Maritime transportation is the essence of international economy. Today, around ninety percent of world trade happens by maritime transportation via 50,000 merchant ships. These ships transport various types of cargo and manned by over a million mariners around the world. Majority of these ships are propelled by marine diesel engines, hereafter referred to as main engine, due to its reliability and fuel efficiency. Yet numerous accidents take place due to failure of main engine at sea, the main cause of this being inappropriate maintenance plan. To arrive at an optimal maintenance plan, it is necessary to assess the reliability of the main engine. At present the main engine on board vessels have a Planned Maintenance System (PMS), designed by the ship management companies, considering, advise of the engine manufacturers and/or ship's chief engineers and masters. Following PMS amounts to carrying out maintenance of a main engine components at specified running hours, without taking into consideration the assessment of the health of the component/s in question. Furthermore, shipping companies have a limited technical ability to record the data properly and use them effectively. In this study, relevant data collected from various sources are analysed to identify the most appropriate failure model representing specific component. The data collected, and model developed will be very useful to assess the reliability of the marine engines and to plan the maintenance activities on-board the ship. This could lead to a decrease in the failure of marine engine, ultimately contributing to the reduction of accidents in the shipping industry.

Safe operation of a merchant vessel is dependent on the reliability of the vessel's main propulsion engine. Reliability of the main propulsion engine is interdependent on the reliability of several subsystems including lubricating oil system, fuel oil system, cooling water system and scavenge air system. Turbochargers form part of the scavenge sub system and play a vital role in the operation of the main engine. Failure of turbochargers can lead to disastrous consequences and immobilisation of the main engine. Hence due consideration need to be given to the reliability assessment of the scavenge system while assessing the reliability of the main engine. This paper presents integration of Markov model (for constant failure components) and Weibull failure model (for wearing out components) to estimate the reliability of the main propulsion engine. This integrated model will provide more realistic and practical analysis. It will serve as a useful tool to estimate the reliability of the vessel's main propulsion engine and make efficient and effective maintenance decisions. A case study of turbocharger failure and its impact on the main engine is also discussed.

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Bulkers are vessels that carry various types of cargo, which includes coal, iron ore or grain ranging from 3000 deadweight tonne (dwt) to 400,000 dwt. These bulkers are propelled by large marine diesel engines the capacity of which ranges from 4000 kW to 80,000 kW. The owners of the bulkers generally charter the vessels to reputed charter parties for mutually agreed terms and condition, the main specifications being the vessel speed in knots and the fuel consumption in tonnes per day respectively. Safe transportation of the bulk cargo from one port to another at the specs of the charter party is a great challenge for the vessel's chief engineer. Moreover, there is a likelihood of the vessel coming to a halt in a harsh weather condition, because of the main engine failure. Thus, the seafarer's on-board ship needs to be well prepared to handle such an emergency in a harsh working environment. This study looks at the likelihood of main engine failure during harsh weather at sea and effective ways of managing the emergency. The findings of this study will work as a guide for the seafarers and helps to manage the risk on-board ship.