VEDAM: Optimized Design for Shallow Water Coal Transportation (Indonesia)

VEDAM Design is developing a 2.700T DWT self propelled barge for the transportation of the coal from the coal mines to the offshore loading terminal. The vessel shall be operating in the Batanhari River of Sumatra Island. The vessel shall be classed with the Indonesian classification society, Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia (BKI) and registered under Indonesian authorities.

The river navigation in Sumatra possesses various challenges typical to an equatorial river. The rivers water level is very low (draft up to 1m only) during dry season and very high during the wet season with multiple bridges posing challenges of draft and Air-Draft. The river meanders and has some sharp bends in its path.

Presently, the barges operating in the river are towed by tugs, and the operation is restricted mainly to the wet season. Due to fixed monthly chartering rates, the present operators are not encouraged to increase the speed of the barges and are often found sailing at very low speeds. The client requested a design which will enable them to operate the barges for more months than the months for which existing barges operate, without increasing the operating costs.

After several permutation & combination with the Principal particulars, a set of particulars and a concept design was finalised. This design shall allow the vessel to operate at shallow depths without affecting the operation costs by too much. In order to reduce the operation costs, the barges were made self propelled. But shallow water operations can be hazardous & pose various difficulties for any conventional propulsion arrangement. So state of the art propulsion was chosen which can be operated at shallow & deeper waters without posing any danger to the propellers.

Considering the fuel consumption aspect, the hull form has been specifically design to carry maximum cargo in restricted length. The hull form is specifically designed & optimised using CFD tools. The vessel is required to go to an offshore terminal for discharging, so the strength & stability characteristics of the vessel were designed using modern software tools like FORAN and ANSYS to ensure sea worthiness.

VEDAM Design & Technical Consultancy Pvt. Ltd is an established marine design firm based in India and offices in UAE and China. Vedam provides consulting for new vessels, design & site supervision for shipbuilding & offshore industry.

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Shipbuilding Tribune Staff, March 5, 2013