The 3,700-gt Sutoretai Maru is not a new vessel in the sense that she was delivered in 1981. But by the addition this year of a stern end bulb (SEB) developed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan, she certainly became an "outstanding vessel."
She became the first ship to be equipped with the newly developed propulsive power-saving system—the SEB. When the passenger vessel was placed in service fitted with the bulb, the addition showed excellent results. Owned by the Tokai Kisen Company, Ltd., and the Maritime Credit Corporation, the vessel was built in 1978 and serves on the Tokyo-Miyake Island-Hachijo route.
The Kawasaki-SEB was fixed on the ship's main stern hull around the center line and near the full-load waterline. The purpose was to save propulsive power by reducing wave pattern resistance and stern part local resistance from the effect of the interference between the waves generated by the bulb and by the stern hull.
The basic theory of the SEB was developed by a research group led by Prof. Dr. T. Inui of Tokyo University, an authority on the wave-making resistance theory. Under the guidance of this group, KHI has continued to study the SEB for practical use,