Maritime Innovation in Miniature
Behind the Scenes, Lloyd’s Register Global Technology Centre, Southampton
The Lloyd’s Register Global Technology Centre in Southampton is home to a fine collection of contemporary models. As a marine classification society, Lloyd’s Register has been instrumental in the design and classification of numerous technologically significant ships. The achievement of their design and construction has been celebrated by preserving the ships as models.
The Global Technology Centre is an inspirational place to work. It has been designed with innovation at its heart but with a strong awareness of the company’s long maritime heritage and importance in the contemporary maritime world. Models decorate many of the workspaces and there are even work areas built into full size shipping containers. There are numerous breakout spaces and hubs for private work, all geared towards free thinking. Innovation is central to the Lloyd’s Register story; it has constantly evolved over the last 260 years to meet the changing technological and cultural requirements of the time. Innovation and planning for a future, safer world, is what makes Lloyd’s Register stand out.
With a new office opening in Qatar, an important model of Mozah, a Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) carrier, has been scheduled to be shipped to Qatar leaving us a slim window to film the model before it leaves the UK. The Mozah is a hugely important ship. Built in 2008 Mozah was the first of a new series of LNG-tankers named Q-Max, the largest vessels capable of berthing at the Ras Laffan terminal in Qatar. Mozah contains the largest shipboard LNG tanks ever built. The innovative Q-Max ships carry up to 80 percent more cargo yet require approximately 40 percent less energy per unit of cargo than conventional LNG carriers.
The second model we filmed was Hua San, a crude oil tanker launched in China in 2008. Hua San set a benchmark for tanker construction as she was the first ship ever built according to new rules knowns as ‘CSR’. These Common Structural Rules were introduced by the International Association of Classification Societies for any vessel built after 2006. By bringing uniformity and standardisation to construction rules these further increased the safety of shipping, particularly in relation to fatigue experienced over an envisaged twenty-five year working life in tough conditions.
It was a pleasure exploring the offices and discovering the stories behind the numerous models. Those that feature in our ‘Behind the Scenes’ footage include the Cunard liner Queen Mary 2 of 2003, once the largest passenger liner ever built; the superyacht Montkaj of 1995, which set new standards for superyacht construction; and the CSCL Oceania of 2004, a container ship built at a crucial moment in the history of maritime trade and the exponential growth of containerisation.
The footage is magnificent, each model unusual in its own right, and together they provide a valuable insight into contemporary shipping from the perspective of a maritime business that has one foot in the past - but which looks unerringly to the future.