SECTOR MINERO

It is obvious that shipowners and shipyards will be much more interested in the design and construction of economically high performance ships vrhich may remain profitable under the severe conditions of competition and

depressed freight markets. As was seen in the last decades, the propulsion output was improved by reducing engine fuel consumption and increasing the efficiency both in propeller design and hull hydrodynamics. To reach higher operating performance as much as possible, in respect of avoiding port delays, cargo handling operations will be given more devotion besides the importance of ship

speed and propulsion power.

In order to increase the efficiency in cargo handling operations, -the hull form of ships will be more suitable to load and discharge the cargo in ship and port interface. For this purpose, catamaran and semi-submerged catamaran hulls will* appear as containerships, Ro-Ro vessels and car ferries. Such vessels will be allowed by finger piers at ports for direct easy cargo transfer. Any kind of hull developments will alv/ays look for cost reduction in shipping. Particularly, reducing the steel weight of the ship will be a first target. In order to reach it, shallow draft vessels which are 10% to 20% less weighted than deep draft ships will be designed and constructed especially as bulk carriers, and because, they are flexible and usable as a storage facilities, tug-barge ship systems will be widely implemented in future. Additionally, lighter,* fuel efficient and less volume machinery and equipment will be utilized as propulsion and operation devices on board. Turbocharging and heat extracting economisers will continue to be the main efficiency creator elements in propulsion systems"-^. All of these applications are devoted to increasing efficiency and productivity in shipping operations in order to reduce operating costs.

Frankel , Ernst G. "The World Shipping Industry", Groom Helm Publishers, p.200*, London, 1987

As was realized, the ship specialization which depends on certain types of cargo or cargo handling methods have disadvantages in terms of easy quick operation and as a consequence profitability. From the cargo carriage and stowage points of viev/, the cellular container ship is only able to accommodate certain standard unitized cargo. Although there is not any basic design difference between dry and liquid bulk carriers, their cargo handling and stowing systems are quite different. That's why the shipowning companies have started to pay more attention to combination carriers. This is an indication and expectation that different types of combination carriers such as ore/bulk/oi1er ships, bulk/container ships and container/Ro-Ro vessels will appear on the shipping scene to reduce ballast voyage in favour of profitability and efficiency.

One of the most important expectations is that the ship operation will be automated in terms of engine operations and navigation. Gradually, ships will be less manned in the future. The complete use of computers and artificial intelligence will make crewing ships with less than 9-10 men towards the end of the century. Nevertheless, this figure of crew will be composed of highly qualified and trained experts who can handle the operations related to deck and engine departments. Out of the activities on board, vessel traffic systems on shore based on intensive telecommunication activity will regulate the maritime traffic. This also makes it, to a certain extent, possible to operate less-manned ships under standard safety conditions.

On the other hand, less-manned ships in faster services, automation and computerization of on board

operations require reliable and time saving maintenance and repair services. The consequence of investing huge amounts of capital in shipping always urges the ships to come in service. These pressures will restrict the repair operation to a very limited part of the whole maintenance. It means, instead of heavy repair operations on board, engines .and their components, equipment, apparatus and devices, either electrical or mechanical, will be replaced in order to reduce the obsolete time out of service. In other words, more standardization will dominate the shipping industry.

Future shipping developments, to some extent, will be the reason for establishment and effective use of intermodal transport. The questions in efficiency, profitability and competition have brought the concept of main centres for loading and unloading into maritime activities. This trend will increasingly continue in the future and some ports will become more active than the others within the same region. The ships will be only such a servant between these huge cargo handling centres. Feeder services, ^oad and railway transport will form

intermodalism which will serve in a certain region between consumer and cargo handling centres.

Consequently, the proceedings in intermodalism will put the international shipping and trade into the domestic scene which determines intermodal transport conditions. Governments will feel the obligation to take into account international shipping within their national development strategies, because of the interaction problems between shipping and intermodalism. Coastal shipping will have remarkable importance where the road and rail transport can not be competitively expanded within a country to meet the requirements of efficient intermodal transport

activities.

On the other hand, intermodalism as well as multimodal transport v/ill be greatly helped by Electronic Data Interchange CEDI) systems which will computerize' all procedures from documentary credit to handling of all transportation activities. EDI systems will be extensively utilized by the developing countries which will enter into international trade and consider international shipping as a locomotive for economic development.