A “go anywhere, carry anything” ship which was the brainchild of two men is claimed to be the answer to many problems currently facing the shipping industry. An extension of the Capricorn concept, developed by a Hong Kong-based company, the Capricorn Carrier is a containership, a barge carrier, and a roll-on, roll-off (ro, ro) vessel, all combined in one design which it is proposed to produce in three sizes—the LR 8, LR 12, and LR 26, the figures referring to the number of LASH (lighter aboard ship) containers the model can carry. The designers of this all-purpose carrier are Mr. W. E. Kirby, managing director of Capricorn Corporation in Hong Kong, and Mr. David Seymour, president of David Seymour, in San Francisco.

The original Capricorn design consisted of LASH-type barges floating in and out through a bow door, using a push tug that was then hoisted on board. The suggestion that the design could be extended to take in the ro, ro field as well came from the Inter-regional Adviser on Maritime Transport Affairs of the United Nations, Captain Jack Bathurst. Behind it was the thought that not only would this type of vessel be effective for short sea, feeder and inter-island services, but it would also be suitable for long haul or even transatlantic routes, particularly in areas with limited port facilities. Trade between developed and developing countries, for example, would be eminently well served by it. As an added bonus there was the possibility of serving inland waterways.

The Capricorn Carrier patented design is unique in that it provides float in, float out barge handling and the vessel requires no more than 20 ft. of draught for all operations. The ship is described as having low total transport costs. It is flexible in that it is capable of accommodating all types of cargo—dry or liquid bulk; semiprocessed, and large unit cargoes in barges; general cargo in containers or pallets; heavy lift cargo on ro, ro trailers or moved by fork-lift trucks. The vessel contains all its own lifting and handling equipment, making it self sufficient, and it is capable of loading or unloading barges and ro, ro simultaneously. It also has a very fast turn-round time. Basically this design covers the 5,000 to 20,000 ton gross range of ship size, or perhaps even larger.

Mr. Kirby said he believes this vessel will answer many of the problems facing the shipping industry, especially when it comes to loading and unloading at ports in under-developed countries, hence avoiding the long delays and waiting periods that are in existence in some parts of the world. “I think we have a winner here. A great deal of thought has gone into the design which couples maximum utilisation with maximum profitability,” he said.

A forecast that the British Gas Corporation’s Frigg and Brent fields in the North Sea would be producing “perhaps a third or more” of British Gas requirements was made earlier in the year by Mr. Richard Martin, an Edinburgh-based independent petroleum consultant.