DESIGN-DRIVEN INNOVATION: A PROPOSAL FOR IMPROVING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF LOGISTICS IN IRELAND...
Transcript of DESIGN-DRIVEN INNOVATION: A PROPOSAL FOR IMPROVING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF LOGISTICS IN IRELAND...
Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
DESIGN-DRIVEN INNOVATION: A PROPOSAL FOR IMPROVING THE
SUSTAINABILITY OF LOGISTICS IN IRELAND THROUGH A MODAL SHIFT TO
COASTAL VESSELS
S McCartan and T Thompson, EBDIG-IRC, Coventry University, UK
G Lynch, EBDIG, NMCI, IRL
SUMMARY
Increased awareness of an over reliance on fossil fuels and the need to reduce transport CO2 emissions (formalised in EU
and national directives) has brought into sharp focus the need for energy efficient transport modes for passengers and
freight. An IEA report proposed that shifting freight from energy intensive modes such as road and air to rail and
shipping should be a priority for many countries. Comparing energy use by sector for EU-28, Ireland has the highest
percentage energy consumption for transport at 40% compared to an EU-28 average of 33%, as it has the highest
reliance on road infrastructure for freight transport at 99.1% compared to the EU-28 average of 75.5%. Ireland does not
use the inland waterways for freight transport compared to an EU-28 average of 6.7%.
This paper presents Design-Driven Innovation scenarios for the use of the coastal waterways of Ireland for both freight
and tourism, based on the EU MoS (Motorways of the Sea) proposal. There are two key objectives of the EU MoS
proposal, to reduce road transport congestion by direct replacement with water based transport routes and to reduce
transport CO2. The congestion aspect relates to the cost of motorway infrastructure and the delays in journey time. Two
Design-Driven Innovation scenarios are proposed, on for each coast. An MoS scenario for the East coast based on the
technical innovation of the Incat Francisco, which can compete with road transport due to having a top speed of
100Km/h combined with a fine dining experience for luxury tourism. A Wild Atlantic Way by sea scenario for the west
coast proposes the use of the BMT Alaskan high speed ferry, which facilitates luxury tourism through fully integrated
media and fine dining, and a passenger hydrofoil with the design meaning of a first class train. Both of these vessels are
capable of travelling at 60km/h, offering tourists reduced transit time and spectacular views of the rugged coastline of
the Wild Atlantic Way. This proposed transport innovation would enable tourist to travel to more locations in a given
holiday, due to reduced travel times, resulting in increased expenditure.
1. INTRODUCTION
Increased awareness of an over reliance on fossil fuels
and the need to reduce transport CO2 emissions
(formalised in EU and national directives) has brought
into sharp focus the need for energy efficient transport
modes for passengers and freight. An IEA report [1]
states that: “Shifting freight from energy intensive modes
such as road and air to rail and shipping should be a
priority for many countries. Freight road transport has
significant external costs...” The IEA recommends that
governments focus on improving the sustainability of
freight transport and notes that this requires the provision
of infrastructure to assist with improved freight logistics
and to encourage modal shift. Comparing energy use by
sector for EU-28, Ireland has the highest percentage
energy consumption for transport at 40% compared to an
EU-28 average of 33%.[2]
In an analysis of the modal split for freight transport
between road, rail and inland waterway, for EU-28 in
2012. Ireland has the highest reliance on road
infrastructure for freight transport at 99.1% compared to
the EU-28 average of 75.5%. Ireland does not use the
inland waterways for freight transport compared to an
EU-28 average of 6.7% [2]. A recent Environmental
Protection Agency report on sustainable transport in
Ireland concludes: “There is a policy gap in the area of
freight and policy makers should develop a separate
national freight strategy with input from stakeholders and
industry representatives in order to evaluate the potential
for more efficient road freight and freight modal shift
from road to rail and/or inland waterways.” [3] This
present paper provides a preliminary investigation into
the potential of the coastal waterways of Ireland for
carrying commercial transport – freight and passengers.
1.1 MOTORWAYS OF THE SEA
The EU Trans-European network (TEN-T) Priority
Project 21 on Motorways of the Sea (MoS) [4] builds on
the EU’s goal of achieving a clean, safe and efficient
transport system by transforming shipping into a
effective alternative to overcrowded land transport. The
concept aims at introducing new inter-modal maritime
logistics chains to bring about a structural change to
transport organisation, namely door-to-door integrated
transport chains. The objectives of these chains are to be
more sustainable and commercially more efficient than
road-only transport. To facilitate these objectives a
greater exploitation of maritime transport resources, rail
and inland waterway, into an integrated transport chain
will be required. Motorways of the Sea will thus improve
access to markets throughout Europe, and bring relief to
the over-stretched European road system. The three main
objectives for the sea motorways projects are: freight
flow concentration on sea-based logistical routes;
increasing cohesion; reducing road congestion through
modal shift. Motorways of the Sea will also help
implement the policy initiatives on the European
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
maritime space without barriers and the maritime
transport strategy for 2018[5].
The EU economy is one of the most open in the world.
