[ 132 ] THE SHIP OF THE FUTURE During the past fifty years, there have been constant fuel price fluctuations but over time, fuel prices haven’t increased in the same proportion as consumer goods. “In ferry shipping, economies of scale were the answer to the 1973 oil crisis,” Lind elucidates. “However, this model is not per se the best answer to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. This is especially so for small to medium-size domestic ferries. As domestic ferries quite often operate lifeline services, they typically need a lot of redundancy to guarantee an uninterrupted year-round service. This doesn’t come cheap and, rather than operating an expensive one-sizefits-all ferry all year round, domestic ferry operators start to realise that two smaller ships can offer a far better solution. In addition to a lot of redundancy, a one-sizefits-all vessel typically has a large capacity to accommodate summer peak demand, yet during the off-peak season these ships carry a lot of air rather than passengers and vehicles. Replacing such a vessel by two smaller ships may be a cheaper and cleaner solution as the second vessel needs only to be activated to meet peak summer demand or to deputise for the other ship in case of a breakdown or maintenance.” “ Rather than operating an expensive onesize-fits-all ferry all year round, domestic ferry operators start to realise that two smaller ships can offer a far better solution” The main engine
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