The 13th International Conference on Fast Sea Transportation (FAST) will be in the USA, September 1-4, 2015 at the FHI 360 Conference Center in Washington, DC.

As the host society for this biennial event, SNAME is issuing a call for papers to be presented as part of the program for FAST 2015. This is a unique opportunity for industry professionals to share their insights on a wide range of issues of interest to a gathering of over 250 colleagues from around the world.

Paper abstracts of 200 to 500 words are now being accepted and should be sent directly to the Chair of the Papers Committee, Dr. Chris McKesson, e-mail Chris@McKesson.US. More information can be found on the FAST 2015 web site at www.sname.org/FAST2015.

Provisional topics for the conference include:

• Novel hull forms with unusual properties

• Hydrodynamics

• Materials and structural design

• Human Systems Engineering

• Design process and tools

• Analysis and simulation

• Control. Hydrodynamic design of control effectors, or design of the bridge team’s task load to ensure adequate and safe control of the vessel at all times.

• Operational aspects

• Services and missions requiring FAST ships and craft

• Economics: The global economy changes continually and the value of speed swings up and down. What does this mean for the FAST ships? How can the economics of speed be folded explicitly into the field of design parameters?

• New Vehicle Concepts

• Vehicle Dynamics

• Propulsion: FAST type vessels require high power-density machinery systems that are light and fuel-efficient. What is the state of the art? What are the tradeoffs?

• Vehicle Ownership & Operation

• Risk/Safety

• Classification and Regulation

• Business Models, Patent/Copyright & Intellectual Property

• Incorporation of lessons-learned from conventional ships and other forms of transportation into high-speed sea transportation. Example: How to prevent such a Costa Concordia-type disaster with a 40-knot vessel?

• What is the state of the art in training and operation of high-speed ships and how it compares to aircraft?

• Autonomy: What is the role of automated systems in high speed marine craft? What are the prospects for full autonomous operation?

• Environmental effects: What are they, and how significant and are high speed ships more harmful to the environment or less?