ogy programs directed to commercial development. 
MarAd’s program is designed to develop advanced 
technology to rebuild the U.S. merchant fleet so that 
it can compete effectively with foreign shipping in- 
terests. The program is designed to address the total 
spectrum of industry’s technology needs pertaining 
to both ship construction and operation—over the 
short, medium, and long term. The primary emphasis 
of the program, however, is on short-term projects 
likely to pay off within 5 years. 
A unique function of MarAd’s R&D program is 
that industry, the ultimate user of the technology, 
participates on a cost-sharing basis in the technology 
development. The current R&D program supports a 
10-year merchant marine expansion plan inaugu- 
rated in 1970. In the first 5 years of the program, 
760 R&D projects were initiated at a cost of $189 
million. The maritime industry contributed $62.3 
million of these costs, almost one-third of the total. 
MarAd’s R&D program is organized in two major 
development areas: advanced ship development and 
advanced ship operations. Advanced ship develop- 
ment includes projects to improve ship design and 
shipyard operations as a means of increasing the 
efficiency and competitiveness of ship construction. 
Other ship development projects aim at producing 
more efficient powerplants and other advanced ship 
machinery. One phase of this work is directed to 
the development of second-generation, high-powered 
auclear engines feasible for use in the commercial 
fleet. 
The advanced ship operations program is concen- 
trated in three major areas. The first is the develop- 
ment of a computerized shipping operation informa- 
tion system to facilitate ship management by making 
information readily availabie to reduce shoreside 
costs and permitting ship operators to monitor con- 
tainer movement and ship availability. The second is 
the improvement of ship automation systems and 
equipment for handling cargo more efficiently and 
safely. The third is the development of advanced 
communication and navigation systems with the ulti- 
mate objective of making global fleet management 
operations possible. 
In support of these two major programs, MarAd 
funds marine science research to obtain information 
needed for engineering development and makes tech- 
nology studies designed to reduce energy consump- 
tion in shipping and to prevent pollution from mari- 
time operations. 
The Department of Energy’s ocean thermal energy 
conversion (OTEC) program provides an excellent 
example of high-risk, high-cost development for 
commercial application undertaken by the Federal 
Government to meet national needs. The OTEC 
project was initiated by NSF in 1972 and transferred 
to ERDA (now incorporated into DOE) in 1975. 
OTEC is an attempt to use solar energy, stored in 
ocean waters; specifically, the project is aimed at 
using temperature differences between near-surface 
and deep ocean waters to generate electrical power. 
Present plans call for the demonstration of a com- 
mercial prototype system by 1984. 
The OTEC concept calls for warm surface water 
to be pumped through a heat exchanger-evaporator 
and expelled to the sea. A working fluid would be 
vaporized in the heat exchanger by the heat of the 
ocean surface water. The vaporization would drive 
a turbine coupled to an electrical generator. Re- 
liquefaction of the working fluid would occur in a 
heat exchanger-condensor where the vapor would be 
cooled by the temperature of cold deep-ocean water. 
The working fluid would then be recirculated. 
The DOE approach includes technology develop- 
ment, assessment of the effect of the environment on 
materials used in the powerplant, and the impact 
of the powerplant on the environment. Additional 
studies are directed to analyzing the potential mar- 
ket for OTEC applications. 
A number of component designs have been de- 
veloped, and some equipment has been tested for 
use in an OTEC plant. However, a number of critical 
problems must be solved, especially in the develop- 
ment of heat exchangers and the prevention of 
biofouling, which can significantly affect the per- 
formance of the heat exchangers. To solve these 
problems, successive generations of heat exchangers 
are being developed for testing to evaluate perform- 
ance and ability to withstand the effects of bio- 
fouling and corrosion. 
A panel of the Marine Board of the National 
Academy of Sciences undertook a review of the 
project for ERDA in 1976. It concluded that 
“OTEC is technologically feasible with the invest- 
ment of considerable financial and technological re- 
sources.” The review panel found, however, that the 
estimated costs of the project were overoptimistic. 
Among its recommendations were that “prototype 
production and tests should be deemphasized in 
favor of increased basic experimental and deveiop- 
mental work” and that the program “be reoriented 
to emphasize assessment of the various basic system 
and subsystem alternatives.” 
The ocean engineering program of the U.S. Army 
Corps of Engineers is categorically different from the 
engineering programs described above. Whereas 
those programs address problems in observing or 
making use of the oceans, the Corps’ program con- 
sists of coastal engineering for the improvement of 
coastal waterways and harbors and the protection 
of beaches and seashores. The larger Corps studies 
are multidisciplinary, encompassing the physical, 
biological, and sometimes social sciences as well as 
engineering development. 
Engineering projects are based on studies of exist- 
ing conditions at the sites of small-craft harbors and 
VII--22 
