Roll-on/roll-off
Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using a platform vehicle, such as a self-propelled modular transporter. This is in contrast to lift-on/lift-off (LoLo) vessels, which use a crane to load and unload cargo.
RORO vessels have either built-in or shore-based
Description
Types of RORO vessels include ferries, cruiseferries, cargo ships, barges, and RoRo service for air/ railway deliveries. New automobiles that are transported by ship are often moved on a large type of RORO called a pure car carrier (PCC) or pure car/truck carrier (PCTC).
Elsewhere in the shipping industry, cargo is normally measured by
The largest RORO passenger ferry is
The RORO passenger ferry with the greatest car-carrying capacity is
-
Loading a ro-ro passenger car ferry
-
ROPAX ferry, MS Ulysses, approaching Dublin Port, Ireland
-
Ferry terminal for thePeninsula Searoad Transportservice, with cars leaving a ferry
-
The largest ro-ro passenger car ferry in the world, MS Color Magic, in Oslo, Norway
-
Bastø Fosen is a Norwegian ferry company that operates smaller ro-ro passenger car ferries on a short route between the towns Horten and Moss in Norway, connecting the two cities and metropolitan areas of Tønsberg and Fredrikstad.
Car carriers
The first cargo ships specially fitted for the transport of large quantities of cars came into service in the early 1960s. These ships still had their own loading gear and so-called hanging decks inside. They were, for example, chartered by the German Volkswagen AG to transport vehicles to the U.S. and Canada. During the 1970s, the market for exporting and importing cars increased dramatically and correspondingly also did the number and type of ROROs .
In 1970 Japan's
The PCTC has liftable decks to increase vertical clearance, as well as heavier decks for "high-and-heavy" cargo. A 6,500-unit car ship, with 12 decks, can have three decks which can take cargo up to 150 short tons (136 t; 134 long tons) with liftable panels to increase clearance from 1.7 to 6.7 m (5 ft 7 in to 22 ft 0 in) on some decks. Lifting decks to accommodate higher cargo reduces the total capacity.
These vessels can achieve a cruising speed of 16 knots (18 mph; 30 km/h) at eco-speed, while at full speed can achieve more than 19 knots (22 mph; 35 km/h).
The car carrier Auriga Leader, belonging to Nippon Yusen Kaisha, built in 2008 with a capacity of 6,200 cars, is the world's first partially solar powered ship.[4]
-
A pure car carrier ship's starboard side showing sideramp
-
MV Tønsberg, the largest car/truck carrier
-
Vehicle bay of the John H, of Cross Sound Ferry
Seaworthiness
The seagoing RORO car ferry, with large external doors close to the waterline and open vehicle decks with few internal bulkheads, has a reputation for being a high-risk design, to the point where the acronym is sometimes derisively expanded to "roll on/roll over".[5] An improperly secured loading door can cause a ship to take on water and sink, as happened in 1987 with MS Herald of Free Enterprise. Water sloshing on the vehicle deck can set up a free surface effect, making the ship unstable and causing it to capsize. Free surface water on the vehicle deck was determined by the court of inquiry to be the immediate cause of the 1968 capsize of the TEV Wahine in New Zealand.[6] It also contributed to the wreck of MS Estonia.
Despite these inherent risks, the very high freeboard raises the seaworthiness of these vessels. For example, the car carrier MV Cougar Ace listed 60 degrees to its port side in 2006, but did not sink, since its high enclosed sides prevented water from entering.
In late January 2016 MV Modern Express was listing off France after cargo shifted on the ship. Salvage crews secured the vessel and it was hauled into the port of Bilbao, Spain.[7]
RORO variations
Variation | Remarks |
---|---|
ConRO | The ConRo (or RoCon) vessel is a hybrid of a RORO and a break-bulk cargo .
