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40Maritime Reporter & Engineering News VESSELSCONRONew RoRo/Containership DesignDanish Naval Architecture Firm Knud E. Hansen A/S is behind the coordination of a new basic design of new RoRo/Con- tainerships for Hudong-Zhonghua. Onthe August 10, the Atlantic Container Line (ACL) announced th contract with the Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (group) Co. Ltd. China for the construc-tion of five new RoRo/Container (CONRO) vessels. The vessels will be the world?s largest CONRO vessels ever built. The five ship order will form the G4 (Generation 4)class and on delivery, will replace ACL?s current fleet of G3 vessels that were built more than 25 years ago.Responsible for the Basic Design of thenew G4 CONRO vessels, Knud E. Hansen A/S will deliver to the shipbuilder a full Basic Design package, including:class drawings, general design of hull and outfitting, machinery plant arrangement, HVAC and electrical & automation de- sign. The vessel will be designed and built as a modern partly open top CONRO vessel carrying both containers and RoRo cargo. RoRo spaces are arranged around themid-ship area and container baysarranged in both ends of the vessel. The vessels will have adjustable RoRo decks plus many other innovations, and have far better energy efficiency than their prede- cessors.It will have a transom stern, high effi- ciency rudder and single screw fixed pitch propeller directly driven by a slow speed diesel engine. The engine room will be located aft and all living quarters including the navigation bridge will be located mid-ship, on top of garage. Main Particulars Length, o.a.296 mLength, bp287 mBreadth, molded 37.6 mDepth, molded (to No.3 deck) 14 m(to No.4 deck) 22.95 mDesign draft, molded 10.25 mDWT at design draft 45,000 RoRo Capacity 28,900 sq. m.Container Capacity - Above hatch 2,686 TEU Container Capacity - Below hatch 1,114 TEU Total Capacity 3,800 TEUService speed (at 90% MCR) 18 knots with 15%sea margin AGOR 27Construction CommencesSenior officials from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)joined the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) at a ceremony August 17 to mark the beginning of construction on the high-tech, ocean research ship AGOR 27, which will be operated by WHOI. During the traditional ceremony held at Dakota Creek Industries shipyard in Ana- cortes, Wash., the first pieces of steel comprising the keels for two new re- search ships funded by ONR -AGOR 27 and AGOR 28, which will be operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography- were authenticated with the keel certi- fiers' initials. Naval Architecture & Marine Engi- neering firm Guido Perla & Associates, Inc. (GPA) designed this vessel during a Phase I design competition. GPA is now providing detail and production engi- neering for DCI throughout the construc-tion phase. WHOI currently operates two ocean- going research vessels, a coastal vessel, and several small craft. In addition, it op- erates the National Deep Submergence Facility (NDSF) that currently includes the human occupied submersible Alvin, the remotely operated vehicle Jason, and the autonomous underwater vehicle Sen- try. Experience gained from the operation of these assets has given the Institution unique expertise in operating and main- taining seagoing research facilities. The $145 million Navy-owned vessels will be operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and theScripps Institute of Oceanography and support ocean science for the next 30 years. Since being awarded the project con- tract, GPA has completed several de- manding deliverables within schedule re- quirements as well as provided in-depth progress status to DCI and NAVSEA on a reoccurring basis. These deliverables included: providing the complete functional design, develop- ing a substantial amount of work pack- ages, and completing significant portions of the 3D ShipConstructor model usedfor production. This allowed DCI to begin production immediately once authorized byNAVSEA. ?We are extremely pleased to be able to continue our long and productive rela- tionship with GPA,? said Dick Nelson, Owner and President of DCI. ?They have been our partner throughout the entireprocess, providing tremendous value from the start of design and now into pro- duction.? Once completed, WHOI will operate the vessel under a Bareboat Charter Party agreement with the U.S. Navy. The target delivery of the vessel is late-2014. MR#9 (34-41):MR Template 9/11/2012 4:26 PM Page 40