- Lengthening, MoveIT!, Overaged, Small vessels
This deliverable 6.1 “Ship Structure” presents the investigations on the lengthening possibilities of two existing inland navigation vessels for dry bulk cargo, MV “Hendrik” (LOA 70.0 m) and MV “Rheinland” (LOA 57.5 m), representing a share of the European fleet in need of retrofitting and modernisation in order to regain competitiveness on the market. Among other retrofitting procedures such as increasing the breadth of the hull or conversion for different types of purposes, lengthening the ship’s hull in the midship area by a prismatic section is the most effective and cost efficient way.
MV “Hendrik”, originally built in 1975, represents CEMT class III to IV (Conférence Européenne des Ministres de Transport) for inland navigation vessels and features a double bottom and single side platings. CEMT class II is represented by MV
“Rheinland”, built in 1959, which is equipped with a single hull. Both vessels comprise transversally framed ordinary mild steel structures. Those two vessels serve as basis for exemplary investigation on the lengthening of the ship’s hull and its required strength.
After the determination of current plate thicknesses and stiffener dimensions according to GL (Germanischer Lloyd) rules for MV “Hendrik” and BV (Bureau Veritas) rules for MV “Rheinland” and comparison with the “as built” dimensions from the general arrangement drawings, investigations were made in order to define the maximum
possible lengthening sections. Hence, each step was set to 6.0 m. The maximum lengthening sections turned out to be 18.0 m for MV “Hendrik” and 12.0 m for MV “Rheinland” which were limited by the thicknesses of existing plates. Additionally, some stiffeners had to be modified to comply with the current rules.
For economic purposes, initial estimations regarding the cargo benefit and draught reduction per lengthening meter were made as well as an approximate cost calculation for the retrofitting procedures.
The results will serve as input for all other tasks within WP 6 and additionally WP 7.