Anna Kiiski

Open post-doc position at Aalto University

Aalto University School of Engineering is looking for enthusiastic candidates for a post-doctoral position in the Safe and Efficient Marine Systems and Experience Research group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (Marine and Arctic Technology).

More information here

Sailing boat hull with a patchwork of anti-fouling paints for studying biofouling growth

The role of leisure boats in the spreading of alien species in the Baltic Sea Region is largely unknown. The number of leisure boats operating in the Baltic Sea Region is growing, and the risk of potential new introductions is also increasing. It is essential to be aware of this risk and its magnitude in order to address the issue with the most cost-effective measures. As a part of COMPLETE activities, a study will be carried out in summer 2020 together with Kari “Ruffe” Nurmi and his sailing boat, which will be literally used as an experimental vessel.

The aim of the experiments is to test with a single sailing boat, how different kinds of anti-fouling paints common in the market can affect the growth of biofouling organisms during a normal sailing season in the Baltic Sea Region. In addition, some strips in the hull will be left unpainted, to act as reference areas. In this way a comparison can be made, how different antifouling paints work in practice in similar ‘real life’ conditions and verify if there are any alien species present in the potential fouling communities.

During the sailing season, the biofouling growth will be checked with an underwater video camera. The boat will be lifted after the sailing season and samples will be collected from the different strips on the boat hull and the hull will be photographed. From these samples a detailed analysis will be made by the COMPLETE project partner Finnish Environment Institute about the coverage of biofouling, the species composition and especially the presence of alien species. This kind of experimental study is first of its kind in the Baltic Sea Region, and the results will give an insight to the potential transfer of alien species with leisure boats. The results will also be taken into account when giving recommendations from the COMPLETE project on how to mitigate potential risks related to biofouling of leisure boats in the Baltic Sea area.

More information: COMPLETE project.

 

Potential of Inland waterways is truly seen!

Finnish Waterway Association organised Winterdays 2020 – seminar in Lappeenranta on Wednesday 29 Jan 2020. The main theme of the seminar was focused on sustainable development and the role of inland waterways in this context. Experts of INFUTURE project were actively involved and several project related presentations were held. It was clearly seen that inland waterways are considered as a potential way of transportation. In the event, almost 90 participants was involved!

On Tuesday 28 Jan, INFUTURE project organised special Round Table discussion, which was targeted to clarify possibility to implement pilot travel to Russian inland waters. As a result, clear list of tasks related to needed conventions and permissions was received.

Material presented during the Round Table discussion could be downloaded here.

COMPLETE Stakeholder Conference materials now downloadable at the web

COMPLETE Stakeholder Conference ‘Towards solutions for sustainable boating and shipping: better biofouling and ballast water management’ was organized on 4-5 December in Jurmala, Latvia. Over seventy participants from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the HELCOM Secretariat joined the stakeholder conference, representing different stakeholders from policy makers at international, regional, and national level, (e.g. maritime and environmental administrations) as well as local administrations, ports/port authorities, chemical safety authorities, shipping companies, boating associations, marinas, environmental NGOs, and companies providing hull cleaning services. At plenary sessions, stakeholders presented their views on the problems of biofouling and ballast water management, and project partners described how the results of the project can help solve problems.

Conference materials can now be downloaded at the official conference web pages.

 

Comprehensive Academic Studies on Finnish – Russian IWW

INFUTURE Steering Group and Working Group meetings were held in St. Peterburg at the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping October 15-16th.

The Chairman of the Steering Group, Pekka Koskinen, as opening the meeting noted that the project has been on-going for a year now and it is time to have a look on the results so far.

All 4 work packages presented the outcomes so far including very comprehensive academic studies and practical analyses.

1) Transshipment Hub Development – Cargo potential from both sides, Finnish and Russian, has been studied and evaluated

2) Inland Waterways Fairway Technologies – the water areas have been studied and analyzed. The aim is to conduct a pilot on the Neva river.

3) Inland Waterway Vessel Concept – based on the information from the WP1 a new vessel type concept for multipurpose vessel has been studied. The aim is the have a design of this vessel by the end of the project.

4) Dissemination and Stakeholder Engagement – A lot of work has been done within the WP1-3 and now we have good material for dissemination and having round tables, like within the NEVA Trans.

The next steps on each work packages were also agreed during these two meetings.

The project members visited the Museum of the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping, which tells about the history of academic maritime education.

Text: Heli Koukkula-Teixeira

Final evaluation of the DigiPort project, part 4.

The realization and social impact of the DigiPort project can be assessed through four themes, the fourth of which is presented here.

Theme 4: Port Data Innovations Based on Open Data

To accelerate digital innovations, the project organized a hackathon event in April 2019 in Mussalo harbor in Kotka. The aim of the event was to bring in open data-driven innovations for the identified challenges of ports by multidisciplinary student teams. The challenges to be solved were shaped by workshops in Kotka and Turku. The event was successfully marketed and 20 students from different educational programs were invited to attend. They represented education in maritime and logistics, service design, data analytics, game design, information technology, and cyber security. In solving the challenges, students were instructed to use various open data sources and data processing tools to create new service concepts. The hackathon event culminated in a pitching competition that rewarded the three best innovations. The judges of the competition were representatives of companies, who also acted as mentors for students. All participating teams were given the opportunity to participate in the *Ship Startup Festival in July 2019 to further develop their idea. The social impact of the theme is the creation of new port innovations for further development.

Final evaluation of the DigiPort project, part 3.

The realization and social impact of the DigiPort project can be assessed through four themes, the third of which is presented here.

Theme 3: Opening and publishing data

The project developed a policy for port authorities to open and publish data on port infrastructure. Initially, the information needs of the port users were identified. An attempt was then made to find a working method of cooperation to support the opening of data from pilot ports (HaminaKotka and Turku). The management of the port companies was given guidance and recommendations on how to proceed with the mapping exercise. The intention was to progressively open up the data sets with the greatest potential for exploitation. In addition, material already in the public domain at the ports was mapped. Technical information on port infrastructure, i.e. roads, railways, waterways, structures, areas, networks, etc., is already publicly available on the internet. Only publishing as open data gives the port authority control over the accuracy of the information. The description or metadata of the data can influence the correct use of the data.

An Excel-based tool for port data inventory listing was developed. It was triggered by operational problems detected in ports, where data reserves could serve as a raw material for developing solutions. The problems were formulated on the basis of the results of workshops held in Kotka and Turku. The pilot ports made the listings, which served as a basis for reflection on the material to be opened. During the mapping of the data it was noticed that the infrastructure information of the port is scattered and organized in different information systems in the organizations. Information can be found in both paper and digital formats in personal folders and workstations.

Open source requires a publishing platform to make the data and its metadata available to application developers and other users. The materials were stored in a data catalogue located on the database server created for the project, where they can be utilized. The server, software and related peripherals were installed as a thesis at Xamk. The actual deployment was made by Xamk’s ICT management. A domain name, www.datasatama.fi, was opened for the service. This created the world’s first data catalogue focusing on port information. At the end of the project, the data catalogue contains infrastructure data opened by the ports of HaminaKotka and Turku, as well as links to the materials of the Finnish Transport Agency and the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The social impact of the theme is the emergence of a new operating model and the opening up of port infrastructure information for application and software developers. This will enable the development of new digital services for ports that can improve the flow, performance, security and environmental friendliness of ports.