The future prosperity of the continent will depend on the
ability of all of its regions to remain part of a fully
integrated world economy. The transport industry is an
important part of the economy: in the EU it directly
employs around 10 million people and accounts for about
5% of GDP. Growing congestion and poorer accessibility
are significant issues, given that fuel costs and
congestion levels are expected to rise significantly by
2030, leading to further divergences in accessibility. In
October 2009, the European Council showed support for
the objective of reducing GHG emissions in the EU by
80% to 95% by 2050 compared to 1990 levels, resulting
in a tight carbon budget for the transport
sector. Transport accounts for about one fourth of GHG
emissions: 60% comes from passenger transport, one
quarter is urban, less than one quarter is inter-continental
over half of which is medium-distance [3]. To meet these
challenges transport has to: use less energy; use cleaner
energy; exploit efficiently a multimodal, integrated and
‘intelligent’ network. This has resulted in the following
Ten Goals for competitive and resource efficient
transport:
1. Halve the use of ‘conventionally-fuelled’ cars in
urban transport by 2030; phase them out in
cities by 2050; achieve essentially CO2-free city
logistics by 2030.
2. 40% of low-carbon sustainable fuels in aviation
and 40% (if feasible 50%) less emissions in
maritime by 2050.
3. Optimising the performance of multimodal
logistic chains, including by making greater use
of more energy-efficient modes.
4. 30% of road freight over 300 km should shift to
other modes by 2030, and more than 50% by
2050.
5. A fully functional and EU-wide multimodal
TEN-T ‘core network’ by 2030.
6. By 2050, connect all core network airports to
the rail network; all seaports to the rail freight
and, where possible, inland waterway system.
7. Deployment of SESAR by 2020 and completion
of the European Common Aviation Area.
Deployment of ERTMS, VTS, ITS, SSN,LRI, RIS
and Galileo.
8. By 2020, establish the framework for a
European multimodal transport information,
management and payment system.
9. By 2050, move close to zero fatalities in road
transport.
10. Move towards full application of “user pays” and
“polluter pays” principles.
The EU White Paper on transport [6] proposes that these
goals will be achieved through: internal market
stimulation; innovation; and infrastructure investment.
The internal market will create a genuine single
European transport area by eliminating all residual
barriers between modes and national systems. MoS
example: E-Maritime initiative for paperless and
intelligent shipping. EU research needs to address the full
cycle of research, innovation and deployment in an
integrated way. In terms of infrastructure the revision of
TEN-T (2011) based on the creation of a ‘core network’
and on a corridors’ approach, will result in over € 1.5
trillion investments from 2010-2030 [6]. The Motorways
of the Sea (MoS) is the building block for the Maritime
Dimension of TEN-T, covering the whole European
maritime space and the financing framework for
maritime (ports and shipping).
2. PORTS AND SHIPPING
With specific reference to Ireland, the majority of the
international freight movements to and from the island of
Ireland are by sea, with the exception of a very small
tonnage of airfreight. With very few direct container
sailings to destinations across the Atlantic, most
intercontinental container trade travels on feeder
container ships across the Irish Sea to deep sea ports
either in Great Britain or in mainland Europe. The ferry
movements crossing the Irish Sea can be divided into
corridors as shown in Figure 1. The Central Corridor
additionally can be subdivided between short sea
journeys to / from Holyhead and long sea journeys to /
from England’s north-west: Liverpool, Fleetwood or
Heysham. This traffic can be split into two groupings.
Accompanied (red line): This freight tonnage is
transported to and from the ferry by the same tractor and
driver. This provides a more flexible and faster service.
Accompanied vehicle movements are strongly
concentrated on the shorter distance services such as
Holyhead to Dublin and Cairnryan to Larne. Whereas,
unaccompanied (blue line): The trailer carrying the
freight tonnage is dropped off by a driver at the domestic
port and travels by ferry without its driver or tractor. A
different driver at the overseas port collects the trailer
plus consignment. Unaccompanied is more competitive
over the longer distance crossings, such as the flows
from Cherbourg to Rosslare (Continental Corridor) or
Northern Ireland to the north-west of England. [7]
The Lo-Lo flows to the island of Ireland from mainland
Europe are also shown in Figure 1 (green line). This
tonnage is loaded and unloaded by dock-side crane and
therefore is not automatically transported by road at
either end. Currently Waterford is the only Irish port that
has an active rail connection to its container berths. The
different types of freight handled by the ports are shown
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
in Figure 2, where Rosslare and Larne primarily deal
with Ro-Ro traffic, and Foynes (Shannon) with bulks.
The largest ports by volume are Dublin and Belfast,
which have facilities to handle all the main types of
commodities. The largest ports for Ro-Ro shipments are
on the east coast. Ro-Ro is particularly focussed on the
shortest crossings because it carries higher value, time-
sensitive goods. [7]
Figure 1: Ro-Ro Accompanied / unaccompanied and Lo-
Lo freight tonnes shipped to the island of Ireland [7]
The most recent freight transport report for the island of
Ireland, published in 2008 [7], identified that the overall
tonnage of Ro-Ro goods exceeds that of any of the other
cargo types, twice as much as Lo-Lo. This trend was
identified as unusual in the European context, indicating
the very open nature of both NI and Eire economies.
Where it was the unitised traffic (Lo-Lo and Ro-Ro),
rather than the bulk goods, that is the source of the
growth in tonnage passing through the ports, North and
South. In line with the rapid growth in economic trade,
containerised traffic over the decade to 2006 through,
North and South, had increased by 125 % in TEU
volume, while Ro-Ro has increased by 70% units of
vehicles.
