Research Trends and Results

Characteristics Analysis of the International Ferry,
RO-RO Ship and Transport Cargo
GOTO Shuichi, Researcher,Port and Harbor Department, Port Planning Division.
WATANABE Tomihiro, Head,Port Systems Division.
ABE Motohisa, Head,Port Planning Division.
（Key words）

International Ferry, International RO-RO Ship, Ship Dimensions, Cargo Flow

1. Introduction
Now that the relation with Asian economy becomescloser than ever and more rapid and effective transport isrequired, we see that the needs for the transport by theinternational ferries and RO-RO ships are more required
than ever. Therefore it is necessary to grasp their transport
trends and make an analysis so as to contribute to future
demand forecasts.
Based on the background, we have conducted thecharacteristics analysis on the international ferries andRO-RO ships as well as cargo transported by them. Herea part of such analysis is introduced.
2. Analysis on the international ferries and RO-RO
ships dimensions
Based on the shipping company HP and dimensions
Data developed by MDS, Lloyd’s and so on, we havemade comparisons and analysis of the dimensions such as
ship length, width, full load draft, etc. of the international
ferries and RO-RO ships providing service in East Asia
including Japan, Korea, China and so on, and of ships inareas other than East Asia such as Europe and America.
Fig. 1 shows, for example, the ship length plotted on thevertical line and international gross tonnage (GT) on thehorizontal line classified by the service area and shiptype.
RO-RO ship in Eastern Asia (6 ships)

東アジア地域以外のRORO船(385隻)
Ferry東アジア地域のフェリー(40隻)
in other than Eastern Asia (123 ships)
250

RO-RO
ship in other than Eastern Asia (385 ships)
東アジア地域のRORO船(6隻)ship length（ｍ）

Ferry in Eastern Asia (40 ships)

3. Analysis on the hinterland (background area) of
the international ferries and RO-RO ships
Based on the 2008 National survey on Import/Export
Container Cargo Flow data, we analyzed the hinterland
areas of the cargos carried by international ferries and
RO-RO ships and compared them with those of container
ships. As an example of such an analysis, Table 1 shows
the percentage of the hinterland regions regarding thecargo imported at the Hakata port in which the regularservices of the ferries, RO-RO ships and container ships
are available. Likewise, Fig. 2 shows the percentage of
207 daily life spheres in the cargo total by the RO-RO
ships calling at the Hakata port.
Table 1 Hinterland (consumption area) of theimported cargos using the Hakata port
Hakata Percentage of respective area in cargo total Cargo total
port
Kanto Chubu Kinki Kyushu Others Total (Freight tons)
Ferry
0.9% 7.4% 0.3% 87.1%
4.2% 100%
32312
RORO
47.7% 18.3% 13.4%
shipContainer
0.7% 0.1% 1.7%
ship

15.5%

5.1% 100%

10571

95.7%

1.8% 100%97596Distribution of hinterland
areas: each percentage shows
the share to the total amount

東アジア地域以外のフェリー(123隻)

200150
100
5000

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

international gross tonnage(ＧＴ)

Fig. 1 Comparison of dimensions of the international
ferries and RO-RO ships per service region
The figure shows that the international gross tonnage isapproximately maximum at 30 thousands GT and ship
length is approximately maximum at 200m for theinternational ferries and RO-RO ships in the East Asia,
while it exceeds 30 thousands GT and 200m for those inareas other than East Asia. This shows larger ships are
deployed for services in areas than other East Asia.

Fig. 2 Distribution of Hinterland (consumption area)of the RO-RO ship cargos calling at the Hakata port
While we see that the 80% or more cargo transported
by ferry and container ship are consumed in the Kyushu
area, the rate of RO-RO ship is just around 15%. In
addition, approximately 50% of such cargos are
consumed in the Kanto area, showing that cargo by
RO-RO-ship calling at the Hakata port have much larger
hinterland areas compared to those of the ferry andcontainer ship.
【Reference】
Technical Note of NILIM No.707, 2012
http://www.nilim.go.jp/lab/bcg/siryou/tnn/tnn0707.htm