The Motorship November 2020

NOVEMBER 2020

Vol. 101 Issue 1186

VLCC options for EEXI: ISW7 EEXI feature: MS100 WinGD: MAN 4-stroke Oxicat: Class and OEM views

Focus shifts to CII

Schneiter interview

Methane slip tests

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: FiTS2 reference | Digitalisation Feature | DF Newcastlemax design | Suiso Frontier feature

Source: The Swedish Club Main Engine Damage Report

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CONTENTS

NOVEMBER 2020

8 NEWS

38

26 Aker Arctic Arc7 design

Aker Arctic has redesigned the Arc7 LNG carrier design to extend the design’s ability to transit along the Northern Sea Route.

18 FiTS2 landmark

A Berge Bulk carrier will be the first newbuilding fitted with ABB Turbocharging’s FiTS2 sequential turbocharging solution.

38 First LH2 carrier

When the world’s first liquefied hydrogen (LH2) carrier, Suiso Frontier, enters service, it will inaugurate a new trade in seaborne LH2.

36 REGULARS 8 Leader Briefing

ISWG-GHG 7 sends MARPOL amendments brokered by chairman Sveinung Oftedal to MEPC 75 despite difficult discussions about EEXI

36 Design for Performance

Vancouver-based naval architects NaviForm provide details of its new geometry hulls, including the power savings expected based on tank testing of the unprecedented designs

40 Ship Description Online motorship.com 5 Latest news 5 Comment & analysis 5 Industry database 5 Events Weekly E-News Sign up for FREE at: www.motorship.com/enews

Social Media Linkedin Facebook Twitter YouTube

Donsötank Rederi’s forthcoming pair of dual-fuel hybrid chemical tankers combine a Wartsila 31 dual-fuel engine platform with a range of energy efficiency measures.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

27

FEATURES

12 Options for VLCC owners

VLCC owners will have a number of choices to comply with new EEXI rules, but the disposal of older tonnage may accelerate, Kari Reinikainen hears.

20 Preaching to the converted

While fuel tank and vessel design considerations dominate LNG conversion decisions, other fuels such as methanol would require fewer changes, Stevie Knight hears.

24 CIMAC data vision

A new CIMAC group aims to promote a ‘consolidated vision’ of power and propulsion data sharing as digitalisation challenges the industry to embrace collaboration.

27 MAN moves ahead with Oxicat

Dr Gunnar Stiesch of MAN ES explains outlines plans to develop a Oxicat solution by 2025 as part of research to lower methane slip from its 4-stroke gas engines.

34 MS100 – WinGD

Dominik Schneiter, Vice President R&D at WinGD outlines the engine designer’s past and present advances changes in engine technology.

100

YEARS

2021

The Motorship’s Propulsion & Future Fuels Conference will take place on 18-20 May 2021 in Hamburg, Germany.

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 3

NEWS REVIEW

VIEWPOINT

HYSHIPS PROJECT EYES 20MW CAPESIZE BULK CARRIER FUEL CELL STUDY

NICK EDSTROM | Editor nedstrom@motorship.com

I am returning to the theme of EEXI once again after the 7th meeting of the Intersessional Working Group on the Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships agreed to recommend the approval of draft amendments in MARPOL Annex VI to the SeventyFifth session of the IMO Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 75) in November.

The draft amendments in MARPOL Annex VI to reduce the carbon intensity of existing ships are expected to be approved. As such, an Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) is likely to be introduced from 2023.

We include a summary of the findings of the ISWG7 later in the issue, and also examine the implications of EEXI measures for VLCCs in an extended article. The rules that will be used for the Carbon Intensity Index (CII) measurements remain ill-defined.

Given the comparatively short timeframe before the EEXI measures are introduced in 2023, and the likelihood that the deadline for the verification of EEXI is likely to be the first annual or renewal survey after that date, ship owners and operators should make early preparations to ensure compliance.

We include several features on potential energy efficient products and solutions in this issue of The Motorship. We also include an exclusive feature with MAN Energy Solutions’ Dr Gunnar Stiesch in which he outlines two significant technological advances for the company’s research into emissions reductions. These developments are expected to lead to a dramatic reduction in methane slip for the company’s LNG-fuelled 4-stroke engine platforms.

We have a dedicated article on ABB Turbocharging’s first reference for its sequential turbocharging solution for 2-stroke engines. We also include an extended interview with WinGD’s Dominik Schneiter as part of our Motorship 100 series of interviews.

Our Design for Performance section includes a two-page article on several new geometry hull designs by Vancouver-based naval architects NaviForm. The article includes detail on the energy efficiency properties of the low-resistance design of Chile-based ship operator Navimag’s new 1,800 lane metre Ro-Pax Esperanza.

The design, which would meet EEDI Phase 3 requirements, offers particular benefits for low weight, high volume vessels, such as RoPax and passenger ferries.

We also include a Ship Design feature article on Sweden-based ship owner Donsötank’s two dual-fuel chemical tanker newbuildings.

The FKAB-designed vessels include a 500kWh Corvus energy storage systems and shore power connections. The LNG-fuelled vessel also features an organic Rankine cycle, which is the subject of a separate feature in this month’s issue.

As part of our focus on digitalisation, we include an in-depth feature on the CIMAC strategy group on digitalisation. This is an area that ship owners and operators should follow closely, given the ever-increasing importance of digital solutions as a source of competitive advantage.

The development of regional regulations around environmental emissions, such as the extension of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (or ETS) to shipping, is another area that ship owners and operators should follow closely.

4 | NOVEMBER 2020

Credit: Wilhelmsen

Making plans for EEXI

An EU grant of €8 million has been awarded to a project developing a PEM fuel cell powered Ro-Ro as part of a liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuel supply chain in Norway.

As previously reported by The Motorship, the project is intended to develop a hydrogen distribution network, establishing the viability of transporting LH2 fuel via zero-emission coastal vessels, and establishing terminals for storage and bunkering along the Norwegian coast.

Green hydrogen will be sourced from the new LH2 production plant planned at Mongstad outside Bergen by consortium participants Equinor and Air Liquide, along with a Bergenbased energy generator, BKK. “Hydrogen as a fuel enables opportunities for low, or zeroemission shipping. Topeka will be our first step towards scalable LH2 fuelled maritime operations.

We shall create a full LH2 infrastructure and commercial ecosystem, while at the same time removing yearly some 25,000 trucks from the roads”, says VP of special projects Per Brinchmann at Wilhelmsen, which is also coordinating the project.

Frida Eklöf Monstad, Vice President Logistics and emergency response in Equinor said: “A hydrogen driven coastliner that has a regular frequency is very promising transportation alternative for Equinor’s bases on the west coast of Norway. This zero-emission vessel service will also be a valuable demonstrator of the technology development supporting Equinor’s ambitions to move cargo from road to sea and to halve emissions from

8 The zero-emission Ro-Ro demonstrator vessel will be powered by a 3MW PEM fuel cell, along with a 1MWh capacity battery pack

our maritime activities in Norway by 2030.”

The ship will be operated by Norwegian maritime industry group Wilhelmsen and is expected to enter service in 2024.

The consortium includes ferry operator Norled along with ship designer LMG Marin, both of whom have previous experience with liquid hydrogen-fuelled ferry designs, having collaborated in Norway’s first hydrogen-powered car ferry, which is currently being constructed at Westcon.

The HySHIP project will also conduct three replicator studies, including a 1MW tanker barge for use on inland waterways, a 3MW fast ferry and a scaling-up study.

Interestingly, the latter study will involve the installation of a larger, 20MW energy system for deepsea vessels using a capesize bulk carrier as the replicator.

This is understood to be one of the first such studies to consider fuel cells for bulk carriers.

Previous hydrogen fuel cell projects have tended to focus on applications for cruise ships, offshore vessels, ferries and fast ferries, although there has been some interest in LNG carrier designs featuring fuel cells in recent months.

The HySHIP consortium also includes Kongsberg Maritime, PersEE, Diana Shipping, NCE Maritime CleanTech and classification society DNV GL. A number of academic institutions are also participating including ETH Zürich, Strathclyde University and Demokritos.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

A smarter perspective on a low carbon future

Reduced Methane slip and CO2 emissions

Proven low-pressure dual-fuel engine technology with high reliability and safety record

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NEWS REVIEW

NEW Arc7 LNGS WILL HAVE 6MW MORE POWER THAN PREDECESSORS

BRIEFS First LPG retrofit

BW LPG’s 84,414cbm LPG carrier BW Gemini has become the first ship to have its twostroke main engine converted to operate on fuel oil and LPG. The conversion of the vessel’s six-cylinder MAN B&W G60ME-C9.2 engine converted to a dual-fuel MAN B&W 6G60ME- LGIP type engine was concluded in October, before sea trials in late October 2020.

The conversion is the first of 12 ordered by BW LPG for a series of vessels in its fleet.

6 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 The new Arc7 vessel design features three 17MW ABB Azipod electric propulsion units, compared with original 45MW total propulsion in the Christophe de Margerie

Credit: SCF

A new series of Arc7 LNG carriers will feature more advanced icebreaking hulls to permit year-round deliveries from the Arctic LNG 2 project.

The ships will have three 17MW ABB Azipod electric propulsion units resulting in a maximum of 51MW total propulsion power, whereas the Christophe de Margerie has three 15MW ABB Azipods.

Aker Arctic, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Novatek jointly developed the new vessel design to meet the specific needs of the Arctic LNG 2 project located in the Gydan Peninsula in Northern Siberia, including winter sailing eastbound through the Northern Sea Route from Utrenny LNG terminal primarily to Asian markets.

Sailing through the Northern Sea Route during wintertime is a challenge with ice thickness reaching up to two metres thick, says Reko-Antti Suojanen, CEO of Aker Arctic Technology. Use of Aker Arctic’s Double Acting Ship (DAS™) design means the ships will include an an additional bridge facing astern and will sail backwards in thick ice conditions.

The Christophe de Margerie is also a DAS design.

“The DAS feature reduces the power need in ice almost 50%, thus bringing major savings in fuel consumption and emissions,” says

Suojanen. “Additionally, it provides great maneuvering capability which is important in ice operation.

These ships can break through even thick ice ridge formations and do not normally need additional icebreaker support.”

The 199.9-metre, 172,410cbm vessels will feature a more advanced icebreaking hull form than their predecessors. “The design of the hull is more made for difficult ice conditions rather than focusing on open water,”

says Suojanen. Before construction begins, this improved operational capability in ice-covered waters will be verified with ice model tests in Aker Arctic’s laboratory in Finland. Like the Christophe de Margerie, the vessels will have an open water speed of 19.5 knots, but they are expected to achieve higher average transit speeds in ice covered waters.

DSME has signed shipbuilding contracts with SCF and Mitsui

O.S.K. Lines for the construction of six vessels, and SCF and Arctic LNG 2, the operator of the Arctic LNG 2 project, have already entered into 30-year time charter agreements for three of these new vessels. They will be built to Russian Maritime Register and Bureau Veritas class.

Earlier in 2019-2020, another 15 icebreaking LNG carriers were ordered for the Arctic LNG 2 project from Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex in Russia. SCF will own the lead vessel of this series, with the remaining 14 being owned by SMART LNG, a joint venture between SCF Group and Novatek. These 15 vessels are scheduled for delivery in 2023-2025 and are time chartered to the project’s operator.

CLASSNK DIGITAL NOTATION FOR LNG PCTC ClassNK has granted its digital smart ship (DSS) notation for an LNG-fuelled pure car truck carrier (PCTC) which was ordered to Shin Kurushima Dockyard by NYK Line.

The Sakura Leader, delivered on 2 October 2020, is the first LNG-fuelled PCTC built in Japan.

NYK has announced that ‘beginning with this ship, NYK will proceed with the replacement of vessels in its PCTC fleet with next-generation eco-friendly ship’.

“Granting this notation will be the milestone for our initiative facilitating advanced technology and the remarkable model of our upcoming certification process,” said Hayato Suga, corporate officer, director of plan approval and technical solution division.

As a part of the society’s new initiative, ‘Innovation Endorsement’ which certifies innovations which use digital technology, ClassNK released its ‘Guidelines for Digital Smart Ship’ stipulating the

procedures for class notations for ships with advanced digital technology. This first class certificate was issued two months after the guidelines’ release.

On the satisfactory completion of documentation and plan examination and on-site survey, ClassNK has added ‘DSS(EE)’ for energy efficiency analysis function, ‘DSS(MM)’ for machinery monitoring and ‘DSS(CNS)’ for onboard data processing and data transmission to shore.

ICU retrofit

Wärtsilä Flettner MoU

First LH2 carrier AiP

CSSC Marine Service Co (CMS) has launched an injection control unit (ICU) overhaul and testing service, extending its range of services for WïnGD and RT-Flex two-stroke engines. CMS’s OEM-authorised ICU overhaul and testing workshop in Qingdao can overhaul units within 2-3 days, permitting services to be easily incorporated into a scheduled drydock without disrupting the schedule of the shipyard or ship operator.

Wärtsilä signed an MoU to a license and cooperation agreement with Anemoi Marine Technologies for the future sales and servicing of Rotor Sail solutions to the shipping industry. The collaboration will enable the adoption of wind-assisted solutions for most marine vessel types, focusing on dry and wet bulk vessels. Wärtsilä will promote the solution for both newbuild projects and for retrofitting to existing ships.

KR awarded the world’s first AIP for a commercial LH2 carrier design in late October. The 20,000cbm gas carrier design was jointly developed by Hyundai Mipo Dockyard HMD, Hyundai Glovis and Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE).

KSOE developed the liquefied hydrogen cargo treatment system and a boil-off gas treatment system for hydrogen using fuel cells, while HMD developed the basic design of the ship.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

RIDE THE WAVE

Of the LNG marine expansion

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LEADER BRIEFING

ISWG-GHG 7 DISCUSSIONS DELIVER DOCUMENT TO MEPC 75 ISWG-GHG 7 sends MARPOL amendments brokered by chairman Sveinung Oftedal to MEPC 75 despite difficult discussions about EEXI and uncertainties over the legal status of CII Draft amendments to MARPOL agreed during the delayed Intersessional Working Group on Reduction of GHG Emissions from Ships (ISWG-GHG 7) in late October mark “a major step forward, building on current mandatory energy efficiency requirements to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from shipping,” according to the official report on the meeting issued by IMO’s secretariat.

On that basis, the week had gone well, yet one delegate – who spoke to The Motorship on condition of anonymity – said that the week’s discussions began with “quite a weak proposal” that by mid-week had been “watered down … and then collapsed.”

That initial proposal was based on a review of various submissions for the meeting’s original April schedule. They were combined into the proposal referred to above, which mentioned, among other things, a need for guidelines on both Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) and its related Carbon Intensity Indicators (CIIs).

It is always difficult to know what goes on at IMO working group (WG) meetings because non-delegates cannot follow their proceeding and their documents are never published in the public area of the IMODOCS online repository. So all The Motorship and other outsiders can go on are leaked documents, interviews, email exchanges and official statements.

Our insider said that the failed discussion has affected IMO’s ambitions for EEXI and CIIs and added that when the discussions ‘collapsed’, the meeting’s chairman, Sveinung Oftedal – who is a special director within Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment – put forward his own proposals to break the impasse and the final outcome was based on those.

Not every flag state attending the meeting was happy with that outcome, The Motorship has heard, with one of those expressing disquiet apparently being the Marshall Islands.

Its ambassador to Fiji, Albon Ishoda, who headed its delegation at the meeting, certainly had concerns about the meeting’s working paper, describing it to one media outlet as a “compromise short-term measure proposal [that] is neither consistent with a 1.5°C temperature pathway nor consistent with the levels of ambition” set out in IMO’s initial greenhouse gas strategy.

However, a Marshall Islands spokeswoman declined The Motorship’s invitation to say whether the flag state agreed with that assessment or whether its delegation had subsequently opposed the meeting’s outcome being passed to MEPC, as The Motorship believes, “due to the confidentiality of the proceedings of the working group.” In a statement, she said that there had been no voting during the meeting and that “it was agreed to incorporate short-term measures through new regulations under Chapter 4 of MARPOL Annex VI”, subject to approval at MEPC 75 and adoption by MEPC 76 next year.

