New technology for Arctic shipping

I have a friend that has to do a project on some new technology that's used in the arctic shipping industry. There are already people doing the multi tasking tanker and satellite technology but he has to find a topic.

Can anybody help?

[shu]

Guest,
We may need a little more info. Can we assume your friend must confine his work to large commercial vessels (tankers, containerships, cargo vessels) that must deal with pack ice? Or is there more latitude (sorry about the pun)? Must he design an entire vessel or just research a system?

[shu]

I just had another look at your question. Apparently he doesn't have to design an entire vessel. I need to figure out how to import the previous post into the "post reply" dialog box. Sorry.

[brian eiland]

Don't know from your question if there is any interest in such an idea/subject/project.

Once a long time ago when I worked with the subs, I was attempting to get the oil industry interested in exploring the transport of the Alaska's Prudhoe Bay discovery in lieu of the pipeline that was eventually built. Submarines can actually be pushed more efficiently than surface ships in many cases ( there has been a number of studies of this subject). The oil would have been brought over to Greenland and transferred to surface ships for transport down to the east coast of USA. All of the Major refineries were located in the eastern regions of the country at the time, as well as the pipeline distribution.

The subs required no more than WWII capabilities other than requiring NUCLEAR power. The idea was to have a separate power unit that would continious run back and forth from the slope to greenland and move the attached oil pods that could be loaded and unloaded at a more liesurely pace that did not have the power units sitting idle.

A major stumbling block was the VERY limited number of nuclear sub builders that were all so ingrained with the government hi-dollar contracts that there was no competitive costing bids. I really had hopes that it might be the starting point for more potential submarine shipping/traders.

[Stephen Ditmore]

Interesting idea. The first fuel cell subs are now being built, so perhaps there is an alternative to nuclear. I think there are sterling engine subs under construction as well. If tanker subs are not trying to hide they could emit bubbles, unlike military subs.