Big Ships Research Articles

Proceedings

41st Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology 1–3 June 2000 Yonago Convention Center (Big Ship), Japan President: Eisaku Ohama

Economies of scale in container shipping

Very large container ships are being built with the theoretical justification thatthey will produce economies of scale. It is clear, however. that the immediateresult of the mega-ship buildings is an overtonnaging of the world's major linerroutes. As major operators have put newer and bigger ships in the water, theyhave significantly reduced the slot costs in the container trades to which theseships are assigned. However, operators have not reaped the benefits of thosesavings because most freight rates have dropped more than the cost reductions.The industry may never make an adequate return if everyone continues investingin new ships to drive costs down while simultaneously pushing rates down.Implenientation of economies of scale can not be a panacea per se. Carriersmust find some way to return to profitability. Cooperation between the carricrsis highly desirable.

Safety Problem- a Factor in Successful Functioning of the Shipping Industry

Continual growth of world maritime trade involves thegrowth of world shipping-industry capacities. This growth impliesnot only bigger ships and greater overall capacities, butalso some technical and technological changes that includenew ships, specialisation and development of new technologieswithin the maritime traffic.Due to complex navigation conditions, newer and more expensiveships that represent very complex and sensitive objects,the competition and human factor, the safety problem has oftenbeen out of control.The governments of countries within /MO and ILO increasinglyintroduce new rules and conventions to enhancenavigation safety. However, in view of economic-financial effects,many shipping companies overlook the safety problem.The most recent revision of STCW Convention and theISM Code implementation, which are becoming operative inthe current years, aim to increase the overall culture of qualitymanagement (QM) and to enhance the safety management onships and in maritime companies.

Bigger vessels: How big is too big?

Growth in container liner traffic has been high for several decades and current growth rates are expected to continue, putting pressure on ports and liner companies to increase investment. Several factors are pushing up the capacity of new buildings, and bigger, rather than more, ships alleviate pressure on ports. But ship operating cost benefits will be eroded unless cargo handling performance can be upgraded. Because of physical inhibitions in existing facilities the recent pace at which lines have increased the size of the biggest ships operating seems likely to plateau in the next few years.

Impacts of U.S. environmental controls upon ocean tankers

We live in a world that continues to be increasingly dependent upon petroleum. There are long distances between major petroleum sources and petroleum markets and large ocean-going vessels, known as tankers, carry this petroleum and its products. Tankers have increased in size and some are huge. Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) weigh between 200,000 and 300,000 deadweight tons (dwt); ultra-large crude carriers (ULCCs) can reach 500,000 dwt. (ULCCs are about 50 times as large as World War II-era T-2 tankers.) Mostert said that tankers: Are the biggest ships that have ever been, their dimensions being one of the technological audacities of the century.... They were the harbingers of that new manifestation of global strategy and national self-interest, the energy crisis.... (1) Petroleum tankers provide about one half of the capacity of the world's merchant fleet. (2) The phrase economies of scale certainly applies to large tankers. However, from an environmental protection standpoint, another applicable phrase is carrying all of one's eggs in a single basket. If and when there is a spill incident involving a large tanker, the quantity of oil spilled is so great that it overwhelms whatever man-made or natural defenses there may be to protect the environment from damage. In the United States, the public called for action following the grounding and spill of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska's Prince William Sound. Congress responded by passing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA90). Here is a summary of OPA90 as applied to the maritime industry. The law (1) required tankers in U.S. waters to have a Certificate of Financial Responsibility (COFR) with essentially unlimited liability; (2) required all new tankers be built with double-hulls, accompanied by a size and age phase-out of existing tankers beginning in 1995 and ending in 2010; (3) mandated that the Coast Guard tie into the National Driver Register to detect drunk driving convictions; (4) increased Coast Guard authority to deny or revoke licenses and merchant mariners' documents; (5) authorized the removal of incompetent masters; (6) increased the Coast Guard's authority to deny entry to the United States of those foreign vessels with deficient manning standards; (7) limited work hours on tankers to 15 hours per day, but no more than 36 in any 72 hour period; and, (8) required the Coast Guard to designate areas where two licensed personnel are required to navigate a vessel, as well as where tug escorts are necessary. (3) The two requirements upon which this paper shall focus are the Certificates of Financial Responsibility, and double-hulls for tankers. CERTIFICATES OF FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (COFR) The COFR requirement for unlimited liability caused great concern within the tanker insurance industry, which consists of Protection and Indemnity (PI the PI Few small tanker owners have been able to obtain their certificates of financial responsibility, but large tanker owners with substantial financial resources continue to find ways to certify their fleets. (4) Recently, a handful of new companies have come into being hoping to make policies available that will meet the COFR requirements. INTERTANKO (the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners) feels that: No satisfactory solution to the question of Certificates of Financial Responsibility is available for the majority of tanker owners wanting to trade to the United States. …