Mr Oftedal was also positive about the meeting and its outcome. In a conversation with The Motorship, he paid tribute to IMO’s member states, who he said had shown an “extraordinary interest in cooperation … to arrive at such a good and specific outcome.”

8 | NOVEMBER 2020

But he confirmed that the guidelines mentioned in the working document had still to be completed and that an A-E rating schedule for CIIs had not been defined beyond the broad terms used in the proposal going to MEPC. That lists levels D and E as indicating a ship with ‘minor inferior’ and ‘inferior’ performance levels respectively and IMO’s meeting report notes that “a ship rated D for three consecutive years, or E, would have to submit a corrective action plan, to show how the required index (C or above) would be achieved.”

What will happen if no improvement follows that action plan is far from clear. According to a statement issued after the meeting by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), such ships “will face serious negative consequences unless they improve their performance,” but an ICS spokesman clarified to The Motorship that this referred to potential commercial consequences, since “there will be market pressure to use higher rated ships”.

A few days after the WG, ICS chairman Esben Poulsson spoke about this during a webinar held as part of the Posidonia Web Forums week, in which he said that “the whole basis of the [CII] rating system is to incentivise good performance and to disincentivize bad performance.”

Nonetheless, the ICS spokesman also said that the principle of imposing sanctions had been agreed at the

8 “We have achieved as much as we could,” believes the WG’s chair, Sveinung Oftedal

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

LEADER BRIEFING meeting but “that has to be finally codified in line with the IMO process.”

It was also clear from our conversation with Mr Oftedal that those sanctions have not yet been specified. He said that “corrective action” had been “heavily discussed” during the WG meeting, although any provisions will depend on the legal status of the CII, which has not yet been decided. This may be clarified in the subsequent guidelines, he indicated.

Our own source viewed this outcome as meaning that “there is no sanction whatsoever, so [the corrective action plan] is completely meaningless.” He also gained an impression at the meeting that a small majority of delegations actually want there to be no enforcement measures.

As well as the ICS, other shipowner organisations have also welcomed the meeting’s outcome. A spokesman for the UK Chamber of Shipping told The Motorship that there had “clearly [been] a hot debate with differing views on enforcement, sector applicability, divisions between developed and less-developed maritime nations and significant detail on short term technical operational measures,” but that the meeting’s outcome “will create a key stepping stone in the decarbonisation pathway.”

If there are no further delays, the amendment agreed during the WG meeting could come into force in late 2022, Mr Oftedal indicated, which would be ahead of the planned review of IMO’s Initial GHG Strategy in 2023.

Assuming it is accepted by MEPC 75, the proposed amendment will be formally adopted by MEPC 76, which Mr Oftedal expects will probably take place in ‘late spring’ 2021, although no date has yet been declared by IMO’s secretariat.

‘‘

A few days after the WG, ICS chairman Esben Poulsson spoke about this during a webinar held as part of the Posidonia Web Forums week, in which he said that “the whole basis of the [CII] rating system is to incentivise good performance and to disincentivize bad performance The earliest it could begin is 20 May – six months after MEPC 75 ends – because of the minimum period required between circulating and adopting amendments.

The adopted amendment would then be circulated to members and come into force 16 months later under the ‘tacit approval’ principle, sometime in autumn 2022.

There will be a review by 2026 into how effective the amendments have been “and, if necessary, develop and adopt further amendments,” IMO’s report of the meeting says.

This does not impress our source. “We can ratchet it at that point, but it’s not going to come into effect until 2028,” he said.

But Mr Oftedal pointed out that 2026 is the latest date for that review; “it is actually up to the committee when to start and when to finalise” it. For now, he believes that, although “there remain quite important elements in development … we have achieved as much as we could at this point in time.”

Experts to analyse the impact of ETS extension While the European Parliament’s vote to extend the scope of the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) to cover shipping has attracted a lot of media attention, the effects of the proposal on shipping remain unclear.

The implications of the proposal on international supply chains remains uncertain, while there is a risk that trade between non-EU members passing through EU transshipment hubs could be subject to the ETS as well.

Separate questions surround the accuracy of the EU’s MRV emissions recording system, as well as reporting at sea.

The vote risks undermining EU efforts to develop consistent global rules. There is a risk that a patchwork of national and regional environmental regulations could emerge, raising technology development costs for OEMs and ultimately for ship owners.

And looming above the regulatory and economic implications lies the question of efficiency. Will the EU’s proposal help shipping to achieve existing targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2050, as agreed at the IMO’s MEPC72 meeting in 2018?

The Motorship Propulsion & Future Fuels Live is bringing together a panel of industry

10 | NOVEMBER 2020

heavyweights to provide their expert views on this latest development and how they see it affecting the shipping business.

The panel includes Bo Cerup Simonsen, CEO, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping, Bud Darr, Executive Vice President, Maritime Policy and Government Affairs, MSC Group and Harry Tenumu

8 The Motorship Propulsion & Future Fuels Live panel will bring together a panel of industry heavyweights

Conway, Vice Chair of the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC), IMO. The live virtual panel of industry heavyweights will meet on 24 November at 11:00 CET.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

TWO-STROKE ENGINES

EEXI COMPLIANCE: CHOICE OF OPTIONS FOR VLCC OWNERS

Credit: Euronav

The expected entry into force of EEXI rules in 2023 will affect the VLCC sector significantly and may accelerate the disposal of older tonnage, Kari Reinikainen hears

From a technical point of view, owners have many options in principle to achieve the 10%+ emissions reductions required to make their vessels compliant. However, the commercial considerations that affect decision making are extensive, particularly as the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) regulations are planned to take effect from the start of 2023, a year after the Ballast Water Management Convention.

There is a wide range of options available for VLCC owners to comply planned EEXI legislation and a lot depends on the strategic choices of the owner, said Andreas Wiesmann, General Manager of Global Sales for 2-Stroke Engine Services, Piet van Mierlo, Team Leader of Propellers Product team and Stavros Zacharias, Global Sales Development General Manager for 2-stroke Services at Wärtsilä, the Finnish technology group.

The first choice an owner needs to make whether to retain the design speed of its ships or to opt for a lower output of main engine. The latter option usually requires the replacement of the propeller and rudder, which often means the engine has to be de-rated, as the load curve is no longer optimal. A number of energy saving solutions can be installed as well.

Air lubrication can be interesting on ballast voyages, but when laden the deep draft of a VLCC means that a lot of power would be needed to produce the necessary pressure for the system to work. However, this can be done by using the main engine, which simplifies matters and reduces the cost.

The installation of wind-assisted propulsion would be viable from a technical point of view and would not reduce the cargo capacity of a ship. However, the capital cost of

12 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 Advances in engine technology and vessel design have driven improvements in the fuel efficiency of modern VLCCs, such as Euronav’s 299,320dwt Alice (pictured)

investing in such solutions reduces its attractiveness: a VLCC would require four Flettner rotors, for example.

Capex considerations also apply to the conversion of an existing VLCC to dual fuel operation, in addition to the work involved in installing an LNG fuel tank and the fuel gas supply system and related equipment. Locating the fuel tank on deck minimises the impact of cargo capacity.

Such a conversion represents the best option to future proof a vessel, as it would also allow the use of other fuels, such as methanol or ammonia. But it is difficult to assess which fuels are likely to be the best ones towards the end of the lifespan of a vessel: advances in technology and potential changes in legislation means this may change in future.

Nikolaj Peter Lemb Larsen, Chief Naval Architect, Hydrodynamics and Aerodynamics at Force Technology in Denmark said that by de-rating the main engine, replacing the rudder and propeller plus installation of energy saving devices it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of a VLCC by some 10% to 15%, although there can be variations between vessels. The work can be carried out in stages to spread the cost over a number of years if the owner prefers it this way, but then the savings will also emerge gradually as a result.

PRESSURES ON AGEING VLCCS The planned EEXI regulations mean that a VLCC in operation today would have to meet a 15% reduction factor relative to the EEDI reference line, which could be quite a task for existing vessels, especially the largest vessel, said Catrine Vestereng, Business Director Tankers at DNV GL - Maritime.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

Brian Gallagher, Head of Investor Relations and Communications at the Antwerp-listed company said that shipping itself is partly to blame for this. “Shipping does not have a strong single voice. Instead, most shipping sectors are highly fragmented and it also has many different categories of business, which makes things difficult to have focus.”

However, bearing that in mind, he said the industry should tackle three concerns. Firstly, it should have proper transparency regarding governance and secondly, it should have its proper seat at the table around which decisions regarding it are made. “You cannot complain and whine if you do not agree to broad disclosure yourself,” he noted. Finally, oil traders and other interested parties should also have their say, so that all vested interests are presented in the planning of new legislation. “There is nothing wrong with that, everyone’s viewpoint should be presented at the table to allow a negotiated settlement,” he said.

As far as EEXI is concerned, the company whose fleet accounts for 5% of all the VLCCs in the world, Gallagher said as it now stands, it offers a very clear and usable pathway forward, although owners with older fleets might find bigger challenges ahead as a result. Euronav’s preferred option to comply with EEXI will focus on adjusting the power of each vessel to therefore adjust the emissions along with slower steaming when on ballast legs.

Challenges in the application of EEXI will be technical, he continued, such as the appropriate power-weight ratios of each vessel. However, it also means that the tanker industry must have entry to the rooms in which decisions regarding these are made: engagement is the key. “Let’s get our hands dirty,” he noted.

Accelerated scrapping of VLCCs is the logical conclusion of EEXI, but of course the decision to scrap has multiple inputs and older tonnage ownership is more fragmented than the overall fleet average. It is almost entirely in private

SHIPPING NEEDS TRANSPARENCY The fuel efficiency of VLCCs has improved significantly over the years. Today one litre of fuel oil burned by a VLCC tanker carries a tonne of crude more than 2,800 km - this is more than twice the figure of 20 years ago, says Euronav, the world’s largest independent VLCC owner, on its website. Yet shipping’s efforts to improve its performance has gone largely unnoticed.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 A one-year trial of Norsepower’s Rotor Sails onboard Maersk Tankers’ LR2 product tanker Maersk Pelican resulted in fuel savings of 8.2%

8 Catrine Vestereng, Business Director Tankers at DNV GL

Credit: DNV GL

Engine Power Limitation or Shaft Power Limitation are the most likely first steps, she suggests, as well as potentially installing energy saving devices.

A complicating factor could be the recent entry into force of the Ballast Water Management Convention, she suggests.

Many of the vessels currently in the fleet are expected to have to install treatment systems in the next several years an additional investment for vessels which might already find it hard to compete with the next tonnage coming into the market. “If you look at more modern VLCCs, that have been designed to hit EEDI targets, they are very different, they have hull forms that have been highly optimized for both calm water and waves and are much more efficient than vessels that are 10-15 years older,” she told The Motorship. “Facing this double hit, owners may then look to invest in new tonnage, and we could see an increase in scrapping.”

The requirements to meet the SEEMP (Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan), looked like they would be more easily obtainable, said Vestereng. “We have data that suggests recently delivered VLCCs 23MW of installed power are operating for 90% of the time, significantly below that output, usually requiring only 14MW. This means that speed reduction, which would be a necessary condition of limiting engine power, as well operational efficiency measures, and deployment of some new efficiency enhancing technologies, could see younger vessels meet these requirements.”

“It’s not just regulations that are sharpening the industry’s focus on efficiency,” adds Vestereng. “Charterers are increasingly looking to impose their own emissions requirements. For example, the recently launched SeaCargo Charter which includes Total, Shell, Equinor, and Cargil, or the Poseidon Principles, and this trend will only ramp up the pressure on older vessels.”

Time would tell on which solutions would work best to help VLCCs meet the requirements, not only from a technical perspective but commercially, said Vestereng. “Especially with some of the new energy saving measures, such as windassisted propulsion systems (wings, sails, rotors, etc.), waste heat recovery systems, or the use of shaft generators, we will have to see how the promised gains in efficiency translate in real world operation. And how commercial factors play into the payback times for these investments. Of course, as the regulations continues to tighten, notably the EEDI, moving to LNG as a ship fuel or other alternatives, for VLCC newbuilds may be an option that becomes more attractive.”

Oyvind Endresen, Environmental Consultant at DNV GL, added that a DNV GL study had shown that the most advantageous fuel of today for a VLCC may not be the same throughout its lifespan. The use of VLSFO or HSFO with scrubbers both result in a major carbon risk in about 2040. In the case of LNG, high capital cost is a disadvantage today, but together with energy saving investment its position should improve in the next two decades.

However, in about 2040 other types of fuel may provide competition. The study concluded that a VLCC should be able to switch to other fuel over its lifetime. If it lacks this flexibility, it may become a stranded asset that has to be scrapped prematurely.

Credit: Norsepower

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 13

Credit: DNV GL

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hands, making visibility and disclosure more difficult to follow. “But yes EEXI is a numerical framework indicating an emissions “score” which alongside other factors will add to the pressure to exit,” he said.

The planned legislation has also its critics. The guidelines for EEXI are not yet fully developed and this poses problems for owners as they are not confident about the details, said Hans Otto Holmegaard Kristensen, owner of HOK Marineconsult. The key challenge is to show that the reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from a particular ship really is the result of it having become more energy efficient.

Kristensen has worked with Denmark’s shipowners’ association Danish Shipping and has also worked together with the country’s maritime administration since the early days of the planning of EEDI and EEXI. Delegates at the IMO want indicators of improved performance and one of the indicators is the carbon intensity indicator, CII, has been chosen for this purpose. However, for ships like VLCCs the actual performance of the ship could be heavily influenced by e.g. freight markets and the weather conditions the ship encounters.

POTENTIAL UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES “Let’s assume the freight markets will be very bad in 2021 as a result of Covid-19. There will be lots of ballast voyages and voyages with part cargo. Fuel consumption will be low as a result,” Kristensen said. When this is divided by the maximum deadweight tonnage of the vessel, the ship’s performance looks very good on paper.

Conversely, in a strong market ballast voyages and part cargoes give way to fully laden voyages. With deep draft, the fuel consumption consump of the ship increases considerably considerably. Ships like VLCCs tend to slow steam when freight markets are weak and sail faster to pick up cargoes when they pay well. “This leads to the paradox that a positive financial situation ffor owners could lead to a bad reading of o the indicator,” he told The Motorship.

Reducing the speed of ships by e.g. derating the eng engines can tackle the problem of high higher speeds when freight pays we well, but it also creates a few new ones. “Wind and wave resistance account for 20% of total resistance at full speed, but this figure rises to 60% at slow speeds,” he continued.

The “hotel load” of ships that is needed to run everything from cooling pumps and other types of pumps, lights to air conditioning and galley equipment is remarkably constant and should speed be lowered, then power to cater for hotel load must be generated e.g. by using auxiliaries. “The effective benefit of lower speeds will be lower than the 35% indicated by theoretical calculations - perhaps as low as 20% or 25%,” he pointed out, when a relatively larger sea margin is used in the performance calculations to show the gain by a speed reduction.

To rectify the problem in the proposed EEXI legislation, Kristensen said the energy consumption should be divided by the amount of cargo the ship actually has carried - and not by its maximum deadweight - and the nautical miles to has travelled, i.e. the energy efficiency operational index (EEOI) value should be used. ”The problem however is that in the official IMO reporting system this is not a part of the data reporting. Only in the EU MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) recording system EEOI is included in the reported data, but MRV data are only given for ships sailing in EU waters,” he said.

The proposed EEXI legislation may accelerate the removal of ageing VLCCs from the market if their owners consider that these vessels will be uneconomical to operate under these rules. “If owners find that they are commercially unable to operate these vessels feasibly, then yes,” said Lars Robert Pedersen, Deputy Secretary General of BIMCO in Denmark.

As so often is the case in shipping, there are many variables that can affect such decisions, the state of freight markets being a significant factor at a given time.

