As fishing vessels continue to operate in increasingly demanding sea conditions, understanding susceptibility to parametric rolling remains an important aspect of safety and seaworthiness. Combining experimental testing with advanced motion simulations provides valuable insight into the mechanisms driving this potentially dangerous phenomenon, supporting the development of predictive tools that can assess roll vulnerability and severity during the early stages of vessel design.

As podded propulsion systems become increasingly common in modern vessel design, understanding how scale influences hydrodynamic performance is essential for reliable model testing and design development. Comparative experiments on differently sized propellers and pod units demonstrate consistent performance characteristics under both cavitating and non-cavitating conditions, providing valuable evidence that properly scaled testing can support accurate prediction of full-scale podded propulsor behaviour and manoeuvring performance.

Designing durable connections between superstructures and hull structures remains a persistent challenge in ship construction, particularly where conflicting strength and flexibility requirements must be balanced. By applying an advanced fatigue assessment methodology based on strain-life principles, this research demonstrates a more reliable approach to evaluating cut-ending details, supporting the development of superstructure designs with improved fatigue performance and long-term structural reliability.

Assessing a ship’s structural integrity following damage is a critical element of maritime safety, particularly when rapid decisions are required after an accident or during service. This research introduces a risk-based framework that links damage severity to residual structural strength through the development of Residual Strength-Damage (R-D) diagrams. By combining probabilistic damage modelling with structural performance assessment, the method provides a practical tool for evaluating post-damage safety, supporting emergency decision-making, design verification, and the establishment of rational acceptance criteria for damaged ships.

Modern naval operations are increasingly shaped by evolving threats, creating a need for more sophisticated approaches to safety and risk assessment. This study combines probabilistic risk analysis with operational modelling to develop mission-specific safety scenarios, supporting risk-informed decision-making in the design and operation of naval vessels.

Improving fuel efficiency is becoming an increasingly important objective for harbour tug operators seeking to reduce operating costs and environmental impacts. Through a combination of sea trials and analytical modelling, this research identifies optimal engine and propulsor operating conditions, providing practical guidance for enhancing fuel economy and supporting more efficient tug design and operation.

Understanding how ships respond to waves remains fundamental to safe and efficient vessel operation, particularly for Ro-Ro ships that can be sensitive to large motions. Experimental investigation of six-degree-of-freedom responses in irregular seas identified critical relationships between wave frequencies and vessel motions, providing insights that can help operators minimise excessive roll and improve seakeeping performance.

Understanding how water spreads through damaged compartments is essential for predicting survivability and improving damage-control strategies in naval vessels. Experimental flooding tests on a generic destroyer model revealed how damage extent, waves, and heel angle influence floodwater distribution and equilibrium levels, providing valuable data for validating flooding simulations and enhancing post-damage safety assessments.

Achieving reliable predictions of stiffened panel strength remains a key challenge in marine structural design, particularly when boundary conditions cannot be defined with complete certainty. This study evaluates a range of stiffener configurations and finite-element modelling approaches to identify more robust panel designs, improving confidence in ultimate-strength assessments and supporting more resilient ship structures.

Accurate prediction of extreme loads is fundamental to structural reliability assessment, yet traditional extreme value methods may not fully account for variations in the likelihood of occurrence. This study proposes an enhanced application of extreme value theory that incorporates exceedance probabilities, reducing uncertainty in predicted extremes and providing a more realistic basis for safety and design evaluations.

Underwater radiated noise from commercial shipping is becoming an increasingly important environmental issue, particularly because of its potential impact on marine species that rely on sound for communication, navigation, and feeding. This review highlights propeller cavitation as the dominant source of ship noise and identifies opportunities to reduce acoustic emissions through improved propeller and wake-field design. The findings suggest that targeting the relatively small number of vessels responsible for the majority of noise pollution could deliver substantial benefits, while emphasising the need for comprehensive full-scale measurements to support effective noise-reduction strategies alongside energy-efficiency improvements.

Offshore transhipment operations are often constrained by vessel motions and weather-related downtime, creating significant challenges for supply chains and port efficiency. This study evaluates an innovative Floating Harbour Transhipper concept and demonstrates that its sheltered well-dock arrangement can substantially reduce feeder-vessel motions compared with conventional side-by-side transfer methods, improving the reliability and operability of open-water transhipment.