• Journal of the Society of Naval Architects of Korea
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2009

Ever increasing fuel prices, almost doubled in the last three years, and global pressure to reduce their environmental impact have been enforcing commercial vessel operators and designers to re-assess current vessel designs with emphasis on their propulsion systems and operational practices. In this paper the "Inclined Keel Hull (IKH)" concept, which facilitates to use larger propeller diameter in combination with lower shaft speed rates and hence better transport efficiency, is explored for a modern 3600 TEU container vessel with the aim of fitting an 13 % larger diameter propeller (and hence resulting 20% lower rpm) to gain further power saving over the similar size basis container ship with conventional "level keel" configuration. It appears that successful application of the "inclined keel Hull" concept is a fine balance amongst the maximum gain in propulsive efficiency, minimum increase in hull resistance and satisfaction of other naval architectural and operational requirements. In order to make the concept economically more viable, this paper concentrates on the fore body design with the possible combination of increase of volume in its fore body to recover the expected volume loss in the aft body due to the space for larger propeller and its low wave-making resistance to minimize the efficiency loss using a well-established optimization software.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.781-786
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• 2010

In this study, a new concept of ocean transport system, called the mobile harbor serving for a short distance transport of containers with cargo handling cranes between mother containerships and coastal ports, is introduced. Instead of direct berthing a very large containership at the coastal port, Mobile Harbor is moving to the offshore mooring basin with enough water depth condition. Therefore, investigation of the coastal environment, technical condition and limitation of the domestic trade ports for the application of Mobile Harbor, is essential process. To figure out the accessibility of mobile harbor, the environmental conditions, the cargo handling capacity and marine traffic volume and flow pattern has been analyzed with the tools for marine traffic simulation and virtual navigation aids system. The most proper Mobile Harbor mooring areas among trade ports of the south and east coast are selected by analyzing the obtained information and evaluating its application: (1) Under natural environmental conditions such as air and sea weather, three candidate areas are selected such as Masan port, Ulsan port, and Busan(New port) port. (2) Under marine traffic and appropriateness of water facilities, three candidate areas are selected as Mokpo port, Busan(New port) port, and Donghae & Mookho port (3) For a region-based analysis considering handling capacity and the local managed trade ports in vicinity, three candidate areas are selected as Busan region, Yosu & KwangYang region, and Mokpo region. Through this study, the basic guideline for selection of optimum trade port and offshore mooring basin for mothership and Mobile Harbor is recommended. In order to apply the Mobile Harbor to the real water, navigaton aids as the virtual route identification with AIS must be introduced for maritime safety in the vicinity of Mobile Harbor area which berthing and cargo handling is being conducted.