€12m project tackles ro-ro ship fire safety

The LASH FIRE (Legislative Assessment for Safety Hazards of Fire and Innovations in Ro-ro ship Environment) consortium aims to provide a basis for the revision of international maritime regulations and give European industry knowledge to build safer and more competitive ships for sustainable transport.

The consortium is coordinated by RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and comprises 26 partners from 13 Member States of the European Union. The European Commission, via its research and innovation programme Horizon 2020, is investing €12.2m in the project over four years. Funding was launched in September.

Mitigating risk

Franz Evegren from RISE, project coordinator of LASH FIRE, stated: “Within this 4-year project, we will develop cost-effective solutions that mitigate the risk of fires initiated in ro-ro spaces of all types of ro-ro ships.”

LASH FIRE’s use of new and advancing technologies and procedures will be assessed for feasibility, performance validation and demonstration with the help of the ship operators and yards involved.

The risk reduction provided by the developed solutions will be balanced against effects on the environment, cost and crew operations to ensure that the fire protection of ro-ro ships is robustly enhanced from a sustainable, practical and long-term perspective.

By Rebecca Jeffrey