Universal Measurement of Ships

Colin Cridland
IMSF
Gdansk, April 2008
Objectives
 To propose new method(s) of measure that universally
equally to ALL sizes and types of vessel allowing easy
comparison (ie Like with Like)
 To highlight weaknesses with existing measurements

© Colin Cridland
Existing Types of Measure
 TONNAGES
 Dwt, Displacement, Lightweight

 CAPACITIES
 Liquid (m3), Liquid Gas (m3), Grain (m3), Ore (m3),
Bale (m3), TEUs, Lane Metres (m), Cars, Trucks,
Trailers, Passengers etc
 DIMENSIONS
 Length Overall (m), Length BP (m), Beam (m),
Draught (m), Depth (m) etc
 HYBRIDS
 GRT/GT, NRT/NT, SCNT, PCNT, CGT

© Colin Cridland
Tonnages
 Deadweight (dwt)
 Maximum vessel can carry in tonnes by way of cargo,
stores, fuel, crew etc which is not permanent part of
structure of ship up to the maximum summer load
line.
 Reasonable measurement for majority liquid or dry
bulk vessels as cargo component forming close to
98% of dwt
 Unrepresentative for majority of vessels carrying low
density cargoes like containers, LNG, passengers,
vehicles etc

© Colin Cridland
Tonnages (continued)
 Lightweight (lwt, ldt or lwdt)
 Basically the weight of the ship itself with no cargo,
stores etc.
 Used widely at the time vessels are negotiating for
scrap
 Otherwise of little use as weight of steel is no
indication of vessel size with similar sizes having
huge tonnage variation due to type of steel used.
 Displacement
 Basically the full weight of a fully laden ship

 DISPLACEMENT = DWT plus LWT

© Colin Cridland
Hybrid Measures
 Gross Tonnage (GT) – replaces (GRT)
 An artificial ‘tonnage’ measurement based on the
total volume of enclosed spaces
 Calculated by taking the total capacity of enclosed
spaces in m3 (V) and multiplying by a coefficient (K)
calculated by 0.2+0.02 log10V (e.g. 100,000 m3 x 0.3
becomes 30,000 GT and 200,000 m3 x 0.306
becomes 61,200 GT)
 Better than dwt for comparing vessels with low
density cargoes within enclosed spaces with high
density cargoes
 BUT useless for containerships with majority of cargo
outside enclosed spaces
 AND Complicated, Meaningless, Unrepresentative
© Colin Cridland
Hybrid Measures (cont)
 Net Tonnage (NT) – replaces (NRT)
 An artificial ‘tonnage’ measurement based on the
total volume of enclosed spaces dedicated to cargo
 Calculated by formula:
 NT = K2 Vc (4d/3D)2 + K3 (N1 + (N2 / 10))

 K2 = as per K in GT, Vc = m3 enclosed cargo space

d = moulded draught amidships, D = moulded
depth amidships, N1 = no passengers with not
more than 8 berths N2 = no of other passengers
K3 = 1.25 ((GT+10,000)/10,000)
 A ‘Black Art’
 Even worse than GT!!
 Too Complicated to be calculated by Shipyards

© Colin Cridland
Capacities
 Cubic Capacity (m3)
 Liquid, Liquefied Gas, Grain, Ore, Bale

 Units
 Lane Metres – Linear (cannot convert to m3)

 No of passengers (cannot convert to m3)

 No of vehicles (cannot convert to m3)

 TEU (CAN convert to m3!)

© Colin Cridland
Data Used
 LRF PC Register
 Stage 1 - All Cargo Ships – 53,460 vessels BUT:
 3,235 vessels with NO dwt (6%)

 286 vessels with NO GT (0.5%)

 6,324 vessels with NO NT (12%)

 2,711 vessels with NO LOA (5%)

 241 vessels with NO Beam (0.5%)

 Tested relationship between dwt & GT, dwt & NT, NT &
GT, m3 and GT & NT – ALL inconsistent

© Colin Cridland
1st Universal Measure
 Stage 2 - Selected vessels with Both LOA & LBP
 Created LOA Size Categories (approx every 25m)
 Created Pivot Tables for LOA/LBP values for every LOA
size range for every vessel type
 Vessels with LOA/LBP values = 48,678 vessels
 Use LOA/LBP ratios from Pivots to populate previously
blank LOAs
 Result 52,488 vessels having BOTH LOA and Beam.

© Colin Cridland
Vessel Footprint = VFm2
 LOA x BEAM = VFm2
 VFm2 = Ship Footprint in square metres
 VFm2 provides mechanism for measuring vessels
against port, waterway or drydocking space

© Colin Cridland
VFm2 – World Fleet by Type
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
k VFm2

25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
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© Colin Cridland
VFm2 – World Fleet by Flag
40,000
35,000
30,000
25,000
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20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
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© Colin Cridland
2nd Universal Measure
 Stage 3 - Select only vessels with m3 capacity measures
or TEU (convert TEU to m3)
 Certain ship types excluded (e.g. Passenger)
 Use largest m3 or combine according to ship type
 Select out vessels with NO dwt & Create dwt size
categories
 Vessels with DWT AND m3 = 32,663
 Created Pivot Tables for DWT/m3 values for every DWT
size range for every vessel type
 Use DWT/m3 ratios from Pivots to populate previously
blank DWTs & m3 but EXCLUDING anomalous values
 Result calculated Total Cargo m3 (TCm3) for 42,248
vessels!
© Colin Cridland
TCm3 – World Fleet by Type
500
450
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Bulkers Tankers Container General MPP RoRo Vehicle

© Colin Cridland
Key Types - dwt/m3
1.60
1.40 1.24 1.24
1.23
1.20 1.12 1.10
1.00 0.88
dwt/m3

0.81 0.80
0.80 0.72
0.56 0.54
0.60 0.49 0.46
0.40
0.20
0.00

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© Colin Cridland
Comparison of Measures
World Fleet by Key Type
45
38 39 GT DWT
40
36 TCm3 VFm2
35 33 33 33 32
31
30
25
25

20 18 18
14
15
10 7
4 5 3 4
5 2 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 1 2
0
Bulkers Tankers Container General MPP RoRo Vehicle

© Colin Cridland
TCm3 for RoRo? – In Use!

WWL's owners order the world's largest RoRo

ships
2007-12-19
WWL's owners Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA of Norway and Wallenius
Lines of Sweden have ordered four of the world's largest ro-ro
vessels from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' (MHI) Nagasaki yard in
Japan for delivery in 2011 and 2012.

The new ships will service Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics and have a
carrying capacity of 138 000 cubic metres, close to 10% more than the
WW/OW partnership's most recent ro-ro carriers.

© Colin Cridland
What Types Can Be Measured?
 VFm2 – ALL TYPES!
 TCm3 so far…
 Bitumen, bunker, LNG, LPG, chemical, oil tanker,
wine tanker, water tanker, fruit juice
 Bulker, ore carrier, OBO, Ore/Oil, open hatch, chip
carrier, cement
 Containership, conbulker

 RoRo, PCC, PCTC, Ro-Lo, Ro-Ro/Other

 General cargo, MPP, Reefer, Ref Fish

 Heavy Lift, Livestock

 FPSO, FSO, Passenger, Cruise, Non Cargo – NOT YET!

© Colin Cridland
Universal Measure? – it’s a Start!

THANK YOU!

© Colin Cridland