Much effort has been made to develop energy-saving ships in the last three decades, which reduced the necessary horsepower of the main engines. However, ship operators have recently pointed out that such energy-saving ships lose speed in comparison with conventional ships when traveling through waves. Ships with better performance in waves even with smaller horsepower are desired. In response, NKK started a research and development project several years ago, and recently succeeded in creating a new bow shape named “Ax-Bow”. “Kohyohsan”, which is the first vessel to adopt the “Ax-Bow”, was delivered in June 2001. This is a 172,000DWT Cape size bulk carrier, whose GT and DWT are 87,493t and 172,564t, overall length is 289.0m and breadth is 45.0m, and her flag is that of Panama.

Ax-Bow, Bow shape, Energy saving, Ship performance at sea