Understanding Agility as a Parameter for Fuel-Flexible Ships

Abstract

With the need for lower-emission maritime transport solutions, shipowners and designers face uncertainty when it comes to the selection of fuel today and in the future. The effects of this uncertainty can be mitigated to a certain extent by fuel-flexible machinery and containment systems When developing such fuel-flexible designs, capability, changeability and agility are important parameters to be considered. Thus, the required time and cost consumed for conversions or retrofits at a later stage during the vessel’s lifetime need to be addressed in the early design phase. We apply and discuss the concept of agility for both existing flexible solutions and new ship design alternatives in this paper.