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Pentamaran Ropax News

04 Apr 2002

The Allure of Power

Continuity is a valuable asset in the marine field, especially so in relation to the most essential products pivotal to vessel design and operation. The diesel engine producers' adeptness at enhancing existing, successful designs at intervals through power and performance upgradings is a prime example of the development potential built into ships' machinery, making for longevity of the series involved. The ensuing continuity of the product line offers practical benefits to the client market and also to the licensors and manufacturers, given the huge investment costs entailed in developing entirely new engines and putting the requisite tooling in place.

10 Jan 2005

Feature: Short Sea Shipping-Nurturing a Modal Shift

Swelling U.S. interest in fostering the development of coastwise shipping may be set against the backcloth of an anticipated 55 percent growth in demand for domestic freight transport over the period 2000-2010. Aside from its breathtaking scale, one of the most remarkable aspects of the U.S. projection is its similarity to the forecast, 50-percent increase in European road freight volume within the same timeframe. U.K.-based technical consultancy BMT Nigel Gee and Associates, no stranger to the North American market, has prepared a high-speed RoRo freight and passenger carrier design for SeaBridge, a new company founded by Mediterranean shipping and North American trucking interests. While offering a solution to U.S.

08 Nov 2002

Promoting A Modal Shift

The actual extent of European public funding to promote a modal shift from road to waterborne transportation has up until now — been far outweighed by political discourse on the subject — no doubt designed to appeal to the popular, environmentalist vote. However, a recently more pragmatic approach by government to the issue, coupled with the maritime industries' development of new technical solutions for efficient, intra-regional freight exchange, suggests that the tide might be turning in favor of short-sea shipping. An appreciation that economic and environmental considerations are increasingly intertwined, and that environmental performance bears more and more on competitive position…