During DP operations, for a vessel working to Class 2 requirements, which factor is expected not to increase excursion?

In the context of Dynamic Positioning (DP) operations, particularly under Class 2 requirements, the expectation is that the system has a certain level of redundancy to adequately manage situations that may otherwise lead to an excursion.

When discussing the factors that influence vessel position, loss of half the available thrusters is an important consideration. A Class 2 DP system is designed to retain control of the vessel and mitigate the effects of failures, including the failure of thrusters. Hence, even if half of the thrusters were to become inoperative, the remaining thrusters should be adequate to maintain the vessel position, assuming the vessel's configuration allows for effective control with the available thrusters.

In contrast, the other options—weather conditions, operator error, and GPS signal loss—can severely impact the vessel’s positioning capabilities. Adverse weather can introduce forces that are difficult to counteract, any operator mistakes could lead to unintentional vessel movement, and loss of GPS signal could result in loss of critical positioning data, making it challenging for the DP system to maintain position accurately. Each of these scenarios has a high probability of causing decreased control and increased excursion.

Thus, the understanding that loss of half the available thrusters would not inherently lead to an increase