The DNV Nordic Maritime Universities Workshop is organized as a collaboration between DNV and universities in the Nordic region with a maritime related education or research line. The workshop covers all research topics related to naval architecture, maritime engineering and maritime transport, including safety, energy efficiency and environmental performance, environmental pressures, new technologies and digitalization. The 25th Nordic Maritime Universities Workshop was held on 30-31 January 2025 at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Lyngby Campus. The workshop has been organized and hosted by the Maritime Group at the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering (DTU Construct). In total we received 77 abstracts from 7 countries. This includes 23 abstracts from Denmark, 23 from Sweden, 16 from Norway, 10 from Germany, 3 from Finland, 1 from The Netherlands, and 1 from Poland. The presentation of the abstracts and the talks is carried out over two days of the workshop and in 10 sessions, distributed over 7 topics:
• Maritime Safety & Risk Reduction (17 talks)
• Structures & Ship Design (8 talks)
• Numerical Methods & Marine Hydrodynamics (14 talks)
• Ship Operations & Navigation (14 talks)
• Autonomous Shipping & Digitalization (8 talks)
• Alternative Marine Fuels (8 talks)
• Wind Assisted & Alternative Propulsion (8 talks)
This year a special issue has been initiated in International Shipbuilding Progress to commemorate the 25th Nordic Maritime Universities Workshop. All abstract presenters have been invited to submit a full paper, to be considered for publication in this journal after a peer-review process. This compendium includes the workshop program, the session details and the 77 abstracts arranged in alphabetical order.
Subsea power cables are crucial for transmitting electrical power between offshore installations, islands, and onshore infrastructure. The demand for these cables has surged with the expansion of offshore wind farms. Despite mechanisation, divers are still needed for tasks such as installation, inspection, and remedial work, facing hazards like entanglement, equipment damage, and those to the environment. Therefore, analyzing accidents in diving operations during subsea cable installation is essential to develop safety measures that protect divers and ensure successful installations. This document reports an analysis of the hazards and accident events linked to diving operations during subsea cable installation. Few risk assessments of these operations have been made publicly available.
Various methods can be used to analyze diving accidents, but this document reports on the use of the Accident Anatomy (AA) method. The AA method combines fault trees and cause-consequence diagrams to map accident causes and consequences. In the AA method, evidence-based (post-accident) analysis is used jointly with predictive analysis to identify deviations from normal conditions that could lead to accidents.
To exhaust the identification of hazards, the AA method is additionally powered by an error mode classification checklist, which classifies errors that produce similar effects on a system. Analysts used this checklist to identify hazards for each basic diving operation task identified.
As a data source, 163 documents were analyzed, including accident records, regulations, manuals, and scientific papers. Basic tasks associated with diving operations are identified, along with hazards for each task. Predictive analysis identifies potential events and unwanted consequences when normal conditions (specified in safety procedures and specifications) deviate. The unwanted consequences that were found include delays, technical problems, injuries, and fatalities. Ultimately, safety measures are identified for each basic task to reduce the effects of hazards.
The report focuses on analysing on-deck accidents in offshore environments using data from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which covers the period 1980-2005. It applies the Accident Anatomy (AA) method, which maps accident causes and consequences using fault trees and cause-consequence diagrams (CCDs). Unlike previous analyses, this report aims to extract deeper insights into accident patterns beyond general statistics.
For this report, on-deck operations involve material handling, tool use, and equipment operation in offshore environments.
The study analysed 10,846 records that cover accident events on both fixed and floating offshore units. The report focuses on cases where injuries or fatalities occurred. The analysis described in the report mapped 77 accident-prone operations and provides a detailed causal understanding of offshore accidents.
Despite the exhaustiveness of the analysis, there are limitations related to the used data. The HSE records primarily document physical and operational aspects of the accidents, leaving out design-related or organisational factors. Next, probabilities for the accident events considered in the analysis are not provided. This is due to the incomplete nature of the sources and the lack of information on the number of opportunities for accidents. The computation of probabilities will be feasible if data on the frequency of use of relevant components, machines, personnel, and workplaces has been also collected.
Our research highlights the current state and trends of artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in Denmark’s chartering, particularly in the dry bulk and tanker segments. Companies in the dry bulk sector are leading AI adoption, with the tanker segment closely following and adoption rates in our sample appear higher than national averages reported by consultancies. Most firms are in either the experimental phase or transitioning toward more integrated AI systems, often opting for hybrid models that allow them to maintain internal control over key processes. Factors such as company size and maturity also influence the pace and approach to AI adoption.AI is seen as a tool to enhance rather than replace jobs in the early stages of shipping operations, especially in pre-fixture activities. However, there is greater potential for automation and job substitution in the post-fixture phase, particularly in tasks such as contract (CP) management.
On the supply side, the market for maritime AI and software solutions is highly competitive and fragmented, with many providers offering diverse products. Recent consolidation trends reflect different strategies: some companies, like are specializing in core offerings, while others, like are diversifying into both SaaS and pure software models. These consolidations are not only intensifying competition but also fostering partnerships between rivals—a dynamic known as coopetition. Interestingly, some shipping firms are entering the software market themselves, signaling innovation in business models. Machine learning (ML) technologies are primarily used in pre-fixture tools (like email management and tracking), while generative AI is increasingly applied in post-fixture functions, particularly contract management.
