By Ryan Skinner (email)
Will the shipping industry figure out that it too needs to imagine, inspire?
The auto industry knows the game well: Design a sleek, hot-blooded machine with little concern for practicalities. Unleash a prototype at a show to set fire to consumers' fantasies and get journalists' ink flowing and flash-bulbs popping.
The shipping industry has typically limited its "ooh, ahh" effects to steadily bigger ships (typically male endeavour, that). But back in 2005 Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics changed all that. Its Orcelle zero-emission car-carrying concept ship was the closest the industry had yet come to Detroit Motor Show-thinking.
Since then, Orcelle has been trotted out at every possible occasion, in order to give WWL's very real green credentials a bold, fantastical image. Little in the way of development or engineering has happened.
Recently, MOL introduced its own Orcelle, called ISHIN-1 (don't ask). It looks less space-age than the WWL version, but - claims MOL - it's full of real solutions, or almost real solutions. It is environmentally-friendly, not zero emission.
Perhaps it is no surprise that a segment that serves the auto industry should be one of the first to adopt it's visionary way of inspiring novelty. The value of the exercise is incontrovertible. Just consider Chevy's work on the Volt. GM's work on this concept was perhaps the only bright spot in its otherwise gloomy bankruptcy sunset.
I recently worked with one client on its own concept, the GREEN Cell Shipping concept. Together with a team of engineers in ABB Marine, I and a designer colleague crafted a possible solution to fossil fuel-free ship transport. The results were published in the customer magazine (warning: 6.2 MB upload), and serve as inspiration to an industry, even if challenging practicalities remain.
Everyone needs to think about what may be possible. The value of doing so, and the value of sharing that with the world, is something the shipping industry is - hopefully - slowly learning.
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