일반적인 선박 운항 직접경비는 대상 선박의 크기 및 종류, 항해 속력 및 항행 구역에 따라 다소 차이는 있지만 연료비의 비율이 50-60% 정도로 전체 직접경비 중에서 차지 비중이 가장 높다. 본 연구는 이러한 관점에서 실질적인 경제 운항 방안으로 실제 해역에서 다양 한 해상상태별 선속 대비 연료소모량을 실선에서 계측하여 선박 운항에 차질이 없는 범위 내에서 연료소모량을 최소화 할 수 있는 최적의 경 제 운항 속력을 제시하고자 한다.

The economy of ship's size and speed is affected by the freight rates, sailing distances, cargo handling rates, fuel oil prices and even interest rates of the borrowed funds. It can be a step more powerful measures if the economic evaluation model takes in a cargo lot size which prevails in the shipping markets. This paper has dealt with hypothetical cargo lots which happen to the market with uniform distribution in probability. The evaluation models are either profit maximization method or cost minimization method. The former compares among different voyages in profitability to the invested funds, the later defines the transportation efficiency in ton-mile unit and be used in comparing two or more transportation means. This paper adopted both of above methods to derive out ships economical evaluation contours for the various ship's speed and deadweight for certain cargo lot sizes, which can be used as important managerial decision data in purchasing ships or selecting a most profitable one among the proposed voyages. This evaluation contours will also be efficiently used in appraising so called "handy size ships" in connection with port water depth and conditions of voyage tracks.ge tracks.

A lot of studies of ship's economy are on the traditional fields such asreducing propulsion resistance, raising cargo handling rates and lessening building consts, but there are few researches on the merchant ship's economy concerning their deadweights and speeds according to shipping companies managerial cercumstances. Contrary to the contemporary trend that "the bigger, the better, if the cargo handling rate could increased sufficiently to hold down port time to that rate of smmaler vessels", this paper demonstrates the existence of certain limits in ship's size and speed according to the coditions of the freight rates, voyage distances, cargo handing rates, prices of fuel oil, interst rates etc. Fom the curves of criteria contour for various ship's deadweights and speeds which are depicted from the gird search method, one can get the costs and the yearly profit rates under the conditiions of large volume with long term contracts for the transportation of bulk cargoes. In estimating ship's transportation economy, the auther takes the position that the profit rate method is properer than the cost method, and introduces the calculation table of the voyage profit rate index. The use of the criteria contours will be of help to ship owners in determining the size and speed of the ship which will be built or purchased and serve in a certain trade route.