Dear Readers, I am pleased to present the latest 55(127) issue of the Scientific Journal of the Maritime University in Szczecin. In the current issue, we publish the results of the latest research from the fields of marine engineering, transport and logistics, navigation, and career development within the maritime industry. The introductory article is entitled “TRIZ: Theory of Solving Inventive Problems to support engineering innovation in maritime industry”. It is written by a world-class specialist in innovation development – Valeri Souchkov, lecturer at the University of Twente (Enschede, The Netherlands) and lecturer in the TIAS Business School (Tilburg, the Netherlands). He is a Founding Member and of ETRIA (the European TRIZ Association), and head of ICG Training & Consulting (Enschede, the Netherlands). The paper presents selected issues relating to the utilisation of TRIZ methodology in solving novel problems in the marine industry. The publication was funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland, from funds for science-promoting activities: grant no 790/P-DUN/2016. I hope that the interdisciplinary nature of this material will make it attractive to all our readers. In the Marine Technology and Innovation section we have included articles devoted to the analysis of hydrodynamic performance of Horizontal Axis Tidal Stream Turbines, a comparative analysis on class inspections of ship mechanisms, and the experience in the operation of marine engines running on gas. The Navigation and Maritime Transport section contains articles regarding the navigation safety in the entry area of the Świnoujście port, and the accuracy of bathymetric data in the electronic navigational charts. Papers regarding urban transport and optimisation of logistics processes are presented in the Transport Engineering section. In Miscellaneous section, the decision-making process concerning a career path in the maritime industry is given. To solve this decision, a model based on a hierarchical decision-making process (AHP) and fuzzy logic was applied. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage authors from around the world to publish their research results in the Scientific Journals of the Maritime University of Szczecin. All readers are invited to visit our new website, with its new visual form. This link http://scientific-journals.eu/ will grant you access to electronic versions of the current and archival issues of this journal. Assoc. Prof. Leszek Chybowski Editor-in-Chief Szczecin, 15.09.2018

The key ingredient, which provides the strongest impact on success of an innovation process, is the stage of generating new inventive solution ideas, which requires creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. Until the beginning of the 2000th, and even still very much today, creative engineering has been random and chaotic as it was not supported by scientifically based methods. As a result, the process has low effectiveness of dealing with situations demanding new inventive solutions. Introduction of TRIZ (Theory of Solving Inventive Problems) has radically changed the situation in many industries. TRIZ provides a structured support to organize engineering creativity based on many years of studies of innovative development of diverse technical systems and technologies. These studies helped to extract and formulate generic patterns of inventive solutions, which can be reused to produce new ideas in a much shorter time period rather than using traditional methods to enhance creative thinking. Although TRIZ has been successfully used in a number of industries, its use in maritime industry has been rather limited, most likely due to the low awareness by maritime engineers. This paper discusses modern TRIZ and presents some of its techniques that can be utilized in maritime engineering.

This current work investigates the effect of duct and number of blades on the hydrodynamic performance of the horizontal axis tidal stream turbine (HATST). The numerical method based on Reynolds averaged Navier- Stokes (RANS) equations is employed to compare the hydrodynamic performance for various cases of this device. For validation of the numerical results, a 3-blade HATST without-duct has been compared against experimental data. The analysis and comparison of the simulation results show that using duct for HATST has increased the power coefficient, the torque coefficient, the trust coefficient, and the force on the blade. In addition, the simulation results of the cases with a greater number of blades shows that the trust coefficient increased and the force on the blade decreased. Therefore, it is recommended to use ducted HATST with a great number of blades to extract more energy from the tidal stream.

This article examines the selection methodology of class surveys of a shipborne engine room and its impact on the reliability and operation indicators of a marine power plant. We describe the characteristics of four available class survey methods and then carry out a reliability analysis on the basis of four months of activity on six different ships operating on international voyages, taking into account the two most common supervision methods: renewal and continuous survey. Based on this analyses, we conclude that the reliability indices of a marine power plant, classified according to the continuous method, were slightly lower than for the renewal method. However, we identified potential benefits in terms of overall ship maintenance costs, due to a faster and more economical 5-yearly shipyard survey.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) qualifies as sustainable and secure marine fuel that is reliable in supply. The international standards (IGF Code) and classification regulations have been aligned. First experiences in ship operations and design are now available. Initial reports from the practical ship operations show that the lack of knowledge and misjudgements of original equipment manufacturers (OEM’s), suppliers, consulting services and flag state authorities have led to operational restrictions or expensive retrofitting. The aim of this paper is to illustrate first experiences and operating instructions using this new and different marine fuel; derive recommendations for instructions for education and training programmes at maritime colleges, universities and business partners; present action recommendations for future operational concepts.