Small Boat Displays: Towards Generality and Ease of Use

Electronic navigation systems are now well established on commercial vessels throughout the world. In a big ship it is entirely feasible (and probably necessary) to design the system to suit the ship. Budgets are large and there are few space constraints, so that many separate displays may be used on a bridge which would not look out of place on the USS Enterprise. This is definitely not so for a small sailing cruiser or powered leisure craft. Neither is it true for many fishing vessels. It is to those with an interest in these small boats that I address this paper.

What is an environmentally sound ship and how can we achieve it?

The issue of environmental preservation covers an extremely broad area, and the large majority of it is outside of the range of speciality of the ship designer. The most important point for us revolves around the question of how we, together with the operators, should perceive the problem and work to improve ship design accordingly. I would hope that this paper has been useful in deepening our perception of ship-related environmental issues, not only with regards to big ships and headline-making disasters, but also in relation to small ships and everyday operation.

Bai Jiao 1—the excavation of a Song Dynasty shipwreck in the Dinghai area, Fujian Province, China, 1995

The ships that sail the Southern Sea and south of it are like houses. When their sails are spread they are like great clouds in the sky … The big ship with its heavy cargo has naught to fear of the great waves, but in shallow water it comes to grief (cited in Guy, 1992: 18).

The geography of piracy: northern Morocco in the mid-nineteenth century

Pirates operating in small boats attacked European shipping through the Straits of Gibraltar in the early nineteenth century. Although these waters had always been the scene of privateering and corsairing by big ships authorized by both Muslim and Christian states, these small boat pirates were acting beyond any recognized authority. Environmental degradation and economic isolation and impoverishment combined with a coastline and maritime current system to make piracy a particularly attractive option for some of the people living in the Guelaya Peninsula in north-western Morocco. They were encourage to do so by patterns of Spanish interference in their commerce, and by the remoteness of their region from control by the central government in Morocco.

Fish Migration via the Shipping Lock at the Hagestein Barrage: Results of an Indicative Study

In the Dutch part of the Rhine many hydraulic works (sluices, barrages, etc.) are situated which are considered to be barriers for upstream fish migration. Because of intensive shipping these works are always combined with big shipping locks. Until recently no data were available concerning fish migration via these locks. This was studied in the river Lek at the Hagestein barrage. Due to the short length of the study period and few recaptured salmonids (salmon, sea trout, rainbow trout) no conclusive evidence about the effects of the shipping lock on salmonid migration was obtained. However, the results do suggest that the Hagestein barrage complex forms a serious barrier for upstream migration of salmonids. Several other fish species on the other hand were observed to migrate through the lock. Therefore, depending on target species and management goals, the presence of shipping locks should be taken into account when considering improving fish migration possibilities.

Economic policies and seaports: The economic functions of seaports

This paper argues that the economic functions of seaports are to benefit those whose trade passes through them, i.e. through providing increments to consumers' and producers' surpluses. Whilst recent developments in the technologies of seaports (containers, bigger ships, more rapid handling of bulk cargoes) have increased technical efficiency, they have also provided such economies of scale as to reduce some opportunities for competition and, therefore, the probability that cost reductions are actually passed on in this way. For this purpose port costs need to be considered in their entirety, i.e. as generalized transport costs per tonne, comprising money, time and the risks of loss, damage and delay. Such cost reductions will lead to expanded trade in a variety of ways. This statement of the economic function of seaports is contrasted with views that they should try to increase employment in their locality, or that they should maximize profits.

