7. SHIP BUILDING

In ship building, Ships cost a lot of money to build depend on type and size of ship. There are many kinds of ships building due to their purpose to use. A general cargo vessel costs several million pounds and a giant tanker can cost over 40 million pounds and so on. One reason for this is the high cost of steel and other materials used in ship building. Another reason is the high cost of labour.

A modern shipyard is designed for building ships as cheaply and quickly as possible. Many of the old processes have disappeared or been combined into one fully mechanized process on evolution of technology on steel and welding use in ship building. Machines are now used instead of men. Today, ships can be built about sixteen months and costs can be kept to a minimum.

Ships are designed by naval architects. The largest shipping companies have their own naval architects. In Europe and Japan, shipyards employ naval architects to design a ship for a customer, or offer basic designs which can be varied to suit the customer’s needs. Ship owners may also go to the independent firms of shipping consultants and ask their naval architects to design a ship for them in their proposed trading area, intended carrying cargoes and some limitations.

When ship owners decide to order a new ship, they tell the naval architects the cargo they want the ship to carry. They also tell him what routes the ship will go and the desired speed. Then ship can classify into container, general cargo ship, bulk carrier, tanker, and passenger and so on. They put limits on the ship’s dimensions and on the price that they prepared to pay.

The ship must also comply with the rules of the classification society and international regulations set upon the ship buildings. Economic, engineering and safety factors all govern the design of a ship must be concerned.

A. Match the words in Column A with Column B.