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The digitalisation in the ship design sector is currently applied to the design process itself and is well defined, partially standardised and practically implemented by both independent design companies and the design departments of shipyards. The situation is similar in other sectors of engineering. However, the requirements for the digitalisation of other processes in design and engineering companies have not previously been studied, and the limited financial resources of ship design companies mean that there is a need for research on the digitalisation needs of multidisciplinary ship design companies. The implementation of building information modelling (BIM) solutions is costly for design companies and generates benefits mainly for shipyards and shipowners. The lack of benefits for design companies leads to the hesitation of managers whenever digitalisation is considered; the scope and scale of the digitalisation, as well as the selected software and BIM level, are defined by the shipyard requirements. The participation and support of management in the digitalisation process is one of the key success factors; the expected benefits caused by digitalisation for the organisation will increase the motivation of managers to invest limited resources in digitalisation. There are no data that indicate the processes with a high potential for digitalisation and the scale of expected improvements in ship design companies; therefore, research in this area was performed with a group of project managers from design and engineering companies. The research focused on collecting the opinions and experiences of the managers related to the manual management of resources and comparing the poll results with the conclusions from the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system data analyses. The paper analyses if the digital automation of the resource management process can lead to the substantial improvement of the operations of multi-project, multidisciplinary engineering ship design companies.

Container ship length was estimated using artificial neural networks (ANN), as well as a random search based on Multiple Nonlinear Regression (MNLR). Two alternative equations were developed to estimate the length between perpendiculars based on container number and ship velocity using the aforementioned methods and an up-to-date container ship database. These equations could have practical applications during the preliminary design stage of a container ship. The application of heuristic techniques for the development of a MNLR model by variable and function randomisation leads to the automatic discovery of equation sets. It has been shown that an equation elaborated using this method, based on a random search, is more accurate and has a simpler mathematical form than an equation derived using ANN.

The increase of seakeeping performance is of particular importance for car and passenger ferries, service ships in the gas and oil extraction industry and offshore wind power farm industry, as well as for special purpose ships (including military applications). In the water areas of the Baltic Sea, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea, which are characterised by a short and steep wave, the hull shape has a substantial impact on the operational capacity and propulsion efficiency of the ship, as well as on comfort and safety of navigation. The article analyses selected aspects of seakeeping for four variants of a selected case study vessel, indicating practical limitations of the strip method. The analysed aspects included hull heaving and pitching, added resistance, Motion Thickness Indicator (MSI), and Subjective Magnitude (SM). Experimental tests were also performed in the towing tank. Their comparison with the numerical results has indicated high inaccuracy of the strip method. What is more, the simplified representation of hull shape used in the strip method makes it impossible to analyse the effect of hull shape changes on the predicted seakeeping characteristics. Especially for the case of head wave, neglecting highly non-linear phenomena, such as slamming or head wave breaking, in strip method-based computer simulations will significantly decrease the reliability of the obtained results. When using the strip method, the seakeeping analysis should be complemented with model tests in a towing tank, or by another more complex numerical analysis, such as CFD for instance.

This paper presents results of an analysis of the operating and maneuvering parameters (length, width, draft, main propulsion power and maneuvering equipment, and windage area) of the Ro-Pax ferries over 150m in length. The analysis takes into accounts all ferries operating in the Baltic Sea in 2017. The work also includes route analysis of the collected Ro-Pax units. The influence of port infrastructure is also discussed. The mean optimal Baltic Sea Ro-Pax ferry and its parameters for short term and long term forecasts are presented. This paper may be used as a primary guideline for the determining the optimal Ro-Pax ferry dimensions size for the Baltic lines in terms of preliminary ship design.

The paper presents a method for preliminary estimation of the length of the midship body block, which inserted in the original hull, increases the deadweight of the ship in line with a required quantity. The method may be useful for establishing the scope of conversion to better adjust the ship for transportation tasks. The problem is formulated by using a mathematical model so selected that its solution, under set of assumptions, is obtained in a closed analytical form. The presented method can be useful for application to pre-investment analysis of the ship conversion costs and functional profits.

The paper presents a method of evaluating the optimal value of the cargo ships deadweight and the coupled optimal value of cargo handling capacity. The method may be useful at the stage of establishing the main owners requirements concerning the ship design parameters as well as for choosing a proper second hand ship for a given transportation task. The deadweight and the capacity are determined on the basis of a selected economic measure of the transport effectiveness of ship – the Required Freight Rate. The mathematical model of the problem is of a deterministic character and the simplifying assumptions are justified for ships operating in the liner trade. The assumptions are so selected that solution of the problem is obtained in analytical closed form. The presented method can be useful for application in the preliminary ship design or in the simulation of pre-investment transportation task studies.

The paper presents a method of choosing the optimal value of the cargo ships deadweight. The method may be useful at the stage of establishing the main owners requirements concerning the ship design parameters as well as for choosing a proper ship for a given transportation task. The deadweight is determined on the basis of a selected economic measure of the transport effectiveness of ship - the Required Freight Rate (RFR). The mathematical model of the problem is of a deterministic character and the simplifying assumptions are justified for ships operating in the liner trade. The assumptions are so selected that solution of the problem is obtained in analytical closed form. The presented method can be useful for application in the pre-investment ships designing parameters simulation or transportation task studies.