Ro-Ro Ships

Ships where the cargo is wheeled or is loaded / unloaded on board in vehicle or platforms
equipped with wheels

Introduction:
Ro-ro - Roll-on/roll-off.
To transport trains, too wide for the bridges, across rivers.
Roll-on/roll-off ships are vessels that are used to carry wheeled cargo(automobile,
trucks, ramps ,etc,
The ro-ro ship is different from lo-lo (lift on-lift off) ship that uses a crane to load the
cargo.
The vehicles in the ship are loaded and unloaded by means of built-in ramps.
Normally these ramps are made towards the stern (backside) of the ship.
In some ships, they are also found on the bow side (front) as well as the sides.
The vessel can be of both military and civilian types (to transport important naval freight.).
Ro-Ro cargo is measured in a unit called lanes in meters (LIMs), INDUSTRY STANDARDS ARE
AVAILABLE.

Types of RO-RO ships:
Ferries - Carriage of Passengers and Vehicles
Freight Ro-Ro- Transport of Wheeled Cargo
Ro-Pax- roll on/roll off passenger. It is a ro-ro vessel built for freight vehicle transport with
passenger accommodation. The vessels with facilities for more than 500 passengers are often
referred to as cruise ferries. Mixed Transport of Passengers, Vehicles and Wheeled Cargo
Pure Car Carriers- used for transporting cars across oceans
Pure Truck & Car Carriers (PCTC)- for transporting cars and trucks across oceans
Combined carriers
Container Ro/Ro- ro-ro and a container ship. This type of vessel uses the area below the
decks for vehicle storage while stacking containerized freight on the top of the decks.
Ro/Ro Lo/Lo- roll-on lift-off vessel. It is also a hybrid vessel type with ramps serving vehicle
decks but the other cargo decks are accessible only by crane. Ship that can carry and load
wheeled cargo, but that also has lifting equipment to load/unload through the hatches.

Advantages of a ro-ro ship
A ro-ro ship offers a number of advantages over traditional ships. Some of the advantages are
as follows:
1. For the shipper, the advantage is speed. Since cars and Lorries can drive straight on to
the ship at one port and then drive off at the other port within a few minutes of the ship
docking, it saves a lot of time of the shipper.
2. It can also integrate well with other transport development, such as containers. The use
of Customs-sealed units has enabled frontiers to be crossed with the minimum of delay.
Therefore, it increases the speed and efficiency for the shipper.
3. The ship has also proved extremely popular with holiday makers and private car owners.
It has significantly contributed to the growth of tourism. A person can take his car from
one country to another by sea with the help of a ro-ro vessel.


DESCRIPTION:


These ships are characterized by the stern and in some cases the bow or side doors giving
access to a vehicle deck above the waterline but below the upper deck.
Inclines of a RoRo vessel are connected to the entrance either in the front (bow) or at the back
(aft) of the vessel or at both. Vehicular traffic can thus pass through these doors without any
complexity.
Access within the ship may be provided in the form of ramps or lifts leading from this vehicle
deck to upper decks or hold below.
Ro-ro ships may be fitted with various patent ramps for loading through the shell doors when
not trading to regular ports where link span and other shore-side facilities that are designed to
suit are available.
Cargo is carried in vehicles and trailers or in unitized form loaded by fork-lift and other trucks.
In order to permit the drive-through vehicle deck a restriction is placed on the height of the
machinery space and the ro-ro ship was among the first to popularize the geared medium-
speed diesel engine with a lesser height than its slow-speed counterpart.


To be considered during design stage:
Access ways:
Internal access ways
External access Ramp
Parking spaces
Internal Ramps
Mid-ship section of a sea ro-ro:




Stowage:


CARGO EQUIPMENTS:
Bow doors
Ramps/Bow access doors: Stern ramps, for ships that attend Ro/Ro terminals, Quarter
ramp, which allows access with the ship in a peer (without Ro/Ro terminal) ,mp
Internal doors- Watertight door designed for the subdivision of the cargo spaces with a
minimum of interference
Hoistablecar decks- with integrated lifting device, electrically or hydraulically driven
Liftablecar decks- do not have integrated lifting mechanism, they are moved by lifts of
the scissors type
Fork lift trucks , Scissors, Telescopic, Chain driven
Bow ramp Folding Frame Type Allows a complete separation of the door in the
collision bulkhead from the remainder of the ramp.
Internal ramps typically have inclination of abt. 7

Vehicle securing:
Securing points on decks
Lashing- consist of chain or any other device made of steel or other equivalent material -
attached to securing points




Stern Ramps: