UASC considers new super-efficient container ship

With fuel consumption the single most important factor determining the profitability of new vessels, a number of designs were assessed based on their total costs of transport per container-mile for UASC’s specific trading pattern, taking into account both capital investment and operational costs.

Four designs were shortlisted for intensive evaluation, with the designs from HHI being chosen due to the 14000 teu vessel design outperforming the competition and the most efficient (single-skeg) vessel design at 18000 teu.

Formal parametric optimisation was conducted to fine-tune vessel performance for UASC’s operating profile in the intended service pattern of the ships, employing more than 60 free parameters.  The objective was to reduce fuel consumption as much as possible, taking into account hydrodynamic power requirements, the specific fuel oil consumption of the respective engines and UASC’s specific operational profile for speed-draft combinations.