3. ROAD FREIGHT AND INFRASTRUCTURE
The volume of freight tonnes in 2006 [7] transported by
road between different ‘NUTS3’ regions is shown in
Figure 3. This data was compiled from haulier surveys of
Irish and Northern Ireland registered goods vehicles and
therefore excludes the tonnes on vehicles registered
outside the island of Ireland. The map shows all
movements originating at a single point representing
each region, for reasons of clarity of illustration. The
largest volume of tonnes transported between regions is
usually between neighbouring regions (particularly
Dublin and Mid-East), with relatively low volumes being
transported beyond 100 miles. The corresponding
monetary value of freight transported by road between
NUTS3 regions is shown in Figure 4, where the
commodity price per tonne for each type of commodity
transported has been used to calculate the overall value
of each inter-regional freight movement.
Whilst Dublin remains the region with the most inter-
regional road haulage, its main trading partner has
changed from the Mid-East region to Northern Ireland
when measuring the value rather than the volume of
goods. This highlights the importance to the economy of
the high-value haulage of foodstuffs and finished
manufactured goods, which tend to be moved over long
distances, relative to the lower value raw material inputs
to manufacturing production and particularly to
construction, many of which tend to be moved over short
distances from the closest point of potential supply. The
broad trend in developed economies is for the long
distance haulage of higher value goods to become an
increasing proportion of freight traffic. [7]
Figure 2: Port sizes by category of goods received [7]
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Figure 3: Freight tonnes moved by road between NUTS 3
regions [7]
Figure 4: Freight value moved by road between NUTS 3
regions [7]
4. DESIGN DRIVEN INNOVATION
To facilitate design innovation marine designers should
consider implementing a Design-Driven Innovation
strategy as is often employed within product design.
People do not buy products but buy design meanings.
People use things for profound emotional, psychological,
and socio-cultural reasons as well as utilitarian ones.
Analysts have shown that every product and service in
consumer as well as industrial markets has a design
meaning. Marine designers should therefore look beyond
features, functions and performance, and understand the
real design meanings users give to vessels. [8]
Figure 5: DDI as research [8]
Figure 6: The strategy of DDI [8]
The process of Design-Driven Innovation is an
exploratory research project, which aims to create an
entirely new market sector for a given product through
changing the design meaning the user has for the
product. It occurs before product development, as shown
in Figure 5, and is not the fast creative brainstorming
sessions that are typical of concept generation but a
design investigation similar to technological research. In
essence, it is the development of a design scenario
through engaging with a range of interpreters in
technology and cultural production. Knowledge is
generated from immersion with the design discourse of
the interpreter's groups. The process can be structured or
unstructured and is dependent upon the nature of the
relationship of the client with the interpreters. The
interaction between innovation of design meaning and
technology innovation can transform the market within
an industry and even create new market sectors. The two
strategies are complimentary as technological and socio-
cultural models are inextricably linked, evolving together
in innovation cycles. The successful interaction between
design-driven and technology-push innovation is called a
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
technology epiphany, shown in Figure 6, it creates a
market leader and in some cases a completely new
market sector. It is the basis for successful products such
as the Apple iPod. [8]
McCartan et al [9] presented a design concept based on
this high speed platform to compete with road transport
and air transport, supported by specialised infrastructure
to optimise the vessel loading and unloading process for
cars and HGVs. The vessel design combined the
following functions: high speed ferry as an alternative to
HGV road transport; passenger ferry as a alternative to
flights; luxury cruising cabins. It is based on a 120m
trimaran platform designed to operate at 40 knots as a
coastal cruiser in the Mediterranean, connecting the coast
of Spain, France and Italy. The project was an
engagement in Design-Driven Innovation (DDI), with the
objective of changing the design meaning of what a
multi- purpose commercial vessel can be. Proposing the
CLF (Cruise Logistics Ferry) as a new market sector for
the commercial marine industry. The key driver was
sustainable luxury, as the vessel is multifunctional,
providing a high speed alternative to less sustainable
modes of transport. Thus addressing the growing
European definition of green luxury with the potential to
create a new market sector between cruise ships and high
end passenger ferries, while also reducing motorway
traffic and hence logistics carbon footprint. This trimaran
platform would not have sufficient seakeeping capability
to operate in the Irish Sea.
The ultra-luxury small cruise ship sector has experienced
significant growth in recent years. McCartan and
Kvilums [10] presented a design proposal for a
catamaran eco-luxury cruise ship, which integrates a
Passive Design methodology within the marine design
process, with the objective of reducing the energy
consumption of the vessel as an ecological statement
enhancing the sense of luxury within the design. The
design is an evolution of luxury in cruising, creating a
new market through Design-Driven Innovation, with the
objective of offering green luxury user experience with a
sense of intimacy similar to that of a superyacht. The
concept design shows the potential of Passive Design as
a means of reducing emissions in line with EEDI
legislation, by reducing hotel loads such as HVAC
systems and lighting. While this proposal was designed
for the Mediterranean where the HVAC requirements are
a considerable energy consideration. The use of the
catamaran hull compared to a mono-hull design reduces
the power requirement and hence CO2 by 56% at
13knots and by 68% at 22 Knots, based on a target
displacement of 650 tonnes. A critical factor in
developing a DDI scenario for coastal logistics is to be
able to compete with the road based HGV as the majority
of goods will be time critical.
5. THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY BY SEA
Tourism plays a significant part in Ireland’s economic
recovery, supporting 140,000 jobs and contributing €1.4
billion to the Exchequer in 2013. By 2025 the Ireland
aims to deliver 250,000 jobs and to achieve €5 billion in
tourism revenue. This requires visitor revenue to grow by
5% per year for the next ten years and attract 10 million
visitors annually by 10,000. [11] To achieve these
ambitions an Action Plan to be published in early 2016
will deliver the following:
highest standards of environmental and
economic sustainability in promoting peace and
political co-operation on the island of Ireland
mobilise assets of people and place
The National climate policy in Ireland aims to achieve
transition to a competitive, low-carbon, climate resilient
and environmentally sustainable economy by 2050 and a
key action in achieving this is to offer tourists a low-
emissions choice. [12] Launched in 2014, the Wild
Atlantic Way is a long-distance touring route, stretching
along the Atlantic coast from Donegal to Cork for
2,500km, which aims secure more international visitors
to stay longer and spend more.
Engaging in Design-Driven Innovation scenario the
proposal of the Wild Atlantic Way by sea proposes two
vessel types for the whole of the route a coastal cruise
ferry providing car transport and fine dining in an interior
resolved to support the experience of tourism. The other
vessel is a coastal hopper hydrofoil which has the design
meaning of a first class train carriage, enabling tourism
to travel further and seem more and spend more. The
vessel proposals have the potential to build tourism
capacity towards the achievement of the 2025 targets for
low-carbon choice, asset mobilisation in terms of
utilising existing infrastructure the length and breadth of
the Atlantic seaboard. Given that this WAW is a new
tourism offering there are no published figures for the
number of visitors or the number of vehicles used.
However, given 7.3 million overseas visitors to Ireland in
2014 and the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation
predicts 400,000 extra people in 2015 [13]; given that
80% used a private car and given that 64% of bed nights
sold in Ireland were in the regions of the WAW [14], we
estimate that approximately 1.3 million cars shall travel
various sections of the Wild Atlantic Way in 2015.
Making the WAW accessible for more international
visitors to stay longer and spend more can be facilitated
by building luxury hopper services all along the Atlantic,
utilising existing port, pier and marina infrastructure.
Visitors will experience Ireland’s craggy coastline from
the seaward side.
The UK is the most important international tourism
source market for the island of Ireland, accounting for
over half of all visitors and almost 40% of
holidaymakers. It accounts for over a third of all tourism
revenue. Over one million British holidaymakers visit
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Ireland each year, of which 25% are from the highest AB
social class. The US is the second most important
tourism market for Ireland. In 2011, there were 846,000
visitors. The US accounts for around 17% of all overseas
visits but generates 20% of all tourism revenue. It is the
most affluent market as 25% of US holidaymakers are
from the highest AB social class. These two largest
markets together provide in excess of 460,000 tourist
from the highest AB social class who would be potential
client for the luxury wild Atlantic way by sea
experience.[15]
5.1 Wild Atlantic Way Coastal Cruiser Ferry
In order to offer Class AB social group tourists a positive
expereince it was important to identify a ferry platform
which could offer good seakeeping in the high sea states
Atlantic sea while being able to maintain a speed
comparable to road journeys to enable them to see as
much of the coast as possible. The BMT Alaska Sea
Highway was selected as it can achieve 65 kph. The
designers were presented with a simplified wave
condition summary, 2m Hs with a peak period of 4-6
seconds. This condition is more severe than 99% of the
conditions expected to be seen. The designer was
required to meet motion sickness goals of 10% MSI in
these conditions with the use of T- foils and no more than
15% MSI without. [16] This correlates well with the
Atlantic ocean. It can carry 34 cars and 160 passengers,
and is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7: BMT Alaska sea highway [16]
Fundamentally the interior design objective is to
facilitate HNWI tourism with a strong focus on cultural
contextualisation as indentified in the analysis of the two
largest tourist source countries to Ireland. A key interest
identified for all of these groups is fine dining. Therefore
the activities which must be facilitated by the design
proposal are fine dining and multimedia
contextualisation of the trip, with digital image
management linked to social media. As these people like
to present the daily developments of their trip as a fluid
social media narrative with associated peer discourse.
The GA proposal for the passenger deck of the BMT
vessel is shown in Fig.8. Where the central bar area,
(Figure 9) with a strong biophilia theme, is the focal
point for two dining areas on either side at the rear of the
vessel. The port side dining area is shown in Figure 10, it
combines an ethereal atmosphere created by the mood
lighting with panoramic views of the coast on southerly
routes. Here the transparent area dividers have large
screen for showing cultural media, such as Irish dancing
and traditional Irish music, which could be streamed live
from venues to which the tourist are travelling. In order
to add to the authenticity of the experience.
The lounge area is shown in Figure 11, where the
multimedia coffee tables are a multimedia resource with
collaborative social media tools for exploring the regions
of future travel and sharing images of previous journeys,
as point of conversational reference. This area is
designed to facilitate the large demographic spread
between large family groups and individual travellers the
tables range in layout for 4 or 8 people. The idea being,
to introduce travellers to each other to discuss their
experience of the holiday. Individuals may chose to
associate with people from the same culture or country,
or even chose to be alone. To this end the lounge area has
reading pods (Figure 12), which provide individuals with
a personal space and a table where they can dine alone,
without feeling expose the noise levels of the dining area.
