RECENT TRENDS IN SHIP TECHNOLOGY
Introduction
Challenges in technological development addressed by the Japanese shipping and shipbuilding industries over the last few years are summarized here by adding the latest information to what was reported in the preceding edition.
One of the major developments was a strategy for the shipbuilding industry spelled out by the Japanese government as one of its technological strategies for 16 industrial sectors. Other notable developments include the completion of a first phase of the CIM project undertaken for 15 years, now entering a stage of practical application in shipyards, the successful completion of aircraft take-off and landing tests on the Mega Float project, and the progress of the ZoHaku (Shipyard / Marine Machinery Manufacturer) Web Project intended for the ex-change of technical information between shipbuilders and ship machinery manufacturers, with its environment increasingly taking shape including the establishment of a company for practical implementation of the scheme in the final year of the project.
Of course, such ongoing projects as those for the commercial utilization of TSL, the development of a "Super Marine Gas Turbine" and that of a new ship operation system are being continued with successful results.
1. Study on Technological Strategy
Experts from universities, the Ministry of Transport and the shipping, shipbuilding and ship machinery industries gathered and discussed a technological strategy for the coming years, based on the environment of the shipbuilding industry and the expected future image of the nation. The conclusions they reached were:
(1) Social requirements and constraints to be taken into consideration are boiled down to "building up a socio-economic system harmonized with the environment," "realization of secure and hazard-free life of high quality," "realization of an advanced IT-oriented society" and "assurance of steady supply of energy, resources and food."
(2) Whereas technological development efforts in the shipping and shipbuilding sectors used to focus on energy conservation and human labor saving, themes corresponding to the above-cited general objectives include "conservation of the global and marine environment," "pursuit of greater safety and reliability," "application of advanced information technology, and enhancement of productivity and reliability," and "sophistication of ship-building technology and creation of new demand to be met by shipbuilders."
(3) It is essential not only to have shipbuilding engineers offer seeds but also to oversee overall business proposals covering the marketing aspect as well, and it is indispensable to realize a development system capable of meeting these needs.
Keeping in view the consolidation of government ministries and agencies scheduled for January 2001 and the reorganization of national research institutes into independent juridical entities set for April, the architects of the strategy are currently working hard to identify specific development themes, and to study the organization and system for implementation of the developmental projects.
In the rest of this article, developments regarding the themes referred to in (2) will be discussed in due order.
2. Conservation of the Global and Marine Environment
Among the themes concerning the conservation of the global environment taken up by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), those having direct relevance to the shipping and shipbuilding industries are "the prevention of marine pollution," "the prevention of air pollution" and "the prevention of global warming."
2-1 Prevention of Marine Pollution
1) The history of legislative approaches to the prevention of marine pollution from oil dates back to the 1954 MARPOL Protocol. Among its subsequent amendments, a particularly important element is the double-hull requirement applicable to tankers ordered on or after July 6, 1993. The call for this tightened rule was triggered by the stranding of the EXXON VALDEZ.
In adopting this revised protocol, Japan made rational proposals concerning its technical contents and implementation timeframe, including the Mid-deck design as an equivalent alternative to the double hull, which was appreciated and adopted.
In order to evaluate various alternatives likely to be pro-posed in the future, the process of oil spilling should be well understood. This requires sufficiently accurate pre-diction of how a tanker hull is damaged when it collides or is stranded and how oil spills out of the damaged parts of the hull. The Association for Structural Improvement of the Shipbuilding Industry (ASIS) carried out studies on prediction techniques for the structural destruction of tankers and for oil spills from fiscal 1991 through 1997, and conducted collision experiments with a real ship with a view to enhancing the accuracy of simulating the destruction of hull structure. ASIS also made experiments on damages by using a large model and damage simulations by calculation. Research was also done to simulate oil spilling after a fracture occurred in the hull. Integration of the findings of these studies is expected to make important contributions to the realization of a tanker hull structure which is highly resistant to collision and, even if it is damaged, would not let a large quantity of oil spill out.
