Oslo: With Intra-Asian box routes set to be the fastest growing sector in the world for the next several years classification society Germanischer Lloyd (GL) has developed a new container vessel design concept for the region: the C-Dragon concept. GL unveiled this new concept with the international maritime community at Nor-Shipping 2013.
C-Dragon measures 211.9 m in length between perpendiculars and 37.3 m in width with a loading capacity of 3,736 teu.
“The new concept targets the actual condition with short roundtrips and many port calls and is designed to outperform cascading older tonnage, which are now employed in this area, in terms of fuel efficiency, port turnaround and cargo intake,” GL said in a release.
"Intra-Asian container traffic is set to surge and vessels in this trade typically sail beneath their design speed and make frequent port calls – 13 on a typical north south trading route," said Dr Pierre C Sames, svp, GL Research and Rule Development. "The C-Dragon concept has been designed to reflect this, while also filling the strong need for more energy efficient ships amid rising fuel prices and new IMO regulations."
C-Dragon has a very high ratio of on-deck to total container teu capacity (2,376 teu vs. 3,736 tey) and less number of bays, compared to reference vessels studied for the design. This particular vessel layout is instrumental in reducing port stay duration because the greater number of containers on deck reduces the need to remove hatch covers, while fewer bays result in fewer crane movements. Port efficiency simulations conducted demonstrated that the average port stay was reduced from 15 to 14 hours for C-Dragon for each harbour stay. [05/06/13]
