Main article: Merchant ship

Loading a ro-ro passenger car ferry

Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are ferries designed to carry wheeled cargo such as automobiles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, trailers or railroad cars. A merchant vessel is a Ship that transports Cargo and Passengers during peace time A ship /ʃɪp/ is a large vessel that floats on water Ships are generally distinguished from Boats based on size See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and Cargo (or freight) refers to goods or produce transported generally for Commercial gain by ship, aircraft, train, This article is about the semi-truck For the North American use of the word see Pickup truck. truckcartransporterarp750pixjpg|thumb|right|A tractor with an auto-transport Semi-trailer. A Trailer is generally an unpowered vehicle pulled by a powered vehicle A railroad car or railway carriage is a Vehicle on a rail transport system (railroad or railway that is used for the carrying of Cargo or This is in contrast to lo-lo (lift on-lift off) vessels which use a crane to load and unload cargo. A crane is a lifting machine equipped with a Winder, Wire ropes or Chains and sheaves that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to

RORO vessels have built-in ramps which allow the cargo to be efficiently "rolled on" and "rolled off" the vessel when in port. A drawbridge is a type of Movable bridge typically associated with the entrance of a Castle. While smaller ferries that operate across rivers and other short distances still often have built-in ramps, the term RORO is generally reserved for larger ocean-going vessels. "Riverine" redirects here For the use of that term in Maritime geography, see there The ramps and doors may be stern-only, or bow and stern for quick loading.

Types

Spirit of Vancouver Island, a Canadian RORO ferry

Another Canadian RoRo Ferry, the Chi-cheemaun operating on Lake Huron

The Pride of Burgundy, a P&O Ferries passenger car ferry on the Dover-Calais English Channel route which can carry 600 cars. P&O Ferries (formerly P&O European Ferries) is a constituent company of DP World (which took over its parent company the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation ^[1]

Various types of RORO vessels include ferries, cruiseferries, cargo ships, and barges. See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a Cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry. A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of Ship or vessel that carries Cargo, goods and materials from one port to another BARGE, the Big August RecGambling Excursion is a yearly convention held in Las Vegas during the first weekend of August A true RORO's ramps can serve all of the vessel’s decks; otherwise it is a hybrid type. New automobiles that are transported by ship around the world are often moved on a large type of RORO called a Pure Car Carrier (PCC) or Pure Car Truck Carrier (PCTC).

Unlike elsewhere in the shipping industry where cargo is normally measured by the metric tonne, RORO cargo will typically be measured in the more convenient unit of lanes in meters (LIMs). This is calculated by multiplying cargo length in meters by the number of decks and by its width in lanes (lane width differs from vessel to vessel and there are a number of industry standards). Aboard PCCs cargo capacity is often measured in RT or RT43 units which is based on a 1966 Toyota or by car equivalent units (CEU).

The largest RORO passenger ferry is MS Color Magic, a 75,100 GT cruiseferry that entered service in September 2007 for Color Line. A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a Cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry. This article is about a ferry operator for the civil rights issue see Color-line. Built in Finland by Aker Finnyards, she is 223. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. Aker Yards Oy, or Aker Yards' Finnish yards is a Finnish Shipbuilding company 70 m (733 ft 11 in) long, 35 m (114 ft 10 in) wide and can carry 550 cars as well as 1270 lane meters of cargo. ^[2]

The RORO with the greatest car-carrying capacity is the Ulysses (named after a novel by James Joyce) which is owned by Irish Ferries. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 &ndash 13 January 1941 was an Irish expatriate writer widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the Irish Continental Group plc,, trading as Irish Ferries, is a quoted Irish Ferry operator She entered service on 25 March 2001 and operates between Dublin and Holyhead. Events 1199 - Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France which leads to his death on April 6. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Dublin (ˈdʌblɨn/ /ˈdʊblɨn or /ˈdʊbəlɪn/, bˠalʲə aːha klʲiəh or cliə(ɸ is both the largest city and capital of Ireland. Holyhead ( IPA /ˈhɒlihɛd/ Welsh: Caergybi, "the fort of Saint Cybi " is the largest town in the county of The 50,938 GT ship is 209. 02 m (685 ft 9 in) long and 31. 84 m (104 ft 6 in) wide, and can carry 1342 cars and 4101 lane meters of cargo. ^[3]

History

At first, wheeled vehicles carried as cargo on oceangoing ships were treated like any other cargo. Automobiles had their gas tanks emptied and their batteries disconnected before being hoisted into the ship’s hold, where they were chocked and secured. This process was tedious and difficult, vehicles were subject to damage, and could not be used for routine travel.

