The deadline to submit your abstract for the 44th Propulsion & Future Fuels conference has been extended. If you want to be part of the leading international conference and present to a 150 strong maritime audience, including operators by 25th March.
Abstracts are invited in the following categories:
Challenges of new technology/Cyber security rules/Operational technology/Safety
Hydrogen / Fuel cells - new innovations/ Ammonia – new innovations/Safety/ Methanol – new innovations/Safety/
Advances in exhaust gas cleaning systems
Advances in lubrication
Green solutions for LNG, e.g. Bio methanea
Abstracts of 250 words should be sent by March 25th, with a biography of the speaker, headshot photo and logo to conferences@propulsionconference.com
Visit: motorship.com/PFFBOOK
Contact: +44 1329 825335
Email: conferences@propulsionconference.com
14 FSG bunker barge order
German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft (FSG) announced that it been awarded a major deal for a series of LNG bunker tankers.
15 First CCS reference
EPS announced the first installation of a n integrated onboard carbon capture and storage system on an ocean-going vessel in January 2023.
12 UK H2-engine trial
Carisbrooke Shipping is participating in a UK-funded demonstration project to develop an innovative zero-emission hydrogen-fuelled auxiliary engine.
The US government is pushing ahead with offshore wind leases, and the future looks bright for the nation’s shipbuilding industry, but there are roadblocks ahead.
8 Leader Briefing
Pilot projects are only part of the challenge of scaling up cleantech developments, Haavard Tvedte of Maritime CleanTech tells The Motorship.
Custom-built to meet the complex requirements for ocean transportation of rocket components, the 121m ro-ro Canopée has made her first transatlantic crossing, writes David Tinsley.
The SeaTech project has also developed cycle-level optimisation to manage transient power changes, Wendy Laursen hears.
18
Thomas Hansen, head of two-stroke promotion and customer support at MAN Energy Solutions reveals MAN ES’ plans to soft-launch the Ammonia engine (AEngine).
20 Norwegian hydrogen retrofit
The Ship-aH2oy project is developing a zero-emission CSOV using an SOFC fuel cell fuelled using green hydrogen stored in a hydrogen carrier, LOHC .
Newly developed 40 BN lubricants will gain service experience with the growing uptake of methanol dual-fuel 2-stroke engines.
MAN Energy Solutions has rolled out an optimisation programme to improve the performance of its dual-fuel, low-pressure ME-GA engine before the first reference enters service.
44TH
The Motorship’s Propulsion and Future Fuels Conference will take place this year in Hamburg, Germany. Stay in touch at propulsionconference.com
For British readers of a certain generation, few things bring the early 1980s back into focus quite as readily as Tomorrow’s World.
One of the staples of the former show were forward looking articles predicting great technological advances in the unimaginably distant world of 2020.
This month’s issue features a mixture of different product developments that might have been covered approvingly in 1983. The world’s first development project to install a hydrogen fuel cell unit capable of operating on toluene-based hydrogen fuels is one particularly project.
Unsurprisingly, the project is being developed in Norway, where a supportive maritime ecosystem is continuing to promote cutting edge concepts. At a time when government intervention is particularly in fashion – we include a feature on President Biden’s multibillion dollar greentech projects in our Regional Focus section – it is worth noting that sustained bipartisan government interest is a necessary condition of successful projects.
Håvard Tvedte of Norwegian technology incubator Maritime Cleantech discussed the specifics of Norway’s environment in an interview with The Motorship. While government finance and mutual trust within the Norwegian community are helpful, there is no substitute for the hard work needed to sustain the conditions to bring together research institutions, OEMs, ship owners and interested parties from the political and financial communities.
One topic with a Norwegian flavour that definitely was on Tomorrow’s World running order in 1983 was innovation in propulsion technology. I mention this because Paul Gunton has the pleasure of revisiting a theme that he first covered for The Motorship in 1982, in which he first brought the concept of flapping foil propulsors to the world’s attention. He produces a retrospective in this month’s issue of The Motorship
Innovation in propulsors remains a hot topic, Wendy Laursen provides updates on a counter rotating foil propulsor concept developed by VTT, as well as the latest developments in the SeaTech project examining flapping foil developments and associated engine control developments.
Finally, we provide updates on a number of new technologies that have developed a little faster than flapping foils. Foremost among these, we have an exclusive update on the development of MAN Energy Solutions’ new AEngine development project from Thomas Hansen of MAN Energy Solutions. The new engine has been installed and is awaiting the first bunkering of ammonia, with the intention of starting up the engine on ammonia in the first half of 2023.
MAN ES engineers remain active on a number of different fronts. Before the reference of MAN Energy Solutions’ new low-pressure, low-speed ME-GA engine even enters service, MAN ES is rolling out an upgrade solution that will optimise the performance of the engine.
Next month we will return (reluctantly) to the world of regulatory developments. High level decisions that are under consideration in Brussels and at the IMO are likely to have wide ranging effects on the introduction of carbon capture technology, and also on the emergence of connected hydrogen-based supply chains.
Resurgent German shipbuilder Flensburger SchiffbauGesellschaft(FSG) has landed a major deal for a series of LNG bunker tankers, writes David Tinsley. Three 4,500m3-capacity newbuilds have been ordered by a consortium made up of the German companies
The contract has been backed by EUR62m ($66.3m) funding from the German Federal Government. The grant is predicated on the need to promote investments supportive of the shipping industry’s energy transition by way of a switch to alternative fuels, and has also been influenced by the extent of German technological involvement.
The nascent flotilla will strengthen the German and European bunkering infrastructure for LNG, liquefied bio-methane(LBM) and, further down the line, synthetic natural gas as low-carbon or carbonneutral fuel for shipping. The bunker vessels have also been designed to facilitate future adaptation to an ammonia bunkering role. All three ships are expected to be in service by the end of 2025.
FSG’s latest completion is the 210m ro-ro freight vessel Tennor Ocean. Towards the end of January, the trailership sailed from Flensburg for final work at Lloyd Werft’s Dock 3 in Bremerhaven over a week-long sojourn prior to sea trials. The twin-engined vessel’s launching in June 2022 was the first since
the yard’s re-start, following its purchase out of insolvency by the Lars Windhorst-headed company Tennor Holding in 2020.
Arranged for a 279-trailer intake, Tennor Ocean has been built to the group’s own account, and is based on FSG’s RoRo 4100 design, which had previously been produced in series for various owners. The vessel features a newly-developed folding mast section that meets the 40m air-draught condition needed for transit of the Kiel Canal. An option is held on a sister newbuild, also with a view to deployment in the charter market.
The subsequent project at the Flensburg yard is an LNG dual-fuel powered, 3,800 lane-metre ro-ro freight carrier ordered by the Australian operator SeaRoad.
For FSG, the latter provides an LNG engineering link to the new contract for bunker vessels. Meanwhile, Amsterdam-based Titan has this month also acquired two small-scale LNG carriers from Seapeak, the Canadian gas transportation company formerly known as Teekay LNG Partners. The 152m, 12,000m3-capacity vessels will be retrofitted so as to confer an LNG bunkering role, complementing the capability for coastwise distribution of LNG and LBM in European trade.
Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) has announced the successful installation of Value Maritime’s (VM) Filtree system onboard its managed vessel M/T Pacific Cobalt in Rotterdam.