BIMCO takes a positive view regarding regulation that aims to protect the environment or improve safety of shipping and Pedersen said EEXI does not appear to be anything revolutionary in itself. However, the extent of reductions in installed power and vessel speeds may exceed some owners’ preferences and for VLCCs, these reductions would be at the upper end of the scale.

Many owners will carry out modification work on their vessels to comply with EEXI, but Pedersen this is unlikely to lead to shortages of shipyard capacity as this work can often be carried out in stages. Again, the state of the freight markets would also direct owners’ decisions regarding capital expenditure at a given time.

Pedersen also urged the industry to engage in the work regarding regulation. “The IMO has the technical expertise, which the delegates of the member states often do not have.

The outside world often sees shipping as an industry that is not happy with regulation. However, you need to work with it to have influence, you need to engage,” he concluded.

8 DNV-GL’s framework for future testing ships identified a number of variables to consider when future proofing a VLCC

8 Lars Robert Pedersen, Deputy Secretary General of BIMCO

Credit: BIMCO

14 | NOVEMBER 2020

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ORC INSTALLATION ECONOMICS DEPEND ON KIT TRADE-OFFS

Credit: Alfvan Beem/CC1.0

While the payback period for Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) systems can be below 10 years, the size of key components heavily influences the economics for smaller vessels

LNG-fuelled ships offer extra potential for waste heat recovery compared to ships running on heavy fuel oil, as there is a reduced need for fuel pre-heating with LNG and therefore a reduced requirement for waste heat from engine exhaust gases to be used to generate service steam.

This extra potential was examined in a study undertaken by DTU Mechanical Engineering, MAN Energy Solutions, Fjord Line, Alfa Laval and Lloyd’s Register Marine.

The researchers examined potential heat sources and sinks for a vessel powered by a 7G95ME-C9.5 MAN Energy Solutions dual fuel two-stroke engine with low pressure selective catalytic reduction tuning. Their study considered the economics of four theoretical configurations: main engine exhaust gas and jacket cooling water as heat sources and seawater or LNG pre-heating as the heat sink and jacket cooling water as the only heat source and seawater or LNG Pre-heating as the heat sink.

The combination of exhaust gas and seawater was the optimal configuration, leading to fuel savings of 6.9% if the electricity was used for propulsion and 8.5% if used for auxiliary generators. The use of jacket cooling water provided fuel savings of under 1%. The use of LNG pre-heating as a heat sink resulted in similarly low savings, even when the estimated efficiency of using exhaust gases as a heat source reached 35%. This was attributed to the limited mass flow rate of the LNG that needs to be pre-heated.

RETROFIT TRADE-OFFS The performance of optimised ORC systems was then evaluated against the operating profile of a slow-steaming container ship operating in Tier II areas and a container feeder operating in Tier III areas. The container ship case study evaluated a 23,000kW MAN 6S80ME-C9.5-GI engine operating for 6,500 hours annually. The feeder case study evaluated a 10,500kW MAN 7S60E-C10.5-GI engine with an

16 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 A Calnetix/MHI jacket water ORC was fitted to Arnold Maersk

exhaust gas recirculation unit, operating for 4,380 hours annually. The ORC working fluid considered was cyclopentane.

The study predicts annual main engine fuel savings of 6.5% for the container ship and 8.4% for the feeder if the energy is used to replace that from an auxiliary generator. The payback for the ORC system on the container ship was six years and for the feeder it was nine years: for the feeder, the ORC’s boiler was divided in two so that one of the parts recovered heat from the exhaust gases recirculated in the EGR unit. This added to installation costs which were estimated at $1,784/ kW for the container ship and $2,542/kW for the feeder.

The study also considered options for retrofitting. The optimal ORC configuration for the container ship required a volume of 17m3 for the heat exchangers. Reducing this to 10m3 reduced fuel savings by 10%. For the feeder, the optimal ORC configuration required a volume of 13.5m3 for the heat exchangers. Reducing this to 7m3 reduced fuel savings by 13%.

BACK PRESSURE OPTIMISATION The installation of an ORC unit on the exhaust line of a marine engine imposes an increase in the back pressure on the engine resulting in a decrease in engine performance and variation in the available waste heat. Further work conducted at DTU proposed a method for the optimal design for the systems based on performance maps for the engine and numerical models for the ORC unit and the waste heat recovery boiler.

For a hypothetical LNG-fuelled container ship, overall system fuel consumption can be reduced by 0.52 g/kWh to 1.45 g/kWh by allowing higher back pressure levels on the engine. For a fixed power output of the ORC system, the space requirement for the waste heat recovery boiler can be reduced by up to 35% when increasing the maximum allowed engine back pressure from 3kPa to 6kPa. The work follows a number of earlier studies - including an

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onboard trial on a container ship. The 2016 installation of a 125kW Calnetix/Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Equipment (MHI) ORC system on the container ship Arnold Maersk proved the working concept for having an ORC using engine jacket water as a heat source. The system used heat of less than 100oC from the engine jacket water of the vessel’s Wärtsilä 12RTA96C engine.

The ship sailed through northern latitudes and equatorial regions, and the variation in seawater temperature had an impact on the power output of the ORC system, but modelling indicated that integrating ORC units within the service steam circuit could achieve payback periods of five to 10 years assuming 6,500 operating hours per year and that the electricity produced replaced that from an auxiliary generator.

The retrofit took about a month to complete and required cutting the ORC frame into pieces and then reassembling it in a space that had been designed to house an extra diesel generator. The ORC system took up approximately 9.2m x 2.7m x 4.4m and was accessible via two small hatches (1m x 2m).

The system installed on the Arnold Maersk included a newly-developed radial turbine from MHI integrated within a high-speed permanent magnet generator. The “Hydrocurrent” module requires no cooling or lubricating systems and does not require sealing from the external environment. MHI says the result is both compact and highly efficient.

NEW HYBRID MHI SOLUTION The company is now developing MHI STAR - a hybrid Mitsubishi steam turbine and advanced organic Rankine cycle hybrid system targeted at LNG-fuelled vessels. For high sulphur fuel oil, heat from engine exhaust gases is recovered within a limited temperature range to prevent boiler corrosion that can occur as a result of sulphuric acid formation. In contrast, as a low sulphur fuel, the use of LNG means that waste heat recovery boiler design is simplified, and the temperature range of recovered heat can be extended and exploited with greater efficiency by the two sub-systems in the hybrid configuration. The steam Rankine cycle can be optimised to boost efficiency at high engine loads, and the organic Rankine cycle system, taking advantage of MHI’s radial turbine technology, can be optimised to boost efficiency at lower loads.

Wide variations in engine load are generally considered sub-optimal for ORC systems. However, another study by researchers at Newcastle University examined the potential fuel savings for an 88.8-metre, 5,200dwt multi-purpose offshore support vessel operating 350 days a year. The vessel’s operating profile, carrying supplies to offshore rigs in Malaysia, meant that the four two-stroke Wärtsilä 6L26 engines burning marine gas oil were not operating at high load much of the time. The analysis included a range of operating modes including four engines running at 75% load, two engines running at 85%, 75% or 50% load, and one engine running at 50% or 25% load.

Four ORC system designs were considered: a simple system, the addition of a recuperator between the expander outlet and the evaporator inlet to improve thermal efficiency, a simple system with two heat sources (exhaust gas and engine cooling water) and a simple system with intermediate heating. The working fluids modelled were cyclopentane, n-heptane, n-octane, methanol and ethanol.

The researchers calculated annual fuel savings of between 5% and 9% for installation costs between $5,000/kW and $8,000/kW for a system with net work output between 90 kW to 165kW using engine exhaust gases as the heat source and seawater as the heat sink. Engine loads of 75% and 85% accounted for about 90% of the fuel savings. A simple system

Credit: Enogia

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using methanol offered the shortest payback time approximately 10 years with assumed fuel cost of $610/ton.

The cost of the systems varied by around 20%, with the system using a recuperator being the most expensive.

However, the system with the recuperator offered the highest fuel savings at around 9%. The expander accounted for 60% to 70% of the total cost. The heat exchangers (evaporator, condenser, pre-heater and intermediate heater) each account for about 10%, and the fluid pumps accounted for less than 5%.

Ongoing research at Newcastle Research & Innovation Institute in Singapore (NewRIIS) aims to create a modelbased system engineering methodology using the commercial off-the-shelf engineering program called Amesim from Siemens. The researchers aim to model the performance of ORC components such as heat exchangers and fluid machinery to optimise system performance, especially for ships that have a varying waste heat output due to their operational profile.

EFFECT OF ALCOHOL FUELS Several other studies have evaluated different vessel types including a 2017 study where a 20kW system was installed on the fishing vessel Orizzonte, powered by a four-stroke engine. The system achieved estimated fuel savings of 5%.

Equipment manufacturer Enogia says its patented hermetic, high-speed micro-turbine technology is the key to efficient heat recovery by the expander. The turbine blades and working fluids for its ORC modules are adapted to suit the specific waste heat temperature ranges onboard, and the system is compact and modular to facilitate installation. Fuel savings and payback time depend on the individual project.

New fuels are expected to change ORC economics, and a 2018 DTU study noted that alcohols improve combustion due to the presence of oxygen in their molecule, leading to a decrease in engine heat loss and exhaust gas temperature.

The use of hydrogen as fuel could make it challenging to find the space to integrate an ORC onboard, as the storage tanks of compressed hydrogen require around six times more space than those of heavy fuel oil.

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8 Equipment manufacturer Enogia adapts its ORC modules to suit the specific waste heat temperature ranges onboard

8 Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Marine Machinery & Equipment (MHI) is developing a hybrid Mitsubishi steam turbine and advanced organic Rankine cycle hybrid system for LNG-fuelled vessels

Credit: MHI

NOVEMBER 2020 | 17

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FIRST FITS2 IS FITTED INTO BULKCARRIER NEWBUILDING The engine trials for the first installation of ABB’s Flexible integrated Turbocharging System for Two-Stroke Engines (FiTS2) were carried out in May 2020

8 The first installation of ABB’s Flexible integrated Turbocharging System for Two-Stroke Engines (FiTS2) solution is due to enter service in 2021

The trials in China had to be monitored remotely as Covid-19 restrictions prevented anyone from ABB or the engine designer WinGD attending the tests, explained Alexander Mutter, Senior manager, product management low-speed for ABB Turbocharging. “Nevertheless, we achieved very good results,” he told The Motorship.

The engine and its turbochargers are destined for a bulk carrier under construction at China’s Bohai shipyard for a Singapore-based shipowner Berge Bulk due to go into service in Q1 of 2021.

The tests were carried out at the yard on the ship’s WinGD 6X72-B engine and Mr Mutter confirmed the performance figures reported here on 9 October, when ABB Turbocharging’s Senior Vice President Christoph Rofka spoke of fuel savings of up to 6g/kWh when the FiTS2 technology is engaged, which represents savings of 3-5%.

As reported in February 2018, the system was developed jointly with WinGD, which had developed a special engine tuning to suit FiTS2. Speaking last month, Mr Mutter said that development work had started in 2016 in response to the trend for slow steaming, resulting in engines being operated at 50% or less of their rated power.

Tests were conducted at Diesel United in Japan on a sixcylinder version of the X72 engine and those have provided “the backbone” for the project, Mr Mutter said, because they demonstrated not only the fuel savings but also that NOx emissions could be maintained at IMO Tier II levels.

A FiTS2 installation comprises either two or three turbochargers - for the Berge Bulk installation, the engine has two of ABB’s A265-L units - one of which can be cut out for low-load operation even at relatively high engine loads.

18 | NOVEMBER 2020

It is this ability that puts the F - for flexibility - into FiTS2 and this feature, along with its compact design, were two goals behind its development, Mr Mutter recalled. On normal turbocharger installations, it is necessary to reduce the engine load to 10% or even less before the turbocharger valves can be operated to remove one turbocharger from operation, which can take half an hour or more, Mr Mutter said.

This flexibility could provide valuable support to ships operating in areas where there is a risk of piracy, he suggested: because the turbochargers’ valves can operate at high loads, a ship operating at low load on one turbocharger could immediately accelerate and the second unit would come on stream as the power increased.

These valves are mounted directly on the turbocharger, which is an unusual arrangement he said, to contribute to the system’s compact layout.

Although both turbochargers on this first application are the same model, they have each been modified so that one delivers 60% of the air to the engine and the other 40%. When the engine is operating above 50% of its rated load, both units are in use but at lower loads the smaller turbocharger is turned off. This channels all the exhaust through the remaining unit which can then deliver a higher charge pressure than if the exhaust was shared between both units.

On a triple-turbocharger installation, each could provide 33.3% of the air supply.

This arrangement has an added benefit at low loads since the auxiliary blowers will only be needed below 20% engine load, rather than the normal 30%, which saves energy - and thus fuel - because of their reduced use. Mr Mutter estimated that this can add a further 1.2g/kWh of fuel savings.

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LNG CONVERSIONS: PERKS, PITFALLS AND POSSIBILITIES

Photo: Hummelhummel

If the industry is going to meet its emissions targets, alternative fuel conversions will have to reach beyond newbuilds, and into the existing fleet - including the bigger, long haul ships: but they’re stubbornly hard to accomplish. So, industry players have come together to talk over the wrinkles... and how to iron them out

Firstly, the fuel’s power density requires consideration. As Mark Penfold of ABS points out: “all the alternatives being considered require a greater volume than conventional liquid fuels”; Ulf Åstrand of Wärtsilä adds that even the most mature, LNG, “does have an operational impact”.

However, there is an important counterbalance: endurance.

It’s now possible to drop the number of bunkering calls and consequently, reduce the tank installation - and the amount spent on it, says Jonathan Strachan of Houlder. This has only become a viable strategy in the last five or six years with development of the LNG infrastructure, but it makes a big difference to a swathe of vessels. “A standard product carrier can now change two, 500m2 tanks, for three 150 to 300m2 tanks to do the same job,” says Åstrand’s colleague, Mathias Jansson: that’s more than a 40% reduction in tank volume and its correlated CAPEX. ATTRIBUTES But the choice of tank type remains pivotal. Membrane versions are a useful, proven technology for newbuilds: their compact design and lighter weight offers fuel efficiency advantages over other larger, heavier solutions.

Unfortunately, they present challenges for retrofits.

Beyond their relative expense, they’re also integrated with the hull itself and require support from a double-walled, insulated structure. It can raise yard costs: as a result, Jansson explains “for a larger containership conversion, introducing a membrane tank is quite labour intense”.

It’s a balancing act: while installing a single large membrane tank instead of two of another kind could pare down the fuel gas handling system, they also require extra kit such as pressure control and possibly a gas combustionunit to deal with boil-off, says Strachen’s colleague, David Edwards. He adds that by contrast, C-type tanks can manage the pressure fluctuations and maintain LNG for 15 days without venting to the atmosphere - with no extra burner.

20 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 LNG conversions for large, long-haul ships might prove tricky

But they do have their limits: “I’d say you can reduce the cost and installation on a type-C pressure vessel, but you are compromising on volume,” says Jansson.

It’s not that this technology can’t be produced to scale; they just don’t make efficient use of space. Therefore, in Strachen’s view, when it comes to giant containerships on long haul routes, C-types “might not give you the range unless you can face losing a considerable amount of cargo”.

However, the field is beginning to open up and it’s no longer a choice between membranes and C-type pressure vessels. According to Penfold, “material developments, such as high manganese austenitic stainless steels or composites... may also bring tank cost reductions”.

All this stands to give alternative configurations a boost.

For example, prismatic tanks are designed to make the optimal use of available space. According to DNV GL, type-A tanks gain between 30% and 40% in volume efficiency over type-C models, plus, “they do generally cost less than membranes”, points out Strachan.

ENGINES & FUEL SUPPLY So, what about the engine itself? Despite the scale, switching even large-bore engines over to LNG isn’t a significantly difficult process, as long as your choice comes with a conversion pack.

In fact, since across the engine sizes the drivers are pretty much the same anyway, there’s an argument for saying ‘the bigger, the better’.

