(Reproduced from “Containerization” March, 1997, published by the corporation of Japan Container Association.)
As a matter of course, new generation car ferries require “higher speed,” “larger quantity,” and “just in time” for the global physical distribution age.
New attempts for the ramps, especially, of car ferries which have generally been left behind the rationalization of loading and unloading in the past are described below.
A ramp suitable for the high speed age is, for example, a “MULTI-VEHICLE LANE” ramp such as a two-vehicle or three-vehicle lane type, as shown in Fig.8.
The selling features of a new generation type as compared with the conventional type are listed in the table below.
Tsuji has a plan for the new generation ramp to have about twice as efficient loading and unloading as the conventional type to cope with increasing passage amount of vehicles.
Technical problems to be solved are as follows:
Since the size of the ramp will become larger,
1) the ramp must satisfy the rigidity as a part of hull on the front side of the ship; and
2) it has enough flexibility for the movements of the ship due to its heel and trim.
It is important to satisfy the above two conflicting requirements simultaneously, and they are problems to be investigated.
