Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology
D.J. Antvelink Operational D.S.S. for the stowage of products in chemical tankers. Part 1. Literature survey, Report 95.3.LT.4454, Transport Engineering and Logistics.
Nowadays operating a chemical fleet is a complex job. The ever increasing attention for safety and environmental issues has resulted in tighter regulations. However regulations itself are not the cause of the complexity of the market. The complexity is created by the amount of products and the different regulations, which may vary from country to country and from port to port. Also the customer quality demands show there is no way to draw a straight line in this market.
Complylng with regulations and higher quality requirements increase the costs of operating chemical tankers. This is not compensated by the freight rates. Instead freight rates have fallen to an all-time low point in 1993 due to the recession in the chemical industry.
This report is the result of the first part of a master thesis project. In this report the results of a study into the operation of chemical vessels are listed, In a next publication the final results of the project will be presented, together with an Decision Support Program tor the stowage of products in a vessel. To give the reader some insight into the market of chemical transportation part one of this paper handles on the operating and the marketing of chemical tankers. In this part special attention is paid to the regulations and rules that have serious impact on the market. Also the quality requiremnents are described.
Part two of the report will discuss the information needed in the operation of vessels. These different kinds of information needed are listed and their sources named. The possibilities to structure this informnation in databases are discussed.
In part three the possibilities of an information system for the chartering and operations departments in a chemical shipping company will be discussed. This part will be issued after finishing the project [report 95.3.LT.4446].
An opportunity for more efficiency lies in the fact that the stowage planning is still not automated. The advantages of an automated stowage system are not only in saving time and solving complexity, but also in quick decision making by marketing of the vessel. The advantages are discussed and possible designs for a system are described.
Reports on Transport Engineering and Logistics (in Dutch)
