Defence of dissertation in the field of marine technology, Osiris A. Valdez Banda, M.Sc.

Advantages of systematically managing risk and safety of Finnish maritime traffic during wintertime .

The public examination of the doctoral dissertation of Osiris A. Valdez Banda, M.Sc., will be held on 8 June 2017 at 12.00 at the Aalto University School of Engineering. The title of the dissertation is Maritime risk and safety management with focus on winter navigation. Field of the dissertation is applied mechanics, marine technology, maritime risk and safety.

Opponent: Professor Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs, World Maritime University, Sweden.

Supervisor: Professor Pentti Kujala, Aalto University School of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Electronic dissertation: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-60-7453-5

Maritime traffic is essential to keep an appropriate flow of the import and exports of goods internationally. In Finland, this flow must be ensured even when ships have to navigate in extreme winter conditions. The Finnish-Swedish winter navigation system (FSWNS) is implemented every year for controlling and increasing the safety of ship navigation in sea ice conditions within Finnish and Swedish sea areas.  The operational output derived from the functioning of this system has been significantly positive in terms of accident occurrence. However, little systematic research has addressed risk and safety of winter navigation. Generating certain questions about the actual system performance. What is the current safety level of the FSWNS? What are the key aspects in the functionality of the system? What are the actual needs of the system? And what can be done to ensure and improve the functionality of the system?   

This thesis contributes to answering these questions. First, an analysis is presented of the risk and safety of winter navigation in the context of the functioning of the FSWNS. This provides evidence and understanding of the risks for the safety of the system. The thesis describes and assesses the main operations of vessels during winter navigation, focusing on the analysis of the risk of ship collision in these operations. Potential risk control options are analyzed for supporting and improving the operations performed by ship’s bridge personnel. Based on this analysis, new methods, process, and tools are proposed for executing a systematic planning, implementing, reviewing, controlling, and improving of the safety performance of the FSWNS. Thus, the new alternatives offered in this thesis aim to strengthen and promote the advantages on the systematic management of maritime risk and safety.

Contact information: Osiris A. Valdez Banda, osiris.valdez.banda@aalto.fi