Weather sensitivity of maritime activities on Chinese Shelf

Abstract

The objective of the thesis is to discuss the weather sensitivity of maritime activities, inter alia, with respect to the aspects of passage planning, load plan-making, and ship maneuvering. As maritime activities represent a high risk industry, the risk analysis is not only a mandatory requirement of the administration but also a need during practice. A risk analysis will also be carried out in this thesis. With the improvement of the state of technology, a myriad of state-of-art technologies and equipment have been applied in oil field service realm, for example, shuttle tankers with DP2 (Dynamic Position System) have been used extensively in the North Sea area of Norway. However, there is none of this kind of shuttle tankers in Chinese costal area yet, therefore, this thesis will also discuss the prospect that such shuttle tanker will be used in Chinese costal area. In recent years, the global climate is getting increasingly unstable. Extreme weather, like typhoons, abnormal temperature, and storm occur frequently. According to a survey, in 2011, the US lost 50 billion dollars and in the recent 17 years, China mainland lost in average 185.9 billons RMB every year due to the damage of weather. Numerous professions，for example the oil field service and shipping industry, which we are engaged in, were affected mostly. When it comes to the Chinese costal area, it is also one of the most famous zones of heavy storms and waves in the world. Up to this day, I still remember clearly that on 4th Nov, 2004, due to hash weather, two cargo ships went down in the Bohai Bay, and 44 members of the crew lost their life. At that time, I experienced the rescue activity in personal as the chief officer of a rescue boat. Therefore, there is a need to analyze the weather system and its influence on marine transportation on the Chinese Shelf. The final goal is to lower the risk of a marine operation by use of its advantages and avoidance of its disadvantages. In addition, in order to integrate methodology with practice closely, in the process of the thesis writing, the ships and the business of the Marine and Transportation (M&T) department of COSL will be referenced in discussing subtopics.