|
LMSR | Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) refers to several classes of Military Sealift Command (MSC) roll-on/roll-off type cargo ships. Some are purpose-built to carry military cargo, while others are converted. |
RoLo | A RoLo (roll-on/lift-off) vessel is another hybrid vessel type, with ramps serving vehicle decks but with other cargo decks only accessible when the tides change or by the use of a crane. |
ROPAX | The acronym ROPAX (roll-on/roll-off passenger) describes a RORO vessel built for freight vehicle transport along with passenger accommodation. Technically this encompasses all ferries with both a roll-on/roll-off car deck and passenger-carrying capacities, but in practice, ships with facilities for more than 500 passengers are often referred to as cruiseferries.[citation needed] |
History
At first, wheeled vehicles carried as cargo on oceangoing ships were treated like any other cargo. Automobiles had their fuel tanks emptied and their batteries disconnected before being hoisted into the ship's hold, where they were chocked and secured. This process was tedious and difficult, and vehicles were subject to damage and could not be used for routine travel.
An early roll-on/roll-off service was a train ferry, started in 1833 by the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, which operated a wagon ferry on the Forth and Clyde Canal in Scotland.[8][page needed]
Invention
The first modern train ferry was
The company hired the up-and-coming civil engineer Thomas Bouch who argued for a train ferry with a roll-on/roll-off mechanism to maximise the efficiency of the system. Ferries were to be custom-built, with railway lines and matching harbour facilities at both ends to allow the rolling stock to easily drive on and off.[9] To compensate for the changing tides, adjustable ramps were positioned at the harbours and the gantry structure height was varied by moving it along the slipway. The wagons were loaded on and off with the use of stationary steam engines.[9][8][page needed]
Although others had had similar ideas, Bouch was the first to put them into effect, and did so with an attention to detail (such as design of the ferry slip) which led a subsequent President of the Institution of Civil Engineers[10] to settle any dispute over priority of invention with the observation that "there was little merit in a simple conception of this kind, compared with a work practically carried out in all its details, and brought to perfection."[11]
The company was persuaded to install this train ferry service for the transportation of goods wagons across the Firth of Forth from Burntisland in Fife to Granton. The ferry itself was built by Thomas Grainger, a partner of the firm Grainger and Miller.[12]
The service commenced on 3 February 1850.[13] It was called "The Floating Railway"[14] and intended as a temporary measure until the railway could build a bridge, but this was not opened until 1890, its construction delayed in part by repercussions from the catastrophic failure of Thomas Bouch's Tay Rail Bridge.[15]
Expansion
Train-ferry services were used extensively during World War I. From 10 February 1918, high volumes of railway rolling stock, artillery and supplies for the Front were shipped to France from the "secret port" of Richborough, near Sandwich on the South Coast of England.
This involved three train-ferries to be built, each with four sets of railway line on the main deck to allow for up to 54 railway wagons to be shunted directly on and off the ferry. These train-ferries could also be used to transport motor vehicles along with railway rolling stock. Later that month a second train-ferry was established from the Port of Southampton on the South East Coast. In the first month of operations at Richborough, 5,000 tons were transported across the Channel, by the end of 1918 it was nearly 261,000 tons.[16]
There were many advantages of the use of train-ferries over conventional shipping in World War I. It was much easier to move the large, heavy artillery and tanks that this kind of modern warfare required using train-ferries as opposed to repeated loading and unloading of cargo. By manufacturers loading tanks, guns and other heavy items for shipping to the front directly on to railway wagons, which could be shunted on to a train-ferry in England and then shunted directly on to the French Railway Network, with direct connections to the Front Lines, many man hours of unnecessary labour were avoided.
An analysis done at the time found that to transport 1,000 tons of war material from the point of manufacture to the front by conventional means involved the use of 1,500 labourers, whereas when using train-ferries that number decreased to around 100 labourers. This was of utmost importance, as by 1918, the
After the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, train ferries were used extensively for the return of material from the Front. Indeed, according to war office statistics, a greater tonnage of material was transported by train ferry from Richborough in 1919 than in 1918. As the train ferries had space for motor transport as well as railway rolling stock, thousands of lorries, motor cars and "B Type" buses used these ferries to return to England.
