Ship Arrestor – Dropping giant sea-anchors via helicopter to assist salvors

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The ShipArrestor, chosen from among 1200 projects funded by the European Union, defends coastlines against environmental damage when a drifting oil tanker runs aground.

A consortium of eight European organisations was created to develop the ShipArrestor idea under Miko Marine’s leadership and was partly funded under the European Union’s Research, Innovation and Competitiveness Framework programmes.

The project consists of organisations from France, Germany, Netherlands and Austria including The Norwegian Institute of Technology and the UK’s Ship Stability Research Centre.

By applying their expertise to the challenge, they have developed a technique to enable a tow line to be attached to a drifting drifting ship by helicopter.

The tow line leads to a sea anchor that is able to halve the speed of the ship’s drift creating more time for a rescue tug to intercept the vessel before it runs aground.

It is not unusual for ships to lose engine power at sea and the consequences of them running aground can be disastrous to the environment.

The introduction of a method for regaining control of such ships is now being seen as an important new option for coastal administrations.

The British Isles are seen as being at particular risk due to the loss of funding for the UK’s four Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs).

The ShipArrestor is consequently being cited as a solution that would enable fewer rescue tugs to service the same area at significantly lower cost.

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