Integrating marine environmental data into a route-specific optimization of ship design

Ships are subject to different environmental impacts depending on their area of operations. Integrating these changing environmental conditions, over the life time of vessels, in ship design represents a decisively competitive advantage.

At the Flensburger Schiffbaugesellschaft (FSG), an innovative concept was developed and tested in the North Sea, based on marine environmental data from the GKSS Research Centre. In RADOST, a similar approach is to be developed for the Baltic Sea, taking also the marine aspects of potential climate change into account. Hourly data on present and potential future climate conditions (especially sea states, wind, and ice conditions) developed within RADOST for the Baltic Sea will be made available to FSG.
FSG will test and implement these data into their operational ship design system. Subsequently, the data will be available for operational use. Since it is expected that short-sea shipping within the Baltic Sea is going to increase in the future, this will, for FSG, represent a valuable extension of their design capabilities and competencies.