The LASH FIRE project has developed and assessed fire safety measures for ro-ro ships and proposed cost-effective changes to international regulations. The development of safety measures was carried out in six so called “Development and Demonstration” work packages. They focused on the four phases of fire protection: ignition prevention, detection, extinguishment and containment, as well as on manual operations and safe design. Each work package addressed 3-4 fire safety challenges, identified from historic events and future changes, totalling 20 different challenges tackled. During the project, solutions to the challenges were developed, evaluated, and validated through testing and demonstrations.
Demonstration platforms and input regarding the operative and technical conditions to the challenges and solutions were provided by operators and yard representatives in the project. They provided input concerning ship integration feasibility, performance and not least input on the cost for implementing the solutions on all types of ro-ro ships and in all types of ro-ro spaces. For this purpose, three generic ships were selected, based on the arrangement of ro-ro cargo spaces as well as passenger and cargo capacity in comparison to statistical data and trends of the world fleet. The three ships representing the different types of ro-ro ships were the ro-ro passenger ship Stena Flavia, the ro-ro cargo ship Magnolia Seaways (DFDS) and the vehicle carrier Torrens (Wallenius & Wilhelmsen).
Two maritime advisory groups were founded, one consisting of authorities and flag states, the second consisting of ship operators. The groups provided input regarding the demand for and feasibility of the developed solutions. They were also heavily involved in the selection and definition of solutions to be fully assessed regarding cost effectiveness.
The cost-effectiveness assessment was conducted according to the so called Formal Safey Assessment procedure established by the International Maritime Organization for evaluation of new regulations. This provided a recognized technical basis for the operational and technical solutions developed, and for the connected regulatory amendment proposals delivered, ready to be used by IMO stakeholders. The work also included development of a comprehensive database on fires in ro-ro spaces and ro-ro ships, a holistic risk assessment model, tools for consequence quantification of fires originating in ro-ro spaces and a tool for cost evaluation.
LASH FIRE used a broad range of dedicated channels to collect and communicate information about ro-ro ship fire safety, such as the project website and public webinars. The project organized three public conferences on fire safety at sea (CFIS), which gained large audiences. LASH FIRE also directly supported IMO stakeholders in the parallel ongoing agenda item to “Review SOLAS chapter II-2 and associated codes to minimize the incidence and consequences of fires in ro-ro spaces and special category spaces of new and existing ro-ro passenger ships”. LASH FIRE will continue to have an impact for many years to come. All the results have been made public to be used by any operator, IMO stakeholder or other part of society.