飛行船(天翔る大船)(輸送における新しい展開, 運用)

飛行船(天翔る大船)(輸送における新しい展開, 運用)

CPプロペラの運航経験

These days, according to the up-going price of the fuel oil, the selection of the marine engine type seems to be decided only from the view point of the economy. Resultantly the big ships, that used to adopt the steam turbine engine, have been mounting the diesel type engine.No body doubts that the internal combustion engine like the diesel engine furtherly surpasses the external combustion engine on the rate of fuel consumption, however, the diesel engine has some undesirable features as marine engines. One of them is that it is difficult for the engine to keep the output at 85% MCR without suffering from the thermal and/or torque load to the engine when the fluid resistance of the ship submerged hull increased by the foulness due to aging progression or encountering rough sea condition. The another is that it requires us much more maintenance works than the other type of engine.Meanwhile, the type of controllable pitch propeller is considered to save effectively those weak points on the propulsion diesel engine. In order to clarify these points, a comparison between the fixed pitch propeller installed motor ships and the controllable pitch propeller ones is tried to list up on this report, considering from an actual experience on the CPP equipped big ship for 400 days.Also, the affection to the diesel driven propulsion which has been brought about by the aging increase of the hull submerged area fouling as well as rough sea condition, has been measured and described on the ship's diesel engine load diagram for the purpose of easy understanding. And through the actual experience, viewing from the operational stand point the advantage of the cppdiesel equipped ship on several phases is stated on this report.

Indochinese Refugees: Impact on ASEAN and U.S. Policy

At the July 1979 Geneva conference on Indochinese refugees, the Government of Vietnam (SRV) agreed to discourage the outflow of Vietnamese refugees. Since then, the big ships carrying Vietnamese refugees with exit-permits have ceased coming, but there is still a sub stantial outflow of clandestine departures ? over 50,000 arrived in first asylum areas in Asia in January-August 1980. There is also a continuous outflow from Laos. The monthly average of about 5,000 arriving in refugee camps in Thailand during 1978/79 was somewhat higher in 1980. As for the Khmer, the large numbers massing on the Thai-Kampuchean border in late 1979 had by mid-1980 been greatly reduced. Future prospects, however, remain uncertain as long as there is no solution to the conflict in Kampuchea. The Indochinese refugee problem, in other words, remains a serious one. The purpose of this paper is to consider recent develop ments in (1) flow trends in the Indochinese refugee movement, (2) the impact on the main first asylum countries in Southeast Asia, and (3) the policies of the United States, which has been the largest reci pient of refugees resettled from first asylum camps in the ASEAN countries.

III—The Efficiency of Square Rigged Ships

The big square-rigged ship, contrary to popular or ignorant view, was (or could certainly be) a most effective machine for the conversion of the sea winds into power in and by her sails, and could make useful long voyages carrying heavy bulk cargoes at minimum cost and minimum loss, while at the same time offering that rarity of these days—a good measure of contentment and satisfaction for her officers and crew. She was not—and I should think never was—a lumbering old ‘windbag’, more or less drifting about the seas from one port towards another, hopeful of arriving somewhere some day. When for example, we sailed in the four-masted barque Parma from an outport in Spencer Gulf, South Australia, bound non-stop towards Falmouth, Plymouth, or Queenstown for Orders (as the old charter parties read), with five thousand tons or more of grain in sacks stowed thoroughly well down below, we did not set out hopefully on a drifting-match vaguely in the direction of North Europe, some 15, 000 miles away.

Offshore Islands

Man-made offshore islands and as terminals for big ships. For transshipment and processing of materials, compatible groups of industries may be situated in juxtaposition near deep water, away from established coastal residential and recreational centers. Built of sand from the seabed, and of solid waste from mainland cities, islands could be an economic alternative to environmentally objectionable industrial expansion along the coastc. orifices along a pipe produce a water cwrrent which can be regarded e.g., for the protection of limited areas against sea waves or spreading of soil. This paper deals with the theory of the vertical current above the pipe, involving the use of the conservation equation for the emitted air. The purpose is to calculate the vertical center line velocity and the lateral spread. Information from large-scale experiments of Kobus and Bulson is used to estimate the parameters in the theory.

A Cruising Boat

The paper discusses the tradeoffs and payoffs of designing and building big ship capability into a small cruising sailing yacht. A Norwegian rescue ship hull form, large three-bladed controllable-pitch propeller, nickel-cadmium batteries, shaft-driven generator, above average horsepower, a high degree of watertight integrity, modest self-salvage capability, tugboat handling under power, low helmsman energy drain under all conditions, circumferential safety and grab rail, balanced rudder, diesel oil-fired range, and hot-water central heating are all discussed as they combine to fill the author's requirements for seaworthiness, seakeeping ability, safety, maintainability, self-sufficiency, and comfort at sea.