The supplier claims that the installation is the of its kind aboard an ocean-going vessel, and represents a major step forward towards the wider industry-wide adoption,
The installation of the prefabricated gas filtering system commenced in mid-January 2023 in Rotterdam. It took 17 days to complete and was managed jointly by EPS’s and VM’s sea and shore staff
The Filtree system, which filters sulphur and 99% of particulate matter, includes VM’s Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) module that can capture up to 40% of CO2 emissions from the vessel’s main and auxiliary engines.
The CO2 is captured in a special chemical that is stored in an onboard tank that during the retrofit has been recoated and converted for this purpose. The tank now provides sufficient storage space to capture more than 200 tonnes of CO2 in a single voyage. Once the tank is full, the chemical will be pumped out in port and delivered to end users.
Value Maritime notes that the CO2 can be sold to commercial consumers of carbon dioxide. In the Netherlands, the commercial agriculture sector uses carbon dioxide in the greenhouse sector, while synthetic fuel producers are expected to become an increasingly important end-user market.
HMM has placed orders for 7 x 9,000 teu container vessels with Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, and 2 x 9,000 teu vessels with HJ Shipbuilding and Construction (HJSC). Both orders specify dual-fuel engines capable of operating on methanol. The series of 9,000 teu container vessels is expected to be delivered between 2025 and 2026. The vessels are intended to be operated on trans-Pacific trade lanes and the Asia-India routes.
module is recyclable, and can then be returned to the vessel for reuse and to capture more CO2.
Plans to integrate Wärtsilä’s Voyage business into Wärtsilä Marine Power are under way with the loss of 150 jobs..
The company believes a strengthened port-to-port voyage optimisation will benefit customers by lowering costs and reducing emissions in marine operations.
“We are committed to drive decarbonisation in the maritime industry and accelerate the turnaround of our former Voyage business,” explained Roger Holm, president of Wärtsilä Marine Power.
“By combining digital capabilities with performance-
Chinese manufacturer of wind turbines, Ming Yang Smart Energy, has developed a 16.6 MW twin floating offshore wind platform. The 180m-diameter rotors are mounted on a floating, self-aligning structure, which consists of an anchor buoy, mooring bearing and a steel structure (floating foundation). Component supplier Liebherr notes the technology opens up the possibility of erecting offshore wind turbines in offshore regions with deeper waters.
based services, we plan to offer our customers unique end-to-end solutions to optimise their vessel and port operations,” he added.
Under the integration NACOS Navigation, NACOS Automation, Dynamic Positioning and Sensors will be merged into a new business unit and moved to Wärtsilä Portfolio Business during April 2023. This will mean the loss of 300 positions although 150 new ones will be created.
The business unit Marine Electrical Systems, currently part of the Marine Systems business, is also slated to be moved to Portfolio Business
VPS, the global marine fuel testing advisory company, has acquired a UK based realtime emissions measurement company, Emsys Maritime. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Emsys Maritime is a marketleading manufacturer of real-time, laser driven marine emissions measurement technology. The acquisition is expected to complement VPS’ own growing digital decarbonisation service offering.
“Marine Electrical Systems largely serves different markets and customers than the rest of Wärtsilä and has limited strategic fit with the rest of the group,” said Tamara de Gruyter, executive vice president of Marine Systems and Portfolio Business.
“Therefore, we believe that an independent set-up and potential new ownership will be the best way forward for Marine Electrical Systems to develop and create shareholder value,” she added.
Cepsa has entered into an agreement to supply green ammonia to ACE Terminal at the Port of Rotterdam for conversion into green hydrogen for use by industries and shipping. Cepsa is developing 2GW of green hydrogen at two sites in Andalusia. The two hydrogen plants, with a €3 billion investment, will form part of the Andalusian Green Hydrogen Valley. Cepsa aims to start the first green hydrogen exports from Spain in 2027.
Ports must be able to check the background of all vessels and show bodies such as OFAC that they have the technology to screen ships for suspected sanctions evasion8 Value Maritime has completed the installation of its first fully integrated carbon capture solution onboard an MR tanker operated by Eastern Pacific Shipping The CO2 can also be placed into carbon sequestration networks. The chemical used in the Filtree CCS Source: Value Maritime
The US government is pushing ahead with offshore wind leases, and the future looks bright for the nation’s shipbuilding industry, but there are roadblocks ahead
8 Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant WTIV, is now under construction at Keppel AmFELS's shipyard in Brownsville, Texas and is expected to be operational by late 2023
On releasing its February 2023 US wind market report US analysts Intelatus Global Partners concluded “The White House goal of 110GW by 2050 is looking somewhat conservative.” It forecasts around 70 projects that will install over 78GW of capacity in this and the next decade, with more to come.
Funding is being made available. In August 2022, the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) committed billions to a new clean energy economy powered by American innovators and manufacturers. The goal is to be a net-zero economy by 2050, and in February 2023, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced new investment in floating offshore wind –two-thirds of America’s offshore wind resources are located in deep water requiring floating platforms. The investment aims to reduce the cost of floating wind energy by more than 70% by 2035.
The previous month, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Business Network for Offshore Wind National Offshore Wind, the National Offshore Wind Research & Development Consortium, and other consortium partners, released the A Supply Chain Road Map for Offshore Wind Energy in the United States, a roadmap for meeting national offshore wind targets for 2030 and 2050.
It concludes that existing port and vessel infrastructure is inadequate to install 30GW of offshore wind energy by 2030 and estimates that 4-6 dedicated wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs), 4-6 dedicated heavy-lift vessels and 4-8 USflagged specialised feeder barges would be required.
However, it states, investment in new marshalling ports and installation vessels is hindered because of uncertainty in the project pipeline, which creates risk for investors looking for a return on investment. “Investing in new vessels is particularly challenging due to their high capital costs, short
construction contracts, and difficulty in creating consistent pipelines of contracts.”
The Jones Act, which requires vessels transporting merchandise between U.S. ports (including offshore wind turbine locations) to be US-flagged, is a key factor in selecting the vessels that will be used for offshore wind energy projects. The US also currently has a shortage of mariners with sufficient offshore wind experience, which could create a short-term installation bottleneck for projects that rely on US-flagged vessels. This risk could diminish over time as more US vessels are built and their crews are appropriately trained.
The report also states that, although domestic shipyards have interest in building new vessels, there are a limited number of yards that can build large, highly specialised installation vessels, which will constrain the number of these vessels that can reasonably be built in the US in the 2020s without significant additional investments. Even shipyards with sufficient technical capabilities may have existing commitments throughout the 2020s, which could limit their availability to construct offshore wind vessels.
Specialized feeder barges are less expensive to build, have shorter construction time frames, and can be constructed by a greater number of U.S. shipyards, which may cause the nation’s industry to favour installation methods that use feeder barges and either US or foreign-flagged WTIVs and heavy lift vessels.
Vessel construction is moving ahead, even if it is not at the pace required. In September 2022, a consortium led by Hamburg-based ONP Management and Boston-based Renewable Resources International announced the development of a transport and installation vessel solution FEEDERDOCK, dedicated to address the Junes Act requirements and the evolving shortage of offshore wind
installation assets. The concept was designed by Hamburgbased Tractebel Overdick, and the assets will be operated by Bremen-based Atheleon, formerly known as SAL Renewables and part of the Harren Group.
