Cutting total man-hours is one of the most effective ways of reducing costs in a shipyard and, in general, designing structures with fewer pieces will achieve the goal of reducing man-hours. The Capesize bulk carrier, due to requirements for access, ballast capacity, and double-bottom height, always has a pipe duct in the center part of the double bottom. Comparison between two existing Capesize bulk carriers reveals that one may eliminate more than 1,800 structural pieces (about 2.6% of the total number of ship pieces) if the conventional longitudinal reinforced pipe duct is replaced by a transverse reinforced one. Further, from the finite element analysis (FEA) results using the SafeHull computer package of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), it has been found that the vertical deflection and stress concentration of the double bottom are improved and some of the thicker plates can be removed if the transverse reinforced pipe duct is used. Therefore, the overall steel weight for the Capesize bulk carrier using the transverse reinforced pipe duct was found to be less than that using the longitudinal reinforced pipe duct.