Book Description

This report presents, for the U.S. maritime industry and for those government agencies concerned with maritime matters, a comprehensive plan for orderly conversion to the International System of metric units (SI). In this context, the maritime industry includes both management and labor interests in the areas of ship and terminal operations, shipbuilding, marine equipment manufacturing and supply, naval architecture, and marine and marine-related engineering. Eight principal recommendations are made. The report includes a brief background survey of the status of U.S. metric conversion. It summarizes recent United Kingdom, Australian, and New Zealand metrication experience, focusing on the applicability of their experience to metric conversion in the U.S. maritime industry. The recommended industry conversion program is accompanied by a discussion of the organizations that make up the industry, their interdependencies, the recommended time-phasing of their conversion to SI, and some potential problem areas. The functions and roles of the key maritime-related federal agencies and several key industry organizations during the conversion are discussed. (Author).