Stability assessment of the river-sea Vessel Train

Abstract

Vessel Train is a novel waterborne transport concept which implies several digitally connected vessels sailing in a convoy. Vessel Train is consisted of a "lead vessel" and one or more "following vessels". The lead vessel is fully manned, while the following vessels are remotely controlled from the lead vessel via a control system. This could allow the following vessels to sail either with a reduced crew or with a crew off-duty. This paper addresses the stability assessment of the Vessel Train consisted of the river-sea ships, which are subject to operational limitations when sailing in maritime environment. Using the Second Generation Intact Stability Criteria framework, it is investigated how sailing in the Vessel Train would affect the operational limitations of the river-sea ships depending on their design and operational features.