Afternoon Lectures

PNG Ports Corporation Limited (PNGPCL) is Papua New Guinea's state-owned and mandated national port custodian and developer, operating PNG's 16 national seaports across the mainland coastline and five other primary islands of Papua New Guinea (PNG). PNGPCL must prepare to face the impacts of climate change (CC) at its 16 ports. Many of these national ports are run as community service obligations, subsidised by the few more profitable ports, namely Lae and Motukea Ports.

Preparing for CC impacts has had to be strategic and comprehensive in its foundational development before staged implementation can begin. PNGPCL's Infrastructure Division has recently collaborated in a national program to build resilience to CC in PNG; funded by the Australia-PNG Strategic Climate Fund and administered by the ADB. Through this collaboration, PNGPCL and international technical experts have compiled four technical documents for PNGPCL and PNG that form the basis of increasing the CC resilience at the port level, specifically in relation to the port infrastructure. The documents are:

• Historic Data for Distinct Climate Zones for PNG Ports,
• Climate Change Projections and Vulnerability Assessment for Ports in Papua New Guinea,
• Guidance Manual for Undertaking Site-specific Vulnerability Assessments and Formulation of Port Infrastructure Climate Change Risk Management Plans, and
• Guidance Manual for Design of Climate Change Resilient Coastal Port Infrastructure.

This paper presents key components of the four technical documents and how they inform improved CC preparation at the ports: the interface of land and sea-based global trade, long-term infrastructure and the forces of ocean and weather. The paper then highlights the next progression of activities that build upon this technical foundation and their applications to parallel projects and technical interventions that PNGPCL is employing and developing to equip its ports. To conclude, key learnings from the PNGPCL experience are discussed. It is expected that the findings from the PNGPCL experience will also benefit other ports in the Pacific.

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Presenters

Mr. Vagi Eoima is a Senior Engineer and Executive Manager with vast experience in Project Management, Civil Engineering, Geotechnical Engineering, Structural Engineering, Coastal Engineering and Engineering Division Leadership. Vagi began his career in the structural design field in 1999, continuously adding successful projects and more branches of civil engineering to his repertoire. Upon joining PNG Ports Corporation Ltd. in 2006, Vagi's career began the transition to executive management moving from Design Engineer to Senior Engineer (2008), Manager Engineering (2014) then Chief Infrastructure Officer (2017), a challenging yet rewarding responsibility which he holds to date. Vagi is passionate about developing PNG through infrastructure projects and capacity development of his engineers.

 

A national (PNG) award winning civil engineer with an MSc Environment from Griffith University majoring in climate change adaptation, Eunice J. K. Dalton has worked closely with the PNG BRCC Project on behalf of PNG Ports, to build climate change resilience in PNG. Eunice is interested in research and developing processes to encourage the incorporation and ease of translation of up-to-date technical guidance, proven best practice and academic findings into practical civil engineering, sustainable development, environmental management and climate change resilience / adaptation projects. Eunice has held roles as part-time lecturer at PNG University of Technology, research assistant with Australian Rivers Institute, chapter vice-president of IEPNG Lae and mentor to a growing number of young engineers. Her career spans mines, municipal water supply and sanitation, project delivery and engagement with extremely remote rural communities, and most areas of civil engineering and project design, scoping, planning, implementation, management, monitoring and audit.

 

Ms. Scholly Masueng comes from Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea.  She has been working for PNG Ports Corporation Ltd for 13 years in the Infrastructure Division as a Civil Engineer before taking on the role as Acting Manager (Projects and Assets).  Passionate about sustainable development that is strategic and SMART, taking into consideration all aspects of the ESG, (Environment, Social and Governance).

You are invited to be part of the launch of a new topic Engineering and Marine Life (EML) at ASME's OMAE Conference in Melbourne.

Internationally recognized speakers will present keynotes of their work on the interface between Engineering and Marine Life as part of a panel event that will take place on 17:15-18:45 Tuesday 13th June at the Conference Centre in Melbourne. In addition, current work and panelist views will compliment the keynotes.

• Keynote speaker Dr Valeri Lenchine is the Technical Director for Noise and Vibration at GHD , Melbourne. His work assessments of the impact of noise on marine species during construction and operational phases of marine projects. Underwater noise can cause temporary or permanent auditory damage to marine animals, such as whales and dolphins. Valeri will discuss approaches to assessing noise impacts, which are typically applicable to marine infrastructure projects.


• Keynote Speaker Scott Bainbridge is representing Mr. David Mead, the Executive Director of Strategy and Development at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS). AIMS is the managing entity for the Reef Restoration and Adaptation Project (RRAP), a multi-agency long-term research and development program to develop, engineer, test and risk-assess novel interventions to help keep the reef resilient and sustain critical functions and values.


