Principal Naval Architect
MEng, PhD
work
Houston
Career Summary
Dr Luis Guarin is a naval architect with over 20 years of experience advising shipowners, designers, insurers, ports, and regulators on ship safety, performance, and marine risk. He is recognised internationally for his work on passenger ship safety, bulk carrier structural integrity, and risk‑based regulatory compliance, with contributions that have informed IMO discussions. He combines first‑principles naval architecture with probabilistic risk assessment to support complex technical and operational decisions. His work spans ship design verification, marine and port risk assessment, casualty investigation, and expert technical advisory in dispute and litigation contexts.
Background
His areas of expertise are in seakeeping, marine structures and marine risk assessment.
He has carried out considerable work in seakeeping, including numerical and physical model testing of ships in waves, as well as in escape, evacuation and rescue–he is the company’s leading expert in pedestrian dynamics. He has also carried out work on fire safety, including on statutory compliance (SOLAS, FSS and FTP codes) and fire engineering analysis in the context of SOLAS alternative design and arrangements (ADA). He has conducted research on structural integrity and corrosion margins and has advised shipowners on aspects of the IACS Common Structural Rules and MARPOL. He has conducted several risk and Formal Safety Assessments and has acted as a consultant to the IMO on passenger ship safety.
Academic and Qualifications
- PhD “A Probabilistic Risk Model of Green Seas Loads on Bulk Carriers” - University of Strathclyde
- MEng (with distinction) Naval Architecture and Ship Structural Design - Gdansk University of Technology
Professional Membership
- Associate Member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA).
Previous Employment History
Brookes Bell, Glasgow, UK/USA – Partner/Principal Naval Architect (2011-present)
Responsible for risk-based ship design verification and marine risk assessment across passenger ships, offshore construction vessels, and bulk carriers. Advises clients on alternative designs and arrangements, regulatory compliance, operational risk, and casualty-related technical matters. Key responsibilities and experience include:
- Design verification and approval support for large passenger ships, including Safe Return to Port compliance and essential system redundancy
- Alternative design and arrangements (ADA) for life‑saving appliances, fire zones, fire insulation, and evacuation layouts
- Damage stability, flooding survivability, and evacuation analysis for cruise ships and Ro‑Ro passenger vessels
- Marine risk assessment, including HAZID facilitation, navigation risk assessment, and port and terminal risk studies
- Advisory support to insurers, P&I Clubs, shipowners, and legal teams in connection with casualties and disputes
Safety at Sea Ltd, Glasgow, UK – Director of Safety Engineering (2001-2011)
Led safety engineering and Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) studies of bulk carriers and Ro-Ro passenger ships on behalf of shipowners and regulators. Acted as IMO consultant delivering FSA workshops internationally and conducted regulatory impact studies relating to IACS Unified Requirements and Common Structural Rules for bulk carriers.
University of Strathclyde, UK – Research Fellow / PhD Researcher (1998-2005)
Delivered EU-funded ship safety research and undertook an extensive seakeeping model test programme in support of the reopened formal investigation into the loss of MV Derbyshire.
Naval Architecture and Consultancy Experience
Marine Evacuation and Life-saving Appliances (LSA)
- Escape, Evacuation and Rescue Assessment (EERA) studies for large offshore vessels, including floatels, pipelay, offshore construction/heavy-lift vessels and an offshore substation platform.
- Evacuation analysis for over 30 passenger ships. Development of advanced evacuation analysis software. Delivered presentations and training workshops on the topic.
- ADA risk and safety assessment of oversized lifeboats and innovative survival craft for various passenger (cruise and Ropax) vessels, leading to Flag approvals of alternative designs.
Ship Design, Fire Safety, and Marine Fire Risk Assessment
- ADA risk and safety assessment of oversized main vertical fire zones, passive fire insulation, and lift machinery arrangements for various passenger vessels, including large offshore vessels.
- Fire risk assessment of a fleet of bulk carriers following a fire casualty.
- Global recall of passive fire protection product –expert advice on applicable statutory regulations (SOLAS), testing (FTP Code), and remediation options.
- Fire risk screening studies, including verification of compliance with SOLAS fire safety provisions for several passenger (cruise) ships.
- Prevention of Fire and Explosions and Rescue Assessment (PFERA) studies for MODU/MOU.
- Fire Safety Systems (FSS) and Fire Test Procedures (FTP) Codes.
Ship Seakeeping and Stability
- Damage stability model tests of Ro-Ro passenger vessels (Stockholm Agreement).
- Seakeeping model tests of bulk carriers in extreme wave conditions.
- Seakeeping and passenger comfort analysis for cargo and passenger vessels.
- Investigations into the loss of bulk carriers and small craft in heavy weather.
- Damage survivability assessment of cruise ships – design verification and R&D activities.
Statutory Regulations Compliance and Ship Safety Assurance
- MARPOL’s EEXI and CII requirements - fleet of Ro-Ro passenger ships.
- MARPOL’s SOx Emission Control Areas (SECA) provisions – fleet of bulk carriers.
- SOLAS’s safe return to port (essential ship system redundancy) requirements for several cruise ships (design verification and in-service implementation).
- Ship design risk assessment for various concept ships, including a residence ship, offshore construction vessels, a rock dumping ship, a drilling vessel, and a wind and hydrogen-powered cargo ship.
- FSA studies on bulk carrier safety, including hatch cover design requirements and single vs. double side shell bulk carrier construction requirements.