The landing ship, tank
During
The first purpose-built LST design was HMS Boxer. It was a scaled down design from ideas penned by Churchill. To carry 13 Churchill infantry tanks, 27 vehicles and nearly 200 men (in addition to the crew) at a speed of 18 knots, it could not have the shallow draught that would have made for easy unloading. As a result, each of the three (Boxer, Bruiser, and Thruster) ordered in March 1941 had a very long ramp stowed behind the bow doors.[18]
In November 1941, a small delegation from the British Admiralty arrived in the United States to pool ideas with the United States Navy's Bureau of Ships with regard to development of ships and also including the possibility of building further Boxers in the US.[18] During this meeting, it was decided that the Bureau of Ships would design these vessels. As with the standing agreement these would be built by the US so British shipyards could concentrate on building vessels for the Royal Navy. The specification called for vessels capable of crossing the Atlantic and the original title given to them was "Atlantic Tank Landing Craft" (Atlantic (T.L.C.)). Calling a vessel 300 ft (91 m) long a "craft" was considered a misnomer and the type was re-christened "Landing Ship, Tank (2)", or "LST (2)".
The LST(2) design incorporated elements of the first British LCTs from their designer, Sir Rowland Baker, who was part of the British delegation. This included sufficient buoyancy in the ships' sidewalls that they would float even with the tank deck flooded.[18] The LST(2) gave up the speed of HMS Boxer at only 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) but had a similar load while drawing only 3 ft (0.91 m) forward when beaching. In three separate acts dated 6 February 1942, 26 May 1943, and 17 December 1943, Congress provided the authority for the construction of LSTs along with a host of other auxiliaries, destroyer escorts, and assorted landing craft. The enormous building program quickly gathered momentum. Such a high priority was assigned to the construction of LSTs that the previously laid keel of an aircraft carrier was hastily removed to make room for several LSTs to be built in her place. The keel of the first LST was laid down on 10 June 1942 at Newport News, Virginia, and the first standardized LSTs were floated out of their building dock in October. Twenty-three were in commission by the end of 1942.
ROROs for road vehicles
At the end of the first world war vehicles were brought back from France to Richborough Port[19] drive-on-drive-off using the train ferry. During the war British servicemen recognised the great potential of landing ships and craft. The idea was simple; if you could drive tanks, guns and lorries directly onto a ship and then drive them off at the other end directly onto a beach, then theoretically you could use the same landing craft to carry out the same operation in the civilian commercial market, providing there were reasonable port facilities. From this idea grew the worldwide roll-on/roll-off ferry industry of today. In the period between the wars Lt. Colonel Frank Bustard formed the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company, with a view to cheap transatlantic travel; this never materialised, but during the war he observed trials on Brighton Sands of an LST in 1943 when its peacetime capabilities were obvious.
In the spring of 1946 the company approached the Admiralty with a request to purchase three of these vessels. The Admiralty were unwilling to sell, but after negotiations agreed to let the ASN have the use of three vessels on bareboat charter at a rate of £13 6s 8d per day. These vessels were LSTs 3519, 3534, and 3512. They were renamed Empire Baltic, Empire Cedric, and Empire Celtic, perpetuating the name of White Star Line ships in combination with the "Empire" ship naming of vessels in government service during the war.
On the morning of 11 September 1946 the first voyage of the Atlantic Steam Navigation Company took place when Empire Baltic sailed from
The first RORO service crossing the
During late 1956, the entire fleet of ASN were taken over for use in the Mediterranean during the Suez Crisis, and the drive-on/drive-off services were not re-established until January 1957. At this point ASN were made responsible for the management of twelve Admiralty LST(3)s brought out of reserve as a result of the Suez Crisis too late to see service.
