RESEARCH TOWARDS MORE EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION BY SEA

This paper attempts to show that more efficient overseas transportation is a vital need at this point in history for the world in general and the United States in particular. It is suggested that planned economic and social changes can, with the aid of modern technology, produce vastly improved transportation systems in response to this urgent need. A research and development program directed toward such improved transportation by sea is outlined, beginning with the problems of water transportation systems-including economic and sociological aspects, ports and terminals and ship operation. Research projects in the area of ship design and construction are then considered, covering technical problems of automation, cargo handling, power plants, and economical construction. On the thesis that advances in the design of overseas transportation systems-through the introduction of an optimum degree of unitization of cargoes, automation, and co-ordination with land transport-will make advances in fundamental technical knowledge imperative, an immediate research program is recommended in the fields of ship powering, seakeeping, controllability, and structures. Suggestions are also given for basic research, and the paper concludes with a discussion of the problem of administration of maritime research in the United States. The material presented is intended as a basis for discussion rather than as a final research program.