Revitalization of short sea shipping through slender, simplified and standardized designs

Revitalization of short sea shipping through slender, simplified and standardized designs Norway, other European Countries and The European Commission (EC) has an active policy to promote Short Sea Shipping due to its high environmental performance and energy efficiency. Despite these political objectives, there has been little attention on the need for improving the cost competitiveness of short sea shipping versus road transport. The project will exploit the existing potential within hull design, energy system configuration and standardization: - More slender hull design: most possible energy-efficient hull design (per ton transported) - Combined/Hybrid energy solution making best possible use of fuel and alternative power and propulsion energy systems available. - Standardization and simplification of design, to ensure cost- efficient production and operations (lower life-cycle costs of the ship). The purpose of this pre-project is to design an IPN project and establish a consortium for the realisation of new standard concepts of shortsea shipping vessels that are cost-, energy- efficient and environment-friendly

Norway, other European Countries and The European Commission (EC) has an active policy to promote Short Sea Shipping due to its high environmental performance and energy efficiency. In addition, Short Sea Shipping has the potential to solve road congestion problems affecting many parts of the European continent. Despite these political objectives of decreasing road transport and transfer cargo to rail and sea, short sea shipping is struggling. In Europe research projects funded both at national, regional and EU level have addressed these challenges and the recommended solutions has been to focus on the whole supply chain, new or improved technologies or all of this in combination with larger vessels. In comparison, there has been little attention on the need for improving the cost competitiveness of short sea shipping versus road transport. The main project will exploit the existing potential within hull design, energy system configuration and standardization: - More slender hull design: most possible energy-efficient hull design (per ton transported) - Combined/Hybrid energy solution making best possible use of fuel and alternative power and propulsion energy systems available. - Standardization and simplification of design, to ensure cost- efficient production and operations (lower life-cycle costs of the ship). Main activities in the pre-project will be: 1. Delimit the project scope: focus area, challenges and assumptions. 2. Establish the Consortium for the main project: expectations and roles from each partner. 3. Describe the state-of-art in shortsea vessel design, current challenges and potential for improvement 4.Agree on concrete targets for the project (% improvement in ship efficiency compared to existing designs, building- and operational costs, environmental impact) 5.Write main project proposal