OUTLOOK 20 18
innovative technologies for the maritime industry
What the Maritime Future Holds When the crisis hit the maritime industry, it created a tension field of heavy competition, bankruptcies and company reforms in every part of the industry. this competitive pressure, combined With ever stricter environmental and safety regulations, forced the maritime world to reinvent itself through innovation. It propelled the sector forward and straight into the future. words by dr kohei matsuo, national maritime research institute, tokyo japan. this article is a compact version of the paper that dr kohei matsuo presented at the hiper conference & exhibition 2017.
T
he abundance of innovations, and the speed at which things are moving in the industry, makes it hard to keep up with. The Japan Ship Technology Research Association (JSTRA) ran a research project, surveying innovative technologies from various sectors and countries. This article discusses the results and looks at the feasibility and magnitude of influence of some future scenarios for the maritime industry. New technologies, adopted in other industries, and examples of advanced technology implementation in the maritime industry worldwide were examined. Considering the applicability of these technologies to the maritime industry was used as basis for discussing future ship technologies 30 years from now. In general, the current fields of science and technology are likely to cross-fertilise in the future. The future does not lie in the indepth development of single technologies, but in combining and integrating technologies from various fields and industries. Game-changing technologies in the innovation of shipbuilding, ship operation
1 0 | S B I 2 0 1 8 | Volum e 12 | Issue 1
Innovative Technologies.indd 10
and logistics are likely to stem from information & communication technology (ict).
The Carbon Revolution
Research & Development (R&D) efforts have resulted in higher strength and more flexible steel, which is sequentially being incorporated in the shipbuilding industry. Other future ship materials, such as composites of various materials (steel, carbon, and organic material), are also continually improved by R&D. Carbon could be the next revolution in shipbuilding. In the maritime industry, the application of new nanocarbon materials such as carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene, is particularly promising. Carbon ships would be light-weight and high strength, which could result in vastly different hull and arrangement designs. Hull form and structure may increasingly mimic sea creature characteristics. Outfitting (including sensor, power lines, and data lines) can be embedded in the material and parts of the structure could be directly 3D-printed. Bulkheads may become transparent, or contain displays. The use of high-performance materials with features such as transparency, reactive shape adjustment or mechanical properties (biomimetic technology), self-healing and intelligence (with sensors embedded) could become the standard. In any case, composites will be on the rise, combining metals, carbon and organic material. The concept of life-cycle assessment (LCA), including ship recycling, will also be affected.
w w w. s h i p b u i l d i n g -i n d u s tr y. e u
05-03-18 10:51