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

Revitalisering av Nærskipsfart gjennom slankere, enklere og standardiserte skipsdesign Norge, andre Europeiske land og EU har en aktiv politikk for å promotere Nærskipsfart pga. lavt energiforbruk og utslipp i forhold til lastebiltransport. På tross av disse politiske målsetingene, så har det vært liten oppmerksomhet knyttet til å forbedre nærskipsfartens konkurransevne. Hovedfokus i prosjektet er å forbedre konkurransevnen igjennom: - Slankere skipskrog for å redusere energiforbruket per fraktet enhet - Hybride propulsjonsløsninger for å redusere utslipp per produsert kW. - Standardiserte skipsdesign for å redusere bygge og vedlikeholdskostandene Formålet med dette prosjektet er å etablere et IPN prosjekt, dvs. bygge et konsortium og utarbeide en søknad med aktivter og plan for å kunne oppnå prosjekts målsetninger.

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