Vessel Selection Prospects and Suitability Assessment for Oversized Cargo Transportation

Abstract

The countries of Southeast Asia are the largest importers of bulk cargoes in the world, as well as exporters of large volumes of oversized project cargo including unique equipment consisting of heavy-lifts and out of gauge units, which are carried on board of specialized ships, specially designed build for this type of transportation. A large number of dry cargo vessels, including bulk carriers and container ships that formed free tonnage in this geographical area, remain mainly unloaded in the reverse direction and therefore have to return in ballast condition. The way of assessment of the possibility of using such non-specialized vessels for the carriage of oversized project cargo is primarily based on the assessment of the ship's performance in a situation where the ship is being loaded in bulk by cargo (from Europe) and in the opposite direction (from Southeast Asia) for transportation of oversized project cargo. Considering that the design of dry cargo and container vessels is not optimal for such kind transportation, in most cases, some research is needed to adapt such non-specialized vessels for the transportation of heavy and oversized cargo, to optimize the loading, stowage and securing ensuring safety of cargo during sea passage. In some cases in order to assess the suitability of the vessel her cargo compartments, decks and hatches, its strength, security means and entire safety of the ship, it may also be necessary to apply additional measures to rebuild structural components and ship devices. Therefore, the issues related to the development of measures aimed at improving the efficiency of maritime transport, based on the specifics of the structure of cargo flow, are quite essential. The scope of this work is to discuss some perspectives and practical aspects of ships selection, considering possibility to engage them for transportation of project cargoes and work at economical speeds. Shipping companies often report figures in TCE (time charter equivalent) values so that investors can compare performance of ships operating in the spot and time-charter markets.

The study of project cargo logistics operation: a general overview

“…One of the methods to review the productivity of the vessel carrying project cargo is by evaluating the vessel's operational efficiency using the Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) (Malaksiano and Melnyk 2020). The formulation for TCE such as follows:…”

“…t v = the voyage duration in days. This freight rate obtained from the company will be compared to the market FRTC (freight rate of the time charter for the same vessel payload (Malaksiano and Melnyk 2020).…”

“…It suggests providing value-added design to improve the critical aspects of operational efficiency and service effectiveness of the project logistics (Denktaş Şakar et al 2018). Malaksiano et al proposed to evaluate the performance of non-specialised vessels carrying project cargo using the Time Charter Equivalent (TCE) as a standard performance measure of ship operating efficiency to the market rate (Malaksiano and Melnyk 2020).…”

“…Comparing TCE with the FRTC (Freight Rate Time Charter) shows many opportunities for the non-specialised dry cargo vessel to perform project cargo transportation. The efficiency of project cargo transportation is influenced by the following factors: (1) the hatches' dimensions and design, (2) the size and shape of holds, (3) deck equipment, (4) the ship's cargo gears, (5) maximum permissible load, (6) manoeuvrability, and ship's seaworthiness (Malaksiano and Melnyk 2020). Based on the above characteristic, Melnyk et al propose a methodology for decision-making for fleet acquisition based on cargo flow structure and simulating operational speed at optimal speed or slow steaming option (Melnyk and Malaksiano 2020).…”

Вдосконалення Методу Вантажопереробки Негабаритних Вантажів З Урахуванням Маси Вантажного Місця

“…Специфіку формування транспортних тарифів на перевезення негабаритних вантажів також складають такі чинники як пакування вантажу, вимоги до кріплення, обсяг та рівень складності вантажно-розвантажувальних операцій, вимоги до способу укладки та умовам перевезення [1]. До переліку процесів з організації перевезень негабаритних і великовагових вантажів потрібно долучити вивчення комплексу заходів, що включають не тільки вибір судна [5,6,7,8], що відповідає заданим критеріям в числі яких наявність вантажних приміщень, перевантажувальних засобів, достатньої міцності суднових конструкцій, але і опрацювання транспортного ланцюга доставки вантажу до транспортного вузлу [2,3].…”