Ship Congestion at a Scheduled Draw Bridge

The railway bridge at Dordrecht (Holland) can be raised to let big ships pass through. This takes place according to a fixed daily time schedule derived from the railway timetable. The waiting times of the ships depend on the number and the duration of these openings, the headway of the unraised bridge (changing on account of tidal effects), and the traffic supply. In this paper the dependence of the waiting times on the above-mentioned factors is quantified by means of a Monte Carlo simulation procedure.

Controlling Shipping Along the North European Trade Axis

By the North European Trade Axis is meant the trade route from Ushant and Land's End, up the English Channel, through the Dover Strait fanning out to serve eastern England, the north coast of continental Europe and leading to the Baltic Basin. Recent events in this area have left a feeling that some form of tightening of control is not only desirable, but is rapidly becoming imperative. There is a basic conflict between the two forms of shipping using the area: the local users who use the area more or less constantly, and the long-distance traders, usually much larger, which arrive in the area for a brief stay after a prolonged period at sea, which has usually been in good weather conditions. Frequently these latter ships have a very poor notion of the hornet's nest into which they are steaming when they arrive. The net result is all too often the same: the local users, with familiarity breeding contempt, wander about as they see fit, with scant regard for routing or the regulations; all too often the big ships arrive from sea with navigating staffs who are too confused, sometimes too ignorant—and sometimes too terrified—to do much more than blunder forward in a straight line hoping for the best. Quite obviously this is not a total picture, and there are large numbers of ships which navigate perfectly competently, but the minority of those which do not seem to be rising rapidly, and show every sign of continuing to increase.

政府と企業

The Sixth Annual Conference of the Japan Business History Society was held on 28-30th October, 1970, at the Murobe-Inn, Shirahama Spa, Wakayamaken. It was organized successfully by Prof. S. Tsunoyama as the first boarding conference of our society.In openning the conference, Prof. Tsunoyama emphasized that the close relationship between government and business in every country, particularly notable after the Second World War, has its origin in the early stage of industrialization and the economic functions of modern government should be considered historically according to the following four categories : government as (1) regulator, (2) promoter, (3) entrepreneur, and (4) planner.The first speaker, Prof. Tatsuo Takenaka (Kônan University), having emphasized the difference of meaning between “government and business” and “business and government”, reviewed from the latter point of view the studies on the public utilities in U.S.A. over the last several decades.The second speaker, Prof. Sadao Takadera (Kyoto University) analysed the policies of the early Meiji government to promote business activities by the introduction of the western system of depreciation into government-aided enterprises in banking and shipping.On the second day three papers were read ; two in the morning, and one in the evening.The first speaker, Prof. Takeshi Fukuo (Tokyo College of Economics) pointed out that Prussian Beamtenunternehmer in the first half of the nineteenth century played a conspicuous role to promote German industrialization, performing as an entrepreneur of state enterprises and in the latter half of the nineteenth century the government functioned rather as a promoter of the private enterprises so that the latter might be able to compete with those in the advanced countries.In Japan the government policy in 1880's of selling out government owned enterprises to private entrepreneurs could successfully encourage the rapid industrialization. Prof. Masaaki Kobayashi (Kanto-gakuin University) elaborated the major objectives of the government leaders in their policy of selling-out.The evening lecture was delivered by Prof. Keiichiro Nakagawa (Tokyo University). He compared and contracted the relationships between government, parliament and business in Japan with those in U. S. A. and Britain. Prof. Yoshitaro Wakimura (Tokyo University) commented on the activities of the government officials in Japan and America in the pre-war period.At the third day meeting two papers were read on the Japanese government policies in relation to the transportation. Prof. Tadashi Uda (Ottemon-gakuin College) analysed the government “railway strategy” for constructing and administering the national and private railways.Lastly, Prof. Hiroshi Okaniwa (Osaka College of Trade) criticized the government shipping policies. He pointed out that the practical measures taken by the Japanese government were to aid some particular big shipping companies, not to aid private shipping business in general.