Cruise ship construction time lapse

[bikkuri bahn]

I really don't like cruise ships that much, but this time lapse video of a cruise ship under construction that was recently delivered by MHI at their Nagasaki Shipyard is quite interesting.

Edited March 17, 2016 by bikkuri bahn

[Martijn Meerts]

It's like Lego, just on a slightly larger scale =)

[Suica]

Pretty neat, thanks for sharing! Installing that bridge looked like putting on a big hat.

 

I gotta show this to my colleague. She's a real Aida fan, going on one to two cruises per year, visiting the ship launches and so on.

[ozman2009]

Thanks for that, very interesting. That ship has an unusual hull form, with the straight stem. All the other cruise ships I've seen have it raked. What was the port?

[miyakoji]

This took me on a 90 minute non-railway detour of YouTube.  Thanks Bikkuri.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

;)

[cteno4]

I think they are going back to the old vertical prow of classic liners. even new warships are doing them now that no one is out on deck much so splash is not as much of an issue. Probably less resistance over all with the vertical prow.

 

Jeff

[Suica]

 What was the port?

It's built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at their Nagasaki shipyard. The AIDAprima is the lead ship of the Hyperion-class and will be delivered this month. Her sister ship, the AIDAperla is currently under construction at Nagasaki and will be delivered in March next year.

[JR 500系]

This is amazing work! I didn't know how they build a ship until now!  :)

[cteno4]

thank Mr Kaiser in WWII as he started building liberty ships in this type of modular construction big time and welding them all together (before most was all individual parts one at a time and mostly all rivets) by constructing larger parts off ship and laying in big modules.

 

now its down to total lego construction. some places they build modules off site as well and also all the plumbing, wiring, air, etc are pre done and just pop together! Cruise ships are now even doing it with the cabins, they roll in as cabin units and just plug in to their spot and services! this way they can assemble quickly and build cabins off site as well as do upgrades later by plugging in new cabins. Even the newer warships and research ships are doing a lot of their internal stuff modular so that they can reconfigure internally for different missions quickly. really is a totally new world in marine construction!

 

sorry this stuff i love, i grew up on a ship and next to a shipyard...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[kvp]

The hull shape looks like a normal panamax to me, but i haven't checked the exact sizes. The ship has an awful shallow draft for the high height but that could come handy in lots of small ports.

[katoftw]

It's like Lego, just on a slightly larger scale =)

Unlike lego.  If they forgot to put the engine in, you cannot just lift the top off.   :laughing3:

[Suica]

The hull shape looks like a normal panamax to me, but i haven't checked the exact sizes.

It's actually Post-Panamax. More than 37m wide.

The Hyperion-class is a big step for AIDA Cruises. The largest ships they had so far were around 70,000 GT. The Hyperion-class has 125,000 GT.

[kvp]

It's actually Post-Panamax. More than 37m wide.

Waterline or across the protuding bridge? In the latter case it may still sqeeze through the old locks.

[Kiha66]

Unlike lego.  If they forgot to put the engine in, you cannot just lift the top off.   :laughing3:

Instead you just cut a hole in the bottom!

[spacecadet]

I think they are going back to the old vertical prow of classic liners. even new warships are doing them now that no one is out on deck much so splash is not as much of an issue. Probably less resistance over all with the vertical prow.

I immediately noticed that too, but I haven't seen that on any other modern cruise ships. And these ships only go about 20 knots max, so bow design probably isn't as important as it was when liners were looking to get every bit of speed they could.

 

I've looked into cruise ship bow design before (the one cruise ship I've taken, the Emerald Princess, also has an unusual bow design) but it's surprisingly hard to find anything really definitive on why one cruise ship has a certain kind of bow and another has a different shape. All of these ships serve basically the same function. I think it's probably just to look distinctive more than anything.

 

I couldn't really see in the video but I assume it does at least have a bulb below the waterline, which is almost universal now and does provide for less water resistance. The design of the bow above the waterline is probably a lot less important unless you're anticipating rough seas.

[cteno4]

Bulb nose is a very tried and true effecency design to minmize the bow wave.

 

I'm sure these days they are looking at the best efficiency/speed ratio they can get! Also the modern cruise ships are getting so tall to the decks there is little worry of bow splash/spray so the large overhanging prows are not as necessary.

 

I think you are right it's also distinctive right now to have the vertical prow. Harkens back to the old yachts and ocean liners. Here is the ship I grew up on, was build for the silent movie star Constance Bennett. Really classic 20's yacht look. Later in life it was turned into a research ship in a few different variations.

 

Jeff

Edited March 20, 2016 by cteno4

[railsquid]

Do they put cruise control in these things?

[Mr Frosty]

A lot of ships can be controlled via a computer programme at head office that details speed, direction, destination and the route.

 

If the captain deviates from this, then the company will want to know why.

[kvp]

Instead you just cut a hole in the bottom!

There is no need. As you can see on the video, they left a central shaft open to the top. This allows each motor to be replaced with a crane, but looks to be a hard task as the shaft is between the motors and barely enough to lift one out. At least the propulsion pods are easy to replace.

 

The design of the ship reminds me of a container ship, trying to maximise the awailable space. It's not a ship that is meant for rough seas and would probably sunk in a storm without computer controlled stabilisation. The propulsion pods are for low running noise and easy docking but together with the shallow draft they make the ship look like a self propelled barge instead of a classic ocean liner. (it's a cruise ship, so that's ok, it's a swimming resort hotel)

 

ps: for a train related example, compare the seven stars cruise train with the newest shinkansen

[cteno4]

Azipods also give better efficiency by being able to be move the prop away from the hull in clear water and have the prop face into the direction of travel in clear water to pull the ship rather than push it. Also makes them nimble for their size getting in and out of very busy ports these days. Also multiple generator units so if done generator goes down you still have both props still functional and if an azipod goes out you still have more control than when you loose one of two fixed screws.

 

Most all large ships are now built like this in modules.

 

Jeff

[spacecadet]

A lot of ships can be controlled via a computer programme at head office that details speed, direction, destination and the route.

By "head office" do you mean the bridge, or the actual company head office?

 

Most modern cruise ships do have what amounts to an auto-pilot on the bridge, which has the full route plan and controls the ship while out in open water. (Ships are still guided manually into and out of port.) However, minor deviations for any number of reasons do happen all the time.

 

But I don't know of any ships that are controlled from land. Maybe some *can* be, but it's certainly not normal operation.

[kvp]

Controlled here might mean a route planner plots the route and speed data and this is sent to the crew. One of the officers load this route into the navigation computer of the ship and once out on the sea and in the starting area of the route, it gets activated. It's more of a gps based assistant though providing heading and speed sugestions that should be followed by the person supervising the steering. Autopilots mostly just keep speed and heading and watch for objects on the radar between waypoints.

[Mr Frosty]

By "head office" do you mean the bridge, or the actual company head office?

Yes company head office. Although, I probably should have said that the office provides a pre programmed course and route for the ship on a computer memory stick. The vessel is then tracked from the operations centre who monitor its voyage. .

[Kiha66]

I think I may have seen that ship under construction.  While my ship was tied up at the Sasebo shipyard last summer due to a typhoon I took the train to Nagasaki for an evening.

Edited March 24, 2016 by Kiha66