In this first period of GATERS, eight Work Packages (WP) have been active out of its nine. WP1 involved the gate rudder system (GRS) design tool and procedure development; WP2, the project's target ship performance monitoring and sea trials; WP3, the GRS retrofit design for the target ship; WP4, the GRS manufacturing and installation on the target ship; WP5, the regulatory impact assessment of the GRS; WP7, the communication, dissemination and exploitation (CDE) of the project results; WP8, the project management; and WP9, the ethics requirements. Through WP1, the best procedure for conducting retrofit GRS design and developing design tools using comprehensive scaled model testing and computational methods has been under development. The retrofit GRS for the 90m cargo vessel MV ERGE has been designed using these tools and procedures, hence meeting the project's critical milestone (MS1). The retrofit GRS detailed design has progressed further, and the specification of the twin steering gear and Autopilot was made in WP3, including the CAD drawings and the necessary class approval from the Bureau Veritas. Manufacturing of the GRS, steering gear, and Autopilot purchasing is currently underway in WP4 to be installed on MV ERGE in February 2023. MV ERGE was equipped with a performance monitoring system in WP2. The associated performance data is being collected until the GRS retrofit and will continue with the GRS-equipped MV ERGE to demonstrate the ultimate benefits of the retrofit GRSin WP2. WP5 is progressing with the impact assessment of the target ship with GRS on the existing IMO and EU regulations, mainly involving GHG emissions. WP6 will start in the second period for the life cycle cost impact assessment of the GRS. WP7 has been very active with intensive CDE activities. With the early establishment of the project CDE tools (website and social media platforms, etc.), comprehensive CDE activities were conducted, e.g. participating in 14 international forums and conferences; in three global exhibitions (COP'26, POSIDONIA'22, SMM'22); submitting technical discussions in ITTC and JTTC; through interactions with three other EC collaborative projects (H2020 RAMSESS, VENTURE, COPROPEL); organising the dedicated GATERS webinar; 6-monthly GATERS Newsletter publications; close interaction with the GATERS IAB members and expanding the membership by the participation of a large coaster ship consortium (KOSDER); winning two prestigious awards related to GRS, The RINA-QinetiQ innovation award 2022 and TRA’2022 Senior Researcher's award.
In summary, GATERS is on target to achieve its first two main objectives. So far, the tools and procedure development and the retrofit design have been established; the manufacturing of GRS is underway to retrofit MV ERGE in month 24 (February 2023). Although there will be six month "local" delay in retrofitting the target ship due to the Covid and novelty-related teething issues, the GATERS partners are confident this will not have any critical impact on the project objectives, duration and cost.