Development of ships of the future

Résumé du document

The planet population has doubled between 1960 and 2010, and are expecting a 50% growth by 2040. From this rapid growth it is important to mention that in 40 years the world seaborne trade has quadrupled from just 8 thousand billion tonne-miles in 1968 to over 32 thousand billion tonne-miles in 2008. Today, the international shipping industry is vital to the functioning of the Global Economy as it is responsible for the shipment of about 90% of the world trade. Indeed the cost of transport by sea does not represent a barrier to trade.

As an example the shipping costs have increased by only 70% in the last 50 years while the American retail prices have risen by almost 700% on the same period! Thanks to the standardization of shipping sector, with the emergence of containerization, maritime transport remains a highly competitive way of moving the goods all over the world. This "Box Concept" has been the key driving of the development of liner shipping. In order to optimize the movements of goods all over the world, the trend is to order more and bigger containers ships.

Extraits

[...] A ship of the future has to anticipate the new expectations, and regulations of tomorrow. Considering that very futurist ecologic ships won't be at sea before two or even three decades, how can we know that those ships, in the process of creation, will fit tomorrow expectations? How can we be sure that they won't be obsolete as soon as their launching, given to the surface of the ocean with that we will probably discover better ways to protect the springs. [...]

[...] This new concept is based on an extreme flexibility of the hull built with suspension, choc absorbers, massive twin hulls that move independently. This ship adapts exhaust gas for both electricity generation and secondary propulsion system. Moreover, using advanced incinerators in the treatment of waste on board would enable ships to reduce the discharge of sulphur, carbon and nitrogen gases. Finally, the optimization of the water cycle since its production to its treatment, thus, there are the wastewater, rainwater and ballast water. Through a purification system rainwater and wastewater, will be reused for the needs of the ship. [...]

[...] crew requirements, time and costs savings, fuel efficiency). Moreover, a fleet of smaller container ships is more pollutant than a larger carrier vessel. So, we have seen appear on the market larger container ships, like the Triple E-Class cargo ships. Firstly, engineers are looking for an alternative to fossil fuels, as requested by authorities like IMO. In order to reduce the shipping sector carbon footprint, innovative ships designs are based on the utilisation of the environment strength. At sea, winds are strong, estimated at 20 knots. [...]

[...] By placing photovoltaic panel on rigid sails or on ship windows, the vessel could create some mechanical energy for the need of the journey, as for the wave energy. Moreover, this kind of energy, when used as only source of energy, represents a zero emission transport, with no sound or smoke, and as they need just the daylight, it works also on rainy days. Then, new technologies based on the ship structure were brought to light. Hydrodynamics enable the ship to create energy by better penetration in the water. [...]

[...] We can also notice the evolution of VLCC ships (Very Large Crude Carrier - Dwt 200,000-320,000) to V-Plus ships (Improved ULCC because of the double hull, with a capacity of over 441.000 Deadweight) A few years ago, the innovative idea concerning ship construction was the speed of the ship. But considering the increase of fuels costs, it seems more appropriate to the current shipping issues to be concentrated on larger ships. How can cargo ships conform to the authorities and populations' expectations? How can a ship be innovative to move cargo? How to create a cleaner ship? [...]