RORO81 PREVIEW

The RO-RO 81 Conference in Hamburg that begins on June 30 will take place at a time when major new services are being implemented and planned on both deepsea and short-haul routes.

With routes such as Europe-East Africa and A u s t r a l i a - E u r o pe about to see the introduction of large RO/RO tonnage, four 35,- 000-dwt super RO/RO ships are being discussed for Saudi ownership on the U.S. Gulf-Middle East run. In the areas of short-haul services, conventional ferry operation is changing, with many owners now taking delivery of their first jumbo ferries. Outside the European arena, other new projects on short routes are being developed, notably the recent announcement to create a major RO/RO t r a i l e r link across the Great Lakes.

Against this background of activity and commitment to the RO/ RO mode, the 5th International Conference & Exhibition on Marine Transport using Roll-on/Rolloff Methods will be devoted to commercial and technical issues that will have significant effects in the near- and long-term futures.

Conference discussions will be divided into six sessions spread over three days from June 30 to July 2.

Following the pattern established at the previous meetings in the RO-RO series, the opening session will look at the operational problems of the RO-RO lines — not the least being their relation with the membership of freight agreements. A keynote speaker in the first session will be Robert McMillen, president of Totem Ocean T r a i l e r Express (TOTE) of Seattle, which opererates a RO/RO service between Tacoma, Wash, and Anchorage, Alaska.

The second session, on RO/RO ship types and designs, will feature a combined owner/builder contribution from Leif Hoegh & Company A/S of Oslo and the Gdynia Shipyard in Poland. This paper will look at the owner's experience with the third generation of RO/RO carriers, which led to the new concept of the large combination currently being built at the Gdynia yard.

The design session will also examine one of the growth areas for deepsea RO/RO carriage, that of timber products. Here a paper from the Finnish Rauma Repola Shipyard will study the handling of this commodity by RO/RO, and the most economical type of RO/RO tonnage for future trading.

A subject not previously examined by the RO-RO Conferences is the passenger/vehicle ferry. A full session will be devoted to this type of RO/RO operation and ship, including the emergence of the jumbo RO/RO ferry and the implications of their economics and their effects on existing routes. A panel of leading ferry operators, including Sealink UK, Anders Jahre, and two other major Scandinavian companies, together with Compagnie Nationale Algerienne de Navigation (CNAN), will discuss some of the concepts and operational experiences of their fleets. This panel will be chaired by R.H.

Jacquinet of the MacGregor International Organisation.

The ferry panel discussion will be logically followed by a subject that today demands inclusion in the scope of the Conference, that is propulsion economics. The continuing increase in bunker prices and operating costs has put new emphasis on machinery selection, arrangement, and maintenance, and developments in these areas related to ferries and RO/RO ships will be discussed by a panel of four major engine designers— B&W Diesels A/S, M.A.N., S.E.- M.T. Pielstick, and Stork-Werkspoor Diesel BV.

Since the previous RO-RO Conference in 1980, when shipowners and naval architects gave their views on the stability of RO/RO ships, much a p p r e h e n s i o n has been expressed on aspects of their design in the wake of recent accidents.

For this reason the 1981 Conference will look further into the issues raised and what remedies might be affected.

Recent criticism has perhaps been leveled unfairly at RO/RO types of tonnage, which has tended to be singled out of the usual average of marine accidents and casualties. It is most timely that the Norwegian classification society Det norske Veritas will present a major study of RO/RO accidents from 1965 to 1981 at the Conference and discuss the findings.

The study is part of a joint research project on the safety of RO/RO vessels being undertaken in Norway with the participation of industry and government.

The final session will look at RO/RO from the port's view, and here the attitude and experience of both developed and a developing port will be presented. Speak- ers from the Port of Gothenburg and from the first fully equipped RO/RO terminal in West Africa, at Apapa, will contribute their experiences for discussion.

An international gathering of some 600-700 participants from all sectors of shipping, shipbuilding, and port industries is expected to attend RO-RO 81. Delegates will also have the opportunity to view some of the RO/ RO technologies firsthand in the associated RO-RO Exhibition that will take place adjacent to the conference hall.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM TUESDAY, JUNE 30 2:00 pm Opening address: Dr. Karl Ludwig Monkemeier, director general of the Port of Hamburg Authority (representing the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg).

2:15 pm Session 1: The Operational Dilemma—Competition or Closed Conference?: session chairman Sidney Gilman, director, Marine Transport Centre, University of Liverpool.

2:30 pm The Saudi National Shipping Company's View of Deepsea RO/RO: Dr.

Abdulaziz M. Al-Turki, managing director, Saudi National Shipping Company, Riyadh.