Size, however, does impact the rest of the kit: “You also need to know that wider diameter, double-walled LNG pipes can run sensibly through the vessel”, says Strachan, Edwards adding there is also the gradient to get right “or you can get pockets of LNG laying in a pipe”. That’s no easy feat, he says, “even on a newbuild”. Further, big bulk or boxship conversions may well require the creation of an ATEX-proof environment with room for the tank and fuel gas supply system.

It appears that most vessels will find an exhausting number

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FUEL-READY For some ships, it may be a case of ‘you don’t want to start from here’. Strachan comments, “LNG conversions will be much easier and cheaper if the vessel has been built with that in mind.” Class societies like ABS have already have established retrofit ‘fuel-ready’ notations: “Preparation can save time and costs for later conversion - for example, having a credible plan for fuel tank location and the necessary deck strengthening,” adds Penfold.

Even so, Strachan advises leaving a little room in the schedule for class certification. “Sometimes you can achieve the solution to an issue with a change in operating procedure, but it often requires a design change, even if a small one,” he says.

Still, “if your vessel has LNG-ready notation and you’ve selected engines that are DF ready, you are quite a long way there” he concludes, “but if you have neither of those things, do get a feasibility study, before you spend time and money on it”.

YARD AND COSTS Inevitably, a lot depends on the refitting facilities: as Jansson comments, the most significant uncertainties are “the sum of the additional details... and overrunning time at the yard”.

As Lianghui Xia, Managing Director of Newport Shipping admits: “Even if you try to talk about the yard’s cost separately, it’s difficult to give a figure: so much depends on vessel type

22 | NOVEMBER 2020

and even the approach.”

However, he adds, while “no-one can give guarantees”, teaming up with reputable suppliers and engineers with the right kind of track records, making sure there’s effective project management in the yards “and there’s a good chance it will work out”, he says. “At the end of the day, a lot is about execution.”

But even if the sums appear to work out, the costs of these conversions can be steep. Given this, Xia explains, “one solution would be paying over a longer period”, Newport being amongst those offering deferred payment terms. However, he adds, “a profit split arrangement with the charterer could give you the extra cash to support the longer-term”.

That makes sense, as it should make vessels more hireable, but there are few guarantees. Newport’s experience with scrubbers shows results can be inconsistent as “you can gain a premium, but market phenomena can just disappear... the free market is highly volatile”.

Still, some say it’s bound to get easier. There’s a “natural cost down curve” for any new technology, says Penfold, who expects the price to eventually lower. Åstrand isn’t so sure, adding that until a financial mechanism, such as a CO2 tax, is in place “conversion over lifetime costs will still remain too high to make it commercially viable for long-haul shipping”.

However, Xia concludes: “These things have their own trajectory: more engine providers, LNG compatible engines, and more competition will reduce the price,” although he adds: “It might be slow.”

8 Prismatic tanks could provide an alternative way forward for ship conversions

8 C-type tanks can reduce cost and installation time, but compromise on volume

Photo: Wärtsilä

ALTERNATIVES But then again, not all fuels are as demanding as LNG. MAN ES is currently retrofitting a dozen VLGC LPG carriers for B&W, the first being the 225m Gemini - and these are unlikely to hit the same budget concerns.

Importantly, LPG has a higher boiling point than LNG so “it can be liquefied and kept at relatively low pressures”, says Penfold. As a result, tanks and supply lines are simpler and generally less demanding of both space, design and yard time.

In the same vein, he adds that methanol also represents a cost-effective handling and containment solution especially as it can be stored in “near conventional” fuel tanks, adding this could be “particularly attractive for retrofit applications”.

However, as Åstrand explains consideration extends beyond the fuel supply system: “LNG is low SOx and NOx, but change that, and you may need more after treatment.”

Further, despite DF engines being suitable for a range of alternative fuels, he predicts that shipping will probably not immediately switch over even when the new, carbon-free products become available. As a result, he says “blending may be an intermediate option, which could involve another holding tank”.

Photo, DNV GL

of issues to contend with, both large and small. There’s the rise in deadweight and location of the LNG tank, gas valves and even issues around bunker station: SGMF’s recent guidance on the latter “has quite a bit to consider”, says Edwards, including passenger-related areas and whether bunkering from a dedicated vessel or quay. Moreover, there’s ventilation and additional points like exhaust fans, safety relief valves or discs, and EX rated electrical components.

Further, a nitrogen purging system is necessary, “and while you could do it with bottles for a smaller vessel, you’ll probably need a plant for bigger ships,” says Edwards. That doesn’t just take up space, “it adds another electrical load” to the onboard draw.

In short, “if the vessel wasn’t designed with hazardous zone and ATEX regulations in mind, it can be tricky”, says Strachan.

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DIGITALISATION

DIGITALISATION: LINES OF COMMUNICATION Let’s start with the obvious. “Data is valuable,” says Eero Lehtovaara of ABB Marine & Ports. Gone is the utopian idea that it should be freely available.

And that can make for a tussle about who gets to do what.

Taking a single example, one supplier “refused to allow their data to be used on our engine performance monitoring platform”, relates Carmelo Cartalemi of WinGD. In a fairly classic case of cart-before-horse, he says they were “more interested in putting our data on their system”. Although that was equitably resolved, the current situation has given rise to “ambitious” OEMs, he says, “which can make collaboration a little challenging, each wanting to protect their data and sell their own solution”.

Further, while it’s possible to take lessons from other industries, shipping involves a far higher number of stakeholders and manufacturers says Jonas Åkerman of Wärtsilä: “There are about as many platforms as there are OEMs.” The result is a complicated and uncoordinated view of the onboard equipment.

Against this backdrop, Lehtovaara is leading a newly launched initiative by CIMAC which the organisation describes as ‘consolidating the vision’ on the digitalisation of power and propulsion. As he explains, “at present, although standardisation is high on the agenda, currently there is very little in the way of integrating modern onboard technology”.

It does have an impact: “At the moment we are building engine rooms and bridges that are unnecessarily complex because we’re trying to extract data from proprietary systems and interfaces,” he says.

This leads to duplication of processes and inconsistencies in the presented information. Lehtovaara admits “we have clients and crew becoming irritated about getting a variety of responses depending on which way they ask a question of the shipboard systems”.

As a result, Dmitry Kisil of WestP&I, who’s experience comes from a technical superintendent role as well as a ‘hands on’ user, adds: “If you ask a ship’s master or chief engineer, do you want the latest digital version or a crowbar, he’ll usually say, ‘the crowbar’.”

It’s not that surprising. As Stam Achillas of ABB Turbocharging says, “as an industry we are still in the early stages of digitalisation”, adding the real value of these solutions “comes when companies can access data ‘beyond’ their own equipment, enhancing their diagnostics and advisory capabilities together with partners”. Collaboration is, therefore “a necessity”.

Much has already changed: take the “broad acceptance of condition-based monitoring and predictive maintenance”, says Åkerman. As a result, rather than merely dealing in lumps of steel, the big engine manufacturers have, as MAN ES points out, moved “towards a service and solutions offering based on measurable and manageable performance”.

But from that arises the question about who holds the keys. Certainly, many believe a common ecosystem is necessary, and a lot of OEMs have rushed to provide one.

24 | NOVEMBER 2020

Image: DNV GL

Digitalisation promises to be nothing short of transformative for shipping, but at the same time many of its multifaceted challenges are particular to the industry - and require breaking new ground

However, Åkerman’s colleague, Frank Velthuis, adds that there’s been a recent wake-up call: “We now have no illusion that ours will be THE platform that gets everyone onboard,” he admits. Instead, he says, “more and more fleet owners say they want to have control over the data themselves”. And that is sorting out the old nugget of who owns the information: ship owners are increasingly clear they do.

So OEMs are generally turning their attention round to making their packages work on other people’s systems. It requires “some complex work on the interfaces,” says Cartelemi: “Of course, we believe ours should be the standard, but then, so do all the others.”

At the same time, there are pitfalls: fleet owners’ new ‘doit-yourself’ approach can lead into expensive blind alleys: “no-one needs parallel developments in a 100 different companies”, says Velthuis. The answer, he believes, is to buy in more general services, like CBM, and save the budget for specialised or unique systems. And then, be focused: “Think first about what it is that you want to achieve, and how you are going to do that,” he advises: “Start with the end in mind - and take a staged approach: make sure you really do have the value there before you pursue it.”

However, third-party cloud platforms may be able to offer a different type of solution.

For example, Houlder, (which is about to enter the market) aims to liberate ship operation, raising efficiency “without a lock-in to a specific vendor”, says Arun Pillai.

To be clear, it’s not just about remote diagnostics. While a remote overview is valuable - and decentralised data analysis from shore may indeed be the long-term future - Houlder’s platform can also act as the glue between separate shipboard elements, explains Pillai’s colleague, David Hugh. By direct application of nicely cooked and sliced information it could, for example, refine the response between engine and CP propellers or other systems. That is a significant step in itself.

But the possibilities reach even further: Pillai adds that platforms like these promise to redefine how onboard power is utilised by helping rationalise and smooth out peak loads, raising efficiency and lowering both OPEX and CAPEX.

8 Efficiency requires integrating systems from multiple suppliers

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While developments may tie onboard systems together, could they further segment the industry?

Andrea Lazzaro of WinGD has studied what’s happened in other sectors, such as aerospace. Here, “a standardized protocol (ACARS) was originally established some years ago to send mainly safety-related packages of information via VHF radio, and later via satellite”, he explains. However, “more recently, with the huge increase in information bandwidth and computing power, various players have developed more complex proprietary data exchange systems”.

So the technology has evolved from a shared system, to something much smarter - but at the cost of standardisation.

“Everyone wants to present a cleverer data interface with better, richer diagnostics,” says Lazzaro.

With so many data platforms available and so many shipowners developing their own solutions, “being able to integrate systems from multiple suppliers is crucial for the successful digital transformation of the industry” says Achillas.

As such, manufacturers like ABB Turbocharging invest in developing APIs for integration into a range of platforms. “It is a lot more work,” says Achillas, “but flexibility is key.”

Like others, MAN ES sees the answer in “a combination of core in-house capabilities and co-operation”, working hand in hand. But there’s reason to believe an industry ecosystem should not be a commercial operation. Despite the company’s role as the mýa platform’s initial founder, the idea is to draw in others to create an independent, open-to-all, collaborative space. Essentially, agreed standards and a common, metadata architecture will integrate all the OEM data streams, enabling a complete system view, but most importantly, it allows different parties to work together on optimisation programmes, secure that data will only be shared by permission.

However, looking beyond all this, Åkerman says the next challenge lies in “integrating data from cloud platform to cloud platform”. He adds “it’s still a bit Wild West”, but interoperability pressures mean “cloud platforms are converging at an increasing rate”.

This itself may rescue CIMAC’s vision: even self-interested parties will eventually recognise that, as Achillas says, “the true value of data is only discovered when it’s translated into meaningful information”... and that means “getting less protective - an open approach to sharing raw data would enable more powerful analysis to add further value for the shipowner”.

ON EDGE There is an issue: data transfer is limited at sea.

Therefore onboard - edge - computing has to crunch the incoming information, filtering out spikes and outliers (and quarantining them) to get at the very limited points to be sent home, as well as extracting what’s needed for local shipboard applications. But it’s essential that nothing’s lost: Cartelemi explains WinGD’s information is made available in both “in the raw” as well as in a filtered, readable version for onboard applications.

Edge and cloud may therefore have to operate separately for extended periods, only falling back in step with each other when there’s a reliable (and cyber secure) data transfer link. So before signing up, owners will have to dig into exactly how hefty a load these applications could put onto shipboard computers.

While not so much an issue for new builds, “the problems lies with the existing fleet,” says Achillas. “While these ships may be generating useful propulsion control data, they lack the infrastructure to harness this data.” He adds: “Tapping into that could be done, but it would require some initial investment. Owners have to assess whether the potential improvements in vessel efficiency are worth it.”

Image: SK

DIGITALISATION

VALIDATION Information accuracy is, itself, is a tricky subject: “Who is responsible for the validation of the data, especially if it’s critical for the operation of other onboard machinery?” asks Lehtovaara. For example, “if my trim-adjusting technology gets the wrong numbers on engine thrust, the trim will be out, raising the ship’s fuel consumption”.

“You now need shipping-wide standards for data validation,” says Kisil. Despite the competition, some, like Cartalemi, firmly believe the natural ‘home’ for these large systems is the class societies. It would lend itself to an efficient crossover “for example, accepting a maintenance extension based on data validated by an independent, trusted party”, he says.

It is, however, a hot topic that’s bound to run and run.

8 While it’s possible to take lessons from other industries, shipping involves a far higher number of stakeholders and manufacturers

AUTOMATION All this inevitably touches on the broader subject of automation.

Companies such as Kongsberg, Wärtsilä and ABB are currently working to raise levels of data exchange between onboard components. In fact, Lehtovaara believes that “many future developments will talk system-to-system”, though not all: some elements will need to be checked by the bridge. He says: “It’s not a matter of getting rid of the crew, but co-existence needs to be more effective.”

It requires consideration, especially as digitalised onboard technologies will likely track each other more and more closely, so “a simple advisory won’t always be the best way to handle anomalies”, says Kisil. Moreover, he adds that given the amount of data-sharing between systems , transparent mapping is necessary. Further, he adds, “a loss of input should be immediately identified, allowing everyone to see which system is feeding into what, and where it’s gone wrong”.

It’s clear that the future isn’t taking digitalisation on a ‘component by component’ basis, but will require “seeing the whole ship as a system” says Lehtovaara. It promises to be a long road. Despite “yards and other organisations investing a lot in supporting this discussion... it’s a gargantuan task”, he concludes.

One thing that everyone agrees on is that the way forward has to be collaborative. As MAN ES concludes, “digitalization is often reduced to a purely technical level... In fact, it is above all a cultural issue: a mindset”.

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 25

DIGITALISATION

FUSING DATA TO PROVIDE ACTIONABLE INSIGHTS Kashif Mahmood discussed the specific advantages of ABS’s new digital platform, My Digital Fleet™, for ship owners and operators in an interview with The Motorship in October. In a wide-ranging interview, Mahmood touched on the challenges of developing algorithms for operational machinery, before concluding with potential wider applications of the solution’s digital architecture to remote fleet operating centres.

The underlying philosophy behind the My Digital Fleet solution is that the increasing disparity of data means that the data itself will become a source of competitive advantage for ship owners and ship operators. Mahmood suggested that current discussions within the industry about the ultimate ownership of data were missing the point: the ability to combine data elements rapidly together was itself a source of competitive advantage.

At its simplest, My Digital Fleet is a data platform that permits ship owners and operators to access relevant operational and Class data for their assets. The solution’s real-time, data-driven insights are intended to improve fleet efficiency, reduce costs and help manage risks.

The solution combines (or ‘fuses’) data from discrete feeds from ABS’s proprietary structural, machinery, and environmental analytics products with third-party data covering emissions, compliance, cyber security and weather conditions to provide an integrated picture of the risks and operational condition of an asset. This platform allows an asset’s performance to be viewed in terms of regulatory compliance, fuel efficiency, structural and mechanical integrity.

However, the platform is designed to be modifiable in order to respond to an individual ship operator’s or ship owner’s requirements.

MY DIGITAL FLEET Mahmood stressed one of the key advantages of the My Digital Fleet solution is its flexibility and adjustability. As it is built around a component-based design, different elements can be turned on or off, while ship owners or operators also have the flexibility to integrate their own data feeds and data partnerships into the system.

This flexibility means that the solution is compatible with the different operational and commercial requirements of small and medium-sized operators as well as larger fleets.

He added that the solution had been trialled by several large-scale ship operators, as well as smaller-sized ship owners. As the data can be viewed at an asset and aggregate fleet level, it could be useful for ship owners seeking a composite view of all their assets where their vessels are managed by several ship managers, for instance.

ADOPTING AN AI MBL APPROACH In 2019, Mahmood and ABS decided to completely rearchitect how it produced analytics, implementing smart components that automatically internally adjust to the data feed instead of developing vessel-specific models. “We adopted hardcore cognitive AI,” Mahmood said.