With a crane capacity of 3,000 tons and a crane hook height of up to 182 meters above deck, FEEDERDOCK is designed to install 25MW wind turbines and foundations up to 2,800 tons in water depths of up to 70 metres. The FEEDERDOCK concept involves a U-shaped, heavy lift jackup installation vessel paired with US-built articulated tug barges (ATBs) docking inside the installation vessel before jacking-up. This unique arrangement avoids challenging “floating-to-fixed” component transfers at sea and meets Jones Act requirements.
Charybdis, the first Jones Act-compliant WTIV, is now under construction to ABS Class. Charybdis, which is expected to be operational by late 2023, will first be deployed out of New London harbor to support the construction of Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, both under joint development by Ørsted and Eversource. The approximately $500 million vessel will operate as part of Dominion Energy's Contracted Assets segment.
The 472-foot vessel is being constructed in Brownsville, Texas, at Keppel AmFELS's shipyard, using domesticallysourced steel. It is designed to handle current turbine technologies as well as next generation turbine sizes of 12MW or larger. It will also be capable of the installation of foundations for turbines. Once complete, the vessel will be homeported in Hampton Roads, Virginia, one of the nation's premier offshore wind installation harbors. For use on Revolution Wind and Sunrise Wind, the vessel will work from State Pier in New London, Connecticut, another of the nation's premier offshore wind installation harbors.
In December 2022, Houston-based Bleutec Industries announced funding to support construction of Jones Actcompliant offshore wind installation vessels. The company has developed a proprietary Binary Marine Installation Solution (BMIS) in cooperation with naval architect NETSCo and Netherlands heavy lift company Penthus. The companies view BMIS as a cost-effective, Jones Act compliant alternative to the more expensive jack-up WTIVs currently being utilised by offshore wind contractors in Europe.
The BMIS model will be built around a combined vessel spread comprising a piling installation vessel, a WTIV-Light and service operation vessels (SOVs). The piling installation vessel will feature a gantry crane capable of lifting up to 4,500 MT, a hydraulic hammer, and deck space for the piles. The WTIV-Light will be capable of installing wind turbines of up to 22MW, while the SOVs will provide the necessary accommodation and crew support services for working in depths of up to 60 metres. Deployment is expected to take place during the early part of 2026.
There are several SOVs already under construction in the US. Ørsted and Eversource, together with Edison Chouest Offshore shipyard, announced the commencement of construction of first US-flagged Jones Act-compliant SOV last year. The vessel will be capable of housing 60 passengers.
Most recently, in January 2023, Crowley and Danish offshore maritime leader ESVAGT announced that they will jointly build and operate a SOV under a long-term charter with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. Under the new contract, USbased Crowley will manage and crew the SOV to support Siemens Gamesa’s service operations on the Dominion Energy Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project. ESVAGT, based in Denmark, will support Crowley with design, construction, crew training and operation services as part of the two companies’ joint venture, CREST Wind, created in 2021. The 88-metre vessel will be built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding
and will feature modern accommodations for 80 crew and technicians and is expected to enter service in 2026.
Several crew transfer vessels (CTVs) are under construction. In January 2023, St. Johns Ship Building in Florida held a keel laying ceremony for the second of six of aluminium CTVs that will service US offshore wind projects for construction, operations, and maintenance. The Chartwell Ambitious aluminium catamarans have the capacity to transport 24 personnel to and from wind turbines with speed, safety, and stability. The vessels were commissioned by the Rhode Island-based Atlantic Wind Transfers.
Additionally, American Offshore Services (AOS) has ordered four hybrid-ready CTVs from Rhode Island-based Blount Boats. The vessels are expected to be delivered in 2023-2024 and will immediately go to work servicing U.S. offshore wind farm projects. Starting in 2023, AOS said it will provide CTVs and equipment to four different wind farms on the U.S. East Coast during the construction phase.
8 Crowley and ESVAGT announced plans to jointly build and operate a SOV under a longterm charter with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy in January 2023. The 88-metre vessel will be built at Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding and is expected to enter service in 2026
The supply chain roadmap points to the value of the IRA for developing more infrastructure, wind farms and vessels.
“Recent federal incentives such as clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) will help domestically produced components be cost competitive with imports from established international manufacturing facilities. However, additional incentives may be required to encourage domestic manufacturing of components or supply chain assets that are either not considered in the IRA or receive tax credits that are smaller than the cost premium for domestic manufacturing.”
It further states the industry will likely need to invest over $11 billion in marshalling ports, fabrication ports, and large installation vessels by 2030 to support the manufacture, transport, and installation of major offshore wind energy components. A domestic supply chain will likely require an investment of at least $22.4 billion in manufacturing facilities, ports, and large installation vessels.
such as clean energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) will help domestically produced components be cost competitive with imports from establishedSource: HAV Design
Pilot projects are only part of the challenge of scaling up cleantech developments, Haavard Tvedte, interim CEO of NCE Maritime CleanTech tells The Motorship in an exclusive interview
The Motorship was fortunate enough to interview Håvard Tvedte, head of public affairs of Norway’s Cluster for Clean Maritime Solutions, Maritime CleanTech in London in late January 2023.
Maritime Cleantech acts as an innovation hub, fostering collaborative projects to help Norway’s maritime sector to reduce emissions from shipping by 50% by 2030.
The organisation sees its role as promoting the development of energy efficiency solutions for existing shipping, and helping academic and industry partners to come together to develop, design and build the zeroemission vessels of the future.
“Our focus extends beyond helping pilot projects to validate newly developed technologies, but we can offer access to the National Catapult test centre, which is extremely important.”
A second focus is on helping newly introduced technologies to scale up once they reach Technology Readiness Level 9. “We have been doing this with electric solutions for smaller vessels operating in Norway. Our aim is to make the technologies internationally viable.”
“And lastly, we take a keen interest in the development of international regulations, as these create the market conditions for new technologies to enter into the domestic and the international market”.
One example was the introduction of rules mandating emissions free visits by cruise vessels into Norway’s heritage fjords, which had accelerated investments into energy storage systems aboard cruise ships operating in the country. The introduction of hybrid systems into offshore vessels was also stimulated, with the Norwegian government initially contributing to the costs of demonstration projects.
Tvedte noted that the Norwegian government was currently introducing rules that will require vessels serving the Norwegian offshore oil and gas industry to lower their emissions by 2025 and to achieve zero-emissions operations by 2029.
“We believe that we will see the same transformation that has occurred in the Norwegian ferry fleet in the offshore fleet if we can establish the market conditions. This is a prerequisite for innovation to happen.”
One of the most high-profile projects that Maritime Cleantech has been involved in is the development of hydrogen and ammonia supply chain studies in Norway.
“A great example is Azane’s development of the floating ammonia bunkering stations,” Tvedte said, adding that their many partners are also looking at the development of hydrogen bunkering infrastructure.
Interestingly, this work extends beyond involvement in the verification of the technological solutions, and encompasses techno-economic studies into the total value chain, and also the total investment criteria.
Tvedte was keen to stress that Maritime CleanTech was technology agnostic and did not see its job as “picking winners”, but in promoting a large number of solutions to see which ones will successfully scale up.
The range of technologies being studied by Maritime Cleantech extends from fuel cells to electrification to digitalisation solutions and on to autonomous operations. Autonomous vessels are an area of intense research. One project is examining the efficiencies offered by a small-sized autonomous passenger ferry.
