Developing Motorways of the Sea ? Only HSC has the answer

Growing traffic on land motorways, everyday closer to their level of saturation, challenges the efficiency of road transport, in terms of costs, transit time and pollution.

The alternate solution considered by the European Commission consists of re-routing road traffic to fast and competitive maritime links.

The major obstacle, and not an easy one to by-pass, is the unbearable “slow” speed of the so-called “fast” conventional ships (30 km/h – 18.6 mph) which do not deliver the kind of service standard that the road hauliers are expecting and accustomed to (the mean speed on European roads is 60 km/h – 37.2 mph). The vast majority of road hauliers simply turned down the offers of shipping lines for not meeting their minimum service requirements, thus leading to the present failure of Motorways of the Sea.

The alternate solutions promoted by the EC still makes sense though, provided the maritime lines are operated with “real” high speed ships

HSC’s high speed, a sure way to gain back hauliers and shippers discouraged by the slow conventional ships

The specific design of HSC stabilised mono-hulls, already pre-qualified by certification agencies, combine a long wave-piercing hull with a strong and light egg shape body allowing high speeds for a limited power output; heavy fuel is used instead of expensive diesel oil thus limiting energy costs further .

HSC cargo ships sail at about 32 knots (58 km/h – 36 mph) in all weather conditions, even in rough seas, a performance in terms of services punctuality that conventional ferries can hardly match. For instance, the first HSC cargo ship, named HSC C160, has already been pre-qualified for sailing at full speed in 6 metres-high waves (19.7 ft).

The resulting short transit time combined with low operating costs makes High Speed Motorways of the Sea competitive with road transport (HSC operating costs per trailer range from 0.60 to 0.70€/km depending on maritime links and loading factors, figures approximately 20% under direct haulage costs). Besides, this limited operating cost remains fairly stable year after year : a major part consists of fixed costs such as depreciation or interests and variable costs are limited. “HSC” Motorways of the Sea are sustainable on the long run.

HSC economics for Motorways of the Sea : profits without public money

Motorways of the Sea need only limited adaptation of port infrastructure regardless of the distance involved as opposed to rail or road networks which demand huge investments; all existing ports can operate such services whether transoceanic harbours or local ports less saturated and free from traffic congestion

HSC ships turn Motorways of the Sea into profitable operations after a short start-up period; they put an end to permanent public funding policies, including the famous “subsidies to empty ships” that accompanied the first Motorways of the Sea experiments - all of them being money losers.

HSCs, the « green » ships adapted to European standards

According to European Commission criteria, the environmental impact of maritime transport (0.009 €/km) is 4 times lower than the impact of road haulage (0.035 €/km) and still twice less than rail transport (0.015 €/km). HSC can deliver the service (competitive with road haulage) at a much more limited “environmental” cost

See also the article about our partner Boulogne-sur-Mer Hub-port

Have a look too to his own site Hub de Boulogne