The online booking system will enable users to select
their view point for the coastal vistas. For those seated on
the opposite side of the vessel, there is a camera system
to provide them with the view on a personal media
screen.
Figure 9: Central bar area
Figure 10: Port side dining area
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Figure 11: Lounge area
Figure 12: Reading pods
5.2 Wild Atlantic Way Hopper Service
Most island hopper tourist vessels operating in Ireland
are converted fishing boats or catamarans operating at
relatively low speeds. The WAW hopper services will
transport 40 people on the Eurofoil [17], which is a
single deck passenger hydrofoil vessel with aft-located
power plant and a bow thruster. This engages in DDI as
the hydrofoil platform offers good sea keeping and low
power consumption for a maximum speed of 60km/h.
This will enable visitor to have very fast transit time to
coastal islands with the design meaning of a first class
train carriage. The vessel shown in Figure 13, would
offer class AB tourist unparalleled views of the coast line
with the luxury of a 1st class train travel
.
Figure 13: Eurofoil [17]
Figure 14: Interior seating in row configuration
Figure 15:Interior seating in table configuration
Figure 16: View of table configuration
The Eurofoil is a much smaller vessel with adaptable
interior to facilitate groups of up to 8, in the same social
space the seats are flipable with a large leg pitch to
facilitate high BMI tourists, in a high degree of comfort.
The vessel also has a key role of providing integrated
logistics for air freight through carrying air containers in
its adaptable modular interior. The row and table seating
configurations are shown in Figure 14 and Figure 15
respectively. Where the individual seats are rotated and
flipped to produce 2 sets of 2 seats facing each other,
with a wall mounted retractable table. This table (Figue
16) has a multimedia surface for the groups to create
social media diaries and collaborative posts. When 2 sets
of 4 people are on both sides of the isle as a group of 8,
the multimedia tables can be linked to create a shared
collaborative social media space for the group as a
whole.
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© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
6. EAST COAST MoS
The use of 0.9% rail transport compared to 99.1% road
transport, for the modal split of freight transport for 2012
is an underutilisation of potential multi-modal logistics
solutions. However, a significant consideration of both
road and rail transport is the cost of infrastructure
construction and maintenance, in addition to the cost of
modal nodes. Whereas, coastal waterway transport can
use existing coastal ports. The key opportunity building
on the DDI development of the CLF is to combine
tourism with logistics needs. As Ro-Ro tend to be time
critical goods it would be critical to compete with road
journey times as an assessment criteria. Considering the
freight value moved by road between NUTS3 regions as
shown in figure 4, the following observations can be
made:
Over 2000 Million Euro trade between Dublin
and Belfast
Over 2000 Million Euro trade between SW and
SE
1000- 2000 Million Euro trade between SE and
Dublin
This value of trade could rationalise the use of a high
speed catamaran to reduce the motorway HGV volume,
which could facilitate capacity growth by reduced
congestion on the motorway system. The number of
vessel in use could then increase to improve transport
capacity thereby avoiding the significant infrastructure
investment required to increase motorway capacity.
In analysing the freight tonnes moved between NUTS, as
shown in Figure 5, it can be seen that there is a potential
east coast route connecting: SW; SE; Dublin; Border.
This is based on the fact that the annualised freight flow
between these regions is between 2,000,000 and
5,000,000 Thousands of Tonnes.
Figure 17: Incat 100m catamaran Francisco [18]
As speed is a critical factor the Incat catamaran Francisco
[18] which is capable of 100km/h top speed with a DWT
of 450t, has been selected. It would be capable of
carrying 18 24t TEUs. The journey time analysis is
shown in Table 1 for the proposed routes Dublin to
Belfast and the route: Cork; Rosslare; Dublin; Drogheda.
Considering loading/unloading time in addition to the
journey time, 2 return journeys can be completed daily
on the Cork-Drogheda route, and 4 return journeys can
be completed daily on the Dublin-Belfast route. The
routes are shown in Figure 18. Based on each of these
routes operating one vessel, the cargo capability analysis
is shown in Table 2, based on the 2009 freight volume
estimates. Where based on the annual freight tonnes
estimates, the Cork-Drogheda route vessel could transfer
13%-33% of road transport TEUs to coastal transport.
The Dublin-Belfast route vessel, which could achieve 4
return journeys daily, could transfer 26%-66% of road
transport TEUs to coastal transport. This modal shift
would support the EU 30% target for modal shift of road
freight to other modes by 2050. The other key EU target
is a reduction in CO2, which will be analysed in the
further work of the authors. The Incat operates two GE
22MW LM 2500G4+ marinised gas turbines, which are
designed to operate on LNG, thereby significantly
reducing NOx and SOx compared to MGO.