Maritime CleanTech has also been involved in testing fullelectric propulsion solutions. “We have just seen very high efficiency results from one electric propulsion solution after just six months of operation. This high-speed craft carries 150 passengers and has, in tests, reached the speeds of 29 knotsTvedte noted.
While many of the solutions that were being developed were applicable to newbuildings, Maritime CleanTech was also receiving a lot of interest in the development of solutions that could be applied to existing assets.
“We have just started a retrofit study as part of a wider programme to meet the expected demand for solutions from the existing fleet,” Tvedte said.
Tvedte also noted that Maritime CleanTech was also bringing together technology developers, research institutions and OEMs with financial institutions. “The financial partners are also joining our collaboration activities because they need to be updated on the technologies, and then they can align their investments, both to the new regulations, but also with the technology that's relevant.”
The advantages of this very Norwegian collaborative model is that it also offers small and medium sized technology developers and participants in Norway’s maritime supply chain access to EU or Norwegian calls for applications.
“We have a much broader focus on promoting the commercialisation of technologies beyond the bare technology developments themselves,” Tvedte concluded.
Sponsor: Supporters:
Hanwha Group has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire a 33% stake in HSD Engine, the Korean engine builder, and intends to acquire the engine builder in the third quarter of 2023
The deal to acquire a 33% stake in HSD Engine was announced on 16 February 2023.
Hanwha Group plans to acquire HSD Engine Co. Ltd. in Korea by the third quarter of 2023, creating a vertically integrated group including DSME.
The Korean conglomerate added that it planned to begin due diligence before signing a follow-on agreement to fully acquire the engine builder in April 2023. The Korean group noted that it aimed to conclude the due diligence and receive regulatory approvals in the first half of 2023, before concluding the acquisition in the second half of 2023.
The deal will create a vertically integrated manufacturing group. Hanwha Group acquired the Korean shipyard Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) in 2022.
The vertical integration offered specific advantages in the area of producing engines capable of operating on alternative fuels. Hanwha’s subsidiaries PSM and Thomassen have expertise in hydrogen injection and combustion in the stationary gas turbine market. The company noted that by combining this expertise with the engine manufacturing capabilities of HSD engines, the company will begin producing engines that use eco-friendly fuels such as ammonia and hydrogen.
HSD Engine has existing experience with the development of engines capable of operating on methanol. HSD Engine signed a joint development project with WinGD in September 2022 to deliver an engine capable of running on methanol by 2024.
The deal is also expected to strengthen DSME’s project delivery and cost management competences, and extend vessel maintenance capabilities.
In a statement, a Hanwha official commented, “We plan to continue investing in future growth engines and core competencies by combining HSD engine manufacturing technology with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine to strengthen high-value-added businesses such as eco-friendly engine ship manufacturing, and create synergies through collaboration with various affiliates.”
The first retrofit installation of an inline shaft generator has been completed alongside the installation of an air lubrication system aboard Berge Bulk’s Capesize carrier, Berge Toubkal
The Berge Toubkal retrofit was completed in Q4 2022, following ten months of preparation time.
The successful installation of the large inline shaft generator system by Wärtsilä is the first in the marine sector. Shaft generator system, also referred to as Power Take-Off (PTO) systems, are standard installations on newbuild vessels but have not previously been retrofitted to existing vessels in the fleet.
The system includes a Wärtsilä control system, as well as a converter to allow the generator to operate over a broad span of rpm. The existing intermediate shaft and bearings were replaced to accommodate
the increased weight of the generator sitting directly on the propeller shaft. The retrofitted shaft generator will also provide power to a Silverstream air lubrication system installed at the same time.
The installation will improve the vessel’s Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) while reducing overall carbon footprint.
“Berge Bulk made an industry commitment to go carbon neutral well
8 Hanwha Group plans to acquire HSD Engine Co. Ltd. in Korea by the third quarter of 2023, creating a vertically integrated group including DSME
before the IMO’s plan, and we are installing now the latest fuel-saving technologies, like shaft generators, air lubrication, or wind propulsion on our vessels,” says Paolo Tonon, Berge Bulk’s Technical Director, “Wärtsilä has a proven track record and is one of the market leaders in shaft generator systems and electrical integration.”
“Berge Bulk is one of the front runners in shipping’s transition to decarbonised operations, and we are proud to support them in this. Wärtsilä is actively working on the development of new technologies that can be integrated into existing vessel systems to make their operations cleaner and more economical,” says Torsten Büssow, Director for Ship Electrification at Wärtsilä.
Wärtsilä has successfully delivered more than 650 shaft generator systems and has over 50 years of experience in this field.
8 Cummins announced plans to introduce mono-fuel variants of its B.6 and X15 engines capable of operating on LNG and LPG for the transportation market by 2026
The diesel version of the 10-litre engine will initially be launched in North America and Europe. The company plans to subsequently launch versions capable of operating on gaseous fuels, as well as versions for off-highway applications, such as the marine market.
The new engine is expected to offer improved fuel economy across the full range of engine loads.
During the product announcement in early February 2023, Cummins noted that the engine will meet the U.S. EPA’s 2027 regulations a year before the standards are introduced.
The engine will be equipped with Cummins engine connectivity module, Acumen, which will include over-theair calibration and predictive service recommendations.
“We are committed to advancing diesel technology while
our markets and our customers need it to run their businesses. The new X10 has been designed drawing on our decades of experience as a leader in the medium and heavyduty space,” said José Samperio, Executive Director – North America On-Highway at Cummins Inc. “We have applied those learnings to ensure the product will perform for our customers and the important jobs they need to do every time.”
The US engine builder notes that the engine will slot into Cummins’ product portfolio complemented by the B6.7 and X15. The engine builder noted that it is expanding its gaseous fuels capabilities and would introducing a pure gas version of the X15, the X15N, as well as LNG and LPG-burning versions of the B.6 engine by 2026.
Volvo Penta has announced the launch of the D17, a new engine that offers enhanced power density, thanks to the use of dualstage turbochargers, and reduced fuel consumption within the envelope of the group’s existing D16 genset.
The new D17 engine is the largest engine by output within the Swedish engine designer’s portfolio, and will be available in 6-cylinder inline version, with a 10% increase in maximum power outputs over the D16 version at 1800rpm.
The new genset features a modernised fuel-injection system with a common-rail
design, which will permit the D17 to achieve 5% lower fuel consumption per kWh than its lower-displacement D16 sibling. The first versions of the D17 are being offered to the industrial genset market, where the engine will include the option of a viscous fan to further reduce fuel consumption and noise emissions.
The D17’s low exhaust emissions ensure compliance with UNECE REG 96 Stage 2 (equivalent to EU Stage II mobile off-highway requirements) and it is certified for US EPA Tier2 Stationary Emergency, enabling it to be used for supplying a few hours of back-up power in these highly regulated regions.
A project to install an assymetric wingsail alongside a new onboard carbon capture and storage system on a container vessel powered by synthetic fuel has been awarded funding from a French public investment bank, Bpifrance
8 A new project plans to combine CWS’s wingsail system with a GTTdesigned onboard CCS system with the aim of reducing carbon emissions from a container vessel operating on an alternative fuel by up to 50%
The project aims to achieve carbon dioxide emission reductions of up to 30% of the alternative fuel being considered (LNG, methanol, synthetic-LNG and biogas), with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by at least 50% compared with conventional container vessels.
