The cargo ship of the future 2021+  Anders Björkman - Heiwa Co - European Agency for Safety at Sea! Home About us Services Contact info News Order books Assbook

Today 2021 most ships are diesel engine driven. For historical reasons, when I started in shipping 50 years ago, fuel prices were low at <$20/ton and high engine powers were installed to produce speeds >16/20 knots, etc. With fuel prices >$500/ton the situation 2021 has changed completely. The optimal ship speed - slow speeding - is <12 knots, which means that installed engine power can be reduced by >50%. It will reduce first investment and running costs considerably, etc. Sea transport time will take slightly longer but profits will be higher and total CO2 emissions will be reduced much more, but you can still do better. Just install a fully automatic kite at the bow, push a button and deploy it and and the kite will pull you at no cost. The electric power aboard should of course be batteries charged by solar panels. The ship of the future is hybrid - engine/kite driven Life at sea will again become quiet and calm and probably safer, when hybrid kite/engine ships become standard.   But, hold it. A Swedish company has something better!! The InfinityMAX The InfinityMAX concept, left, is designed to carry both dry and wet cargoes in modular compartments. It is built with several new core principles that, accumulatively, represent a paradigm shift in sea cargo transportation. The vessels will be crewed for safety and flexibility reasons, i.e. no crew nor lifeboats! It has no engine but two wings forward for proulsion. Stena Bulk has designed the InfinityMAX concept to be semi-autonomous and to meet the future demand of efficient operations without compromising safety according Erik Hånell, President & CEO, Stena Bulk, erik.hanell@stenabulk.com Back to Heiwa Co start page.