Steering mechanism for shallow draft container carrier and inland waterway container transport vessel

Abstract

A steering mechanism for a container carrier ship hull including a bow, a stern, and a container bay therebetween. The bow is provided with a set of depending lateral thruster pods, the set including a first pod disposed along a longitudinal centerline of the hull, a second pod disposed rearward of the first pod and outward from the centerline, and a third pod disposed rearward of the first pod and outward from the centerline opposite from the second pod. The first and second pods define a first longitudinal flow channel to one side of the centerline and the first and third thruster pods define a second longitudinal flow channel to the opposite side of the centerline. A fourth pod, which may omit thruster mechanisms, may be disposed along the centerline reward of the first, second, and third pods, to define with them first and second cross-centerline flow channels.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.