Hyundai Heavy unveils boxship design with no lashings

South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has developed a containership design which requires no lashings.

HHI removed the lashing bridge and hatch cover in its new design, which has been approved by both ABS and the Liberian Registry.

 Instead, the yard has developed a device called a portable bench which receives the load of the containers on the deck and transfers it to the hull. The company has extended the cell guide, which enables vertical stacking of containers, to the deck.

The containers on top of the deck are fixed by the extended cell guide, eliminating the need for lashing.

“Loss of containers overboard is one of the biggest design and operational challenges facing the container ship segment. The lashing-free container ship design not only enhances the safety and environmental protection, but also offers improved operational efficiency for the container loading/unloading operations,” commented Thomas Klenum, Liberian Registry executive vice president.

“It is a creative technology that can fundamentally eliminate lashing-related work and resulting cargo loss, which is a major topic in the container shipping industry recently,” said Won Ho Joo, senior executive vice president at HHI.

The lashing of containers has become problematic as boxships have nearly quadrupled in capacity this century.