short sea shipping question

[oftheforest]

Can anyone tell me if catamarans can be used for short sea shipping with loads of about 120 containers? Thank you.

[rw58ph]

Depends on size, and how much you want to spend. Many boats are build in China/Singapore and shipped to the US. If to big for a container, many have bulk in the hole for larger heavier stuff. The max for a container/flat rack is about 14 ft wide, 14 ft high and 39 ft long, 30,000 lbs. We ship equipment world wide. However ever it becomes very expensive if over stand dimensions. 89” wide, 89” high and 39 ft long as they charge for taking up more than on container space.

The other concern is securing the boat to the flat rack which can also be quite expensive. All containers are inspected at the dock before loading. We let the freight forwarder handle from picking up at our plant door and delivering at ocean port. CIF Cost includes insurance and freight.

[oftheforest]

Thank you for your reply. I don't understand some of your reply. You said, "However ever it becomes very expensive if over stand dimensions. 89” wide, 89” high and 39 ft long as they charge for taking up more than on container space." Roughly what are you talking about when you say "very expensive"? A monohull for short sea shipping is at least 25 mill. What does "over stand dimensions" mean? And what does this mean "taking up more than on container space."? The ship needed for SSS would have to carry about 120 40' containers. Also, what is a "flat rack"? Again I thank you for anything further you may be able to tell me. I gather from the reply you sent that you are saying a catamaran can be used for SSS, they can be built big enough.

[Stumble]

RW, the only way a cargo vessel this size would get onboard a ship is a float-on-float-off. Much like is used to move 150' yachts around the world. It's a pretty simple operation to move even huge floating structures like oil rigs.

As for the original idea, I don't think a cargo catamaran would work economically. Cats are very weight dependent, so you would have to design specifically for the expected load. Which would require a very large ship relatively. Unless you are talking a special service ship like ferries which carry relatively light cargo, or need very high speeds I can't see the justification.

[oftheforest]

Thanks much for your reply.

[valhalla360]

I think the confusion is are you talking about shipping a catamaran on a container ship or are you buying a catamaran to ship containers (I think you meant the later).

Either way the fact that you didn't follow the terminology suggests you don't know enough to be get into the buisness.

To your quesiton, is it possible? Sure, it technologically possible.
Does it make sense? Depends on a whole bunch of factors but unlikely unless you have a very specific market that benefits from the advantages of a catamaran without the drawback they bring.

[oftheforest]

You are quite right that I don't know enough to be in the business. The harbor where I live is ripe for short sea shipping and I am getting info for the folks who would be doing the buying when the time comes. Yes, I am inquiring about getting a cat to ship containers. I would like to find out what the benefits are and what the drawbacks are. One plus is that they ride high and would possibly require less in the way of dredging.Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.It is not easy to find the info I seek.

[Stumble]

The primary benefits are higher economical cruising speed, and more stability, shallower draft, easier to maneuver in port.

Downsides are much higher purchase price, lower cargo volume relative to size, operating expenses would likely be higher, non-standard orientation may make cargo handling difficult depending on local crane capacity.


Cats are great at a lot of things, and there are just now some large ferry cats hitting the used market, but they are still very expensive relative to a comparable mono. And to my knowledge there isn't a general container cat designed or built yet. The numbers haven't justified them yet. For SSS high speed stuff typically gets trucked so the fast speeds of a cat aren't required.

[valhalla360]

I think you may be confusing commercial and leisure vessels. The commercial catamaran ferries that I'm aware of do not have significantly shallower draft. They are focused on high speed operation. The numbers I've seen suggest they are expensive to buy and to operate as a result.

Where are we talking about? How far would they be traveling? What kind of weather and sea conditions would they be exposed to? If you could get an old tramp steamer (small frieghter 200-300' long) that was repurposed for containers it might work. Just not sure about the repurposing part.

Google is your friend. Try searches related to shipping yatchs and you will find out a lot of general information about how container shipping works then you can follow up with some of the shipping companies. This forum is focused on cruisers so while we have some knowledge floating around probably not the best source. I suspect you will find $25mil is optimistic for any vessel in good condition and it won't be financially viable.

[rw58ph]

Originally Posted by oftheforest

Thank you for your reply. I don't understand some of your reply. You said, "However ever it becomes very expensive if over stand dimensions. 89” wide, 89” high and 39 ft long as they charge for taking up more than on container space." Roughly what are you talking about when you say "very expensive"? A monohull for short sea shipping is at least 25 mill. What does "over stand dimensions" mean? And what does this mean "taking up more than on container space."? The ship needed for SSS would have to carry about 120 40' containers. Also, what is a "flat rack"? Again I thank you for anything further you may be able to tell me. I gather from the reply you sent that you are saying a catamaran can be used for SSS, they can be built big enough.

A flat rack is a container with no sides so wider and taller items can be shipped. A container is the normal container with sides. There are two types of containers, open end loading and open top loading but dimensionally they are the same.

If the container take more than one container space they will charge for that space. So if its 14 ft wide its going to take three spaces, and then it its over height it could take 6 space. However, a container is limited to 40 ft. Most thing that are to big are shipped break bulk in the hole or secured to the deck.

Most if not all long range ocean carriers are mono hull for a reaso as they have the displacement to carry the weight, have a nice easy maximum roll. Where as cat might not have the displacement for 120 containers, the roll to snappy and not have a good max stability. I not sure if a cat can be built big enough or that it would even be called a cat with 120 containers on it.

Also you can not beat a full displacement mono hull to carry weight for fuel efficiency going at hull speed. Since hull speed is the square root of the length the longer the length the faster the hull speed. The hull speed for a 100 ft is 10 knots the hull speed for a 300 ft is 17 knots. There are a lot of factors to consider.

[avb3]

High cube sea cans are 53'

[Stumble]

He is talking about a cargo ship in the 200-240 TEU, what containers the load is in is not particularly relevant.

[belizesailor]

I've seen a few articles on multihull ships. Have not seen them on the water, except for military vessels, but Google "pentamaran cargo ship". Saw a big USA multihull military vessel around Guatemala and Belize a few years ago...holy hull speed Batman...that thing was fast!

http://www.marinetalk.com/articles-m...er-64639T.html

[oftheforest]

Thank you, thank you, thank you all. You have been a great help and have been wonderfully patient given my ignorance. I think between you I have the answer to my question although I will check out the pentamaran suggestion. You are great people.