As part of the award, GTT has been granted EUR4.66 million towards the costs of designing an onboard CCS system. The award will also contribute to the development of intelligent operational performance solutions by GTT.
The project intends to design build and operate a first commercial container vessel with with hybrid wind-assisted and synthetic fuel propulsion. The consortium includes CWS’s wingsail system as well as shipowner Zéphyr & Borée, and the Centrale Nantes University with its research teams specialized in energy optimisation.
In addition to contributing to directly contributing to the
design of a CCS system on board, GTT’s subsidiary OSE Engineering will design intelligent operational performance solutions.
Philippe Berterottière, Chairman and CEO of GTT, said:
“This design of a commercial container ship with hybrid wind-assisted propulsion and synthetic fuel is the forerunner of a new generation of carbon-free merchant ships thanks to a highly innovative ship design, a hybrid propulsion and an on-board carbon capture system adapted to the alternative fuels currently being considered by the shipping industry.
We are proud to bring the know-how and experience of the GTT group to the development of a low environmental impact container ship. Our digital intelligence subsidiary, OSE Engineering, will also play an essential role in this project, enabling the operational optimisation of the ship’s various propulsion systems.”
Carisbrooke Shipping, the UK shipowner, is participating in a demonstration project to develop an innovative zero-emission hydrogen-fuelled auxiliary engine. The project has been awarded £2.3 million as part of the UK government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC3).
The project includes a UK engine design start-up, Carnot, as well as Brunel University and the Manufacturing Technology Centre. The project partners will work closely with Bureau Veritas, the UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and other interested parties throughout the process to deliver the project safely and within the regulatory
framework. The UK government has awarded a grant of £2.3 million to a project to develop and install a pure hydrogenfuelled 50kW demonstrator unit of Carnot’s engine design aboard the Kimberley C in early 2025.
Carisbrooke Shipping expects the project to result in the installation of a containerised 50kW engine on the deck of the Kimberly C, a 6,805 dwt general cargo vessel for a 40-day sea trial in early 2025, when it is expected to partially supply electrical power to the vessel.
Carnot notes that its engine design replaces up to one-third of the engine’s
components with advanced technical ceramic components. By eliminating the requirement for engine cooling systems, the start-up claims its design can achieve higher engine thermal efficiencies of up to 70%, compared with traditional engines. The engine holds out the possibility of lowering fuel consumption by 45%, compared with conventional engines.
The funding comes from the third round of the UK government’s Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition (CMDC3), which focuses on developing a range of clean maritime technologies including hydrogen, ammonia, electric and wind power.
Wärtsilä is working with the European Union and other partners to develop a new system that combines flapping bow foils and engine combustion control technology to reduce fuel consumption
The EU-funded SeaTech project began in 2019 with the expectation that the team could combine bow-mounted foils with new, sophisticated control systems for Wärtsilä dual-fuel 31 engines to allow the engines to work in tandem with the foils. This would reduce fuel consumption by up to 30% under ideal conditions – for example, crossing the waves straight on and with the ideal ratio of wavelength versus vessel size - as well as reduce NOx, particulate matter, CO2 and methane emissions.
The pair of bow-mounted foils designed as part of the project exhibit flapping behaviour so that they remain angled to reduce the heave and pitch of a ship as it sails through waves. The energy for that thrust would normally be lostinstead, it is used to provide transient energy to the ship’s power system, reducing engine load.
After first model testing and in-water testing on a small vessel, Jonas Åkerman, Director of Research and Technology Development at Wärtsilä, says the SeaTech Consortium is very pleased with the results and is now evaluating the business cases that could see the combined technology in commercial operation by 2025.
Ultimately, the design will be developed so that the steel foils are retractable. Their size will depend on the vessel’s size, but they will not significantly extend beyond the body of the hull.
The project is initially aimed at short-sea shipping looking to boost efficiency and enhance performance in line with regulations, such as the IMO’s Carbon Intensity Index (CII). Åkerman notes that deep-sea sailing can offer greater potential due to the heavier sea states - for example as experienced In the Atlantic Ocean.
The flapping foil is only one part of the innovation being developed by the SeaTech Consortium partners. A crucial parallel development, which enabled the project to achieve 30% fuel reductions, is the precise combustion control that the researchers have achieved in a Wärtsilä’s four-stroke, dual-fuel engines - the cycle-level optimisation for the transient power changes required to take advantage of the dynamic thrust provided by the foils.
“Due to the constant load variations, our engine optimisation is more efficient than conventional engine controls which are typically rather slow, so you always have non-optimised performance in transient conditions,” says Åkerman. “To achieve the results we have, we have gone further than optimising the engine overall. From a power management point of view, we have gone deeper into the engine, and the resulting optimisation could only be achieved because of the advanced engine concepts we already employ.”
The results achieved through the combined system of foils and optimised engine timing and combustion control will vary depending on the size of the vessel in relation to the waves. If the vessel is over-sized or under-sized compared to the waves, it is more difficult to make use of the energy
released through the motion dampening to reduce fuel consumption.
Åkerman is initially targeting the short-sea and offshore support vessel markets – ones he sees as fast and flexible in their uptake of new technologies. However, he is keen to see the benefits adopted across the commercial fleet. With the three-year project drawing to a close, the business cases are still being finalised.
Meanwhile, Wärtsilä is pushing ahead with a pilot installation for the new engine control system before a commercial launch. While the Wärtsilä 31 engine model has been the initial focus, Åkerman expects it to be rolled out successfully to others.
The concept of bow-mounted foils dates back to 1858. Early experimentation included both bow and stern foils, with fullscale trials commencing in the 1970s. Some attempts suffered from structural problems; in others the trial results did not match theoretical expectations.
In 2009, Liquid Robotics developed a commercial, wavepropelled autonomous surface vessel using a set of tethered, submerged foils driven by wave-induced heave motion. A full-scale trail of composite bow foils was conducted on a 45-metre ferry by Wavefoil AS in 2019 with EU funding. Wavefoil’s solution has been installed on several vessels, and the company claims 5-15% fuel reduction, with higher reductions in optimal conditions. The non-flapping foils are retracted during very heavy and very calm conditions. In December 2022, Wavefoil received a grant from the Research Council of Norway to develop a new bow foil solution for ocean-going vessels sailing at low speed.
Collaborative projects advancing new fuels are underway, but a more supportive framework for change is being called for
There’s wide acceptance in the industry, and beyond, for the need to assess new fuels on a well-to-wake (WtW) basis. The International Energy Agency (IEA), for example, released its Transport Tracking Report in September last year saying that reducing CO2 emissions from shipping calls for a focus on research, development and deployment of low-carbon fuel supply chains. “Policies such as those proposed by the European Union – namely ReFuelEU Aviation and FuelEU Maritime – set the right example by proposing ambitious targets based at least in part on the performance metric that matters: the emissions incurred by producing, delivering and using the fuel” – that is, unlike the IMO’s current decarbonisation regulations such as the Carbon Intensity Indicator, on a WtW basis.
With a WtW approach, comes the need to collaborate with fuel producers. Negotiations on FuelEU Maritime are now entering their final phase, and the European Community Shipowners' Associations (ECSA) has called on the European Parliament and the Council to support the mandatory inclusion of fuel suppliers under its scope. The organisation says this will be key to ensuring that shipowners are not unduly penalised if the sustainable fuels necessary for compliance are not delivered. This provision, together with a binding target for maritime fuel suppliers as proposed by the Parliament in RED III, is essential for the energy transition of shipping, says ECSA.