Approaches to the port are usually considered high traffic areas. Not only deep draft vessels pass through this limited manoeuvring space, but also intensive pleasure craft traffic, especially during the summer season. Crossing of both commercial ships and pleasure craft traffic may generate dangerous situations for navigation. The aim of the following article is to present solutions to the aforementioned safety problem. The article focuses on the navigation safety aspects at the Świnoujście seaport entrance. Currently, Świnoujście-Szczecin Port Regulations take only large ships into consideration while specifying the safety passing at this area, at the same time, belittling the presence of small crafts up to 20 m in length. In order to prove the need for change, one should first present the necessary research concerning the evaluation of the safety level of maximum sized ships navigating at the Świnoujście entrance area in the presence or absence of small pleasure crafts. The surveys were conducted on a group of pilots and captains possessing pilot exemption certificates. The research findings clearly show that the traffic of small crafts and large ships should be separated due to safety concerns. Thus, marine traffic engineering solution is suggested in order to eliminate the most plausible dangers.

Navigational charts are essential tools for marine navigation. But how accurate are the navigational charts that we use when going sailing? Do we really know how much faith can be placed in them? All charts, whether paper or electronic, contain data, which varies in quality due to the age and accuracy of individual surveys. In general, remote areas away from shipping routes tend to be less well surveyed, and less frequently, while areas of high commercial traffic are re-surveyed frequently to very high levels of accuracy, particularly where under-keel clearances are small. It is quite accurate to consider a chart as a jigsaw of individual surveys pieced together to form a single image. Having the necessary skills to determine how much confidence should be placed in the surveys, which combine to form a chart, should be a requirement for any sailor venturing into unfamiliar waters. When the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) developed the S-57 standard for Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs), this problem was recognized and it was decided that the quality of survey data used to compile ENCs had to be encoded within a composite data quality indicator ‘Category of Zone of Confidence’ (CATZOC) to assist seafarers in assessing hydrographic survey data and the associated level of risk of navigating in a particular area. According to IHO S-67, the accuracy of Electronic Navigational Charts is not impressive and leaves much to be desired. The author discusses these apparent shortcomings of ENCs and present erroneous approaches to this problem, so common in the seafaring community.

The objective of this article is to present an innovative concept of modular reconfigurable trolleys for multifloor manufacturing that increases the efficiency of the production processes, transport and logistics. The characteristics of the original concept of modular load units for reconfigurable trolleys are presented, with their technical and technological description and assembly. This article culminates with the synthetic analysis of the effectiveness of the proposed solution. The applications contain a description of the possibilities of further implementation and development of the technology under investigation.

The article identifies the optimal location of the warehouse distribution centre for Slovenian companies in the international environment. The process of location selection takes into account a series of interconnected factors, including flows of goods between countries; the level of development of the transport system and transport infrastructure; the number of transport companies; labour costs and labour productivity; and the tax benefits existing in each country. Scientific literature mentions various methods for choosing a warehouse location, which differ in complexity and in the use of different qualitative and quantitative factors. However, the methods discussed have a disadvantage in that they use the current input variables when defining the optimal location. Choosing the optimal warehouse location is an important long-term logistics process, which should consider the fact that the environment in which companies operate is constantly changing. Using the proposed approach, future trends in the international environment are presented, which enables a better choice of warehouse location in the long run. Through this approach, companies can save on logistic costs, while also providing better quality logistics services. The analysis represents a starting point for deciding the location of a warehouse, but does not constitute a complete set of guidelines for companies to follow, as the choice of a particular location is dependent upon the complexity of the international environment in which a company operates.

Companies that operate in the international automotive industry face various cost-related demands, including demands for lower logistics costs. For the purpose of assessing the situation in the field of logistics, a survey was carried out on a sample of Slovenian manufacturing companies that are part of the international supplier chain. The goal of the study is to determine whether the various demands of customers for lower logistics costs have an impact on the business processes of Slovenian companies. The results of the statistical analysis highlight the importance of cooperation between departments within companies when customers demand lower logistics costs and emphasize the importance of introducing innovations in the optimization of these costs. The case study also represents a current reference for other sectors of the economy on the topic of logistics process management and on strengthening relations in international supply chains.

Individual career planning plays a key role in achieving success, goals, and ideals in professional life. However, managing to accomplish such favorable results depends on the correct decisions of graduates to choose suitable job opportunities. Oceangoing watchkeeping officers, who are responsible for the management and administration of vessels at sea, have several job options which are differentiated by vessel type, such as; bulk carriers, chemical tankers, general cargo ships, and container ships, etc. This study aims to discuss the criteria that Turkish oceangoing watchkeeping officers take into consideration and the values they attribute to such criteria regarding their vessel type preference. The aim is to provide instructions to oceangoing watchkeeping officer candidates and academicians who are interested in these issues and related parties of maritime industry. Attribution values of the criteria are determined by means of Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the most preferred alternative vessel type is revealed through Fuzzy TOPSIS methodology. According to the study results, the most important factors are; revenue, perception of occupational health and safety, and labor work density. The most preferred ship type among alternatives is the oil tanker.