MOL’s Next-Generation Car Carrier FLEXIE Series Awarded Good Design Award 2018

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL) announced that the MOL-operated next-generation FLEXIE series car carrier received the Good Design Award (*) 2018, from the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JDP). This year, MOL’s FLEXIE won the award for the first time in nine years as the only winner from the shipping industry.

Judges highly evaluated the design, saying. “It’s great that the FLEXIE realized unconventional innovation as an outcome of re-defining the car carrier. It’s notable that the space onboard the vessel was rearchitected using the design concept.

Flexibly liftable decks allow loading of vehicles with different heights. As a result, loading efficiency was improved by 6.25% from the conventional type of car carrier, and this enables the vessel to meet new transport needs. Another point-the FLEXIE realized accuracy and a high level of safety by adopting augmented reality (AR) and latest IoT technology in its operational system.”

Image Credits: mol.co.jp

The FLEXIE series’ hull design boldly presents the letter “A”, representing the global brand of MOL Auto Carrier Express (MOL ACE), and a white line, which expresses the company’s determination to connect its long history of customer service to the future in a seamless manner. As of October 3, 2018, two vessels in the series are in operation, and the number is to increase to four by March 2019.

MOL continually provides high-quality car carrier services with the aim of becoming the world leader in safe operation and protecting the environment, with MOL’s state-of-the-art fleet, which adopts the new design to meet demands for transport of not only completed cars, but also diversified cargoes such as construction machinery and railway vehicles under its MOL ACE global brand of car carrier transport service.

Specifications of FLEXIE Series

• Length 199.9m
• Breadth 32.2m
• Capacity 6,800 units (standard passenger vehicles)

FLEXIE Series 3 Main Features

1. Design for Society

“More functional, fresh visual impact, FLEXIBLE.”
The functional design represents a dramatic rethinking, for example, by increasing the number of liftable decks to six from two on conventional carriers, to meet diversified transport demand. In addition, the hull design marks a sharp contrast to conventional car carriers, and boldly features the letter “A,” representing the MOL ACE global brand, and a white line, which expresses the company’s determination to connect its long history of customer service to the future in a seamless manner.

2. Hardware Aspect of Design

“From Hull to Engine Creating an Eco-friendly Ship with Advanced ECO Technology.”
The FLEXIE series vessels adopt an array of advanced environmental technologies, which were developed in the MOL Group research and technology project, “Senpaku ISHIN project,” successfully achieving a reduction of 13.7% in CO2 reductions compared to conventional vessels.

3. Software Aspect of Design

“Full Application of Latest IOT Technology. For Safe, Secure Vessels.”
The FLEXIE series aims to realize safer, more reliable, and more secure operations by introducing a navigation information display system that adopts augmented reality (AR) technology for the first time, and adopting vibration sensors to diagnose machinery. These technologies have great potential in realizing future automatic ship operation technologies.

See “FLEXIE series” video on the YouTue MOL Channel.

• FLEXIE series will be introduced at Good Design Exhibition 2018
  The FLEXIE series will be introduced in a special exhibit at the Good Design Exhibition 2018, showcasing all the latest Good Design Award winners, which runs for five days starting on Wednesday, October 31.
• Good Design Exhibition 2018
  Period: Wednesday, October 31 – Sunday, November 4
  Venue: Tokyo Midtown (Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo)
  http://www.g-mark.org/gde2018/
• (*) What is Good Design Award
  The Good Design Award is in a program to evaluate and encourage design representing Japan, which inherits the Good Design Product Selection System (G Mark System) founded in 1957. A competition is held every year aiming to improve the quality of life through a global design award program which many companies and organizations participate, and to make the best use of designs as solutions to social issues and themes. The symbol of the award “G Mark” has universally gained popularity as the symbol of excellent design.
  http://www.g-mark.org/english/index.html

Press Release: mol.co.jp

Source: Maritime Shipping News