Figure 18: Map of proposed routes
7.0 DISCUSSION
7.1 Wild Atlantic Way
The WAW Hopper Service ticks all of the boxes to build
tourism capacity towards the achievement of the 2025
targets for low-carbon choice, asset mobilisation in terms
of utilising existing infrastructure the length and breadth
of the Atlantic seaboard. Given that this WAW is a new
tourism offering we estimate that approximately 1.3
million cars shall travel various sections of the Wild
Atlantic Way in 2015. Making the WAW accessible for
more international visitors to stay longer and spend more
can be facilitated by building luxury hopper services all
Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
along the Atlantic, utilising existing port, pier and marina
infrastructure. Visitors will experience Ireland’s rugged
coastline from the seaward side.
The hopper service could link the WAW into marine
infrastructure from Waterford in the south to Derry in the
North using appropriate ports of call along the route.
This means that visitors could hop onto the WAW
Hopper service in Waterford in the morning, complete a
sea leg of the WAW, and arrive in Kinsale for dinner.
This journey would take 2hrs 20mins compared to 2 hrs
by road. Longer routes such as Kinsale to Westport
would take 6.5hrs by WAW ferry instead of 4 hrs by
road. The flexibility of the high speed ferry would enable
tourist to cover larger distances of the WAW without
having to drive, enjoying rural areas when they arrive
refreshed and informed, by the use of the multimedia
tools.
“The Future of Luxury Travel, A Global Trends Report”
was a qualitative and quantitative research project which
was carried from 2011 to 2013 [19]. To measure the
main trends and challenges of the luxury travel industry,
an Internet survey with luxury travel buyers and
suppliers was conducted, and one-on-one interviews with
CEOs or senior representatives from major luxury travel
groups worldwide are being conducted. In addition, focus
groups with buyers (tour operators and travel agents who
provide a distribution channel for reaching the consumer,
i.e., the luxury traveller) and suppliers (including airlines,
cruise lines, hotels, etc.) took place in Singapore and
New York. The key observations of the luxury travel
market report were:
A differentiation of ultra-luxury from affordable
luxury
A re-direction of supply to meet the resilient
demand by the super-wealthy
To recover ultra-luxury positioning,
authenticity, content, knowledge, real
relationships, customisation and personalisation
are redefined as ruling principles.
The real luxury culture of service has returned.
Traditional know-how, choice of materials,
craftsman’s products all contribute to the
uniqueness of product and a one-to-one
relationship with customers.
Luxury travel providers now focus on
sustainable development and luxury customers
feel more entrusted with social responsibility as
opposed to ostentation.
By 2020, 100 million outbound tourists from
China are expected.
The Chinese market is considered the key driver
of global luxury, with an estimated 250million
Chinese now able to afford luxury products.
The primary destination for luxury travel is
Europe, listed as the top luxury destination by
41% of the interviewees.
a small number of operators offer cruises aboard
smaller ships (50-100 guests) that can carry a
limited number of passengers and are
exclusively reserved for high-end customers
This analysis has informed the interior development of
both vessel interiors. The significant use of IT enables
the class AB tourist to immerse themselves in the
experience and to encourage detailed planning of their
holiday through social media and multimedia. The high
speed luxury nature of the WAW by sea could appeal to
the Chinese market. Where it could be implemented as a
curated experience of shopping and culture.
Hurtigruten is the Norwegian coastal passenger and
freight shipping service which operates between Bergen
and Kirkenes. Completing the round-trip journey in 11
days. The trip has been described as the "World's Most
Beautiful Sea Voyage". Since the 1980s, Hurtigruten has
placed more emphasis on tourism. New, bigger and more
luxurious ships were introduced, with attention given to
hot tubs, bars, restaurants and other comforts. However,
Hurtigruten still serves important passenger and cargo
needs, and operates 365 days a year. The company has
nearly 2% of the worldwide cruise market [20]. This
synthesis of coastal logistics and luxury tourism could
create a new and innovative market sector in Ireland
given the significant international tourism market in the
island of Ireland.
7.2 East Coast MoS service.
The estimation of the costs of transport have been
important issues for European transport research and
policy development for many years. Estimating the
economic costs of transport infrastructure including
depreciation and interest on capital and running costs can
be done using the Perpetual Inventory Method (PIM) or
the Synthetic Method. Each of these
accounting philosophies has its own strengths and
weaknesses. In a review of the two methods Doll and
Essen [21] recommend the Synthetic Method for
infrastructure accounting purposes. This method is
considered superior if there is no tradition of calculating
infrastructure costs with the PIM approach due to the
better availability of the required data, the reflection of
current infrastructure quality and the relation of cost
accounting to existing physical objects of the road
network. They reported similarities of cost levels and
cost structures between the big Western European
countries, € 600,000 (Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain) and
€ 800,000 (France) per motorway kilometre. Their main
finding was that unit costs for motorways are roughly ten
times higher than for trunk or urban roads.
Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
The indicative motorway infrastructure costs per km for
a HGV24t in Ireland was reported to be 0.273677
Euro/vehicle kilometre. This figure has be used in Table
3 to estimate infrastructure cost saving created by
transferring HGVs to coastal shipping. [20] For both
routes the combined annual road infrastructure cost
saving was €5.3million Euro, which would be
€53.9million over a 10 year period. In developing a
operational cost model for the East Coast route vessels, it
is essential to consider the magnitude of these
infrastructure costs savings over the operational life of
the vessel. It is also important to quantify the benefit of
reduced motorway congestion, as the modal shift of
TEUs from road to coastal logistics would enhance
motorway capacity. Thereby supporting economic
growth without the significant cost of new motorway
building at €600k-€800k per kilometre. In effect, this
Design-Driven Innovation proposal could increase the
time window before the motorway system reaches
capacity by reducing HGV traffic volumes. The
operational cost model will be developed in the further
work of the authors. A critical factor in the success of
this MoS proposal would be the optimisation of freight
containers. This preliminary analysis was based on the
assumption that all containers were at maximum load,
which will need further examination and consideration as
a area in for innovation.
