MULTI PURPOSE CARGO VESSELS	10/10/2005
	A ship type for a little of everything The popular Multi-Purpose Cargo Vessels are well suited to the needs of the day. But no standard design can satisfy everyone and therefore a tailor-made design is often necessary. In the course of the last few years, Grontmij | Carl Bro Marine has marked increasing interest in the so-called Multi-Purpose Cargo Vessels, and over the last seven to eight years alone various shipping companies have had around 30 MPCVs built in different tailor-made designs. Grontmij | Carl Bro Marine’s experiences suggest that the slightly smaller MPCVs ranging from 3,000 – 15,000 tons deadweight are particularly predominant in today’s market. This type of ship has been designed to handle and freight different types of mixed cargo such as containers, reefer containers, project cargo, heavy lift cargo, pipes, grain, bulk cargo and dangerous goods. But since it is practically impossible to satisfy very different cargo requirements of a standard design for every shipping company, there is a tendency for each shipping company to have an MPCV-design produced that satisfies their own wishes and requirements when it comes to size of ship, capacity and speed, and is such that the ship is optimised for the specific cargo types that the shipping company requires. Keep it simple Listening to and fulfilling customers’ requirements is not new for Grontmij | Carl Bro Marine, but we have found that it is precisely this type of ship that is especially important. For this reason we initiate close dialogue with the customer right from the start of the project so that we can ensure that special requirements and wishes are optimally fulfilled. Drafting an adequate design-specification and associated drawings is a discipline which requires a systematic and carefully worked out procedure. However, this is a discipline that we have perfected here at Grontmij | Carl Bro Marine throughout our many years of designing ships for our customers. We have a great deal of experience in complying with special requirements and we know how to achieve a ship design with individual solutions, which when it comes to functionality and maintenance best fulfils the special conditions that often exit on board a Multi-Purpose Cargo Vessel.