26 | NOVEMBER 2020

Credit: ABS

Kashif Mahmood, Senior Vice President of Digital Solutions at American Bureau of Shipping, discusses how ABS’s new digital platform will help shipowners to optimise operations

The data from different combinations of sensors are fed into the central digital asset framework, or “central database”, which then allocates it to different templates depending on the volume of data.

“Rather than going out and retrofitting equipment to algorithms to make them effective like everyone else, we are retrofitting the algorithms to the equipment to bring time to value.”

The digital asset framework applies machine-based learning to extract valuable insights from the raw data, allowing significant data elements to be identified while “screening out the noise”. Meanwhile, similar models look at data supplied from other critical systems, such as gensets, turbochargers, ballast water systems and so on.

ADVANTAGES OF FRAMEWORK The AI/MBL approach also offers significant flexibility going forward.

“I can now propagate the model according to any business metric that you want to look at,” Mahmood said, adding that development work was focusing on environmental emissions, as this was a key area of focus for shipping.

Looking forward, Mahmood expects My Digital Fleet to eventually play a more active role le in assisting operational decision making, based sed on the expectation that remote operating g centres will play an increasingly important tant role supporting crews in the future.

“We have architected My Digital tal Fleet to run in a remote operating centre, re, and in n support fact, it runs in our own decision centre,” Mahmood notes.

8 ABS’s new digital platform, My Digital Fleet, currently runs in ABS’s own decision support centre

8 Kashif Mahmood, Senior Vice President of Digital Solutions at American Bureau of Shipping

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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

MAN TARGETS FIELD TESTS FOR OXICAT METHANE SLIP TECH The other, switching the engines from the Otto to the Diesel combustion principle, will be validated in conjunction with the use of future fuels such as methanol and ammonia.

On-going improvements in engine design have enabled MAN to reduce methane slip by around 50% since it first introduced four-stroke dual-fuel engines to market in the mid-2000s. The development of new methane oxidation catalysts (oxicats) is anticipated to reduce this even further, to 70%. A first, fundamental research project on possible catalyst technologies finished in September 2020, says Dr. Gunnar Stiesch, Senior Vice President, Head of Engineering Engines at MAN, speaking exclusively to The Motorship. This fundamental research included development of sulphurresistant oxicats which he says hold great promise for dualfuel operations.

The research has been undertaken as part of the “IMOKAT” project which received financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. The project has already achieved a methane slip reduction of 70% on both spark-ignited (SI) and dual-fuel engines using synthetic exhaust gas under laboratory conditions.

Oxicats are not an option for two-stroke engines due to the lower exhaust gas temperatures associated with these engines. All oxicats today need high temperatures of more than 500°C to promote methane reduction, says Stiesch.

Therefore, the oxicat delivery system must be positioned before the turbocharger on four-stroke engines.

“Temperature control is critical to ensure performance,” he says. “Methane-reduction performance will decrease rapidly once the desired temperatures can no longer be met.

Therefore, engine controls need to be thoroughly adapted to ensure the necessary boundary conditions for the oxicat.”

Stiesch revealed the future project timeline where this will be addressed: “We will investigate catalyst-engine interaction between 2021 and 2023. This also includes the installation of a field test system on board a vessel. We think that the technology could be ready for market launch by 2025.”

Concurrently with this research, MAN is working to reduce methane slip by over 90% with the introduction of the direct gas injection technology already used on ME-GI two-stroke engines to its four-stroke dual-fuel engine range. This change from Otto to Diesel combustion will be tested and validated in conjunction with future fuels such as methanol and ammonia. MAN’s engineers are already assessing the feasibility of direct gas injection on four-stroke gas engines and will be able to apply the technology when the market demands it.

In the Otto combustion process, gaseous fuel is pre-mixed with air before ignition. The mixture is compressed and ignited by a spark plug or liquid pilot fuel and is thus in the cylinder for all of the induction and compression strokes and for part of the power stroke. Four strokes rely heavily on gas exchange at the inlet and exhaust valves in the Otto process, so there is increased opportunity for the gaseous fuel to evade combustion, leading to methane slip.

Credit: MAN Energy Solutions

MAN Energy Solutions anticipates a 2025 market launch for one of its key technologies for eliminating methane slip from four-stroke gas-burning dual-fuel engines

Converting to the Diesel combustion principle means that, as with ME-GI two-stroke dual-fuel engines, the gaseous fuel will be injected with the diesel pilot into the compressed charge-air at around top dead centre. This will prevent methane from escaping during the four-stroke cylinder scavenging process.

Smaller fuel injectors need to be developed to suit fourstroke engine sizes, and because of size restrictions and higher rpm, a four-stroke application will in general need a somewhat higher injection pressure than a two-stroke application, says Stiesch. This necessitates the installation of compressors that allow for acceptable injection duration at rated power. The additional cost of this equipment is offset by the lower fuel consumption achieved and hence lower CO2 emissions attainable with Diesel dual-fuel combustion.

Currently, MAN’s four-stroke 48/60 and 51/60 engines can be retrofitted to run on LNG. MAN’s on-going research goals anticipate that synthetic, carbon-neutral fuels will pave the way for a future of climate-neutral shipping. Meeting the 2050 goals set by the IMO will mean large parts of the existing global fleet will need to be retrofitted from liquid fuel to dualfuel liquid/gas operation.

MAN sees LNG as the first step in preparing engines for the broader use of a range of synthetic fuels, and a dual-fuel engine brings the option of using synthetic natural gas either as a drop-in fuel or a total fuel solution as it becomes available.

An addition to the business case for retrofitting engines to be dual-fuel is the potential for significant performance upgrades as a result of more modern engine technology and the addition of the latest electronic controls. This, says Stiesch, makes dual-fuel operation a future-proof investment.

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8 Dr. Gunnar Stiesch, Senior Vice President, Head of Engineering Engines at MAN

NOVEMBER 2020 | 27

LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

AMMONIA RELEASE STUDIES REVEAL HAZID ANALYSIS NEED The development of rules and regulations for the safe use of ammonia as ship fuel will take time and will need to be developed on the back of a solid program of research and development Much of this research has already begun, says Ed Fort, Global Head of Engineering Systems at Lloyd’s Register (LR). In the meantime, LR will be publishing guidance on conducting HAZID studies to support the use of hydrogen and ammonia as fuels. The organisation is also working with MAN Energy Systems on HAZID studies for its ammonia engine currently under development.

Fort notes similarities with LNG: Both hydrogen and ammonia, like natural gas, are low flashpoint fuels existing as gases under ambient conditions, and as such, they were prohibited for use as a ship fuel by SOLAS regulations until relatively recently. However, it must be noted that due to the characteristics of hydrogen and ammonia, increased and additional safety hazards need to be addressed compared to natural gas.

Ammonia is a highly toxic gas under ambient conditions, and exposure to even relatively low concentrations in air can be harmful, potentially fatal, compared to natural gas which is generally considered non-toxic, says Fort.

Exposure to ammonia at concentrations of 2,500 ppm or 0.25 percent in air can result in fatalities after 15 minutes, while exposure to ammonia at concentrations of 5,000 ppm or 0.5 percent in air can be fatal within just a few minutes.

“While it is recognised that ammonia has been widely and safely used as a refrigerant within the confines of ships for many years, such refrigeration systems are typically sealed or closed loop systems, and as such the likelihood of an ammonia release within the confines of the ship are expected to be significantly lower compared with its use as a ship fuel,” says Fort.

8 Olav Hansen is a leading authority on the use of hydrogen and ammonia

28 | NOVEMBER 2020

Hydrogen and ammonia, like natural gas, will generally be compressed and/or liquefied for onboard storage.

The boiling point of ammonia is -33.4ºC, and it is typically stored as a liquid either refrigerated or pressurised at ambient temperature.

In Hydrogen and Ammonia Infrastructure Safety and Risk Information and Guidance, a report for the Ocean Hyway Cluster released in May this year, Lloyd’s Register noted key differences between the hazards of liquified and pressurised ammonia. Author Olav Roald Hansen, now founder of HYEX Safety, highlights that a release of pressurised liquid ammonia would likely form a denser than air, very cold, mist cloud, and modelling suggests more severe consequences than for a release of refrigerated liquified ammonia, LNG or liquid hydrogen.

If ammonia is stored at room temperature at around 10 bar over-pressure, a leak would be pushed by a much higher vapour pressure than refrigerated ammonia which would leak by gravity. Around eight percent of the liquid ammonia released at pressure would immediately evaporate on leaving the tank, its rapid expansion would also crush the remaining liquid ammonia into a denser than air aerosol fog. The ammonia fog in air would be cooled to the saturation temperature of the liquid at the reduced pressure (down towards -70ºC) and evaporate when further diluted in air. In this case, if escaping due to emergency venting, the released ammonia plume may fall down to deck or the sea at dangerous concentrations.

In contrast, if ammonia is stored at its boiling point, there will not be spontaneous boiling when it leaves containment.

Leak rates would be moderate, a pool will be formed, and evaporation would mainly be due to heat from the floor.

Rate will be limited and can be controlled by design, says

8 Ed Fort, Head of Engineering Systems at Lloyd’s Register

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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS Hansen. In an engineroom setting, the ammonia could evaporate leading to potentially dangerous concentrations, but this can be contained relatively easily and when ventilated to a gas mast the ammonia vapour will be buoyant and seek to go upwards.

“If you consider a refrigerated release in an engineroom, you would smell it immediately, and you would have some time,” says Hansen. “If you get out and close the door, it should be possible to make the situation safe. If you compare it to other flammable fuels, ammonia is only moderately flammable (concentrations above 17 percent are required compared to five percent for natural gas), so it is not necessarily as big a challenge to fight an ammonia fire. For other fuels, such as LNG and hydrogen, it is quite dangerous to be in the room when it releases as flame exposure may be fatal.”

Due to its high heat of vaporisation and strong expansion when boiling hydraulic shocks may be a concern for ammonia. A land-based accident in the US releasing 14 tons ammonia was caused by cold liquid ammonia being injected into pipes containing warm gaseous ammonia. This led to fast condensation and pressure drop which broke the pipes. In a bunkering context, there is a potential risk of hydraulic shock if residual ammonia is left in piping systems.

Experience with ammonia in selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems has led to the use of double-walled pipes to minimise the risk of leaks. MAN Energy Systems notes that the fuel pipes on its ammonia engine currently under development will be doublewalled, with the outer pipe preventing escape to machinery spaces in case of a rupture of the inner pipe. A ventilation system with the capacity for 30 air changes per hour vents any gas in the space, including around valves and flanges.

Ammonia is highly corrosive to a range of materials including zinc, copper, plastic and brass when it is mixed with water.

Stainless steel and iron are

relatively immune within normal operational temperature ranges. In developing its ammonia combustion engine, MAN Energy Systems has therefore, for example, determined that sealing rings will be made with Teflon.

Currently there are no detailed technical requirements prescribed in rules and regulations for the use of hydrogen and ammonia as fuel onboard ships. Detailed regulations will take several

years to develop, but there is still time if prioritised by the IMO, says Fort. “Until such time as technical requirements are prescribed in the rules and regulations, the use of hydrogen and ammonia will be permitted on the basis of a satisfactory engineering analysis, essentially a risk assessment, carried out on a case by case, ship by ship basis.”

Risk assessments for new fuels are becoming more commonplace but still present challenges during ship

construction, says Fort, so it is vital that all stakeholders fully recognise the importance of a thorough, rigorous process and recognise the associated impact on resources, schedule and costs. “It should be recognised that the use of hydrogen and ammonia as marine fuels is not business as usual. The potential prize of zero emission vessels is huge, but it will come at a significant cost to the industry which needs to be recognised and accounted for at the outset.”

A RELIABLE SOLUTION FOR BUNKERING OPERATIONS

ENSURING A SIMPLE AND RELIABLE TRANSFER OF LNG. The increasing demand for LNG as a fuel goes handin-hand with developing the supply chain. With an LNG experience of over 55 years, GTT offers solutions for bunker ships within every kind of navigational areas (inland waters, coastal, seagoing, shallow draft).

In 2020, GTT celebrated the 100th bunkering operation of the Clean Jacksonville LNG barge. To achieve a high level of flexibility in cargo transfer operations,

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

the barge features the innovative REACH4TM bunker mast, developed by GTT. The Clean Jacksonville barge is able to transfer, in a reliable way, enough LNG for two round trips of the TOTE Marlin Class container vessels. This operation lasts less than 6.5 hours while cargo operations are conducted in parallel.

Providing solutions to facilitate the transition to LNG as a marine fuel; GTT.

Technology for a Sustainable World

Learn more on www.gtt.fr

NOVEMBER 2020 | 29

LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

HYDROGEN STORAGE AND COMPRESSION ADVANCES Metal hydride hydrogen storage systems, where hydrogen atoms are absorbed into the interstitial spaces of a metal compound, were established in mobile applications early this century with the construction of the German Type 212 and Italian Todaro class diesel-electric submarines.

Built by Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems, the submarines feature an air-independent propulsion system based on Siemens proton exchange membrane (PEM) compressed hydrogen fuel cells. Similar storage systems to those used for the submarines have also been used on autonomous underwater vehicles.

More recently, automotive use of hydrogen fuel cells has expanded with the introduction of vehicles such as the Toyota Mirai. Research has increasingly focused on the potential benefits of a metal hydride compressor capable of delivering pressures up to 1,000 bar for rapidly refuelling these vehicles, and it is technology that could also make rapid refuelling practical for vessels such as fuel-cell powered ferries.

Different metal hydrides are used for different applications.

For example, Professor Craig Buckley of Curtin University in Australia is working on the usage of metal hydrides for thermal energy storage. The metal hydrides suitable for this application would have as high as possible reaction enthalpy (meaning they should release as much heat as possible when reacting with the hydrogen and should absorb as much heat as possible when releasing the hydrogen).

This is the opposite of what is desirable for hydrogen storage and compression. Nonetheless, heat is released during uptake of hydrogen into a metal hydride-based storage tank, and it has to be cooled if the hydrogen charging is rapid. Heat is required when the stored hydrogen is to be used and therefore released from the storage tank.

Some metal hydrides can release their stored hydrogen using the heat available in seawater (at temperatures ranging from 0-20°C). Others need heat at higher temperatures and can use the waste heat of a PEM fuel cell. Yet others need even higher temperatures which can be provided if the hydrogen is used in a high temperature fuel cell or burned in an internal combustion engine.

Hydrogen has the highest energy density per unit mass of any fuel, but its low volumetric density at ambient temperature and pressure means it has a low energy density per unit volume. Metal hydrides are a desirable storage medium, as they are the most compact and dense hydrogen

‘‘

Hydrogen is absorbed or sponged up by the solid material and thereby stored much denser than is the case for high pressure gas storage (700 bar) or liquified hydrogen at -252°C 30 | NOVEMBER 2020

Image: GRZ

The storage and compression of hydrogen using metal hydrides is advancing in the automotive industry, and the technology holds promise for marine applications

storage possibility, says Dr. Martin Dornheim, Head of the Department of Nanotechnology, Materials Technology, at research institute Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht in Germany. “Hydrogen is absorbed or sponged up by the solid material and thereby stored much denser than is the case for high pressure gas storage (700 bar) or liquified hydrogen at -252°C. It can store the hydrogen at low pressures (tens of bars) and ambient temperature.”

8 Hydrogen storage tank based on a lightweight metal hydride (SodiumAluminium-hydrogen compound)

METAL HYDRIDE FOR ONBOARD STORAGE Dornheim and his team are exploring applications for stationary hydrogen storage, the delivery of hydrogen shoreside as well as for onboard storage of hydrogen on ships, and he says the compact storage offered by metal hydrides means that a tank design can be fitted into any space available in a ship.

Storage tanks that use conventional metal hydrides have a key disadvantage, though, compared to 700 bar hydrogen gas storage or liquid hydrogen storage, says Dornheim. They weigh up to four times more than compressed gas storage tanks using type III and especially type IV tank shells (these are low or no metal containing cylinders which are stabilised for example by carbon nanofibers).

