Current

INFUTURE Final conference Tue 30.11. – Wed 1.12.2021

The INFUTURE project seeks comprehensive solutions to support sustainable and cost-effective inland waterway transportation. The INFUTURE project has been implemented in cooperation with Finnish and Russian experts in the field. The work has been funded by the South-East Finland – Russia ENI CBC 2014-2020 program.

INFUTURE FINAL CONFERENCE
Waterways – a step towards a green transition

Tue 30.11. – Wed 1.12.2021

The conference will focus on presenting the research results of the project through four different themes. The first theme, “Towards a Green Transition”, focuses on the EU’s Green Deal and Fit for 55 programs, as well as national emission reduction targets for inland waterway transportation. Another theme highlights the opportunities and potential of inland waterway transport today. The third theme aims to present best practices and smart solutions for the development of inland waterway infrastructure and port operations. The last, fourth session looks at visions for the future of inland waterways as a sustainable mode of freight transport.

In addition to the researchers of the INFUTURE project, the conference speakers will be high-level experts such as

  • Marta Wolska, EU Commission, Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport
  • Benjamin Boyer and Laure Roux, Central Commission for the Navigation of the Rhine
  • Eero Hokkanen, Ministry of Transport and Communications
  • Tomi Solakivi, University of Turku
  • Claudia Beumer, VT Group
  • Jarkko Toivola, Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency
  • Ville Hinkka, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd
  • Olga Ansberg, Director of Port Logistics, Port of Vyborg
  • Kevin Desmond, Inland Waterway International, Alternative Fuels Committee

The INFUTURE Final Conference will be held in Kotka, Maritime Centre Vellamo. You can attend the conference or parts of it both on site and on-line.

Program here

Sign up here

The conference is free of charge.

Assessing and managing the risks of oil accidents – Doctoral dissertation

Liangliang Lu, a member of the Kotka Maritime Research Centre’s research community, defended his doctoral dissertation on 18 June 2021 at Aalto University in the field of marine technology. The opponent was Professor Zaili Yang from Liverpool John Moores University.

During his thesis work, Lu has developed methods for assessing and managing the risks of oil accidents in challenging icy conditions, the case study area being the northern Baltic Sea.

As the annual ice-covered period shortens, new shipping lanes will open-up in the Arctic and subarctic seas. When shipping in these challenging conditions increases, the likelihood of accidents increases. The low-biodiversity northern ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to various disturbances and the oil spill could have more devastating consequences in these areas than average. Oil spill response in icy conditions is also highly challenging and its success uncertain.

Lianliang Lu’s thesis focuses specifically on improving the effectiveness of oil spill response in ice conditions. It starts by developing a holistic system model that describes a chain of events from a ship collision to the amount of oil leaking from a tanker, oil drifting in the ocean, and eventually oil spill response in ice conditions.

“In order to propose effective risk management measures, we must first understand the risk-generating system,” says Lu.

“Systems modeling helps to identify the most critical factors affecting the effectiveness of oil spill response. On this basis, it is possible to start planning optimal risk management measures – that is, measures to improve oil spill response,” he states.

The thesis then identifies the operability of an oil spill response vessel in ice as one of the most critical factors influencing the success of oil spill response. On this basis, Lu has developed a new type of operability index based on transit modelling in dynamic ice, to be used as a tool during oil spill response operations. The index is calculated for each response vessel and is intended to assist in the planning and execution of a spill response operation under the environmental and ice conditions prevailing at the time of the accident.

Lianliang Lu’s thesis have been partly conducted as part of the SIMREC -project.

The thesis consists of five scientific articles and a summary titled as ”Risk management of ship-source oil spill in ice conditions in the Northern Baltic Sea”. The summary can be downloaded from the Aaltodoc publication archive.

 

Written by: Annukka Lehikoinen

Annual Report 2020 published

Year 2020 has been very different. For us as a research centre, the ongoing pandemic has not been catastrophic, but it has changed the ways of cooperation. In the Annual Report of Kotka Maritime Research Centre you can check the facts and figures from the year 2020.

Reports of research assessment are now published

Kotka Maritime Research Centre invited two external reviewers to assess the work of the centre and to provide recommendations for the further development. The reports provides the assessment of two external reviewers during the period from 2015 to 2018 and to provide.  The assessment was to assess the quality and potential of the research, the success of multi- and interdisciplinary collaboration within KMRC as well as KMRC’s research impact, societal impact and innovative capacity. The external reviewers are Dr. Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs, Vice-President (Academic Affairs) and Professor from World Maritime University and FT, Adjunct Professor Anita Mäkinen from Finnish Transport and Communications Agency.

Please read the assessment reports here.

KMRC Publications 1 External review Anita Mäkinen

KMRC Publications 2 External review Jens-Uwe Schröder-Hinrichs

 

Annukka Lehikoinen will start as a new Research Director

Annukka Lehikoinen, PhD in Environmental Sciences, has been nominated as a Research Director of the Kotka Maritime Research Center. Lehikoinen will start in the position on April 1, 2021.

The new research director has an important role in raising the scientific profile of the research center. She will participate in the planning and execution of the research work, coordinating and facilitating the cooperation of the multisectoral network of researchers and stakeholders.

– I’m pleased about this opportunity. Kotka Maritime Research Center is conducting societally significant research in the field of sustainable shipping and I look forward to promoting this work together with a high-level multidisciplinary network of experts, Annukka Lehikoinen says.

Annukka Lehikoinen defended her dissertation at the University of Helsinki in 2014. In her PhD thesis, she developed and applied AI tools on assessing environmental risks arising from oil transportations. Since then, Lehikoinen has deepened her expertise in the field of multidisciplinary risk and decision analysis, familiarised with machine learning and explored sustainable development from a systems analytic perspective. She has also been a co-implementer in the recent research projects of the Kotka Maritime Research Center, related to alien invasive species risks in shipping, international oil spill response cooperation and the sustainable development of marinas.

Lehikoinen is transferring to KMRC from the University of Helsinki’s Faculty of Social Sciences , where she works as a researcher in the Environmental Policy Research Group. As her most recent conquest, Lehikoinen mentions long-term strategic planning tools – a topic she has been working on in cooperation with representatives of the City of Kotka over the past year.

– I am happy with the selection, says the technical director at the City of Kotka, Vesa-Jukka Vornanen. From our viewpoint, Lehikoinen is an excellent choice to foster the sustainable development of the city and the region, where the maritime activities have long traditions.

Kotka Maritime Research Center was founded in 2005 on the initiative of the City of Kotka. The research is carried out in collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Aalto University, the University of Turku and the Southeastern Finland University of Applied Sciences.

How can we simulate ship performance in level ice reliably and efficiently?

Doctoral candidate Fang Li, M.Sc. (Tech) will defence his thesis on Fri 06.11.2020 at 12:00 PM.
Dissertation is in the field on marine technology and titled as ‘Numerical simulation of ship performance in level ice: evaluation, framework and modelling’

Read full summary about the dissertation and guidance how to participate the on-line event.
Link to Zoomiin: https://aalto.zoom.us/j/66696860489

Welcome!

Invitation to participate – INFUTURE Round Tables

Operational and Safe Inland Navigation Between Finland and Russia

Most international cargo traffic between Finland and Russia goes on land, via roads and railways. Inland waterway connection from Saimaa to Russian inland waterways could constitute a potential environmentally friendly option for transportation between the countries. ​

Each Round Table includes short introduction to the theme, presentations on findings and time for comments and also for Q & A.

Please note, registration is necessary
Registration here