2024-03-15 23:22:43
In the history of the merchant navy, this is unheard of. Record this year for orders for “Ro-Ro”, ro-ro boats, these boats dedicated to the transport of vehicles. Ships so practical that the largest electric car manufacturers in the world, the Chinese at BYD, have their own ro-ro. Last month, at a northern German port, 5,500 cars rolled off a single Chinese ro-ro ship. The French also have innovative ideas to occupy the ro-ro market.
We call them “Ro-Ro”, from the English Roll-on, Roll-off (“board/disembark while driving”). These ships are as little known to the general public as they are original and imposing. They are recognizable by their loading ramps. Equipment that allows them to board any type of vehicle running flat. Quite the opposite of maneuvers at height for other freight liners where container cranes are used.
Aymeric Avisse is a merchant navy officer, he also directs the magazine Young Marine. He used ro-ro boats on all the seas of the world:
« In English, we don’t say “Ro-Ro”, we say “Car Carriers”. Ro-Ro carriers have a large number of car decks. These models transport cars between Asia and Europe. You have other models of ro-ro vehicles which have decks capable of adapting to vehicle formats. We see them more along the African coasts. Their specific ramps allow the transport of trucks, construction equipment and buses. Some ro-ro vehicles exist for larger transport, I am thinking of parts for the Ariane rocket or the Airbus A380. »
Not all ports can accommodate ro-ro ships. It is not necessary to have deep water basins. On the other hand, we need quays on which we can place the access ramps to the ships.
Neoline, the sailing ro-ro champion
In France, ro-ro vehicles have a future, and undoubtedly a pioneering future. This is a first: the French company Neoline has invented a new machine, the ro-ro sailboat. A new, more ecological ro-ro boat to protect the planet.
CMA-CGM, the French logistics transport giant, made no mistake, it is participating in the Neoline project. Jean Zanuttini, the president of Neoline, plans to build a second ecological ro-ro by 2026.
« The ecological concern among shipowners is today global, he said. It’s true that our Neoline ro-ro sailboat is slower and smaller than the others. But we are distinguished by three things, explains Jean Zanuttini: on the one hand, a higher garage ceiling height (of the order of 9.80m), then, our roads are roads that do not yet exist. Our lines are located between the French port of Saint-Nazaire, and the American port of Halifax, and those of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and Baltimore. We offer offers for other types of goods than rolling vehicles. On the other hand, with our unloading, we save our customers close to ports from having to reload on road trucks to factories or warehouses. »
On the podium of the ro-ro market, we find the Japanese, the Koreans and the Europeans. But the Chinese arrive very quickly behind. Moreover, of the 183 global orders for new ro-ro ships, a good half will come from Chinese construction sites.
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