Further developments
The first roll-on/roll-off vessel that was purpose-built to transport loaded semi trucks was Searoad of Hyannis, which began operation in 1956. While modest in capacity, it could transport three semi trailers between Hyannis in Massachusetts and Nantucket Island, even in ice conditions.[21]
In 1957, the US military issued a contract to the
During the 1982 Falklands War, SS Atlantic Conveyor was requisitioned as an emergency aircraft and helicopter transport for British Hawker Siddeley Harrier STOVL fighter planes; one Harrier was kept fueled, armed, and ready to VTOL launch for emergency air protection against long range Argentine aircraft. Atlantic Conveyor was sunk by Argentine Exocet missiles after offloading the Harriers to proper aircraft carriers, but the vehicles and helicopters still aboard were lost.[22]
After the war, a concept called the shipborne containerized air-defense system (SCADS) proposed a modular system to quickly convert a large RORO into an emergency aircraft carrier with ski jump, fueling systems, radar, defensive missiles, munitions, crew quarters, and work spaces. The entire system could be installed in about 48 hours on a container ship or RORO, when needed for operations up to a month unsupplied. The system could quickly be removed and stored again when the conflict was over.[23] The Soviets flying Yakovlev Yak-38 fighters also tested operations using the civilian RORO ships Agostinio Neto and Nikolai Cherkasov.[24]
See also
- Lift-on/lift-off
- BC Ferries
- Car float
- Cruise ferry
- Frank Bustard
- Intermodal container
- Konkan Railway Corporation
- List of cargo types
- List of roll-on/roll-off vessel accidents
- Roll-on/roll-off discharge facility
- Rolling highway
- RORO ferry service, Gujarat
- Société des traversiers du Québec
- Train ferry
- USNS Sea Lift USN Ro Ro ship
- Washington State Ferries
- Yacht transport
References
- ^ Asklander, Micke. "M/S Color Magic (2007)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2012-10-04. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
- ^ Asklander, Micke. "M/S Ulysses (2001)". Fakta om Fartyg (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
- ^ Louis Llovio (2007). "World's largest car carrier leaves Port of Baltimore on its maiden voyage". The Baltimore Daily Record. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Using Solar Power for Ship Propulsion The World First Solar-Powered Ship Sails". NYK-Nippon Oil Joint Project. NYK Line. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-385-40534-8.
- ISBN 1-86934-079-5.
- ^ Wright, Paul (2016 February 4) "Abandoned cargo ship Modern Express successfully dragged into port after rescue operation". International Business Times.
- ^ OCLC 24175552.
- ^ a b "The Train Ferries".
- George Parker Bidder; not to be confused with the lawyer (his son)who represented Bouch at the Tay Bridge Inquiry
- ISSN 1753-7843. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- ^ Shipway, J.S. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ "Subterranea Britannica: Sites:Scotland Street Tunnel". subbrit.org.uk.
- ^ "News of the Week". Bathurst Free Press (NSW : 1849–1851). Bathurst, New South Wales: National Library of Australia. 10 August 1850. p. 3. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
- ^ Shipway, J.S. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- ^ ISBN 1151852406.
- ^ Lenton, H.T. & Colledge, J.J. (1968). British and Dominion Warships of World War II. Doubleday and Company. p. 577.
- ^ ISBN 0-85177-675-2.
- ^ 'Richborough Port' by Rob Butler p21 (photo) p20 (text) published by Ramsgate Maritime Museum
- ^ "Dinard – Viking". Simplon Postcards: The Passenger Ship Website. 2005. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
- ^ "Roll-On Roll-Off Ship" Popular Mechanics, April 1956, p. 87
- ^ "History of Fleet Air Arm Officers Association, FAAOA". fleetairarmoa.org.
- ^ "The full story of the Harrier "Jump-Jet" Part Four – the "Second Generation" Harriers – The BAe / MDD AV-8B Harrier II, GR.5, GR.7, GR.9 & T.10 Harriers". wingweb.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-10-19.
- ^ "The Soviet Navy Forger: Yak-36M, Yak-38, Yak-38U and Yak-38M". acig.org.
Further reading
- Belson, Ken (July 13, 2012). "Around the World With 5,500 Cars". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
- Liston, Jim (November 1969). "Oceangoing Drive-In". Popular Mechanics. Hearst Magazines: 100–103. ISSN 0032-4558. Retrieved 8 March 2011.
- Todorov, Delyan Mihaylov (2016). Ro-Ro Handbook: A Practical Guide to Roll-On Roll-Off Cargo Ships. Atglen, Pennsylvania, USA: Schiffer Publishing. ISBN 9780764351235.