Developments in international trade and transportation will increase the amount of maritime tonnage that will sail through the Suez Canal. This article speculates on the possibility of linking multiple ships during the passage through the canal.
Excerpts from Maritime Executive:
As the volume of international trade grows, the volume of ship traffic or tonnage that sails through the canal will increase in the future. There are a variety of possible alternatives by which to increase the number of shipping containers or the tonnage that sails through the canal would include widening and deepening the canal or increasing the size of ‘Suezmax’ ships that sail through. Another alternative would involve technology that allows ships to be coupled into oceanic trains. … It may be possible for a ‘super-tug’ to simultaneously push one ship while towing a second ship of equivalent size.
The development of such technology would depend on the willingness of Suez Canal authorities to allow coupled maritime trains to sail through the canal, a possible means by which to increase the number of ships and volume of cargo that would sail through the canal. One possible train may involve combinations such as ship-tug-ship-tug-ship, where 2-cooridinated tugs would navigate a train of 3-post ‘Panamax’ size of ships through the canal. Automated navigation technology from companies such as Autonav would assure a maritime ‘train’ of safe passage through the canal, by coordinating the operation of the tugs and the ships.
Read the rest at Maritime Executive