ECONOMICS OF WIDE, SHALLOW VLCC'S

The purpose of this work is to demonstrate the economic validity, for bulk carriers, that for a given displacement, block coefficient and draft, the vessel should be as short and wide as practical considerations will allow. The author discusses the wave-making resistance of VLCC's versus the entire system economics, describes the short, wide VLCC economic model, and presents the results of the investigations using the model. A comparison of an existing tanker, a conventional VLCC of equivalent dimensions, and the wide, shallow VLCC model is also included. As a result, the author concludes that it is possible to overcome a substantial increase in wave-making resistance by taking advantage of the economics of scale of larger ships which the short, wide, shallow form allows.