Allianz SE: Building a solid future

Today's ship construction techniques are a far cry from methods employed for the Titanic. A labor-intensive affair, ships in 1912 were pieced together by teams of riveters and other skilled men in relatively small dockyards. Modern day shipbuilding utilizes the same innovations found in construction, such as welding, computer-aided design and prefabrication.
In the Titanic's era, Europe was the center for shipbuilding. It was a big employer and buyer of raw materials. At the turn of the century, shipyards consisted of molding areas, iron works, platers' sheds, joiners and cabinet makers' shops, blacksmiths, plumbers, French polishers, shipbuilding berths and "fitting out" docks. Much of what was built was created on site. One hundred years later, Europe has lost its shipbuilding dominance to less expensive shipyards in Asia, specifically Japan, South Korea and China. In 2010, China and South Korea together built more than 72 percent of the deadweight tons of ships constructed.
Just as the hub for shipbuilding has changed, so have shipbuilding techniques. Much of what is done at a shipyard today is assembly rather than pure construction. Modern ships arrive at dry-docks in prefabricated sections to be welded together, and a shipbuilder is likely to be assembling several ships consecutively. This shift to prefabrication coupled with the innovation of welding, which has provided much higher quality than riveting, have greatly improved vessel safety.
Safety by design
Advancements in the design process have also improved safety records. For most of history the design "process" was trial and error. So design innovations tended to be incremental and thus relatively conservative. By the twentieth century, many of the principles of modern ship design were well-established. Vessel stability was largely understood and ships were compartmentalized to slow flooding and aid evacuation. Computers have further contributed to ship safety. Computer modeling and analysis has replaced laborious calculations on stability, structures, and hydrodynamics. As risks are identified, ship design can be modified to mitigate the risk itself.
Hull and structure design are not the only elements to have been drastically improved by design over the past 100 years; innovations on the bridge have also played a key role. In 1912 when the Titanic sailed, she had very few navigational aids. Her compass was typical of the period, and her main navigation aids were the sextant and the chronometer combined with reference to the Nautical Almanac. The ship's position could not be precisely pinpointed during the hours of daylight because location was determined using the positions of stars.
A modern day bridge is an extremely high-tech environment, removing the need for guesswork and vastly improving safety. The Titanic's compass has been replaced by the gyrocompass, which finds 'true north' rather than magnetic north. The gyrocompass also made the autopilot possible. Very high frequency radio allows today's ships to communicate with port authorities, broadcast safety information/distress calls and contact other vessels in their vicinity. Depth finders utilize echo sounding, warning modern vessels of the potential for grounding and playing a key role in the development of accurate sea-charts.
Radar - a mandatory requirement under the International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) - has further revolutionized navigation. Officers of the watch can anticipate hazards and obstacles before they can actually see them. Combined with automatic radar plotting aid (ARPA) to replace the manual plotting of vessel movements, it has improved the accuracy and speed of plotting and enhanced the situational awareness of officers keeping a navigational watch.
Fixing position
Arguably the most important advancement in the safer navigation of ships came in the last quarter of the twentieth century: the Global Positioning System, or GPS. It is used by hikers and cyclists, alongside motorists and merchant ships. Relying upon the positioning of 31 satellites (as of 2010), GPS, and the more enhanced "differential" version DGPS, is remarkable for its position-fixing accuracy and global scale. It is not dependent on weather or location and is cheaper, easier, faster and more precise than anything before. In optimal conditions, DGPS is accurate to within one square meter.
Satellites have also revolutionized communication. The Titanic's radio had a range of 200 miles. Nowadays personnel aboard ships anywhere in the world can remain in touch with those ashore, 24 hours a day. In the day of the Titanic, this was only possible by transmitting from ship to ship, if a ship was close by. The radio officer also had to be at his/her monitoring station. The first distress messages the Titanic transmitted were missed by the nearby Carpathia as the radio officer was on the bridge.
Situational awareness
Bridge hardware continues to evolve. Among the newest pieces of bridge kit are the Automatic Identification System (AIS) and the Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS). With AIS, ships can identify one another and be identified by ships and shore stations. It helps officers of the watch track objects and predict their actions. AIS data on unique identification, position, course, and speed can be displayed on a separate screen or an ECDIS. ECDIS has many more benefits: automatic chart updating, access to any chart and an effective interface with ARPA/radar.
Advances in weather monitoring and forecasting have also enhanced safety. This plays a key role in ship routing, the art and science of developing the "best route" for a ship based on weather forecasts, ship characteristics, ocean currents and special cargo requirements. The goal is not to avoid all adverse weather but to find the best balance to minimize time of transit and fuel consumption without placing the vessel at risk to weather damage or crew injury.
These technological advancements have already radically reduced the risks associated with navigation, which has led to vast improvements in safety since the Titanic's day. But there will undoubtedly be more to come, as our knowledge of the marine environment is further enhanced in the future.
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