Class Requirements Compliance and Ship Structural Design
- Zone strength analysis of bulk carriers’ hull structure as part of MEng thesis, as part of an appraisal of the Polish Register of Shipping Publication 18/P.
- Bulk carriers’ corrosion margins in connection with the adoption of IACS Common Structural Rules (CSR) on behalf of a shipowners’ association.
General Marine Risk Assessment
- Carriage of electric vehicles on a fleet of Ro-Ro vessels and Containerships.
- Carriage of Dangerous Goods (DG) on a Ro-Ro passenger fleet.
- Cybersecurity on ships.
- Operation of passenger ships in domestic waters on behalf of the IMO.
- Pollution associated with oil tanker transits (West of Scotland).
- Operations of shuttle oil tankers in the Arctic.
- Operation of passenger ships in Antarctica.
- Internal safety audit of Recognised Organisation.
Ro-Pax Operations
- Turnaround (embarkation/disembarkation) time in connection with new terminal.
- Risk assessment of crew transfer boat operations in a remote area.
- Risk assessment of man-overboard rescue arrangements – small passenger ships;
- Manning assessment for fleet of Ro-Ro passenger ships.
- Safety and reliability performance analysis of a fleet of Ro-Ro passenger ships.
Incidents and Casualties
- Cargo ship’s wreck removal operation surveyor.
- Containership fire’s general average surveyor.
- Condition survey of barges, tugs and cargo ships.
- Collision between two LPG Carriers - damage survey and initial investigation.
- Structural failure of barge crane - survey and investigation.
- Machinery failure of an oil tanker – initial survey.
- Collision damage of bulk carrier – damage survey and follow-up of repairs.
- Fuel oil and liquid cargo sampling on tankers, witnessing IMO fuel testing.
- Warranty survey of sea transport of a large yacht.
Expert Opinion
- Trips and falls on stairs.
- Tugboat allision with underwater dredging pipe – structural analysis.
- Installation of a gyro stabiliser unit on a 74 ft sport fish boat.
- Docking loads associated with the drydocking of a large bulk carrier.
- Cruise ship’s windows failure due to green water loads.
- Structural degradation, corrosion and fatigue of bulk carriers’ structures.
- Grounding structural damage assessment.
- Cable burial risk assessment.
Port Consultancy
- Survey and assessment of dock damages.
- Port traffic impact assessment in connection with a UK Public Inquiry into the construction of a motorway over the port’s property.
- Risk assessment in connection with the upgrade of a bulk carrier berth within a large port.
- Risk assessment of oil bunker storage terminal, including input for ISPS certification.
- QRA study (consequence analysis) of a busy natural gas pipeline crossing a busy navigational channel.
Research and Development
- Flooding ship vulnerability assessment in the context of damaged stability regulations as part of larger international consortia (EMSA and EC FLARE project).
- Fire engineering analysis capability-building, Knowledge Transfer Partnership program with the University of Strathclyde.
- EU FP6 Research Program SAFEDOR on safety in design, operations, and regulations. Conducted FSA studies of Ro-Ro passenger vessels and presented the results to the IMO FSA Experts’ Group.
- Extensive seakeeping model tests of bulk carriers (PhD research).
- Structural reliability of bulk carriers’ hatch covers (PhD research).
Publications
- Vassalos, D., Boulougouris, E., Guarin, L., Jasionowski, A. (2023). Regulatory, Design, Operational and Emergency Response Measures for Improving the Damage Survivability of Existing RoPax. In: Spyrou, K.J., Belenky, V.L., Katayama, T., Bačkalov, I., Francescutto, A. (eds) Contemporary Ideas on Ship Stability. Fluid Mechanics and Its Applications, vol 134. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16329-6_31
- Guarin, L., Hifi, Y., Vassalos, D. (2014). Passenger Ship Evacuation – Design and Verification. In: Shumaker, R., Lackey, S. (eds) Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality. Applications of Virtual and Augmented Reality. VAMR 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8526. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07464-1_33
- Guarin, L., Konovessis,D., Vassalos, D. (2009). Safety Level of Damaged RoPax Ships: Risk Modelling and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, Ocean Engineering, Volume 36, Issues 12–13, 2009, Pages 941-951, ISSN 0029-8018. doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2009.06.005.
- Konovessis, D., Vassalos, D., & Guarin, L. (2007). Risk-Based Ship Design: A Framework for the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Sea. Safety and Reliability, 27(4), 8–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09617353.2007.11690844
- Vassalos, D., Jasionowski, A. & Guarin, L. Passenger ship safety - science paving the way. Mar. Syst. Ocean Technol. 2, 63–71 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03449185
- Vassalos, D., Guarin, L., Jasionowski, A., Zheng, Y. A Risk-Based First-Principles Approach to Assessing Green Seas Loading on the Hatch Covers of Bulk Carriers in Extreme Weather Conditions, Marine Structures, Volume 16, Issue 8, 2003, Pages 659-685, ISSN 0951-8339, doi.org/10.1016/j.marstruc.2004.01.004.
Conference papers
- A Tool for the Assessment of the Operability of Ship Systems in Accordance with SOLAS Safe Return to Port Requirements. ICCAS 2011: International Conference on Computer Applications in Shipbuilding, September 2011.
- Assessment of Ship Systems’ Capabilities in Accordance with New SOLAS Requirements for Safe Return to Port. RINA, Design and Operation of Passenger Ships, February 2011.
- Fire Risk Screening of Passenger Ships Layout in Support of the Assessment of Alternative Design and Arrangements. RINA, Design and Operation of Passenger Ships, February 2011.