THEBELAND OR THE MINIMUM MANNED SHIP

ABSTRACT One of the hard facts of maritime economics is that high ship manning costs are undermining the competitiveness of Western shipping. Western ships are inexorably being driven back to the linear trades. We are also being freed to develop capital‐intensive ships, relying on extensive mechanization and automation to replace unnecessary manpower, and on careful management. One potential dividend should be greater operational safety. In Sweden the rising costs of operation have forced Brostrom's Rederi AB – with the full cooperation of labor unions and government – to develop the Thebeland class of 16 man ships. These have, of course, only a “cockpit crew,” intended simply to drive the ships from sea buoy to sea buoy. Heavy reliance is placed on port services at either end of a voyage, and on shoreside maintenance and upkeep. There are many implications to all this. Crew design must be placed by (1) bridge, cargo handling, and engine room design; (2) personnel restructuring; and (3) extensive education and training. Shipboard system integration also requires proper shipping infrastructure to support it. These countries which have a close working relationship between government, builders, owners, insurers, manufacturers, and labor stand a better chance than those which do not. It seems clear that Brostrom's new ships represent a real quantum leap into the maritime future. But one can reach a point where, in the interest of economy, too many people are displaced, and the safety of the vessel is jeopardized by the technology aboard. Do we not need to begin scientifically – not emotionally – to determine today's real economic and safe limits of crew size, and to set standards?