Combining large and fast ships with podded drives
Podded propulsion is a breakthrough development in the field of shipbuilding as it allows construction of more efficient, less noisy and more environmentally friendly vessels. While electric propulsion offers mimised emissions and more efficient energy use, podded propulsion can also improve hydrodynamic efficiency. Applications of the new form of marine propulsion in a broad range of ships from icebreakers and tankers to drill and cruise ships is a field under investigation. Urged by this the FASTPOD project focused on marrying large and fast commercial ships to azimuthing pod-propulsion technology. More specifically, the project demonstrated the feasibility of application of pod propulsion for high speed maritime transportation. Special attention was paid to the operational efficiency, performance and safety as well as to environmental aspects. It was shown that pod propulsion has a great potential for future fast and large ship applications. One of the project partners, SSN, a Polish shipbuilding company is expected to utilise project findings in the construction of new vessels. The company is currently involved in building container vessels as well as other ships serving various purposes, such as Ro-Ro ships. This will provide them the competitive advantage of developing fast podded versions of these ship types. Towards this aim, additional studies are required and various collaborations are sought with pod technology manufacturers and ship model basins.