 control systems.
The PCTC has liftable decks to increase vertical clearance, as well as heavier decks for "high-and-heavy" cargo. A 6,500-unit car ship, with 12 decks, can have three decks which can take cargo up to 150 short tons (136 t; 134 long tons) with liftable panels to increase clearance from 1.7 to 6.7 m (5 ft 7 in to 22 ft 0 in) on some decks. Lifting decks to accommodate higher cargo reduces the total capacity.
These kinds of vessels perform a usual speed of 16 knots at eco-speed, while at full speed can achieve more than 19 knots.
With the building of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics's 8,000-CEU car carrier Faust out of Stockholm in June 2007 car carriers entered a new era of the large car and truck carrier (LCTC). Currently, the largest are Wilh. Wilhelmsen's "Mark V" ships, led by MV Tønsberg.
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 to "roll on/roll over". An improperly secured loading door can cause a ship to take on water and sink, as happened in 1987 with MS Herald of Free Enterprise. Water sloshing on the vehicle deck can set up a free surface effect, making the ship unstable and causing it to capsize. 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 TEV Wahine in New Zealand.
Despite these inherent risks, the very high freeboard raises the seaworthiness of these vessels. For example, the car carrier MV Cougar Ace listed 80 degrees to its port side in 2006, but did not sink, since its high enclosed sides prevented water from entering.
Some RORO ship casualties are mentioned here.
The acronym ROPAX (roll-on/roll-off passenger) describes a RORO vessel built for freight vehicle transport along with passenger accommodation. 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.
The ConRo vessel is a hybrid of a RORO and a container ship. This type of vessel has a below-deck area used for vehicle storage while stacking containerized freight on the top decks. ConRo ships, such as those in the fleet of Atlantic Container Line, can carry a combination of 1,900 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of containers, up to 1,000 TEU of heavy equipment, project and oversized cargo on three decks, and up to 2,000 automobiles on five decks. Separate internal ramp systems within the vessel segregate automobiles from other vehicles, Mafi trailers, and break-bulk cargo.
A RoLo (roll-on/lift-off) vessel is another hybrid vessel type, with ramps serving vehicle decks but with other cargo decks only accessible when the tides change or by the use of a crane.
Large, Medium-Speed Roll-on/Roll-off (LMSR) refers to several classes of Military Sealift Command (MSC) roll-on/roll-off type cargo ships. Some are purpose-built to carry military cargo, while others are converted.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to RoRo ships.|
- Frank Bustard
- Konkan Railway Corporation
- List of roll-on/roll-off vessel accidents
- Rolling highway
- Yacht transport
- Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7.
- "Forth Place".
- Marshall, John (1989). The Guinness Railway Book. Enfield: Guinness. ISBN 0-85112-359-7
- George Parker Bidder; not to be confused with the lawyer (his son)who represented Bouch at the Tay Bridge Inquiry
- "Memoirs of Deceased Members" (PDF). Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. PART 1 63 (01): 301–8. January 1881. ISSN 1753-7843. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
- Shipway, J.S. (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
- "Subterranea Britannica: Sites:Scotland Street Tunnel". subbrit.org.uk.
- "News of the Week". Bathurst Free Press (NSW : 1849 - 1851) (Bathurst, New South Wales: Natio