The first RoRo ships were ferries carrying steam trains across rivers. See also Merchant ship A train ferry is a Ship designed to carry railway vehicles One of the earliest was Firth of Forth ferry in Scotland which started in 1851 and operated for nearly forty years, until the completion of the Forth Bridge. The Firth of Forth ( Scottish Gaelic: Linne Foirthe) is the Estuary or Firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows For the nearby road bridge see Forth Road Bridge. The Forth Bridge is a cantilever Railway Bridge over the

Ferries hauling rail cars were used after the US Civil war in New York harbor, the Great Lakes and the St. Clair River in Detroit. Causes of the war See also Origins of the American Civil War, Timeline of events leading to the American Civil War The coexistence of a slave-owning South New York Harbor, a geographic term refers collectively to the rivers bays and tidal estuaries near the mouth of the Hudson River in the vicinity of New York City Navigation on St Clair Riverjpg|thumb|250px|Great Lakes Freighters navigating on the lower St By the latter quarter of the century, car ferries were a common sight in San Francisco and Puget Sound. A car ferry worked the Columbia River for many years at Kalama for the Northern Pacific Railway. The Columbia River (known as By the turn of the century, car ferries became important adjuncts to railway systems particularly those which were discontinuous due to geography. Montreal, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and the Islands of Japan were all cut by water, and thus needed ferries. Montreal, or Montréal in French ( pronounced in French, in English) is the largest city in the Canadian province of Quebec Newfoundland may refer to Newfoundland and Labrador, a Canadian province (known simply as Newfoundland from 1949 to 2001 Eastern part of Canada The Capital of Newfoundland Prince Edward Island (ˌprɪns ˌɛdwɚd ˈaɪlɨnd ( PEI or P For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. Russians used car ferries on Lake Baikal to move rail cars while the line was finished. Lake Baikal (о́зеро Байка́л Ozero Baykal, ˈozʲɪrə bʌjˈkɑl Байгал нуур Baygal nuur) is in Southern Siberia in Russia

Carrier Princess, Seaspan Coastal Intermodal ferry in Active Pass, March, 2007

During WWII, landing craft were the first ships enabling road vehicles to roll directly on and off. Active Pass is a narrow passage separating Mayne Island and Galiano Island in British Columbia, Canada 's Southern Gulf Islands Landing craft are Boats and seagoing vehicles used to convey a Landing force ( Infantry and Vehicles) from the sea to the shore during an Post war, the idea was adopted for merchant ships and short ferry crossings. The first RoRo service crossing the English channel began from Dover in 1953. Dover is a town and major ferry port in the county of Kent, England. Year 1953 ( MCMLIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

In 1957 the US military issued a contract to the Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Chester, PA for the construction of a new type of motorized vehicle carrier. Year 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar) Chester is a city in Delaware County Pennsylvania, with a population of 36854 at the 2000 Census. The ship, Comet, had a stern ramp as well as interior ramps which allowed cars to drive directly from the dock, onto the ship, and into place. Loading and unloading was speeded dramatically. Comet also had an adjustable chocking system for locking cars onto the decks, and a ventilation system to remove any exhaust gases that accumulated during vehicle loading.

Car carriers

Skaugran

The Cetus Leader, a 6500 unit PCTC

A PCC ship's starboard side showing side ramp

Since 1970 the market for exporting and importing cars has increased dramatically and the number and type of RO/ROs has increased also. In 1973, Japan’s K Line built the European Highway, the first Pure Car Carrier (PCC), which carried 4,200 automobiles. This article refers to a Japanese shipping company For other meanings see K-line (disambiguation. Today’s pure car carriers and their close cousins, the Pure Car/Truck Carrier (PCTC) are distinctive ships with a box-like superstructure running the entire length and breadth of the hull, fully enclosing and protecting the cargo. They typically have a stern ramp and a side ramp for dual loading of many thousands of vehicles, as well as extensive automatic fire control systems.

