It is difficult to imagine a situation in which 8 thousand cars are transported simultaneously on one vehicle by land, and even more so by air. This is only possible at sea. And only on special car carriers.
Transportation of cars over long distances is carried out using various types of transport: railway trains, large cars with trailers (auto transporters), airplanes, sea and river vessels. Transportation of equipment by sea is considered both safe and profitable. The more cars are produced, the faster and more often ships are moved and built.
Just a few years ago, cars were only delivered by regular ships. Sometimes such ships were specially prepared for the transportation of land transport: additional decks were created. A car carrier in the modern sense is a specialized vessel that differs from many others both in appearance and in the arrangement of its internal parts.
A vessel sailing in an area where weather conditions impede a calm and safe navigation (strong wind, storm, sea currents) may experience rolling. More often onboard - when the ship is rolled under the influence of high waves from one side to another. To mitigate such an impact, engineers in the construction of car transporters design special devices - heaving dampers. They are somewhat similar to the fins of fish. If necessary, they are pushed out of the side. There is also another kind of sedative. These are cisterns into which water is pumped to counteract the roll. All these dampers seem to dampen the rocking of the vessel, reducing it by 4-5 times.
Since car carriers are large, it is more difficult to drive them. To facilitate this task, shipbuilding experts have designed a thruster made in the form of a pipe, which is laid from side to side and has a propeller in the middle. The principle of operation of the auxiliary device is as follows. First, the pipe sucks in water from one side of the ship, after which the liquid is ejected from the other side. As a result, the vessel makes a turn at any speed.
For the transportation of automotive equipment by sea, special large ships are required. But if delivery is carried out in limited sea areas, for example, through straits or along rivers, then barges that can accommodate both equipment and people can act as transport vehicles.
In addition, combined vessels are capable of transporting cars. For example, bulk carriers, usually transporting bulk cargo, deliver fixed vehicles to ports on special platforms lowered into the holds.
Car carriers can carry up to 8 thousand units of transport equipment, securely fixed on several decks. Loading and unloading of vehicles is carried out on their own through the ramps. It only takes a few hours to do this.
The car transporter looks like a large floating rectangular container. For some, this image will not work positively, and some people dare not call merchant ships attractive. But there are also those who represent the ship that delivers a huge number of vehicles from port to port.
Some of the largest vehicles transporting ships are the Fedora and Faust. The vessels are of the same type, therefore their main characteristics are the same: length - 227.8 m; width - 32.2 m; draft - 11.3 m; displacement - 71583 t; crew - 22 people. The decks can carry 8,000 vehicles in one trip.
