South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) has received approvals for crosstie-less design for very large crude carriers (VLCC).
The shipbuilder applied for the patents from 8 countries for a new type of cargo hold structure without crosstie (horizontal stiffeners) which has been applied to the VLCC since 2010.
Starting with patent registration in Japan in 2015, it was approved in the United States, Greece, UK, Norway, France and China in 2016.
DSME revealed that the final approval needed was received from the Korean Intellectual Property Office in July 2019.
The shipbuilder has been developing the crosstie-less concept since 2009, and has applied this design concept to VLCCs since 2011 for the first time in the world, according to DSME.
The crosstie-less concept is to secure the required strength for design loads including sloshing by enhancing the existing vertical structural members.
DSME said it had delivered 47 of the total of 71 VLCCs without crosstie so far, whith another 24 VLCCs without crosstie currently being built.