Oldendorff Carriers is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) in efforts to make its vessels greener and more economical. The partners along with its campus collaborators will investigate ways of improvement in ship design and propulsion to achieve the IMO 2030/50 requirements.
Firstly, the partners will focus on enhancing hydrodynamic efficiency plan that goes beyond the traditional naval architecture to a deeper integration of form and function. Anticipated research areas include morphing structures, hydrodynamic cloaking, moving boundary layers, and alternative energy sources.
Moreover, CBA’s digital material technology will provide digitalization of the construction of materials. The structures will bring shipping benefits, such as record-setting material properties, integrated heterogeneous functionality, automated lifecycle assembly and disassembly, and reduced environmental footprints.
The fuel savings devices already being employed by Oldendorff vessels include:
- Economical hull forms
- Becker Mewis duct
- Rudder bulb
- Spoon bow
- Auxiliary engine economisers
- Ultra-long stroke engines
- Larger propellers
- Boss cap fin propellers
- Fins fitted in front of skewed propellers
MIT is rather vigorous in the shipping industry, providing new, innovative projects based on digitalization and automation. In summer, MIT’s fleet of robotic boats was updated with new capabilities to “shapeshift,” by autonomously disconnecting and reassembling into a variety of configurations, to form floating structures in Amsterdam’s many canals.
Concluding, Oldendorff CEO, Peter Twiss commented
We recognise that clean oceans and clean air are vital for our survival, both as a company and as individuals. With less than 10 years to implement a fundamental shift on how ships are powered in order to achieve the GHG reduction mandates, Oldendorff Carriers is partnering with MIT’s preeminent experts in technology research to forge the way ahead.
