Ship of the future

In 1980 work began on one of the most intensive and comprehensive marine research and development projects-the German Ship of the Future. The main task was the reduction of the operational costs of a vessel. After five years of work the project was successfully finished with the maiden voyage of the first SdZ prototype ship. The paper describes first the R&D project itself. The organizational structure, the financial background and some examples of development topics are explained. The second part deals with the conversion of the outcomes of the R&D project into the reality of a containership. The third part gives, by example of some focal points of the newly developed ship service technique, a broad description of the HDW-SdZ prototype ships and their economy. A short outlook to further developments concludes the paper.