Technical
Vessels & Marine Technologies of the Future A
very big “Thank you” to all the readers who participated in our first interactive article and provided their feedback concerning what they want to read in this issue of Wavelength. The participation was impressive and an impressive number of readers voted for their preferences regarding the contents of the present article. Furthermore, their valuable comments in the relevant section of the online questionnaire have been enlightening with respect to the readers’ preferences and the way they receive the articles. From the categories analyzed in the last Wavelength issue, we narrowed the submissions down to the following i.e. i.Operations / Maintenance ii. Ship-design & Hydrodynamics iii. Alternative Energy Sources and Fuels So, without further ado, the results of the voting were the following:
By Yannis Vakkas
Taking into consideration the results, we have two “winners” and a “draw”. Our readers chose Autonomous Ships from the “Operations/ Maintenance” category and Air Lubrication from the “Ship-design and Hydrodynamics” section. • Autonomous Ships obtained an impressive 33.2% of the votes, which combined with the 17.4% for the EU Smart Ship project, is a clear indication that these revolutionary developments are attracting the attention of maritime stakeholders. • Air lubrication garnered a surprising 29.3% of the votes. Although it has been on the market for quite some time, the recent restart as a strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has given a new beginning to this technology. As for the category of “Alternative Energy Sources and Fuels”, the votes were divided, so the last page of the article shows a comparison between the Top-3 choices. It is evident that reader interest was divided into three options, in a similar way to the current market environment in relation to the “Fuels of the Future”. The only certain thing is that the maritime landscape is changing with the rising tides of technology. The trends that are emerging are doing so out of necessity and the complexity of the Regulatory environment for shipping. Shipbuilding, propulsion, alternative fuels, smart shipping, advanced materials, big data and analytics, robotics, sensors and communications will play a key role in how the maritime industry approaches new challenges and opportunities. The drivers for these technologies are a balance between environmental and commercial necessity. It is certain that critical key changes in the Maritime Industry will take place in the coming years, so stay tuned. Finally, as you will notice, instead of using the standard format of an article, we created infographics to display large amounts of data and information in the form of graphs and images. We consider this format entertaining, concise, and eye-catching. Moreover, all the information they contain is easily digested by the reader so they’re helpful, too. I hope you enjoy the contents! As was the case with previous edition of Wavelength, you may communicate your valuable comments and feedback for present article by scanning the QR code below:
or by visiting the following web address: https://forms.gle/y94U8CsdUKzv5sT56
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Issue 79-March 2022
