident on 29 December 2016 in which a ship collided with a weir in the river Maas. The daily newspaper De Gelderlander published about this find on 14 May 2018. The concepts have been developed separately, without awareness of each other's innovations.Further informationWilliam Otto, project manager Offshore: +31 6 29 70 46 62 |
w.otto@marin.nlYvonne Koldenhof, teamleader Traffic & Safety: +31 6 15 83 37 05 |
y.koldenhof@marin.nl