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1 INTRODUCTION
Azipods, due to a number of obvious advantages
associated with increased propulsion efficiency and
bettermanoeuvrability,areincreasinglybeingusedas
a propulsion and steeringsystemfor many types of
modern vessels from passenger ships and ferries
starting,bytankerstotugsandsmallspecialistunits
serving off‐shore. The azip
o
d propulsion, consisting
of one to three or four propellers which may rotate
about a vertical axis and are powered by electrical
motor, considerably changed methodology of
manoeuvring.
Thisalsoappliestotheshipstoppingmanoeuvre.
This manoeuvre, due to the possibility of using a
numberofdifferentwaystodoso,andva
rious(oft
en
contradictory) opinions about the effectiveness of
individual methods, is one of the primary factors
influencingthesafetyofnavigationofshipsequipped
with the azipod propulsion. This follows directly
fromtheanalysisofthecausesofaccidentsatsea.
Manoeuvresonboardashipmodeleq
uippedwith
azip
ods are a big part of practical exercises carried
out during different ship handling courses at the
Ilawa Ship Handling Research and Training Centre.
TheCentrehasa largemannedmodelrepresentinga
largeLNGcarrierequippedwithtwopullingazipods.
Thetrainingmodelispresentedinphotono1.
Figure 1 The manned model representing a large LNG
carrierusedfortrainingandresearchpurposes
This model is used more and more often to the
training, also the scope of lectures at the request of
participants was changed.They request a clear
reliable opinion on the effectiveness of existing
individual methods ofhandling ships equipped
S
topping of Ships Equipped with Azipods*
J
.Nowicki
TheFoundationforSafetyofNavigationandEnvironmentProtection,Gdańsk,Poland
ShipHandlingResearchandTrainingCentre,Ilawa,Poland
ABSTRACT:Thepapercontainsadescriptionofdifferent possibilities ofstoppingalargeshipeq uippedwith
azipods.Themodeltestswerecarriedouttocomparetheeffectivenessofstoppingtheshipusingthedifferent
methods.TheshipmodelusedinstoppingtestsreproducesalargeLNGcarrierofcapacity~150000m
3
http://www.transnav.eu
the International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 8
Number 3
September 2014
DOI:10.12716/1001.08.03.07
*Azipod® is a registered trademark of ABB Oy for ship propulsion units.