New vessel designs for America’s Marine Highways
One of three Ro/Con vessel types
The new vessel designs also meet a portion of the U.S. military’s sealift needs in times of war or during national emergencies.
Eleven designs have been created for new vessels that can transport cargoes that would otherwise be trucked over congested roadways. The innovative designs focus primarily on roll-on roll-off vessels intended to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trucks and trailers or railroad cars that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels.
The designs include six RO/RO vessels, three combination RO/Con carriers, a feeder container ship, and a RO/Pax ferry. The RO/RO and RO/Con vessels carry various types of vehicles, but are primarily intended for tractor-trailers and stackable containers. The feeder container ship can support standard-sized containers stacked both below and above deck, and the RO/Pax ferry can transport tractor trailers along with their drivers.
MARAD has also signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S. Navy under which MARAD and the Navy could provide up to $800,000 to advance two or three of these new concept designs to the next stage of design development, with the ultimate goal of constructing multiple vessels in U.S. shipyards.