Major marine fuel supplier, ExxonMobil, plans to invest more than $15 billion by 2027 in lower-emissions projects. The company aims to provide more than 40,000 barrels per day (2.3 million metric tons p.a.) of lower-emission fuels by 2025 and 200,000 barrels per day (11.3 million metric tons p.a.) by 2030.
ExxonMobil has a range of marine fuel projects already underway, including developments for ammonia and hydrogen. For example, the company has signed a memorandum of understanding along with Grieg Edge, North Ammonia, and GreenH to study the potential production and distribution of green hydrogen and ammonia for lower-emission marine fuels at its Slagen terminal in Norway. The study will explore the potential for the terminal, powered by hydroelectricity, to produce up to 20,000 metric tons of green hydrogen per year and distribute up to 100,000 metric tons of green ammonia per year.
ExxonMobil is also planning to build one of North America’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facilities at its Baytown, Texas petrochemical complex and is studying potential for a similar facility at its Southampton Fawley complex in the UK.
ExxonMobil’s position paper High science on the high seas – Advancing new technologies for lower-emission fuels calls for policy that sets declining annual targets for the WtW carbon intensity of marine fuels. It says policy should be
technology neutral to encourage multiple pathways and innovation, and it should promote a life cycle assessment approach that helps to provide an effective tool for comparing alternative fuels. It also calls for including carbon intensity on Bunker Delivery Notes.
In its 2023 View from the bridge, industry group SEA-LNG also voiced support for WtW fuel assessments and further reiterated its call for assessments of alternative marine fuel pathways to be made on a like-for-like basis. “Discussion of alternative fuels too often compares the green versions of, for example, ammonia and methanol, with fossil, or grey, LNG. The reality is that all fuels share a common pathway from fossil-based versions, produced from natural gas (often in the form of LNG) to hydrogen-based, renewably produced synthetic fuels. These synthetic fuels will only become available as and when sufficient renewable electricity and electrolysis capacity comes online to produce them.”
The industry organisation notes that fossil LNG offers significant GHG emissions reduction when used as a marine fuel compared with VLSFO – up to 23% on a WtW basis. By contrast, the use of fossil methanol, ammonia and (liquid) hydrogen results in emissions far higher than those associated with VLSFO because of the large amounts of fossil energy required for their production. “Fossil methanol emissions are 14% higher than VLSFO on a full lifecycle basis; for ammonia the corresponding number is 47%. This implies that ship owners and operators choosing methanol and ammonia pathways will be forced to continue using VLSFO until renewable versions of these fuels become available at scale i.e. not until about 2030, postponing emissions reductions for several years. If methanol and ammonia are to achieve emissions parity with fossil LNG,
then the grey versions of these fuels need to be blended with approximately 30% renewable or green methanol and 50% renewable or green ammonia.”
SEA-LNG says that LNG enables vessels to be compliant with FuelEU Maritime’s GHG intensity targets until 2035. The use of a 20% drop-in blend of bio-LNG will extend compliance until beyond 2040. Thereafter, compliance can be achieved through the use increasing proportions of bio-LNG and e-LNG as and when it becomes available.
SEA-LNG member Titan has announced it will build the world’s largest biomethane liquefaction plant in the Port of Amsterdam, with production expected to commence in 2025. The company will operate the 200,000-tonne-per-year plant in partnership with biogas supplier BioValue and Linde Engineering. Titan’s investment program for the immediate and long-term future is 100% dedicated to carbon neutral fuel infrastructure. It says that if blended as a 10% drop in fuel with LNG, the output of this plant could enable almost 50 14,000 TEUs container vessels be compliant with FuelEU Maritime’s decarbonisation trajectory for 2040.
Despite the need for massive additional renewable electricity, a growing number of e-fuel projects are finding ways forward. In December 2020, Yara announced plans for 500,000 tonnes per annum green ammonia production in Norway, powering emission-free shipping fuels and decarbonised food solutions. Against this backdrop, Yara announced plans to fully electrify its ammonia plant in Porsgrunn, Norway, and it has subsequently pre-ordered 15 floating ammonia bunkering terminals from Azane Fuel Solutions.
Late last year, Ørsted took FID on the 50,000 tonnes/year FlagshipONE e-methanol project. FlagshipONE will be Ørsted’s first commercial-scale Power-to-X facility and is an important stepping stone towards Ørsted’s ambition of taking a leading position in renewable hydrogen and green fuels. Located in Örnsköldsvik in Northern Sweden, FlagshipONE is Europe’s largest green e-methanol facility to reach FID status. The e-methanol will be produced using renewable electricity and biogenic CO2. The facility is expected to enter into operation in 2025 and will produce around 50,000 tonnes of e-methanol each year.
Ørsted has said that e-methanol is the best solution currently available to decarbonise hard-to-electrify sectors like global shipping. It is also developing the 300,000 tonne ‘Project Star’ in the US Gulf Coast area and the ‘Green Fuels for Denmark’ project in Copenhagen, which will both produce significant volumes of e-methanol for shipping.
Green fuels for shipping come at a price premium compared to fossil-based alternatives, and Ørsted says the industry needs supportive regulation to incentivise demand and to drive the maturation of green fuels at scale and at speed. Until this regulation materialises, pricing of e-methanol, even from world-class Power-to-X assets like FlagshipONE, is subject to substantial uncertainties – and large-scale offtake appetite is yet to develop. Ørsted is prepared to lead the development of the power-to-X industry and assume risk in the process but says regulatory action that matches the ambitions of developers and shipping companies is urgently needed.
That sentiment is shared widely across the industry. In February, the International Chamber of Shipping, which represents over 80% of the world’s merchant fleet, reaffirmed its commitment to meet 2050 net zero carbon goals. The IMO is planning to revise its GHG strategy this year, and the
industry is now waiting to see what will be agreed at MEPC 80 in July. It is not yet clear whether the IMO will increase its ambition to net zero by 2050. Instead, it has established a research project into the availability and preparedness of future low and zero carbon marine fuels and technology.
GoodFuels says, with EU and IMO regulations already coming into effect, decarbonisation is no longer a question confined to long-term strategic plans. The engines, bunkering infrastructure and supply chains for future zero-carbon fuels are still developing, so biofuels will take a more prominent role in the coming years. “The past few years have seen a formidable growth in demand for biofuels, and the sheer numbers show that biofuels are no longer the preserve of a handful of first movers but have gone mainstream.”
8 Titan has announced it will build the world’s largest biomethane liquefaction plant in the Port of Amsterdam, with production expected to commence in 2025
The EU continues to refine its legislation, and in February, the European Commission proposed detailed rules for defining what constitutes renewable hydrogen in the EU, with the adoption of two Delegated Acts under the Renewable Energy Directive. The acts aim to ensure that all renewable fuels of non-biological origin are produced from renewable electricity. The new acts are now with the Parliament and Council for approval.
