BMT Launches Arctic Research Initiative

BMT Fleet Technology Ltd is launching a new program of Arctic research in cooperation with Memorial University of Newfoundland.

The Arctic is rapidly becoming a key area of activity for offshore oil and gas development and the Ocean and Arctic Structures Research Program, funded by BMT, will support researchers at Memorial University in this field. The university and BMT have long been centres of research in ice and structures. This program creates an industry-leading team for cold regions development with extensive arctic research and design expertise.

BMT has a growing presence in Newfoundland and Labrador, with projects in the marine, energy, defence and infrastructure sectors, and has been working with researchers at Memorial for many years.

BMT has supported the university's undergraduate programme in Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering since its inception, employing a large number of work-term students and graduates, as well as sponsoring a prize for the best senior design project.

Dr Claude Daley, currently the Chair of the Ocean and Naval Architectural Engineering programme, will be the first director of the Ocean and Arctic Structures Research Program.

Professor Daley says: "This is the ideal form of industrial support for universities. BMT is providing funds to support graduate students and to enable the faculty to have more time to focus on research.

"The research activities and results will be in the public domain, with none of the 'strings' that are sometimes associated with industrial support. BMT is an organization with a great depth of expertise and we will gain a great deal from their input and collaboration.

"Graduate students want to know that their research is leading edge and relevant to industry and BMT's input will assist in achieving that goal."

The world's growing concern about greenhouse gasses has made natural gas a highly sought after commodity, leading to a rapidly growing interest in the many large fields of natural gas in cold regions.

Shipping liquefied natural gas in the arctic presents many challenging areas for ice loads and ship strength research. Both BMT and Memorial University have a long history of applied research and development in the areas of structural design and testing, evacuation, risk assessment, and vessel operability and survivability. The formal announcement of the BMT research program will be made at a reception to be held at Memorial University on September 5, 2006. Additional information on the program may be obtained from Andrew Kendrick, Vice President of BMT Fleet Technology Ltd or from its website, www.fleetech.com.