The PCTC has liftable decks to increase vertical clearance as well as heavier decks for "high and heavy" cargo. A 6500 unit car ship with 12 decks can have three decks which can take cargo up to 150 tons with liftable "panels" to increase clearance from 1. 7 meters to 6. 7 meters on some decks. Lifting decks to accommodate higher cargo reduces the total capacity.

With the building of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics's 8000 CEU car carrier Stockholm Faust in June of 2007 the car carriers entered a new era called the LCTC (Large Car & Truck Carrier). ^[4]

Risks

The seagoing RORO car ferry, with large external doors close to the waterline and open vehicle decks with few internal bulkheads, has a reputation for being a high risk design (to the point where the acronym is sometimes derisively expanded "Roll On/Roll Over"^[5]). A bulkhead is an upright wall within the hull of a Ship. Other kinds of partition elements within a ship are decks and Deckheads Etymology An improperly-secured loading door can cause a ship to take on water and sink, as happened for example in 1987 with the Herald of Free Enterprise. Construction In the late 1970s Townsend Thoresen decided to commission the design and construction of three new identical ships for their Dover – Calais route Water sloshing on the vehicle deck can set up a free surface effect making the ship unstable and causing it to capsize. The free surface effect is one of several mechanisms where a craft can become unstable and roll-over ( Capsize) The common definition for capsized refers to when a Boat or Ship is tipped over until disabled Free surface water on the vehicle deck was determined by the Court of Inquiry to be the immediate cause of the 1968 capsize of the Wahine in New Zealand ^[6]. The Wahine disaster occurred on 10 April 1968 when the TEV Wahine, a New Zealand inter-island Ferry of the Union Company

Benefits

While the characteristics of seagoing RORO car ferries have inherent risks, there are benefits to its seaworthiness. For example the car carrier Cougar Ace listed 80 degrees to its port side in 2006 but did not sink, since its high enclosed sides prevented water from entering. The M/V Cougar Ace is a Singapore -flagged RO-RO (Roll On-Roll Off car carrier vessel

Variations of RORO

ROPAX

The acronym ROPAX (roll on/roll off passenger) describes a RORO vessel built for freight vehicle transport but also with passenger accommodation. See also Merchant ship A ferry is a form of transport usually a Boat or Ship, used to carry (or ferry) passengers and Technically this encompasses all ferries with both a roll on/roll off car deck and passenger-carrying capacities, but in practice ships with facilities for more than 500 passengers are often referred to as cruiseferries. A cruiseferry is a ship that combines the features of a Cruise ship with a Ro-Pax ferry.

ConRO

The ConRo vessel is a hybrid between a RORO and a container ship. Container ships are Cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size containers in a technique called Containerization. This type of vessel has a below-decks area used for vehicle storage while stacking containerized freight on the top decks. Containerization (or containerisation) is a system of Intermodal freight transport Cargo Transport using standard ISO containers Examples of ConRo ships such as those in the fleet of Atlantic Container Line can carry a combination of 1,900 twenty-foot-equivalent-units (TEUs) of containers, up to 1,000 TEUs of heavy equipment, as well as project and oversized cargo on three decks and up to 2,000 automobiles on 5 decks. Separate internal ramp systems within the vessel segregate automobiles from other vehicles, mafi trailers and breakbulk cargo.

RoLo

A RoLo (roll-on lift-off) vessel is another hybrid vessel type with ramps serving vehicle decks but with other cargo decks accessible only by crane.

See also

• List of RORO vessel accidents
• Konkan Railway Corporation
• Train ferry
• Car float
• Ferry

References

External links

• IMO and ro-ro safety
• Ro-Ro shipping rates and online consumer guide
• Atlantic Ro-Ro Carriers, company employing ro-ro vessels
• Atlantic Container Line, vessel specifications
• Royal Haskoning, RoRo and Criuse Terminal
• Cut-away of PCC