Meanwhile, a record amount of new utility-scale solar and wind capacity was added globally in 2022 – about 300GW, according to Rystad Energy, and it’s a record that is likely to increase again this year. Rystad Energy says the inflection point for global fossil fuel CO2 emissions is on track for 2025. “On the current global pathway of announced policies, projects, industry trends and expected technological advancements, global CO2 emissions are poised to hit about 39 gigatonnes per year (Gtpa) in 2025 before settling into a steady annual decline as industries clean up their carbon footprint.”
Major marine fuel supplier, ExxonMobil, plans to invest more than $15 billion by 2027 in lower-emissions projects. The company aims to provide more than 40,000 barrels per day (2.3 million metric tons p.a.) of lower-emission fuels by 2025 and 200,000 barrels per day (11.3 million metric tons p.a.) by 2030
Refreshed technologies hold promise in addressing shipping’s clean energy needs, but solutions won’t emerge in the short term, writes
Using nuclear power to propel ships is not a new concept, but the intense interest in commercial maritime decarbonization is pushing curiosity around the topic to new heights. This is unlikely to be your father’s nuclear power, as it is based on new technologies that differ from legacy power plants.
What is clear is that – in common with other alternative fuels - the importance of doing nuclear power right outplays any consideration of timescale or technology. However, that creates a tension for the maritime industry, where near term solutions are sought for problems that enable a ‘business as usual’ scenario.
Nuclear has the potential to play a role in the future of maritime energy, but when it will become available is the critical question. There is too much technological development, too much risk to manage and too many stakeholders to put arbitrary timescales in place on its viability as an option for shipping.
Patrick Ryan, VP, Technology, ABS
To judge by the degree of debate, nuclear might be seen as a solution in waiting. On a simple technology readiness level scale of one to nine, commercial nuclear for marine application is approximately level 3 - research and development of the technologies has been initiated and analytical models exist. That is the level of maturity. We have a long journey towards commercial availability, which is the highest level – technology readiness level nine.
Nuclear power is not simply a new type of fuel that is possible with sufficient technology and process to manage it. Nuclear technology is a national security issue that goes far beyond shipboard safety. It is subject to multi-governmental approvals and licensing regimes, with unknowns in insurability and general societal acceptance, and with a stakeholder group far wider than other alternative fuel choices.
Even in the face of these challenges, ‘doing nothing’ is not an option. We believe that each of the challenges nuclear presents can be addressed. Developing nuclear power for shipping will be a process comprising a combination of studies, projects and funding requirements. At present we can only see a partial outline of what will ultimately be required.
We must begin the learning process to understand this
better and ABS is committed to leading the way. The degree of rigour and discipline required, to evaluate technology and understand the techno-economic implications requires a vast amount of study.
ABS is in a position to play a leadership role in this development, having received various funded awards from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) to study the barriers, opportunities, and technical integration needed for nuclear in marine applications. Our work will be undertaken from the position of a trusted third party; we are technologyneutral on which solutions fit the bill in the maritime setting, and, while funded in the United States, we are working with a spectrum of international stakeholders.
We plan to leverage these funded research opportunities to develop models of nuclear marine applications and develop an industry advisory on using nuclear power. Development and testing are vital parts of the process to qualify innovative technologies, and we will take every opportunity for learning.
Various land-based “new nuclear” power projects supported by private and public funding in the US are already underway and we expect to learn from these as they develop and apply them to maritime use cases.
It’s an exciting prospect and one we are equal to; ABS will be among the prime movers in helping industry understand the timeline, roadmap and technology options for nuclear power in the maritime industry and making it a reality.
8 Patrick RanWe must begin the learning process to understand this better and ABS is committed to leading the way. The degree of rigour and discipline required, to evaluate technology and understand the techno-economic implications requires a vast amount of study
A pilot project to trial a new engine diagnostics solution within WinGD’s engine monitoring and remote support platform is being undertaken on a vessel managed by Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM).
WinGD notes that the solution represents an important step to enable smart, predictive maintenance for twostroke engines.
The enhancement to WinGD’s WiDE (WinGD integrated Digital Expert) engine monitoring platform is intended to greatly simplify engine maintenance for crew and fleet managers.
The pilot installation will monitor five of the engine components crucial for reliable engine operation (cylinder liners, piston rings, exhaust valves, fuel pumps and fuel injectors), recommending condition-based maintenance intervals by using algorithms to estimate their remaining useful life.
BSM Group Technical Superintendent Theodore Ioannou said: “When we approached WinGD for the project we knew that the move towards predictable maintenance was an important element in our strategy using digital tools to reduce costs, improve safety and maximise availability for our customers. We expect that this trial will point us towards operational improvements that could be rolled out across our managed fleet of WinGD-powered vessels.”
WinGD Operations Director Rudolf Holtbecker said: “After the trial, maintenance interval changes will be automated, taking us from fixed time-based maintenance intervals to true condition-based maintenance. That will mean a dramatic reduction in unplanned maintenance and possible human error around scheduling essential tasks, translating to lower engine lifecycle costs for operators using WiDE.”
The trial vessel is a BSM-managed LNG gas carrier with two five-cylinder WinGD X72DF engines. Propulsion Analytics, the software company that assisted in the development of WiDE, is acting as a partner, with further support and verification provided by classification society Lloyd’s Register. Throughout the project the WiDE remote support team will validate and improve the system in preparation for full release.
Through WiDE’s engine diagnostics system, crew on the vessel will be provided with the possible causes to diagnose faults and prompted to add relevant maintenance tasks. The scheduling of the tasks will be calculated based on the predicted remaining useful life for the components affected.
Propulsion Analytics and WinGD will define faults, improve diagnostics and formulate a scheme for condition-based maintenance recommendations. The accuracy of the diagnostics will be validated through feedback from BSM on maintenance activities and subsequent monitoring and analysis.
Holtbecker added: “Supporting our customers with the proactive tools and knowledge that their crew need to run vessels optimally for as long as possible is becoming more and more important, both to reduce costs and meet emissions targets. This important step in engine diagnostics would not be possible without a bold ship operator like BSM willing to test cutting-edge digital concepts and the continued support of Propulsion Analytics in enhancing WiDE’s capabilities.”
WiDE is now installed on more than 200 vessels. A digital twin of each individual engine builds a comprehensive picture of the expected engine performance in all conditions. Anomalies are analysed to identify root causes, dramatically improving troubleshooting time for engine crews and highlighting optimisation potential across the vessel lifecycle.
All WinGD engines are fitted with the hardware required to activate WiDE. In addition to continuous engine performance data records, insights and automated advisory, subscribers gain access to remote support from WinGD operations experts and the WiDE 24x7 emergency response team.
Thomas Hansen, head of two-stroke promotion and customer support at MAN Energy Solutions reveals MAN ES plans to soft-launch the Ammonia engine (AEngine) development programme in an exclusive interview with The Motorship
8 Full scale engine tests at MAN ES’ Research Centre Copenhagen are expected to begin in the first half of 2023
MAN ES remains on track to deliver its first ammoniafuelled two-stroke engine in 2024, Thomas Hansen told The Motorship. However, the company expects the design of the first engine supporting systems to be refined before the AEngine is added to the company’s engine programme.
Hansen added that the first delivery of the engine from Mitsui in 2024 is expected to act almost as a demonstration project, or a ‘soft launch’.
This would allow MAN ES to monitor the performance of the first delivery over an extended period of time, gathering operational experience by the end of 2025. At this point, MAN ES would be in a position to add the design to its engine programme, and also look at developing the AEngine design for different bore sizes.