3:00 pm Operating a High-speed RO/ RO Service and Port Handling between Seattle/Tacoma and Alaska: Robert B.

McMillen, president, Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), Seattle.

4:10 pm Flats and Platforms — Their Increasing Importance Not Only in Container but also in RO/RO Services: Wolfgang Graaff, managing director, Graaff KG, West Germany.

4:50 pm A Lessor's Views of the Use of Flatracks and Platforms for Through Transport: Peter S. Glass, managerspecialized equipment, Sea Containers, London.

5:30 pm RO/RO or LO/LO for Mediterranean Traffic?: Roger Caillol, head of commercial service studies and traffic, Port of Marseilles. (This paper will open the debate for comment by leading Mediterranean ship operators.) WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 9:00 am Session 2: RO/RO Ship and Trailer Design.

9:15 am Forest Products RO/RO in the 1980s: Timo K. Siirila, head of development, Rauma-Repola Shipyard, Finland.

9:55 am Special Design Features for RO/RO Trailers: James L. Davies, vice president-technical services, Transamerica Interway Inc., New York.

10:30 am Recent Third Generation RO/ ROs from Polish Builders for Norwegian Owners: Wojciech Zychski, chief designer, Gdynia Shipyard, Poland, and Erik Andersen, chief s u p e r i n t e n d e n t , Leif Hoegh and Company A/S, Oslo.

11:40 am Combined Stabilization/Antiheeling Systems and their Influence on RO/RO Vessels and Ferry Design: Horst A. Halden, director, Intering GmbH, Hamburg.

12:10 pm Session 3: RO/RO Ferries and Short-Sea Routes. Advanced Icebreaking Design Canadian Ferries: Kenneth E. Wood, assistant general manager (technical), CN Marine, New Brunswick, Canada.

2:30 pm The Super-Jumbo Ferries: A MacGregor-invited panel of operators will discuss the concepts, utilization, and service experiences of some of the latest jumbo ferries. Panelists: A.J. Rogan, principal naval architect, Sealink UK Ltd.; Cdte. A. Ouassel, chief captain, Compagnie Nationale Algerienne de Navigation (CNAN); and speakers from Gotland Rederi A/S and Anders Jahre Line.

4:30 pm The Behavior and Prospects of NW European RO/RO Ferry and Short- Sea Operators: Michael G. Garratt, Marine Transport Centre, University of Liverpool.

5:10 pm Session 4: Diesel Propulsion for Ferries and RO/RO Cargoships. Panelists: H. Klintorp, manager, Installation Department, B & W Diesels A/S; U. Viets, head of sales-marine diesels, M.A.N.; J. Gallois, technical director, S.E.M.T.- Pielstick; and J.H. Wesselo, director of research and development, Stork-Werkspoor BV.

THURSDAY, JULY 2 10:00 am Session 5: RO/RO Safety and Securing. Chairman: S.E. Felding, IMCO secretary of the Sub-committee on Containers and Cargoes.

10:10 am Det norske Veritas — Prepared Casualty Statistics of RO/RO Vessel Accidents 1965-1981 and Discussion of the Findings: B.O. Jansson, research engineer, Det norske Veritas, Oslo.

10:50 am RO/ROs — the Problem Areas: Alex Galloway, deputy chief surveyor, The Salvage Association, London.

11:25 am Tank Containers and Unaccompanied Road Tankers: H. Engels, prokurist, combined traffic, road, rail, sea, Hoyer KG, Hamburg.

12:05 pm Lashing of Freight on Trailers — Experiences and Recommendations: Nils-Yngve Danielsson, managing director, Atlantica Insurance Company Ltd., Gothenburg, and Sten-Ake Ulin, chief surveyor, Swedish Association of Marine Underwriters, Gothenburg.

2:10 pm Cargo Securing on Board RO/ RO Ships: Jan V. Stenberg, Trans-Consultants, Gothenburg.

2:50 pm The AFNOR Proposals for Minimum Requirements for the Stowage of Combination Vehicles and the Lashing Points Thereon: Loic Henry, head of Transports Division, Association Francaise de Normalisation (AFNOR), Courbevoie, France.

3:20 pm Safety Aspects in Transporting Dangerous Goods by RO/RO: 0.

Busch, Ministry of Transport, Bonn.

3:45 pm Session 6: RO/RO Port Operations.

West Africa—RO/RO Came To Stay: Capt. K. Lundberg, general manager, The Ro-Ro Terminal Company (Nigeria) Ltd., Apapa.

4:20 pm Productivity in a RO/RO Port: Per Bjurstrom, managing director, Gothenburg Stevedoring Company.

5:00 pm Conference closes.