Numerous "ship of the future" projects have been launched in
several countries (e.g., "Schiff der Zukunft" in Germany and "Projekt
Skib" in Denmark), with the aim of developing shipboard technologies that would
ensure an efficient and safe ship operation while drastically reducing manning onboard the
ship. Technologies such as integrated ship control, position fixing devices, satellite
navigation, unmanned machinery room, automated cargo handling, automated docking and
mooring, voyage management, planned maintenance, fault diagnosis and alarm handling, and
others, receive a prominent focus on such ships. A direct product of "Projekt
Skib" was the development, design and subsequent operation of a series of four highly
automated reefer ships of 21,680 m3 (765,650 ft3) capacity. These
ships are owned by Danish shipowner J. Lauritzen A/S. They were initially designed to be
operated by a crew of six. Their "minimum safe mining document" authorizes
operation with a crew of seven, although in actual practice nine crew positions are used.
This is indeed a drastic reduction, considering that a conventional vessel of similar size
typically has at least 25 crew positions.
The European Commission (Directorate General for Transport -DGVII),
realizing the need for applied R&D in this area, sponsored project ATOMOS, within its
EURET transportation R&D programme. ATOMOS stands for "Advanced Technology to
Optimize Manpower Onboard Ships" and consists of a consortium of 9 partners from 4 EU
countries. The project started in early 1992 and was completed in late 1994. Its scope has
been to develop advanced shipboard technologies that would enhance the competitiveness of
the fleet of the EU, while maintaining an adequate level of safety.
Describing the entire results of ATOMOS is way beyond the scope of this
paper. These results are fairly extensive and can be found in other publications. Rather,
the purpose of the paper is to present in a concise way the results of the cost-benefit
analysis of the ATOMOS project. This cost-benefit analysis aimed at investigating the
possible impact of reduced manning and ship automation technologies on merchant fleet
competitiveness. As the analysis is the product of a European Commission project, it
focuses on the fleets of EU member states. However, we also attempt to generalize the
conclusions to other fleets of the world.
3. The Analysis
Before we proceed with the analysis, we note that the general subject
of ship manning has been examined in the literature from various twists and angles. Holder
and Moreby (1986), NRC (1990), Pollard et al (1990), ISL (1993), and Grossmann (1993) can
be cited as some relevant references on this subject. However, with the possible exception
of Marcus and Weber (1994), the speecific subject of cost benefi