• Panelist Alexia Aubault is the Chief Technical Officer of OCERGY (California). She is a leading authority on wind farms with considerable experience in windfarm development and their interfaces with marine life.


• The range of topical content will be expanded by Tamsin Dobson from the University of Bristol, U.K. who (with a background in marine biology as well as engineering) is working on the interface between engineering and marine life. Her research focusses on how biofouling (the attachment of organisms to man-made structures) affects metal corrosion in the marine environment (including current findings on the corrosion and biofouling of welded Nickel Aluminium Bronze).

 

Abstract: Data-driven models and artificial intelligence have shown great potential for the offshore industry. This session will explore how data is being used to improve engineering practice in the offshore energy sector, and how the blending of data science approaches with traditional engineering is guiding industry application and academic research. Opening remarks from a number of guest speakers will be followed by a panel discussion to examine the state of the art and explore future trends.

Format: The session will be organised as follows:

• Opening remarks @ 5 mins (Phil Watson, Director of TIDE)
• Individual speakers @ 7 x 7 mins each, with questions saved for panel discussion.
• Panel discussion of around 30 mins

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Session Chair
Phil Watson
University of Western Australia

Phil Watson is the Shell Professor of Offshore Engineering and Director of the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub on Transforming offshore Infrastructure through Digital Engineering (TIDE) at the University of Western Australia. He is a Fellow of The Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering and the Institution of Engineers Australia, and the current Chair of ISSMGE Technical Committee 209 'Offshore Geotechnics'. Phil is passionate about aligning industry and academia to solve challenges facing the offshore sector – and training tomorrows generation of geotechnical leaders.

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Panelist
Martin Anderson
Fugro

Martin Anderson is a Principal Data Processor with Fugro and holds a degree in computer science from the University of Edinburgh, he has over 15 years of experience analysing offshore and subsea data to produce engineering products. He has helped to develop Fugro's solutions to some of the key challenges in subsea survey including registration of subsea data, pipeline out of straightness surveys and integrating subsea photogrammetry to supplement sonar and laser surveys. Martin is Fugro's technical point of contact for its pipeline processing suite - Sense Pipelines - which leverages cloud processing and point cloud classification to efficiently produce pipeline engineering deliverables and make them more accessible.

Presentation Title: The evolution of point cloud processing from gate filters to PointCNN
Point cloud classification is an important part of the survey workflow to identify the position and orientation of subsea assets from raw sensor data. This presentation explores how Fugro is using machine learning to improve classification accuracy relative to traditional methods. Modern sonar and laser sensors often record billions of points per project therefore scalable cloud computing architectures are discussed to handle these datasets efficiently, in addition to making them more accessible.

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Panelist
Daniel Carneiro
Wood

Daniel Carneiro has 20 years' experience in design and consulting for the energy industry. He’s got his degree, masters, and PhD in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and has authored over 30 papers, most of them in subsea pipe-soil interaction. Daniel has joined Wood (then J P Kenny) in Perth, Australia in 2012, moved back to Rio to manage Wood's Consulting business in Brazil from 2017 to 2022, and is since back in Perth. He’s also been a consistent volunteer supporter of OMAE, organising sessions in the Pipeline, Risers, and Subsea Systems Symposium since 2010.

Presentation Title: Data-Driven Engineering and the Role of Domain Expertise
AI is transforming how we interact with data. Our ever-growing data processing capabilities have revolutionized engineering. But is this really new? In the last half-century, multiple advancements have reshaped how we work. Recent progress has enabled researchers and engineers to extract valuable insights from diverse datasets, optimize offshore operations, enhance marine ecosystem monitoring, and develop autonomous systems capable of navigating and exploring the ocean depths. However, domain expertise remains vital for problem framing, model validation, and result interpretation. This presentation will showcase examples illustrate the significant insights data-driven engineering offers while emphasizing the critical role of domain experts in guiding data-based decision-making.

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Panelist
Rasoul Hejazi
UWA

Rasoul Hejazi is a dedicated researcher and entrepreneur driven by an unwavering passion for continuous improvement. With ten years of experience in offshore engineering, he has spent the past seven years focused on researching and developing machine learning and AI-based engineering analysis tools. His primary objective is to enhance offshore engineering practices through the creation of innovative frameworks and intelligent analysis tools for integrity management of offshore assets. Recently, Rasoul launched a start-up that aims to further integrate AI and engineering, with a vision to explore new frontiers and contribute to shaping the future of digital engineering.

