A simulation study on the design of flexible cargo holds insmall-sized bulk ships is presented. The ships considered areequipped with moveable bulkheads which can be placed in a givennumber of positions in the cargo hold. In this way the ships' cargoholds can be partitioned into several smaller holds with flexiblesizes, and several cargoes can be lifted simultaneously by the sameship. The simulation study deals with designing an optimal cargo hold'configuration' which gives the best flexibility when cargoquantities vary. The results show that there are sig- nificantpotential savings by finding an optimal cargo hold configuration.
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