Influence Factors for the Safety Assessment on the GPE Blocks during On-shore Transportation

Abstract

Great number of ships has been built by Korean Shipyards since early of 2,000 due to the expanding worldwide trade. Most of shipyards have enlarged the weight of erection block and many blocks have been assembled in block fabrication factories outside the shipyards to reduce the shipbuilding period. Especially, Giga blocks that exceed 2,000 tons are often assembled by the block fabrication factories outside the shipyard. Generally, the blocks are transported to building dock in shipyard by towing barges. Accident can be occurred during the sea transportation and it may bring about not only the delay of delivery but also a disaster on the ocean environments. Transportation condition of GPE (Grand Pre-Erection) block differs from the ocean going conditions of marine vessels. Special consideration should be included before transportation work in order to guarantee the safety of GPE blocks and barge carriers. In this paper, several examples, which have been investigated to set up the safety standard of transportation of the GPE blocks on coastal routes, are introduced. For the barge transportation on coastal sea route, the design criteria are discussed, considering the design wave, the acceleration induced by wave, structural strength, and the fixture condition of blocks.