To overcome this issue, he is working on novel light metal hydrides and hydride composites with a storage capacity per weight for hydrogen which is more than five times higher than conventional metal hydrides. One light candidate is a sodium-aluminum-hydrogen compound. “However, this specific light candidate has only three times the weight capacity compared to classical conventional hydrides,” says Dornheim. “More promising are composites / mixtures of different light metal hydrides and borohydrides and amides.”

There are a large number of different metal hydrides currently being investigated, and they vary depending on the

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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

COMPRESSOR ADVANTAGES Metal hydride compressors can deliver very pure hydrogen.

This can be difficult to achieve with mechanical compressors which can suffer hydrogen purity issues as a result of the lubrication and abrasion of the piston. Ionic compressors are another option. They have fewer moving parts than mechanical compressors and have been used to deliver hydrogen at pressures up to 700 bar. However, metal hydride compressors offer the advantage of having no moving parts, because they use thermal energy rather than mechanical energy. This means they operate silently and require no maintenance.

Hydrogen compressors are usually stationary systems, so their weight is not as important as their compression efficiency: with as small a temperature difference as possible, the hydrogen should be compressed as much as possible.

Furthermore, hydrogen compressors should ideally have an ambient operating temperature for hydrogen uptake and temperatures below 100°C for the release of the hydrogen, says Dornheim. If the hydrogen is to be compressed to very high pressures like 800 bar, metal hydrides with a rather low stability (low bonding or reaction heat) are required.

Burckhardt Compression and GRZ Technologies in Switzerland are developing hydrogen compression technology that uses thermally active metal hydrides. The Static Hydrogen Compressor from Burckhardt Compression is based on GRZ Technologies’ HYCO laboratory compressor that is already in use for small amounts of hydrogen. Without moving parts, it is noise and vibration free and is hermetically sealed from the environment. This means it can operate without any gas leakage and can be used in sensitive areas.

Scaled-up, the technology will be designed for high-pressure applications of 200, 350 and 700 bar. As well as its refuelling potential, the technology can store renewably produced electricity, supply peak power for an extended period of several months and be used as a backup power supply.

Dornheim is also collaborating with GRZ Technologies along with the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) research institute in Switzerland as part of the International Energy Agency Hydrogen Technology Collaboration Program - Task 40 “Energy Storage and Conversion based on Hydrogen.” Over the next few years, the researchers aim to develop reversible or regenerative hydrogen storage materials and systems suitable for mobile, stationary and portable applications, electrochemical storage and solar thermal heat storage. This will involve furthering the fundamental understanding of hydrogen storage chemistry.

For example, the effect of catalysts is not yet well understood in complex or liquid hydrides even though catalysts are important for hydrogenation/dehydrogenation processes.

Dornheim’s team is also collaborating on a number of other projects including the EU project “Hydride4Mobility” which aims to improve metal hydride-based hydrogen storage tanks for mobile applications and for metal hydridebased compressors. The project partners are addressing critical commercialisation issues for hydrogen powered utility vehicles using metal hydride hydrogen storage and

Image: HZG

application, including the compression of hydrogen from low pressures to very high pressures for uses such as automotive refuelling. “This compression is possible just by using the physics of metal hydrides,” explains Dornheim. “They can be filled with hydrogen at rather low pressures and low temperatures. If the temperature is raised, however, the hydride wants to release the hydrogen again. The higher the temperature, the higher the hydrogen release pressure. This is a basic thermodynamic principle, since at high temperatures all systems want to go into the state where entropy is highest.”

8 Hydrogen storage tank in test apparatus where it is loaded and unloaded with hydrogen and in parallel cooled or heated by a heat transfer medium

PEM fuel cells, together with the systems needed for their refuelling at industrial facilities. A first test case will be a forklift.

For this type of application, metal hydrides with a high specific weight are an advantage, as the unit can then function as a vehicle counterbalance without any extra cost.

However, the slow hydrogen charge and discharge of these metal hydride systems, the complexity of their design and the efficiency of system integration remain challenges to overcome.

Dornheim is also collaborating with Volkswagen, plant apparatus developer Panco and tank experts Stühff, on the design and construction of a hydrogen storage system for a fuel cell car as part of the German funded “H2HybridTank” project. Under the framework of the European HyCARE project, he is also developing a stationary hydrogen storage system for the storage of 50kg of hydrogen, around 10 times more than that stored in a fuel cell car.

A key challenge for mobile applications in the future is the reduction of hydrogen refuelling pressures and shortening of refuelling time. Research suggests that the properties of metal hydrides in higher pressure applications may not behave the same as they do in low pressure systems, and at high pressures, degradation over multiple cycles could occur. Apart from optimising the composition of the hydrides, another challenge will be to reduce the cost of manufacturing them.

For hydrogen compressors, the challenges include minimising void space to reduce losses of productivity at high pressure, effective heat exchange between the metal hydride and the heating/cooling fluid, minimising the heat lost during periodic heating/cooling of the metal hydride and hydrogen gas containment at operating pressures over 500 bar.

The metal hydrides being developed for hydrogen compression are expected to be similar to the ones for hydrogen storage. Ideally, they should have well-matched operating pressure and temperature ranges, high reversible hydrogen sorption capacities, fast kinetics, minimal volume decrease upon dehydrogenation and high cycle stability.

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 31

LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

DUAL-FUEL CAPESIZE DESIGN MAINTAINS HOLD CAPACITY Deltamarin and GTT’s LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax design has the same cargo capacity and dimensions as a standard 210,000dwt Newcastlemax but can carry enough LNG for two round trips from Australia to China or one round trip from Brazil to China

8 LNG-fuelled Newcastlemax with Mark III membrane tank

Classification society ABS granted Approval in Principle (AIP) for the design late last year, and the companies are now in discussion with leading mining companies and Newcastlemax shipowners. But the design is not limited to the iron ore market. Chin Lim, Product Line Manager for bulk carriers at GTT, says the vessel design is flexible enough for a range of trades and vessel sizes from Capesize to Very Large Ore Carriers, carrying not only iron ore but also coal or grain.

With the support of GTT, Deltamarin studied various arrangements for the LNG tank, until the AIP was granted for the tank located in the aft of the 50-metre wide vessel, behind the accommodation. By locating the tank here, it has no impact on available cargo space or the vessel’s hull dimensions and is clear of any hazards associated with cargo loading and unloading.

Any changes to a conventional Newcastlemax design were kept to a minimum with the result that the introduction of the LNG tank, larger in dimension than the equivalent heavy fuel oil (HFO) tank it replaces, only required the relocation of the vessel’s gensets and engine casing.

The design is compatible with both high and low pressure two-stroke main engines from MAN Energy Systems and WinGD. Due to its high efficiency and lower methane slip, the MAN 6G70ME-GI (16 MW) engine with exhaust gas recycling was selected as base case for the design. The fixed pitch propeller, rudder bulb and stator fins have been chosen to maximise propulsion efficiency. Electricity is generated by three dual-fuel auxiliary gensets, and heat is produced by a dual-fuel boiler.

As part of the vessel design process, the hull shape was

32 | NOVEMBER 2020

optimised using the latest digital tools developed by Deltamarin. One, Deltaseas, was used to evaluate sea states on the selected routes, and the main engine can be optimised for the actual operation of individual vessels, reducing fuel consumption and emissions.

The designs incorporate GTT membrane-type LNG tanks with the LNG bunker fuel stored at atmospheric pressure. For vessels on the Australia to China trade, this tank will be approximately 5,500cbm for two round trips; for the Brazil to China trade, it will be approximately 7,500cbm.

This tank capacity would not have been possible if Type C technology were used, says Lim. GTT membrane tanks are more compact and have a useful volume 10-15% greater than Type C tanks, and this was enough to enable the larger capacity required for the Brazil to China trade. The tank, partially located below the main deck, can be increased in height to provide even greater fuel carrying capacity. The use of a single tank means that only one gas handling system is required, also saving space, complexity and expense compared to a Type C solution, says Lim. The Mark III tank is directly supported by the ship’s hull structure, and the thickness used for the Newcastlemax design balanced cost and boil off rate, resulted in a relatively light tank that has reduced impact on the ship’s fuel consumption. There cannot be any filling level restriction in a bunker tank, and the potential for sloshing was taken into account when shaping the tank. The resulting design underwent over a year of testing and sloshing simulation covering the whole range of North Atlantic sea states.

Maintaining a low operational pressure makes gas venting unlikely and facilitates faster bunkering with fewer bunkering

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LNG & ALTERNATIVE FUELS

8 GTT’s Mark III membrane tank technology

Membrane tank volumes can vary from 1,000cbm for passenger ships, to 10,000cbm for tankers, and close to 20,000cbm for very large container vessels, such as the Jacques Saadé-class 23,000TEU vessels operated by the CMA CGM Group. With an 18,600cbm LNG tank, these ships are the largest container ships in the world to use LNG as fuel.

Deltamarin’s references include various vessels with LNG bunkering capabilities, and the company says GTT’s technology is particularly suitable for greater range or larger ships. In close cooperation with GTT, Deltamarin has therefore created a unique portfolio of cargo and passenger vessels that save valuable cargo space compared to classic cylindrical tanks and enable the use of LNG for long ocean voyages.

The designs include a 2,300 TEU container feeder concept and a 8,000 CEU PCTC. The modularised GTT membrane tank solution employed can be adjusted in size from 1,000 to 5,000cbm, depending on the case vessel. Either one or multiple tanks can be integrated into the vessel, with the final fuel capacity being a trade-off between cargo capacity and bunkering intervals. The solutions are all scalable.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

8 Chin Lim, Product Line Manager for bulk carriers at GTT

Credit: GTT

personnel required. The design allows for bunkering from either side of the vessel by ship or barge. With current global infrastructure, it is anticipated that the Newcastlemax vessels will bunker at Singapore for both the Australia to China and Brazil to China trades. Singapore would also be conveniently located for seaborne metallurgical and thermal coal routes between Australia and South and East Asian destinations.

Another consideration is idle time, which is relatively high for typical Newcastlemax operations, i.e. up to several weeks.

If the propulsion system is not using the boil off gas (BOG), pressure and temperature in the tank could increase, but GTT and Deltamarin have optimised the tank shape and insulation properties so that a reliquefaction plant is not required. The system has been designed so the natural boil off can power hotel loads, such as in port stays or at anchorage, through BOG compressors. When sailing, a vaporiser-pump is used to supply fuel to the power and propulsion systems.

The optimised hull and overall design with LNG propulsion provides fuel savings up to 35% and CO2 reduction up to 57% compared to previous ship design with VLSFO for the Australian iron ore trade. Deltamarin’s calculations show that the vessel design is approximately 10% below the baseline of EEDI Phase 3.

Currently, Newcastlemax vessels cost around $50-55 million to build. The price including an LNG fuel system is less than $65-70 million, says Lim. The specific payback time for the LNG system varies depending on the trade, and Lim refers to a SEA-LNG study published earlier this year on a 210,000dwt ore carrier sailing from Australia to China. The study illustrates strong returns on investment for LNG as a marine fuel on a Net Present Value (NPV) basis over a conservative 10-year horizon. The modelling analysis is bolstered by compelling payback periods of two to four years for a newbuild Capesize on this major iron ore trade corridor.

The SEA-LNG study is part of a series of studies which also cover a 14,000 TEU container vessel operating on the AsiaUS West Coast liner route, a dual study examining an 8,000 CEU Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) on the Pacific and smaller 6,500 CEU vessel on the Atlantic Trade Lanes and a 300K DWT VLCC sailing from the Arabian Gulf to Asia.

NOVEMBER 2020 | 33

MS100

PREPARING FOR A TRANSFORMED MARKET: WINGD’S SCHNEITER Dominik Schneiter, Vice President of R&D at WinGD discusses the challenges and opportunities of developing solutions for upcoming transformations in the shipping market

8 Dominik Schneiter, Vice President Research and Development at WinGD

From an engine design and operation perspective, what do you think have been the most important technological innovations during your career?

Just talking about engine technology, we have seen many changes, from electronic controlled common rail engines through to the introduction of Tier 1 and Tier 2 regulations on emissions. [The Motorship notes that Sulzer RT-Flex engines were the first to incorporate use electronic controlled common rail systems for fuel injection and valve actuation in 2000].

We have also managed a number of changes of fuel, such as the reduction of sulphur limits to 3.5%, and recently down to 0.5%. Regulation also led us to make the engine more efficient, with higher power densities and peak pressures.

Digitalisation itself is nothing new. Its just another name for what we used to call alarm and monitoring systems and case-based maintenance systems in the ships. Unmanned machinery was already being developed in the 1970s. But it is true that our ability to connect systems has changed radically in recent years. While we have been most affected by the integration of the power system onboard the ship, we have also seen a transformation with the ability to integrate data from other sources, such as route planning, weather planning, cargo planning and so on.

Q A

As a mechanical engineer by training, how do you see the future role of the internal combustion engine? Will it remain the main mover for marine transportation in the future?

The short answer is that, as long as we need high power output to move large deep-sea vessels, two-stroke

Q A

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low-speed engines will remain the work horse of marine transportation. However, unless we want to install nuclear power plants, no viable alternative exists at the moment. And unfortunately public opinion just isn’t ready for nuclear plants aboard ships right now.

But the way that we design a vessel’s propulsion system is likely to continue to evolve. We may see a reduction in the size of gensets, and there is even a chance that we may see smaller energy sources being replaced by renewable energy sources in some instances. The main change is that we will see much more system integration. By situating the twostroke main mover at the heart of a much more integrated network of energy producers and consumers, it will be possible to combine PTO and PTI solutions with an electrical grid. In fact, we have recently started quoting to a few select customers for a first commercial installation where we would act as system integrator handling the energy management system, combining an X-DF engine with PTI/PTO and an energy storage system.

I’m positive that the internal combustion engine will remain at the heart of vessel propulsion for a long time to come.

How is WinGD responding to the challenges of developing energy efficient solutions in response to IMO decarbonisation goals?

Despite political pressures from outside the industry, we are seeing players in the industry who have set very ambitious targets who want to go further than the IMO initial roadmap. This is triggering investments on the technology side, from both private and institutional sources. We will soon

Q A

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

MS100 see the introduction of viable technical solutions that can be applied on board, some of which are currently being partially tested on board. These would just prove the concept that large vessels can be operated on a carbon neutral basis.

We have heard many different perspectives on potential zero carbon fuels. What is your perspective about the current debate about alternative fuels?

As I just mentioned, we are making progress in developing solutions to help shipping meet or exceed current IMO targets. The main challenge is around the fuel: whatever fuel we opt for needs to be available in the volumes needed for the market.

The obvious solution would be hydrogen or another hydrogen-derivate (such as ammonia), but we expect other industries will pay a premium to access these high-quality fuels first. I would expect that shipping will process waste products from synthetic sources or bio fuels, such as biomethane. So, we will be working with a mix of fuels, which will require our solutions to be equally flexible, technologically.

Fortunately, our X-DF concept has the capability to burn all of the fuels being discussed. From a technological perspective, we are confident that we can handle all of the fuels being discussed.

The key challenge is more of a political one, which is to ensure the fuels are available at fair prices. I think more work is required on that side of things.

Q A

Only one alternative fuel has been successfully introduced commercially into the market. Looking at the current market for LNG-fuelled vessels, how do you see the technology and the market evolving?

If you look at alternative fuels that are currently widely available, and becoming more available, LNG is the only viable alternative to low sulphur fuels at present. DNV GL also identified LNG as the main transition fuel until 2050 in its latest Alternative Fuels report. The fuel has a number of other advantages: crews are familiar with using LNG as a fuel, and the necessary regulations are in place. The IGF Code exists.

Finally, there is another major advantage for LNG compared with other fuels. Public attention has largely focused on the global warming potential of greenhouse gases, and has moved away from the toxic emissions. But I expect public attention to switch back towards the local impact of NOx, SOx and PM emissions. The EU is already pushing in that direction.

