French classification society Bureau Veritas (BV) has granted an approval in principle (AiP) for BV’s ‘Cyber Managed Prepared’ notation to South Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and its parent company Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) for their vessel design.

The vessel type in question is an 84,000 cbm liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carrier.

On 20 January 2022, the certificate was delivered to Won Ho Joo, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of HHI, by Christophe Capitant, Country Chief Executive of BV Korea, at a ceremony held at HHI’s Shipbuilding Management’s offices in Ulsan, Republic of Korea.

The maritime industry is growing ever more connected, with the majority of newbuild vessels today being built with integrated digital systems onboard. While this increased digitalization enables ship owners and managers to collect data and exchange information with their vessels, it also leaves ships vulnerable to cyber risks.

To help ship owners protect their vessels, Bureau Veritas has developed key rules, guidelines and notations for cyber security and safety. It supports owners in meeting cyber security requirements for design and construction, and ensuring compliance with guidelines for newbuilding vessels, including IACS Recommendation 166.

According to BV, the advantage of undertaking cyber security for newbuilds is that ship owners can begin protecting their vessels from the design phase and continue throughout construction, where shipyards ensure the implementation of cyber security measures onboard.

“Cyber security is one of the most important technologies in the process of moving beyond smart ships to autonomous ships. It is very meaningful that the cyber safety of our ships, which has been built through continuous development, has been verified once again in this collaboration with BV,” Won Ho Joo, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at HHI, said.

“Bureau Veritas is proud to see the successful completion of this AiP with Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering Co., Ltd. and Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. for vessel design with Bureau Veritas’ ‘Cyber Managed Prepared’ notation. We are excited to continue the close cooperation between KSOE, HHI and BV related to the development of key technology for smart and autonomous ships as the future framework of shipping,” Christophe Capitant, Country Chief Executive of Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore Korea, commented.

Hyundai Heavy Industries Group is developing various solutions using AI and digital technology based on cyber security technology. In addition, by exhibiting autonomous navigation solutions at CES 2022 for the first time in the shipbuilding industry, it is leading the technology development and standard establishment for future autonomous ships.

Source: Offshore Energy