Germanischer Lloyd unveils C-Dragon ship design at Nor-Shipping 2013
WITH the region's economies continuing to expand, the importance of Intra-Asian trade routes continues to grow and Asian container traffic, in particular, is projected to be the fastest growing sector in the world for the next several years.
In response to this Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has developed a novel container vessel design concept for this region: the C-Dragon concept which was unveiled to the international maritime community at Nor-Shipping 2013.
C-Dragon measures 211.9 metres in length between perpendiculars and 37.3 metres in width with a loading capacity of 3,736 TEU. The new concept targets the actual condition of short roundtrips and many port calls and is designed to outperform cascading older tonnage, which are now employed in this area, in terms of fuel efficiency, port turnaround and cargo intake.
"Intra-Asian container traffic is set to surge and vessels in this trade typically sail beneath their design speed and make frequent port calls - 13 on a typical north south trading route," said GL research and rule development vice president Pierre Sames.
"The C-Dragon concept has been designed to reflect this, while also filling the strong need for more energy efficient ships amid rising fuel prices and new IMO regulations."
C-Dragon has a high ratio of on-deck to total container TEU capacity (2,376 TEU vs 3,736 TEU) and fewer bays, compared to reference vessels studied for the design. The vessel layout is instrumental in reducing port stay duration because the greater number of containers on deck reduces the need to remove hatch covers, while fewer bays result in fewer crane movements, according to New York's Maritime Link.
Port efficiency simulations conducted using prototype software from GL, demonstrated that the average port stay was reduced from 15 to 14 hours for C-Dragon for each harbour stay.
"C-Dragon's faster port turnaround allows speed reductions in transit and therefore related fuel cost savings, without compromising any cargo transport capacity, in comparison to competing vessels," Dr Sames explained. "The effect is more pronounced for vessels on short routes with many port calls." For C-Dragon, average transit speed is reduced from 15.5 knots to 15 knots.
WITH the region's economies continuing to expand, the importance of Intra-Asian trade routes continues to grow and Asian container traffic, in particular, is projected to be the fastest growing sector in the world for the next several years.
In response to this Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has developed a novel container vessel design concept for this region: the C-Dragon concept which was unveiled to the international maritime community at Nor-Shipping 2013.
C-Dragon measures 211.9 metres in length between perpendiculars and 37.3 metres in width with a loading capacity of 3,736 TEU. The new concept targets the actual condition of short roundtrips and many port calls and is designed to outperform cascading older tonnage, which are now employed in this area, in terms of fuel efficiency, port turnaround and cargo intake.
"Intra-Asian container traffic is set to surge and vessels in this trade typically sail beneath their design speed and make frequent port calls - 13 on a typical north south trading route," said GL research and rule development vice president Pierre Sames.
"The C-Dragon concept has been designed to reflect this, while also filling the strong need for more energy efficient ships amid rising fuel prices and new IMO regulations."
C-Dragon has a high ratio of on-deck to total container TEU capacity (2,376 TEU vs 3,736 TEU) and fewer bays, compared to reference vessels studied for the design. The vessel layout is instrumental in reducing port stay duration because the greater number of containers on deck reduces the need to remove hatch covers, while fewer bays result in fewer crane movements, according to New York's Maritime Link.
Port efficiency simulations conducted using prototype software from GL, demonstrated that the average port stay was reduced from 15 to 14 hours for C-Dragon for each harbour stay.
"C-Dragon's faster port turnaround allows speed reductions in transit and therefore related fuel cost savings, without compromising any cargo transport capacity, in comparison to competing vessels," Dr Sames explained. "The effect is more pronounced for vessels on short routes with many port calls." For C-Dragon, average transit speed is reduced from 15.5 knots to 15 knots.