Finally, LNG can be easily blended with either LBG or synthetic liquefied natural gas, which are more sustainable than fossil energy.

Looking forward, we are working on concepts to convert an X-DF engine in order to make it compatible with alternatives like methanol, looking at the fuel supply system and other shipboard systems. Converting an LNG-fuelled X-DF engine to operate on alternative fuels will be easier than if you have a traditional HFO engine and just want to run it on a new fuel.

Q A

You have recently announced the launch of the first of a series of efficiency improvements for the X-DF2.0.

Tell us about the iCER, and how far you think methane slip can be reduced? iCER is the first new technology introduced as part of X-DF2.0. With the extensive experience we have in our lowpressure dual-fuel X-DF engine portfolio, we recognized the potential for further optimisation. This year we introduced iCER – Intelligent Control by Exhaust Recycling. iCER, based

Q A

8 WinGD has begun quoting for a first commercial installation where it would act as system integrator handling the energy management system, combining an X-DF engine with PTI/PTO and an energy storage system

on an EGR concept, delivers enhanced combustion control by cooling and recirculating part of the exhaust gas through a low-pressure path during operation in gas mode. The result is a reduction in methane slip emissions of up to 50% when using LNG and a significant reduction of fuel consumption, of 3% in gas mode and 5% in diesel mode.

Do you see further possibilities for further advances in LNG engine efficiency?

The Otto cycle technology is still pretty new for low speed two stroke engines, and further development steps can be expected. While the X-DF2.0 development, which largely addressed methane slip efficiencies was the main one, there will be more. The technology’s admission of the fuel mixtures into the part stroke is unique. We are confident that we can improve on the fuel efficiency in future.

And of course, the ability to switch between diesel and gaseous fuels offers certainty in terms of future asset value.

The technology combines a high degree of flexibility with a rather low cost and simple system.

Q A

What is your perspective on regional developments, such as extending the Emissions Trading System to shipping?

We think regulations are helpful and can prompt technological developments. But we would prefer global standards to be agreed, so we only need to develop one set of solutions to comply with them. This has been the case with NECA areas in North America and Europe, for example, where we could develop one solution.

Similarly, a Carbon Levy could be a powerful tool, if you used the money generated from a levy for technological development funds. That could be an interesting way of developing new technologies. The Norwegians have demonstrated the benefits of this approach for decades. But it would create difficulties for us as technology developers if Europe introduced a different model to the United States, for example.

Q A

Finally, looking ahead, are there any other solutions that we can expect to see added to the portfolio over the next few months?

We expect to complete the roll out of our new engine control system by the middle of next year. This was first introduced on the X92-DF and we will have switched over our X82-DF by December.

Q A

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

NOVEMBER 2020 | 35

DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FEATURE NEW GEOMETRY HULL FORMS

Credit: NaviForm

Naval architect firm NaviForm provided details of its new geometry hulls, including the power savings expected based on tank testing of the unprecedented designs

Vancouver-based NaviForm has designed a ROPAX that has the upper RORO deck extending all the way to the bow, a river container ship with external hull support that boosts container-carrying capacity and a Detachable Stern Vessel (DSV) that doesn’t suffer from the fuel penalties of a traditional Articulated Tug Barge (ATB). The concepts, with vessels built and in various stages of construction under ABS class, also feature a number of new design features to reduce fuel consumption.

The first of two ROPAX, MV Esperanza, entered oceangoing service in Chile for Navimag Ferries this year. She features a new winged bow that reduces hull resistance, resulting in either higher speed, or less power usage, fuel consumption and GHG emissions. It also reduces motion in waves, shown in testing and in operation to be 50% lower than conventional bows, and eliminates slamming, therefore making it possible to design a lighter hull structure.

The winged bow reduces power requirements, because it splits the hull into a slender form below the wings, and a very spacious form above it. The wings cut into waves and are shaped to produce inverted vertical force that prevents the bow from raising over the wave and then crashing into the next one. This has been proven in several separate model test programs spanning 20 years of research.

The design works best for the low weight / high volume payloads typically found it passenger, RORO or military vessels. At 10,500 ton, the 150-metre long Esperanza needs only 2,500kW to sail at 14 knots, while having 1,800 lanemetre capacity on only two decks, without any articulated

36 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 The dual-fuel RoPax Esperanza was delivered to Chile-based ship operator Navimag in March

internal ramps. It is the first time an upper RORO deck extends all the way to the bow at full width. “ABS had to verify that it is not prohibited by any regulations. It is not. Nobody simply thought of it before,” said a spokesman for NaviForm.

The vessel features another NaviForm innovation, new geometry stern bulbs that spin the flow of water into the propellers counter to their rotation. The design has been model tested at the National Research Council Canada towing tank in 2006 and shown to increase propeller efficiency by approximately 10%. NaviForm explains the results: “The higher the coefficient affecting propeller efficiency “w”, the higher the propeller efficiency. The typical value for this type of vessel is 0.15; it can go as high as 0.22.

We discovered this new hydrodynamic phenomenon on our 15-metre model, for which the model basin measured w of 0.43. They kept re-checking it, as it was unheard of.”

The bulbs were actually designed for a different reason: to house the large engines and to keep the shafts short, a well known feature in many twin shaft ships. This new geometric feature led to extensive research of optimising stern bulb form to maximise propeller efficiency.

According to towing tank tests conducted at SVA Potsdam in Germany, the bow design results in a reduction in power needs of close to 20% compared to the next best hull of that size. However, she required a learning curve in operation, as the winged bow performs best in a narrow range of forward draught.

Esperanza is powered by two Wärtsilä 9L20DF engines each directly driving a Contracted and Loaded Tip (CLT)

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

DESIGN FOR PERFORMANCE

Credit: NaviForm

EXOSKELETON BOOSTS CONTAINER CARRYING CAPACITY NaviForm has also designed a series of river-going container vessels with novel features. An external structure dubbed the Exoskeleton fits outside the hull to provide longitudinal strength rather than relying on the strength of the hull structure. This allows ocean-going and river hulls to be lighter and in the case of river hulls, also extremely shallow.

The vessels, currently being tendered to US shipyards by owner American Patriot Holdings, also feature a zero wave bow that eliminates the problem of shore erosion for river vessels and barges. Featuring two side skegs with a foil between them, it captures the flow and directs it under the hull, rather than to the side.

The vessels are designed for service on the Mississippi.

Construction of the first hull is due to begin in Q1 2021, with three sister ships to follow at six monthly intervals. The 181 metre x 30 metre hulls have 2.7 metres draught. The hull depth is only 3.9 metres and steel weight only 2,300mt, around 40% less than vessels of a similar size. NaviForm says that for a river vessel of this size, the hull depth would typically be a minimum of eight metres, possibly more. This depth difference frees up space for 1.5 tiers of containers.

The vessels will carry an unprecedented 1,700 TEU at speeds up to 16 knots, although the owner anticipates that when slowed by the traffic these LNG-fuelled vessels will only use half of their installed power.

ABS has issued an Approval in Principle certificate for the design, but there are very few existing rules that apply. “The concept is so new that rules simply don’t exist yet to address its components,” said Naviform’s spokesman. “For example, there are no rules addressing the Exoskeleton, so ABS had to review the design based on finite element analysis, as first of a kind.”

8 Construction of the first of a series of four river-going container vessels for operation on the Mississippi River is due to begin in Q1 2021

Credit: NaviForm

propeller via a Wärtsilä gearbox. The gearbox is connected to a 800 kW PTO/PTI motor which in good weather feeds excess power to support hotel load. In bad weather, the vessel’s service generators will take over that load, and in severe weather one of the gensets will supply an extra 800kW power into propellers.

Esperanza has an Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) that meets present and future IMO targets without the need to reduce speed. Overall, fuel savings are claimed to be around 20%, with the bow and the stern bulbs contributing roughly half each. These numbers are being confirmed in operation. Esperanza sails on weekly schedule from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales, in the port of Punta Arenas, Chile.

Most of the route is in the Patagonia inside passage, narrow and twisting, followed by around 80-100 nautical miles in the open ocean where weather can be severe.

A sister ship of Esperanza is expected to be contracted shortly.

The vessels’ 11.5MB diesel-electric system will feature Voith Schneider propellers forward and aft. They will have two LNG Type C tanks with a total capacity of 1,000cbm located in the middle of the hull, between the generators, to minimise trim.

DSV EXPECTED TO OUTPERFORM ATBS AND MONOHULLS NaviForm says its patented DSV offers the same benefits as an ATB but without the speed and power penalties. The ATB concept was developed in Europe in the early 1960s as a cost saving approach to short voyage trade: instead of three vessels with three engine rooms and three sets of crew, one tug would push a barge, leave it at a terminal where the second barge was unloaded and loaded, bring the second barge home, where the third barge was unloaded and loaded.

8 The Esperanza also features new geometry stern bulbs that spin the flow of water into the propellers counter to their rotation

Today, this technology is best known in US where the tug and the barge are seldom separated. “While improvements have been made, it is still a barge, not as efficient as ocean going ships, and a tug that inserts its bow in a notch in the barge’s stern,” says the NaviForm spokesman. “The current performance penalty is estimated at around 12% more power and fuel consumption than a similar deadweight single hull ship.”

NaviForm reversed the approach. Instead of designing a barge and a tug and connecting them, NaviForm designed an efficient hull, then cut out the stern out of it. “When merged, it is hard to see where the one ends and the other begins. The stern (or the tug) bow does not resemble a conventional bow, but rather a double cone on a horizontal axis. This shape allows the stern to rotate inside the hull’s stern notch when it pitches in waves. The performance penalty is eliminated.”

While ATBs are known for their tugs pitching excessively in the notch, the DSV solves that problem by moving the connecting pin location close to the stern’s (tug’s) Longitudinal Center of Floatation.

When connected, the DSV is essentially a single hull, and when combined with the energy efficiency design features of the other vessel designs, it is expected to outperform conventional monohulls.

NaviForm’s designs are protected by patents in the US, EU and several other countries, four have already been granted, another three are pending. A trademark has been secured for the abbreviation DSV.

For the latest news and analysis go to www.motorship.com/news101

NOVEMBER 2020 | 37

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

KICK START FOR NEW CLEAN ENERGY TRADE

Credit: HESC

Japan is a step ahead of the rest of the world with a soon-to-be-commissioned liquefied hydrogen carrier, writes David Tinsley

Forty years on from its pioneering role in delivering the first Asian-built LNG carrier, Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) is in the vanguard of a new advance in gas shipping technology through the construction of a liquefied hydrogen (LH2) tanker.

The 9,000dwt Suiso Frontier, by providing 1,250m3 of cryogenic cargo containment within a hull length of 116m, will serve as a test platform and demonstrator for a major scheme to transport Australian-produced hydrogen to Japan. The plan ultimately calls for a flotilla of LH2 carriers, fitted with four spherical tanks and comparable in size at 160,000m3 to the latest generation of LNG tankers, dedicated to maintaining the supply line.

Many elements of the ship reflect KHI’s long experience in LNG carrier production and technology, as the Asian pioneer in the construction of such vessels, starting with the 129,000m3 Golar Spirit in 1981. It has maintained a presence in the LNGC market notwithstanding the intensity of the competition from South Korea and emergence of Chinese shipbuilding contenders.

Attuned to the wider national aspirations and endeavours, and possessed of a wide range of cryogenic engineering competences besides those relevant to the marine field, KHI is part of an industrial consortium focused on technological developments aimed at building an energy supply chain that will enable economic and reliable sourcing of hydrogen in large volumes from Australia.

The Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain Technology Research Association (HySTRA), in which KHI is partnered by the Iwatani Corp, Shell Japan, and Electric Power Development Co (J-Power), has the objective of ultimately making hydrogen as common a fuel source as petroleum and natural gas. Suiso Frontier has been built for the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain (HESC) project which HySTRA will coordinate.

The initiative is being promoted and supported by Japan’s

38 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 Installing the liquefied hydrogen cargo tank in the Suiso Frontier

New Energy & Industrial Technological Development Organisation (NEDO). Non-polluting hydrogen is regarded as a fuel of the future and a potentially important element in Japan’s drive to achieve the country’s newly-minted target of ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2050.

Hydrogen will be produced and liquefied in Australia. The raw material for the production will be brown coal mined in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley. As combustion of brown coal, or lignite, can be heavily polluting, coal processing at the hydrogen plant will utilise carbon capture technology and subsequent undersea storage.

Suiso Frontier was launched at KHI’s Kobe yard last December and installation of the cargo tank was carried out at the company’s Harima works in March 2020, with the vessel returning to Kobe for the completion of piping systems and other outfitting. Handover is imminent, this autumn.

Following operational tests in Japanese waters, ranging from tank cool-down to cargo handling at a pilot LH2 receiving terminal newly-built at Kobe, the ship is expected to make her first voyage to load in Australia during early 2021. Thereafter, she will undertake a round-trip every few months. The pilot phase is due to span one year. The decision as to whether or not to proceed to the commercial phase will be made once all reviews have been completed, with the target of full-scale operations in the 2030s. This could see a first contract for high-capacity LH2 carrier newbuilds in 2025-2026.

KHI is also party to a Japanese-Australian consortium that has obtained funding from the Australian government and the State of Victoria to establish the gasification and gas refining facility in the Latrobe Valley, and a liquefaction plant and loading terminal for LH2 carriers at Hastings.

LH2 transport poses major challenges, not least the extremely low carriage temperature of minus 253degC at atmospheric pressure, the wide flammability range and exceptionally high upper explosive level.

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SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

Nitrogen cannot be used in the barrier or annular spaces, as is the case aboard LNG carriers, because nitrogen becomes liquid at minus 196degC and would therefore condense when in contact with surfaces at the LH2 containment temperature. Similarly, liquid oxygen could form if oxygen or air were to be used in the barrier space, as oxygen has a boiling point of minus 192degC. LH2 also has a very high permeability compared to LNG due to hydrogen’s extremely small molecular size, which leads to a propensity for easier leakage through the tiniest gaps.

The low minimum ignition energy of hydrogen gas/air mixture creates additional challenges for leak prevention and detection and for ignition protection, notably that concerning electrical equipment. The low luminosity of visibility of a hydrogen flame is of itself potentially problematic from a fire detection standpoint, and the high flame velocity can lead to detonation.

The particular properties of hydrogen and the design, construction and operation of a prototype ship such as Suiso Frontier calls for comprehensive risk assessment and adoption of suitable risk mitigation measures in close association with classification societies.

Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) has been proactive in setting out guidelines for LH2 transportation by sea. The guidelines consist of safety requirements applicable to LH2 carriers based on the IMO Interim Recommendations for Carriage of Liquefied Hydrogen in Bulk, and various international standards, as well as additional criteria taking specific hazards arising from the handling of LH2 into consideration.

For the Suiso Frontier newbuild, the society was engaged to undertake the requisite verification and validation in accordance with its updated guidelines and rules.

The stainless steel cargo tank has been designed to ensure safe, long-distance transportation of liquefied hydrogen at 1/800th of its original gas state volume, cooled to minus 253degC, far below the temperature (minus 163degC) that has to be maintained for LNG containment.

LH2 evaporates at a rate 10 times greater than LNG. To accommodate this, Suiso Frontier employs a cargo containment system of double-shell structure for vacuum insulation and properties that suppress thermal conduction.

The tank support structure has been made using glass fibre reinforced polymers, which are poor conductors of heat but extremely strong. So as to achieve the requisite ultra-high thermal insulation performance demanded in this innovative project, KHI brought to bear its particular know-how in onshore LH2 and LNG holding tanks, complementing its expertise in LNG carriers.

In addition to the management of boil-off through the pressure containment exercised by the Type-C cargo tank, Suiso Frontier is equipped with a gas combustion unit (GCU)

Credit: Saacke

PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - Suiso Frontier Length overall 116.0m Length bp 109.0m Breadth, moulded 19.0m Depth, moulded 10.6m Draught 4.5m Gross tonnage c.8,000gt Cargo tank capacity 1,250m3 Propulsion system Diesel-electric Main gensets 3 x 1,320kW Propulsion motors 2 x 1,360kW Speed c.13kts Class ClassNK Complement 25 Operator HySTRA

8 A large Saacke gas combustion unit (GCU). A hydrogencompatible GCU has been supplied to Suiso Frontier

provided by the German firing technology specialist Saacke.

