April 1977 - Maritime Reporter and Engineering News

Ship Stern Study Released By MarAd

Nearly 80 percent of the U.S.- flag merchant ships that are expected to be built between now and the turn of the century could incorporate standardized stern sections, according to a study released by the Maritime Administration, an agency of the U.S.

Department of Commerce.

The report, entitled "Standardized Stern Project," points out that the stern section of a modern merchant ship is the part of the ship that requires the greatest expenditure of both capital and labor in construction. (The stern section contains the propulsion machinery, bridge, and deckhouse.) Development of standardized stern sections would bring to shipyards the advantages of mass production: lowered cost and shortened construction time.

Standardized stern construction also would permit many of the nation's smaller shipyards to participate participate in the construction of very large ships.

The concept still allows a shipyard to meet the prospective shipowner's particular specifications for payload capacity, cargo-handling capabilities, and ship performance, since the standardized stern sections could be incorporated into the designs of a wide variety of merchant ship types.

The J.J. Henry Co., Inc., of New York, N.Y., which prepared the study under a $151,000 research contract from the Maritime Administration, developed three proposed standardized stern designs.

These three stern designs would encompass a wide variety of vessel types including tankers, containerships, liquefied natural gas carriers and neobulk ships. The vessel types range from 485 to 1,006 feet in length and 15,000 to 230,000 tons in cargo capacity.

The study predicts that if 16 ships were built with duplicate stern sections, the cost saving per vessel would be 4 to 10 percent.

The two-volume report can be ordered from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Va.

22161. Order numbers and prices are as follows: Volume I, Final Report, PB 262927/AS, $4.50; Volume II, Executive Summary, PB 262926/AS, $3.50.

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