Presentation Title: Expanding Horizons: Augmented Intelligence in Engineering
This presentation explores the realm of augmented intelligence, where the fusion of human exper/tise, physics-based models, and artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) can create a transformational synergy in engineering. By harnessing the potential of AI/ML algorithms, engineers can unlock new possibilities in problem-solving, decision-making, and innovation. The presentation examines the potential and challenges of this dynamic combination, highlighting how it can enhance engineering practices.

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Panelist
Kanishka Jayasinghe
AMOG

Kanishka Jayasinghe is an Associate Director and the Leader of AMOG's Digital Team, focussing on the operationalisation of the hardware and software solutions developed through AMOG's consulting business. Kanishka has a background in ocean engineering with many years of experience in mooring and riser design and analysis, and mooring and riser integrity management. More recently, Kanishka has led the development and product management of AMOG's portfolio of digital products, including its mooring integrity monitoring platform, SMIC, and the SensaWise, LoadWise, and WharfWise suite of smart instrumentation products.

Presentation Title: A scalable Approach to Integrity Monitoring of Floating Facilities
Integrity management for moorings and risers/cables of floating assets (including FOWT) will only become more important as we look towards a future of increased scale, arrays, and unmanned facilities. Design plays an important role, as does inspection, but there is a lot of data that can be gathered from these assets. AMOG has developed the Smart Mooring Integrity Checker (SMIC) technology which is now actively monitoring integrity on a number of floating facilities around the world. Retrofitted, or integrated at the design stage, real-time monitoring solutions can not only improve operability and utilization, but increase safety, and reduce risk.

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Panelist
Sean Murray
Lloyds Register

Sean Murray leads Lloyd's Register's Pipelines and Risers group, managing and delivering independent assurance for global onshore and offshore pipeline projects. Sean has 15 years of experience in construction and engineering, 13 of which have been in the offshore industry. Sean has developed a strong depth of technical knowledge across a broad range of pipeline engineering aspects and holds a Master’s degree in Civil & Structural Engineering from the University of Dundee. Sean is active in the wider pipelines industry, participating in code committees and presenting at conferences on a range of topics.

Presentation Title: Challenges of Independent Assurance for Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence in Offshore Engineering
The integration of Digital Twins and AI technologies holds great promise for the offshore industry, offering opportunities to significantly enhance operational efficiency, optimize maintenance strategies, and elevate safety standards. However, alongside these benefits, these technologies present unique challenges that must be addressed to ensure the safety, reliability, and trustworthiness of the systems. This presentation will discuss the challenges faced in providing reliable independent assurance for these technologies in offshore engineering and present an assurance framework to help navigate these challenges.

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Panelist
Dr. Hema Wadhwa
Worley

Dr Hema Wadhwa, with her diverse range of experiences, possesses a unique perspective and vision that extends beyond the confines of traditional boundaries and silos. She has been particularly influential in enabling people, remote operations, and the power industry through digital solutions and unified operations. She recognizes the transformative potential of digital technologies and leverages them to enhance operational efficiency, optimize performance, and streamline processes. She has a keen understanding of market dynamics and emerging trends, enabling her to develop strategic initiatives that drive business success. One of her current major digital enablement projects is being developed through partnership for industry success.

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Panelist
Hong Zhang
Griffiths University

Professor Hong Zhang is a Professor of Civil Engineering at Griffith University. With a PhD from The University of Western Australia, she began her career at the Tropical Marine Science Institute in Singapore. Prof Zhang's research focuses primarily on ocean and coastal dynamics, with a particular emphasis on hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and fluid-structure-soil interactions. She possesses a comprehensive understanding of these complex phenomena and utilizes a combination of data-driven and process-based modelling techniques to address research challenges. Prof Zhang maintains close ties with academia, government agencies and local consultancies, ensuring her research findings are relevant and applicable to practical engineering solutions.

Presentation Title: Harnessing the Power of Data: Data Driven Models and Process Based Models in Coastal and Ocean Engineering
In the presentation, the integration of data-driven and process-based models in coastal and ocean engineering is explored. The importance of process-based models, solving equations related to ocean dynamics and sediment transport, is emphasized. Challenges related to data requirements, equation selection, accuracy, and computational power are acknowledged. The presentation highlights the integration of data-driven models and artificial intelligence techniques, utilizing data from various sources. A case study demonstrates how this integration improves the accuracy of process-based models, analyzing the impact of extreme waves on beach erosion for effective coastal protection strategies. The conclusion addresses challenges of handling large data, considering data utilization implications, and fostering national and international collaborations.