Offshore Cargo Management Concept
Creator:
Armin Warnecke
Curator's Note
Updated: November 2022
Our society is manifested in the seaport. An overwhelming 90 percent of all goods are transported by sea. Considering the effects of global warming this percentage might increase.
The project addresses the issues related to the ship and port components by proposing both technology-related innovations and system improvements in terms of organization.
In 2014 it was unthinkable, by industry professionals, to transition to e-mobility. Now, just eight years later, electric feeder ships are already a reality.
Especially the containership that blocked the suez canal in 2021 visualized how fragile the global shipping network is.
More on further developments in the links below:
Abstract
The Offshore Cargo Management Concept restructures the international container shipping industry as a necessary consequence of todays deficits and combines current research projects and technologies with the goal of ecological sensitivity.
"The shipping industry needs to reinvent itself. Exhaust gases from large vessels are among the dirtiest things the international transport sector has to offer: Heavy oil is still burned on the high seas, the waste from diesel production. On the oceans, a lot of toxic smoke constantly accumulates in this way, an unfiltered mixture of fine dust and sulfur gases."
The deficit of container shipping does not arise from the ships alone, but is found, one level higher, in the structure of the system.
Adaptability and efficiency are the main focus of this project. This project is an intervention, a perspective that partially confronts the currently common future scenarios, but also draws on developments in other areas.
"The world's 15 largest ships emit as much sulfur into the air per year as all 800 million cars combined"
As a socially directly experienced component that connects old with new interfaces, the feeder ship is of utmost relevance and design focus of this work.
The transition of the shipping industry to e-mobility also entails a change in the „refueling“ of ships. These innovations can be used not only in the field of maritime freight but also in passenger shipping.
Floating hubs connected to offshore wind farms collect the produced electricity. Smaller ships that act as charging stations can be booked by passing ships so that they can draw power while underway.
"The ship is the key player in globalization, and the container is its prophet."
Offshore wind farms as an ecologically sensitive source of on-site energy. Along the routes, feeder and deep sea container ships can obtain their „fuel“.
The main focus of the offshore cargo management concept is the separation of the logistic chain in deep sea container vessels and feeder ships. This happens offshore.
The offshore hub becomes a new transit point for freight traffic as an interface between inland and overseas shipping.
For shipping and its future, this means not just trying to improve individual components, but identifying and rethinking the epicenter of the deficits – the structure of the transport chain.
As the lifeline of our society, it is essential for maritime freight transport to embrace new technologies and systematically eliminate even the secondary ecological deficits. Improving the quality of life of port cities, such as Hamburg, is at the core of this consideration.
This concept of container shipping aims at ecological sensitivity, which also results in an economic advantage by optimizing the container cycle. New concepts are emerging across the board, from electromobility, recharging during the voyage, and new materials to sensible sustainable energy generation.