Official regulations to limit the emissions of ships and ever-rising fuel costs will raise the demand for vessels with low fuel consumption to allow for environmental sustainable and economic viable sea transportation. Thus reducing fuel consumption is vital for maintaining competitiveness and a positive image of sea shipping over other modes of transportation. A reduction in drag for a given payload will reduce the required power and hence the required amount of fuel to carry a certain payload to its destination.

In the early stages of the ship design process, a ship’s overall dimensions and its hull form properties need to be defined. In broad terms for a given deadweight capacity, the hull can be slender to provide a reduced wave-making drag, or it can be more compact to reduce the wetted surface area and hence frictional resistance; the length allowing for the lowest fuel consumption will then depend on the desired service speed. Therefore it is important to be capable of making accurate drag predictions in the early design stage where numerous combinations of potential hull form geometries at different speeds can be evaluated with respect to their drag force.