Marine safety equipment manufacturer and servicing provider VIKING Life-Saving Equipment plans to combine hands-on demonstrations and presentations when introducing shipowners to both market-proven and new ways to deliver increased safety, predictable costs and cost reductions.

Streamlining safety
“Safety is first for our customers,” says VIKING Senior Vice President Benny Carlsen. “But convenient compliance is not too far behind. So many of our efforts go into helping shipowners to streamline their safety equipment purchasing and servicing. And as SMM attendees will be able to see, we’re addressing these needs from many different perspectives.”

Visitors to SMM will encounter the revolutionary, super-sized VIKING LifeCraft™, a hybrid life-saving solution for passenger vessels that combines the best of lifeboats and liferafts.

“The VIKING LifeCraft is a great example of figuring out how to deliver streamlined safety compliance in an innovative way,” says Benny Carlsen. “It answers the need for life-saving craft that have the manueuverability of a lifeboat but which take up much less of the ship’s valuable deck space.”

Convenient compliance
On the servicing side, VIKING’s Shipowner and Offshore Safety Agreements incorporate safety products, global servicing, single-source management, and even financing in a variety of customizable and flexible, fixed-price structures. With many of the immersion suits acquired 10 years ago now requiring more frequent servicing, shipowners wanting to remain compliant and (cost) efficient can benefit from replacing them, or entering an exchange program such as the one offered by VIKING. With a VIKING Exchange Agreement, for example, suits needing periodical servicing are swapped with freshly serviced, vacuum-packed suits for a fixed annual fee – directly at pier.

The latest wave of PPE innovation
A new generation of highly flexible anti-exposure and immersion suits for constant wear will also be on display on the VIKING stand at SMM. The PS4190/91 SOLAS/ISO dual-approved suits perform across multiple marine applications, offering unrivalled comfort, functionality and freedom of movement. The company will also be showcasing its brand new PV9522 solid lifejacket that sets new standards in relation to donning, comfort, compactness and compatibility with life-saving craft and MES.

Fast, safe hook retrofits
Addressing one of the most pressing needs in the industry, visitors will also be able to try VIKING Nadiro Drop-In-Ball™ technology: a revolutionary release hook system for lifeboats that is safe and easy to operate, and which can quickly be fitted with all lifeboat brands. With only a few moving parts, a Drop-In-Ball™ system is light on procurement, installation, and service costs – and can be fully customized. VIKING also claims to offer the fastest delivery and installation times in the industry, and can schedule at short notice as shipowners head to their next stay in dry dock.