ON THIN ICE - HOVERCRAFT AS AN ALTERNATIVE LOGISTICS PLATFORM FOR THE ICE ROADS OF NORTHWEST CANADA

摘要

The Canadian Diamond Mining Industry is a multi-billion dollar operation based in the Northwest Territories. Duringthe past 20 years it has transformed Canada into the world's third largest supplier, with C$1.5 Billion worth of diamondsbeing mined each year. Three of the four mines depend entirely upon a single transport link to bring in supplies. Thislink is known as the "Ice Road", is constructed annually at a cost of $10 Million. During an operational window oftypically nine weeks, the mines transport as much of their annual supplies as possible, typically 8,000 truckloads perseason. In 2006 a freak warm winter led to the ice road closing two weeks earlier than normal. This forced the mines totransport 1200 truckloads of fuel and cargo by air, resulting in a considerable increase in logistics expenditure. Currentforecasts of global warming are challenging the long term sustainability of the "Ice Road" identifying a need to researchlogistic alternatives.This paper presents the results of an Industrial Design research and concept development project. The first phase ofwhich identified the feasibility of the hovercraft platform to address the logistical needs of the Canadian DiamondMining industry and generated a design specification to address those needs. The second phase of the project produced atechnically resolved design concept based on the specification, addressing the key areas of cargo loading, exterioraesthetics and user centred design consideration for the operators.