SUBMARINE SUPERTANKER
August 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
Barges are used primarily for internal waterways such as the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Like ships, barges are slow and subject to freezing conditions.
The early 1970s witnessed a major advance in coastal and transoceanic shipping. Ships were redesigned to handle containerized freight or conex containers, which hold smaller packages and freight. These containers enable ships and barges to link more efficiently with trucking and railroads. Ships combining with trucks provide what is called fishyback service. Those combining with railroads are known as seatrains. Containerized freight cuts down on damage and pilferage of goods both major disadvantages of water transportation. In addition, containerized ships can transport stacked conexes on deck, which increases their load capacity.
The remote Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, fields, 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, hold the richest known reserves of natural gas in North America but the problem has always been getting the gas to market. General Dynamics proposed a solution right out of Jules Verne. It hopes to build a fleet of gigantic 950,000 ton submarine supertankers to ferry liquefied natural gas (LNG) on a 3,200-mile voyage beneath the Arctic ice cap to ports on the East Coast of Canada and in Europe.
General Dynamics, one of the nation’s largest shipbuilders, insists undersea supertankers are technically and commercially feasible. The company builds nuclear submarines for the U.S. Navy and commercial LNG tankers, and the new ships would be a hybrid of proven submarine and LNG tanker technology. Each sub would carry 37 million gallons of LNG chilled to minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit. The as seen on television plan calls for them to load at an underwater terminal on the ocean floor without surfacing.
