THE WORLDS FINEST SHIP, ALSO KNOWN AS HOME
Dependability / redundancy and back up
That Raffles carries no cargo and operates at a constant draft, ballasting only with fresh water, is a very slow speed vessel and does nothing in a hurry or under time pressures means also that a very high level of dependability redundancy / back up can be built in.
Plus it means that the equipments / machinery needed can generally be smaller, standard off the shelf items, long proven in service on such as coastal vessels, offshore supply boats, warships, mega yachts, etc.
Taking advantage of this, allied with the “spare” space available, a concerted effort has been made to simplify all auxiliary systems and provide a level of dependability / redundancy / back up not found in any other vessel.
Another inherent advantage of this policy is obtaining more economical operation while making repair / maintenance tasks much easier and faster.
Throughout the vessel what this typically means is that where on most vessels one item of machinery is the norm, on Raffles there are two, three or four. Normally they will be sized at 60 to 90% of total capacity which means that when demand / loads are low, only sufficient machinery to provide the required capacity is in operation.
Naturally it also means equipment of a small physical size allowing repair by exchange using the vessels fully equipped work shops.
The total excess capacity installed also means that in an emergency this can be available.
The dependability / redundancy provided by this policy is one reason why Raffles can obtain Lloyd’s Register notation Dependable System Review (DSR) and will fully comply with SOLAS safe return to port requirements when these are introduced.