Reduction of fuel consumption and minimisation of greenhouse gasses emission are vital for shipping industry. All possible ways to achieve environmental targets should be taken into consideration.

Conventional propellers are known to have low efficiency. Most of ship propellers on cargo vessels waste about 40 percent of the energy in the form of rotational losses in the wake, vortex generation, noise production, cavitation, etc. The recovery of such losses is one of the major ways to contribute to a more rational, environmentally friendly use of energy.

Ultra large container ships are those, that on one hand have individually the highest carbon footprint, but on the other hand take advantage of economy of scale and transport huge amount of goods worldwide. Therefore, this type of ship is a perfect target for taking an action to investigate on energy efficient solutions.

The overall goal of the project is to minimise fuel consumption, improve manoeuvring abilities and increase navigational safety by introducing three high-efficiency innovations to Ultra Large Container Ships (ULCS): twin propeller configuration, pod propulsors and contra rotating propellers concept.

Research on mentioned topics will be carried out by means of sophisticated numerical CFD methods, at a state-of-the-art towing tank fully equipped to investigate such a complex hydrodynamic issue like twin-crp-pod solution. Manoeuvring and ship handling related tests will be carried out with the use of manned models on a natural lake. All technical investigations will be accompanied by life cycle analyses, that will be carried out with the most complex tools including assessment of the environmental negative impact on land, sea and air resources.

The consortium consists of world-leading hydrodynamic institute, propeller designer, design office, ship handling operator, ship handling training provider and a university. By bringing together a wealth of knowledge on propeller-hull interaction, structural integrity and manufacturing processes the consortium guarantees proper achievement of the project goals.

	CONSORTIUM MEMBERS
		Ship Handling Research and Training Centre
		Center of Maritime Technologies GmbH
		Gdańsk University of Technology
		Seatech Engineering sp. z o.o.
		Otto Piening GmbH
		Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt GmbH
		CVBA BRABO