I december 2019 kommer fiskeriminister Mogens Jensen hjem fra Rådsmøde - de årlige kvoteforhandlinger
for 2020 i Bruxelles - med den besked, at jomfruhummerfiskeriet i Kattegat i fremtiden vil blive underlagt
kameraovervågning for forventeligt at nedbringe bifangst af torsk i dette fiskeri. Torskebestanden i Kattegat
er yderst presset og den generelle kvote er sat til nul. En mindre bifangstkvote på torsk blev således betinget
af denne overvågning, så man kan monitere torskefangsterne og sikre mod et udsmid af mindre torsk i fiskeriet,
en praksis, som myndighederne forudsatte yderligere ville forværre tilstanden i torskebestanden. Denne sidste
kausalsammenhæng er dog tvivlsom.
Torsk er således blevet en ”stop-art” for jomfruhummerfiskeriet og myndighedernes argumentation er, at
alternativet til kameraovervågning er et stop for jomfruhummerfiskeriet i Kattegat, da det ikke kan opretholdes
uden en bifangstkvote af torsk (Bilag 5). Udkommet af forhandlingerne kender vi, men det har ikke været
muligt at få yderligere indblik i selve forhandlingsprocessen; Havde de danske forhandlere alternative
positioner at falde tilbage på? Havde den danske delegation en forventning til reaktionerne i den danske
fiskerisektor? Var forhandlerne indstillet på at lukke jomfruhummerfiskeriet i Kattegat (proportionalitet)? Det
får vi muligvis aldrig indsigt i.
The idea for this project originated within the Arctic Council’s Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group, where a concern was raised about the disposal of tailings from onshore mining operations onto the seafloor. This led to a broader reflection on the impacts of mining operations on the marine environment. Many Arctic governments support the development of a mineral extraction industry, provided it operates in an environmentally responsible manner and considers socio-economic impacts to local communities. However, the environmental impact of existing and future mining operations is often debated. This report summarizes the results of the multi-year Existing Waste Management Practices and Pollution Control for Marine and Coastal Mining project, developed under the auspices of the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) Working Group.
This report forms part of the ambitious CBS Maritime research initiative entitled “Competitive Challenges and Strategic Development Potential in Global Maritime Industries” which was launched with the generous support of the Danish Maritime Fund. The competitiveness initiative targets specific maritime industries (including shipping, offshore energy, ports, and maritime service and equipment suppliers) as well as addresses topics that cut across maritime industries (regulation and competitiveness). The topics and narrower research questions addressed in the initiative were developed in close dialogue between CBS Maritime and the maritime industries in Denmark. CBS Maritime is a Business in Society (BiS) Platform at Copenhagen Business School committed to the big question of how to achieve economic and social progress in the maritime industries. CBS Maritime aims to strengthen a maritime focus at CBS and create the foundation for CBS as a stronger partner for the maritime industries, as well as for other universities and business school with a devotion to maritime economics research. The competitiveness initiative comprises a number of PhD projects and five short term mapping projects, the latter aiming at developing key concepts and building up a basic industry knowledge base for further development of CBS Maritime research and teaching. This report attempts to map the opportunities and challenges for the maritime industry in an increasingly accessible Arctic Ocean
Aarhus University, DCE - Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, has prepared an overall assessment of the potential environmental impacts from a major release or spill of ammonia in relation to production and transportation of ammonia in a PtX plant or by shipping in Greenland. Three sites were included in the assessment: Kangerlussuaq (Sdr. Strømfjord), Kangerlussuatsiaq (Evighedsfjorden) and Nuup Kangerlua (Godthåbsfjorden). The overall findings shows that a large, worst-case ammonia spill could cause severe toxic damage to organisms during the passage of the ammonia cloud from within a few km to possibly more than 10 km from the source. This could lead to local loss of animal and plant abundance for some years. However, the ammonia will be quickly diluted and degraded and will not be transferred in the food web, and the mortality will not seriously impact plant and animal populations at a regional scale. There could be a fertilising effect of ammonia on the nutrient-poor terrestrial environment lasting for some years.
This report presents both the quantitative and qualitative results of a study on bullying and harassment in the Danish merchant fleet. The Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs asked the
Danish Maritime Authority to conduct an external study of the extent of bullying and harassment among seafarers on Danish vessels. This task was assigned to the Centre of Maritime Health and Society at the University of Southern Denmark. The Commission for the study (in Danish) may be found on the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs website. The report consists of seven chapters, and only the results are presented, by request from the Danish Maritime Authority. An English “Literature review” is made in a separate annex, with an analysis of other international research studies within the area of bullying and harassment. This has been requested by the Danish Maritime Authority. It is permitted to quote the results in the report on the condition that the University of Southern Denmark and the Centre of Maritime Health and Society is credited as the source.