7.2.1 The Physical Internet
Given that a city centre to city centre route is considered
along the East coast from Dublin to Belfast, urban
logistics becomes a consideration of the freight to be
carried on the Incat. Both Dublin and Belfast are city
ports with highly populated residential and central
business districts areas adjacent to the port centres.
Therefore, servicing the last mile of a door-to-door
logistics service between Dublin and Belfast can be
considered. The “last-mile” is regarded as one of the
more expensive due to a number of factors such as
security costs, high delivery failure rates, efficiency and
environmental performance. [22] Also, smaller freight
transport payloads are required, such as boxes, containers
and pallets rather than ISO containers sizes. Achieving
maximum utilisation of the 18 24t TEU capacity on
board the Incat could be achieved by taking a modular
approach to the allocation and design of the vessel so as
to deliver cargo direct into an urban city landscape, and
thus reducing the cost of last mile delivery in comparison
to road based transport. The goods onboard the Incat
could be offloaded onto smaller urban transport modes
such as electric vehicles or even cycle courier solutions
for distribution throughout the busy urban environments.
One such inspirational movement in freight transport is
towards the advent of the Physical Internet (π). Inspired
by the paradigms of the Digital Internet, the Physical
Internet enables organizations to move and deploy
physical products seamlessly though logistical networks
just like data packets move through the Digital Internet,
transparently, efficiently and heterogeneously; enabled
by guiding protocols. This concept is gaining momentum
as a global, interconnected, and sustainable logistics
system, underpinned by standard containers that are
easily transported by various modes. The containers
move though distributed, multimodal transport networks
in which transit sites aggregate containers and optimize
the containers for the step in the network. [23] In the
context of the Physical Internet, there are two important
categories of firms: the π-Enablers and the π-Enabled.
Figure 19: Type of business model innovation strategy
for the Physical Internet [21]
The introduction of the Physical Internet will force firms
to innovate. Figure 12 shows the relationships between π-
Enabler firms and π-Enabled firms. π-Enabler firms
provide the necessary physical and material
infrastructure, including a full range of services. The
standardization that this suggests for the Physical Internet
to be efficient (e.g., containers, vehicles, equipment) will
transform current providers. π-Enabled firms exploit the
potential value creation induced by the Physical Internet
to create value for the full range of stakeholders
involved.
Remarkably the realization of the Physical Internet will
allow manufacturers the opportunity to reach new
markets by increasing frequency, reducing constraints
related to lot size, and reducing the cost of delivery. The
emerging trend towards mass customization of products
will become easier thanks to the reduction of shipping
costs. The recently EU funded project Modulushca [24]
furthered the goals of the Physical Internet by developing
modular units that could be readily deployed in the Incat
East Coast MoS service. By maximising the utilisation of
the carrying capacity by using π-modular units (Figure
20), maximising speed of delivery between urban centres
we propose the world’s first physical internet modular
coastal cruiser.
Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Figure 20: Modular units [24]
7.2.2 e-Maritime
The implementation of e-maritime support platform for
smart shipping corridors will be critical to the safety of
operation of these high speed craft. The e-maritime
support platform for smart shipping corridors has two
main pillars: volumetric navigation concept (VNC) and
fleet management operation (FMO). Monitoring
information is given to maritime administrations to
control operations and master through enhanced onboard
systems. New platform providing volumetric navigation
support the smart decision of masters and allows
increasing waterways traffic efficiency in a safe manner.
Each vessel is surrounded by an envelope of safety
ensuring the proper navigation. High accuracy precision
based on expected new Galileo services, oceanographic
and weather conditions (sea currents speed and direction,
wind speed and direction), manoeuvrability of vessels,
are some of the key inputs for performing those
envelopes. All of them are interchanged using VHF
communications based on AIS binary messages. New
ongoing protocol VDE as future of AIS will be integrated
with ports. This key pillar will provide a navigation
support tool to Increase infrastructures use and passage
density capability by 20% on regulated areas based on a
realistic risk assessment on infrastructure constraints and
navigation conditions. A reduction of waiting times and
bottle necks will be achieved mainly in the load/unload
berths where the freight change of mode of transport
(vessel / truck). The other pillar is focused in emissions
reduction which can be obtained through an optimisation
of waste times of shipping stakeholders. Truck fleet
management concepts will be applied to fleet vessels in
order to monitor and optimize times of voyage of
vessels. ETA and ETD times of vessels and trucks will
be optimised as a consequence of sharing information
between stakeholders involved. There will be an
umbrella over those two pillars called Smart corridors.
Waypoints on route will be provided dynamically during
voyage integrating both concepts VNC and FMO.