The effectiveness of the patented, hydrogen-compatible GCU and the proprietary SSBG hydrogen burner is a vital factor in ensuring safety in seaborne transportation. Testing and acceptance of the equipment took place in northern Germany last October, providing the endorsement that LH2 can be carried at sea as safely as LNG. In Saacke’s 100% free-flow solution, the boil-off gas is completely combusted without a compressor and at a pressure of just 0.15 bar. The absence of compressors from the process dispenses with the risk of compressor failure and the attendant safety implications of resulting increased pressure in the tank.

The diesel-electric plant in Suiso Frontier comprises three generators driven by Daihatsu six-cylinder DE-23 engines each turning out 1,320kW at 900rpm. The electrical energy so derived feeds two 1,360kW propulsion motors delivering propulsive effect through a twin-input/single-output gearbox to a controllable pitch propeller.

So as to meet IMO Tier III NOx standard, the Daihatsu medium-speed diesels incorporate selective catalytic reduction (SCR) technology.

For the envisaged generation of high-intake LH2 carriers, construction in Japan would be the province of the larger of KHI’s domestic yards, the Sakaide complex on Shikoku. The group also has substantial shipbuilding capacity in China, by way of its shareholdings in the joint venture companies Dalian COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (DACKS) and Nantong COSCO KHI Ship Engineering (NACKS). A second building dock was opened at DACKS this year.

CHARACTERISTICS of HYDROGEN COMBUSTION 5 The H-atom is the lightest and smallest element of the Periodic Table 5 H2 is colourless, odourless and tasteless 5 H2 is 8 times lighter than natural gas 5 The calorific value is lower by a factor of 3-3.5 than most commercially available natural gases 5 The flame burns about 8 times faster than natural gas 5 The flammability range is extremely wide (4%-77% by volume compared to 4%-16% by volume for natural gas) 5 15 times less spark energy required for hydrogen ignition than natural gas

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 39

SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

CHEMICAL TANKERS SET NEW STANDARD FOR ENVIRONMENT The two 22,000dwt chemical tankers under construction for Donsötank Rederi are leading the industry in emissions reductions and crew welfare

8 A rendering of one of the pair of dual-fuel 22,000dwt chemical tankers under construction for Donsötank Rederi

The island of Donsö off Gothenburg in Sweden is home to a population of 1,500. It is also home to eight shipping companies, most currently involved with newbuildings.

The Donsötank newbuilds are a reflection of that shipping dynamic, says Managing Director Captain Ingvar Lorensson, with the outcome set to raise the bar higher for other shipowners.

The 167.7-metre, LNG-fuelled, Ice Class 1A vessels are being built by Wuhu Shipyard in China and are classed by DNV GL. Final installation of the battery systems and shore power connections will occur once they reach Sweden next year.

The vessels will be named Prospero and Pacifico and will be commercially managed by Donsötanks daughter company Navix Maritime Chartering in Gothenburg from mid-2021.

They are expected to achieve a 13-21% reduction in fuel consumption compared to a standard design. The vessels boast a number of carefully selected design features which mean the newbuildings’ CO2 emissions will be 55% lower than existing vessels in the fleet. Running on LNG, NOx emissions will be reduced by 89%, SOx emissions by 99% and particulates by 95%.

OPTIMISED DESIGN Donsötank’ technical managers, safety manager and sailing captains and chief engineers brought their experience to the design project, and they worked closely with Uddevalabased naval architecture company FKAB Marine Design.

FKAB was involved from the first sketches, developing a design that balanced fuel savings against investment costs.

“It’s been a great journey with the very clear goal of achieving environmentally friendly vessels with a good working environment for the crew,” says Osborne Johansson, Technical Senior Adviser Machinery and System at FKAB.

40 | NOVEMBER 2020

The vessels’ F-Bow hull design is optimised to achieve maximum cargo capacity and for excellent performance. In calm weather it can save 4-8% fuel and harsh weather conditions up to 25%, says Andreas Hagberg, Sales and Marketing Manager at FKAB. Hull optimisation was performed for a number of depths, and the result includes less flair, a lower block, a propeller bulb and pitch optimisation, together giving 25% improvement on the hull lines of existing vessels in the fleet.

The hull coating used is a Jotun silyl acrylate technology coating, Sea Quantum. It is suitable for all activity levels and expected to perform well for up to 90 months.

The 6.2-metre propeller is complemented by a full-spade, full-twist leading edge rudder from MM Offshore. A wakefield and propeller slipstream analysis ensures maximum efficiency, minimal cavitation and therefore less noise at the aft end of the vessel.

DUAL-FUEL ENGINES The main engine is a Wärtsilä 10V31 DF. “This is the most efficient 4-stroke engine in the world,” notes Lorensson, and it is recognised as such by the Guinness World Records. “It is dual-fuel, but we will run it on LNG and probably a little liquified biogas (LBG) also, if possible.”

The two auxiliary Wärtsilä 8L20 engines are connected to a GESAB SCR-Catamiser for NOx reduction and waste heat recovery. The combined dual-fuel thermal oil heater and inert gas production system, also from GESAB, is low on NOx and SOx emissions.

The 500kWh battery system supplied by Corvus Energy will continuously provide power to the system to boost propulsion, provide an alternative to running auxiliaries during narrow passages and harbour manoeuvring, and, most importantly from an energy saving perspective, allow

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SHIP DESCRIPTIONS for peak shaving. The energy storage system provides power for peak-shaving to balance variable loads on the main engine and auxiliary engines, saving an estimated 284 tons of CO2 each year on the open sea and 269 tons of CO2 in port during discharging if shore power is not available.

Lorenssen expects a battery life of eight to 10 years, and a financial payback, at worst, of six years. “But, we predict it will be better than that.”

The battery system alone could power the vessel for a short time in case of blackout, but combined with the 1.5kV shaft generator, the vessel could potentially sail at around eight knots if required during an emergency.

The WE Tech shaft generator features variable frequency drive technology, WE Drive™, variable speed generator technology, DC-link switchboards with dedicated inverter units and a power management system. With the DC-link distributing electrical power, energy efficiency can be increased by up to 35%, the main switchboard can have a smaller footprint with less copper used. Total harmonic distortion is low as is the reactive current flow in the electrical system. This enables the use of smaller inverters and less cabling.

Additionally, an Organic Rankine System waste heat conversion system, Orcan Energy’s Efficiency PACK, is connected to the cooling system. The solution uses waste heat from the thermal oil system and the jacket cooling water to produce electricity, thereby recovering waste heat from both the main engine and the auxiliary engines. At sea, this can provide 71kW net input to the switchboard, and during cargo discharging operations 83kW. This saves an estimated 205 tons of CO2 annually.

Like the two 15,000dwt chemical tankers being built for Tärntank Ship Management, and two 18,000dwt chemical tankers built for Furetank Rederi, companies that also originates from the island of Donsö, the vessels will have the ability to connect to shore power. Negotiations with the Port of Gothenburg have led the sets of newbuilds having the connection point in the manifold area located centrally in the EX cargo handling zone to minimise cabling needs and to enable the ships’ cargo cranes to do the cable lifting. At the Port of Gothenburg, a shore power station will be located centrally on the quay with approximately 50 meters of cable available. A similar arrangement is expected to be available in the Port of Rotterdam.

The 6.6kV power from shore will provide enough power for cargo discharge operations and for charging the battery system. As part of the shore power connection procedures, the plug room, too small for a person to enter, will be overpressurised with nitrogen.

The use of oil onboard has been minimised: the actuators for the cargo and ballast valves are all electric. Supplied by Eltorque, they minimise energy consumption by having a low energy idle state and, they also avoid the need for having hydraulic pipes going down into the tanks. They are made from non-hazardous, fully recyclable materials.

Additionally, to reduce the need for oil, the THR Marine mooring and anchor winches are electric. This avoids the need for a lot of pipework and eliminates oil leakage risks.

The Wärtsilä stern tube has a water lubricated seal, and the vessels have a frequency controlled, fixed pitch Wärtsilä bow thruster.

A Hydroniq rack cooler was chosen for its easy inspection and maintenance and for its compact design. The tubes are made from CuNi to prevent marine growth, and there is no galvanic corrosion, as it is fully insulated from the hull. The cooling system is a demand-adjusted system, so it’s not running at full speed all the time. “This makes it more efficient that a normal box cooler,” says Lorensson. “If you need to

clean it, you can just close the tank and lift it up from the inside, and if you have dirt in the water from a river, for example, this doesn’t present a problem for the cooling system.”

The vessels are IMO type 2 oil products and chemical tankers with a cargo capacity of 28,000cbm and they feature 14 electric deepwell cargo pumps from Svanehøj . The cargo tanks are coated with Jotun Tankguard Special. Hot water coils are used for tank heating, and all cargo pipes and crossovers are self-drained down from the manifold to the cargo tanks.

8 The Ice Class 1A vessels feature an F-Bow hull design that offers significant fuel efficiencies in harsh weather conditions

CREW SAFETY The comfort and safety of the crew was paramount when designing the accommodation areas and the engineroom layout. “Everything was designed in 3D, and we spent a lot of time in the 3D model determining the safest outcome, so that the crew do not need to climb around pipes and equipment,” said Lorensson.

Mooring arrangements have been designed according to Mooring Equipment Guidelines Fourth Edition 2018 (MEG4).

“Safe mooring is critical for the crew onboard,” says Lorensson. “We want to avoid incidents, so we also spent a lot of time here to design the best mooring system possible.

The design calls for of eight ropes on drums fore and eight aft. The lines are straight, not going through any rollers.

The designers spent a lot of time reducing noise onboard the vessels. Engineroom fans are fitted with silencers, and the cargo pumps are electric to minimise noise. Outside noise level was determined to be at most 65db measured 25 metres from the side of the vessel when running two auxiliary engines and two engineroom fans. This compares very favourably with a similar vessel in the company’s fleet with a main engine of the same size.

Lorensson’s team is proud of what has been achieved and believe the design is the most efficient for the class of vessel to date. While the owners on Donsö are not direct competitors, they watch what each other are doing and learn from each other, always raising the stakes on environmental performance.

FKAB recently designed vessels for Donsö-based Furetank Rederi. These 16,300dwt chemical tankers are also equipped with batteries and dual fuel engines for LNG operation.

Further afield, FKAB has also recently designed a series of dual-fuel, battery-ready 10,500dwt chemical tankers for Norwegian owners Utkilen and two 7,000dwt gas-ready stainless steel chemical tankers for German owner GEFO. Tor Järnberg Business Developer at FKAB notes that FKAB’s environmental friendly designs have low EEDI values, with excellent hull forms and a careful selection of equipment to suit the shipowner’s requirements. This results in efficient energy consumption and low OPEX. “We work in close cooperation with owners to balance CAPEX and OPEX.”

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NOVEMBER 2020 | 41

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The international magazine for senior marine engineers EDITORIAL & CONTENT Editor: Nick Edstrom editor@mercatormedia.com News Reporter: Rebecca Jeffrey rjeffrey@mercatormedia.com

In the leading editorial for The Motor Ship, November 1970, the writers welcomed a challenge to the marine engines market by MAN, focusing on improved reliability in both the large-bore two-stroke and medium speed sectors.

MAN, which was placed third in both markets behind Sulzer and B&W, and Pielstick and Mitsubishi respectively, had been criticised for producing too wide a range of engines and options in the past, which had prevented it capturing the industry’s demands. Of course, both B&W and Pielstick are now part of MAN Energy Solutions, but 50 years ago they were strong competitors.

The 52/55 four-stroke engine, which had been launched rather cautiously some 18 months previously, had been designed to offer a reliable 1000 bhp/cylinder output, and the soundness of the design was being proven. With the launch of the KSZ105/180 two-stroke, MAN aimed to bring reliable operation to the high-power large-bore engine sector to meet the demands of a new generation of larger and faster ships.

Despite a capability of more than 4,000 bhp/ cylinder, the KSZ was described by MAN as a “simple engine”, designed to reduce maintenance and enhance operational reliability. That’s not to say that the competing large-bore offerings of similar potential output were proving unreliable, rather that MAN had concentrated on this aspect of the design, including a then-novel use of computer modelling to evaluate the new concepts of predictable MTBM (mean time between maintenance) and MTBF (mean time between failure) for all component parts and systems.

The main ship description examined in detail the newly-delivered Song of Norway, first of three passenger ships for cruises in the Caribbean, built for the newly-formed Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines by Wärtsilä in Helsinki. The 18,400gt ship, with singleclass accommodation for 870 passengers catered for by 300 crew, was designed specifically for the particular requirements of the burgeoning US luxury cruise industry. As the report stated “though the design might not be what a naval architect would envisage, the owners are catering for passengers in the American market.” Although the appearance might raise a few eyebrows, with such features as a solarium incorporated in the aft funnel, technically the ship followed established practice. The Wärtsilä designers had a brief to save weight, but the inclusion of such features as the solarium and a swimming pool area on the sun deck led to permanent ballast being carried to comply with stability requirements.

44 | NOVEMBER 2020

8 The Wärtsilä-built Song of Norway, first in the new Royal Caribbean cruise fleet

Engines were four Wärtsilä-built Sulzer 9ZH 40/48 medium speed units, arranged in pairs, driving twin KaMeWa CP propellers through reduction gearboxes. A total power of 18,000bhp was good for 21 knots, though it was envisaged that once in the Caribbean the vessel would operate on three engines. Six Wartsila 814TK auxiliaries handled the considerable domestic load.

With the current focus on digitalisation, one sentence from November 1970 struck a chord: “Full implementation of satellite communication for merchant ships is something for the future.” Indeed, the idea of allocating specific maritime frequencies was not even due to be considered for another six months. But trials had been undertaken in the North Atlantic, where the ACL container ship Atlantic Causeway was fulfilling the role of mobile test bed, having been offered periods for experimentation on a NASA satellite for ship-to-shore voice, data and fax transmissions to a UK coast radio station.

Finally, it was reported that successful trials of nuclear power for ships, with an advanced pressurised water reactor onboard the German bulk carrier and research ship Otto Hahn were expected to lead to an economic marine reactor for higherpowered ships “in the near future”.

Correspondents Please contact our correspondents at editor@motorship.com Bill Thomson, David Tinsley, Tom Todd, Stevie Knight, Wendy Laursen Production Ian Swain, David Blake, Gary Betteridge production@mercatormedia.com SALES & MARKETING t +44 1329 825335 f +44 1329 550192 Brand manager: Toni-Rhiannon Sibley tsibley @mercatormedia.com Marketing marketing@mercatormedia.com EXECUTIVE Chief Executive: Andrew Webster awebster@mercatormedia.com TMS magazine is published monthly

by Mercator Media Limited Spinnaker House, Waterside Gardens, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 8SD, UK t +44 1329 825335 f +44 1329 550192 info@mercatormedia.com www.mercatormedia.com

Subscriptions Subscriptions@motorship.com or subscribe online at www.motorship.com Also, sign up to the weekly TMS E-Newsletter 1 year’s magazine subscription £GBP178.50 UK & EURO Post area £GBP178.50 Rest of the World © Mercator Media Limited 2020. ISSN 0027-2000 (print) ISSN 2633-4488 (online). Established 1920. The Motorship is a trade mark of Mercator Media Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine can be reproduced without the written consent of Mercator Media Ltd. Registered in England Company Number 2427909. Registered office: Spinnaker House, Waterside Gardens, Fareham, Hampshire PO16 8SD, UK. Printed in the UK by Holbrooks Printers Ltd, Portsmouth, PO3 5HX. Distributed by Mail Options Ltd, Unit 41, Waterside Trading Centre, Trumpers Way, London W7 2QD, UK.

8 MAN’s prototype KSZ engine, designed for simplicity and reliability, on the test bed at Augsburg

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