The EU Regional Aid Guidelines (RAGS) [25] allow the
provision of enhanced rates of State Aid in the least
economically developed areas. The 2014-2020 RAGS
were implemented on 1st July 2014. Under the terms of
the RAGS, regions covering 51.28% of Ireland’s
population were designated as ‘assisted areas’, which
represents the majority of the coastal areas for the
proposed integrated water transport system. This enables
Ireland's enterprise development agencies to grant State
aid, at enhanced rates, to businesses in order to support
new investment and new employment in these most
disadvantaged regions. Regional aid is also provided
under schemes for tourism grants, marine tourism, urban
and rural renewal and other tax-based development
schemes. This State financial instrument would be the
key mechanism to realise infrastructural upgrades to
support this WAW by sea as a seamlessly integrated part
of a luxury holiday in Ireland for class AB tourists.
8.0 CONCLUSION
The Design-Driven Innovation scenario for the use of the
coastal waterways of Ireland as an integrated logistics
solution for freight on the east coast, and luxury tourism
on the west coast has been developed. The key objectives
of the scenario were to support the EU CO2 targets for
transport, and to reduce congestion through a modal shift
of road transport logistics and tourism traffic to the
coastal waterway. Potentially this proposal could
increase the time window before the motorway system
reaches capacity by reducing HGV traffic volumes.
Three existing vessel platforms have been identified,
with initial exploration of interior design requirements. A
detailed operational cost model is required to quantify
the benefits of the proposal. This should consider the cost
of vessels in the context of the reduction of road
infrastructure cost, provided by the modal shift. A critical
aspect of the scenario is the implementation of an e-
maritime support platform to develop smart shipping
corridors based on volumetric navigation concept (VNC)
and fleet management operation (FMO). This is a first
step in the analysis of the potential of the coastal and
waterways of Ireland, to meet the EU targets for
transport while also using innovation to create a
paradigm shift in the tourism industry. Namely, the
WAC (Wild Atlantic Coast), a sea route extending the
business opportunities of the WAW (Wild Atlantic
Way). State aid has been identified as a potential funding
mechanism to support the realisation of these proposals.
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Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
10. AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
Dr Sean McCartan holds the current position of Course
Tutor, Boat Design at Coventry University, UK. His key
research area is TOI (Transfer of Innovation) from other
sectors to the marine industry, in the areas of Design-
Driven Innovation (DDI), advanced visualisation and
Human Systems Integration(HSI). He leads the EBDIG
(European Boat Design Innovation Group) network,
which includes Chalmers University; Genoa University;
TU-Delft; and a number of leading European marine
design consultancies. He is currently project co-ordinator
for the Leonardo TOI project EBDIG-WFSV (European
Boat Design Innovation Group - Wind Farm Support
Vessels), which aims to develop online training material
for Naval Architects in the subject areas of: Human
Factors; WFSV design (Industrial Design); WFSV
mothership design (Industrial Design).
Tim Thompson holds the current position of part-time
CAD lecturer in the Department of Industrial Design at
Coventry University, UK. He is currently project
Research Assistant for the Leonardo TOI project
EBDIG-WFSV (European Boat Design Innovation
Group - Wind Farm Support Vessels). His CAD teaching
is informed by his professional practice within his design
consultancy, which specialises in photorealistic
visualisation for the superyacht design and interior
design industry.
Grainne Lynch holds the current position of Lecturer in
Transport and Logistics at the National Maritime College
of Ireland, Chairperson of the Chartered Institute of
Logistics and Transport Southern Section of Ireland,
member of mirror group of the European Technology
Platform Alliance for Logistics Competitiveness in
Europe. She is a technology champion who’s been
leading and teaching transport, logistics and supply chain
professionals how to plan, execute and interact with
information technology, manage data, make informed
decisions about IT spends, plan service and maintenance
and future proof their investment for the last twelve
years.
Marine Design 2015, 2-3 September 2015, London, UK
© 2015: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects
Routes
Distance
Road @ Sea @ % Duration
From To Road (km)
Sea (km) 60km/h 100km/h Decrease
Cork Rosslare 192 180 3.20 1.80 44%
Rosslare Dublin 154 130 2.57 1.30 49%
Dublin Drogheda 53 65 0.88 0.65 26%
Dublin Belfast 168 207 2.8 2.07 26%
Table 1:Comparison of road and sea journey times on East coast route
East Coast Low High
Annual Freight Tonnes 2,000,000 5,000,000
No. 24t TEU eqivalent 83,333 208,333
directional split one way 41,667 104,167
Daily tonnage one way 2,740 6,849
Daily Operational % Daily tonnage (450t DWT)
1 vessel 4 journeys 33% 13%
1 vessel 8 journeys 66% 26%
Table 2: cargo capability of east coast route
Routes Annual Infrastructure Costs
From To low High scenario
Cork Rosslare € 4,378,832 € 10,947,080 € 1,380,908
Rosslare Dublin € 3,512,188 € 8,780,470 € 1,107,604
Dublin Drogheda € 1,208,740 € 3,021,850 € 381,188
Dublin Belfast € 3,831,478 € 9,578,695 € 2,416,590
Annual Total € 12,931,238 € 32,328,096 € 5,286,290
Total over 10 years
€ 129,312,383 € 323,280,956 € 52,862,902
Table 3: Estimated annual infrastructure costs for road transport
Figure 8: GA proposal for passenger deck on BMT Alaskan Highway Vessel