“We normally take customer demand into account when making decisions about engine bore development projects,” Hansen noted. It would be hard to anticipate how demand for ammonia-fuelled commercial vessels will evolve in the coming two years (see Ammonia Commodity Chain).
Hansen noted that customers recognised that there were few opportunities to conduct operational tests on large-bore engine. The Motorship notes that the fuel’s corrosive characteristics mean that MAN was likely to be monitoring the operational performance of the fuel on the engine’s tribology, as well as monitoring the operational performance of parts.
Above all, Hansen stressed that ensuring that the AEngine development was reliable and met the company’s objectives
and customer expectations was not just a reputational challenge for MAN ES, but also an environmental responsibility.
“It is a remarkable demonstration of the trust that our customers in our record that they have expressed such an interest in buying a product before we have even finalised the product’s specifications.”
The strong customer interest requesting information of potential ammonia-fuelled solutions was by no means limited to newbuilding projects. However, Hansen stressed that MAN was focused on developing a robust solution for newbuildings before turning its attention to potential conversion solutions.
The AEngine development project was quite unlike any other engine development projects that Thomas Hansen had seen or participated in during his 30 years working at MAN ES.
“It is the first development project where we’ve begun to develop an engine solution before the fuel has been made commercially available, or the final specifications agreed,” he added. (Ammonia was a largely homogenous product globally, he added, although there were some variations in water content.)
Hansen clarified that full scale engine tests at MAN ES’ Research Centre Copenhagen were expected to begin in the first half of 2023.
At the moment, the entire engine assembly was being
tested using water, in preparation for the first bunkering of ammonia. When asked when we could expect to see the first bunkering with ammonia to occur, Hansen replied simply “approximately one month before the start up of the engine.”
While the project had made significant progress on a number of sub-tasks within the development project, including the identification of candidate materials for the AEngine’s components, some of the work to finalise the engine’s emissions profile and aftertreatment concepts were dependent upon integrating the results from the full-scale engine tests.
“The key challenge for the tests will be developing an engine that can run on ammonia with a decent efficiency, not least because we expect the renewable ammonia to be more expensive that current fuels. And then you need to ensure that engine can meet the efficiency requirements, while also ensuring compliance with Marpol Annex 6, Tier II and III NOx standards are met, and that other greenhouse gas emissions are as close to zero as possible.”
Additional HHI project
In addition to the existing project with Mitsui E&S Machinery to supply an AEngine engine for the engine’s first installation, Hansen revealed that MAN ES is in discussions with Korean engine builder HHI-EMD (Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Engine Machinery Division) for a parallel project.
“[HHI-EMD] has established that they want to do it, and the whole agreement framework is in place,” Hansen said, adding that the exact schedule had not yet been agreed but was targeting a delivery in 2025. The project will be for a 60-bore AEngine design.
One of the advantages of working with different licensees was that it would allow them to encourage the development of local suppliers who could deliver products to meet the specifications of the design. “Although we are working with Eltronic FuelTech on the fuel supply system here in Copenhagen, the specifications are open.”
Hansen noted that the process of obtaining environmental permits for the ammonia engine, which is located within a densely populated residential area, represented a learning experience for Denmark’s national Environmental Protection Agency, as well as the Technical and Environmental Administration within Copenhagen’s urban administration.
The modification of the engine within the AEngine project has been treated as the installation of a new stationary power plant.
Hansen noted that significant work had occurred elsewhere in the ammonia commodities supply chain since the initiation of the AEngine development project.
The development of commodity supply chains involving green ammonia has been a development priority for AEngine development project co-sponsor Trafigura. The trading house has stated its plans to invest in ammonia production capacity, and has invested in joint development projects with suppliers of ammonia cracking technology.
The Motorship notes that it also occupies
The Motorship notes that Denmark’s EPA introduced limits of 0.004 kg/GJ governing emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O) in a September 2022 Executive Order (BEK Nr 1363), while reiterating other environmental limits for fugitive methane (CH4) emissions. The nitrous oxide emissions standards are likely to apply to specifically to the combustion of ammonia as a fuel at MAN ES’s RCC.
discuss Korean (Hyunda Industri Machine for
The bunkering and storage steps of the development have also attracted the attention of Copenhagen’s municipal authorities. Environmental safety regulations have also been developed and applied to the ammonia containment vessel, and the fuel supply system, which has been developed by MAN ES’s Danish development partner, Eltronic FuelTech.
“We have had to development countermeasures for any conceivable situation,” Hansen said, adding that this rigour “has been really bene the entire development.”
development ted the attention of Copenhagen’s orities. Environmental e also been and e ammonia containment which oped MAN ES’s Danish artner, Eltronic FuelTech d to development counterany conceivable situation,” dding lly beneficial for lopment.”
a leading position in the development of carbon trading, which is expected to become an important feedstock in the production of renewable ammonia from produced from green hydrogen after 2027.
The Motorship notes that a recent decision by the European Commission will help to promote the growth of green hydrogen and ammonia in the coming decade. The European Commission delayed the introduction of requirements of contemporaneous production from renewable electricity for energy carriers to be considered as renewable fuels of non-
biological origin (RFNBOs) until 2027, which will help to expand the transportation of hydrogen to supply Europe’s forecast demand for 10 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030.
The IEA forecasts renewable capacity dedicated to the production of ammonia for export is expected to reach a combined 19 GW, led by Australia, Chile, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The IEA also notes that the uncertainty about importer countries’ emissions intensity requirements for hydrogen imports to qualify for targets and support as a key unknown for potential exporters in its Renewables 2022 report.
The European Climate Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency is providing 15 million Euros for what will be the first-of-a-kind maritime onboard application of liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC) and fuel cell technology at megawatt-scale
The Ship-aH2oy project is developing a zero-emission commissioning/service operation vessel (CSOV) using an SOFC fuel cell fuelled using green hydrogen stored in a LOHC. Edda Wind is providing a service operation vessel from their newbuild LOHC-ready fleet for the project.
Among other partners, the project includes Østensjø Rederi, project manager for the Edda Wind vessel, Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies which will oversee the detailed design of the LOHC release unit and the integration with the SOFC, and Hydrogenious LOHC Maritime which will interface with the external SOFC supplier and manage the entire system to be installed on the already-prepared vessel by 2025.
The CSOV will carry enough energy onboard to operate in normal intervals of up to four weeks without refuelling. “Hydrogen will be released in the onboard process plant, the Release Unit, where LOHC with bonded hydrogen is heated up in presence of a catalyst. It’s a chemical process. The hydrogen will be used to produce power in the SOFC on board,” explains Øystein Skår, General Manager at Hydrogenious LOHC Maritime.
In general, conventional infrastructure for fossil-based fuels, such as diesel, can be used for LOHC bunkering. LOHC can be pumped on and off from the vessel. Hydrogen-loaded LOHC will be pumped on board, and – after the release process – the “used” LOHC without hydrogen will be pumped off. This LOHC will be transported to a LOHC storage plant for reuse and again charged with new hydrogen. The tank system for bunkering and on board must have both tanks for LOHC with and without hydrogen stored.
The project partners expect that Hydrogenious’ patented LOHC technology will revolutionise the supply chain for hydrogen. “Direct onboard use of LOHC in shipping will benefit from the overall LOHC value chain being established especially in and around ports due to necessary large-scale imports via sea,” says Dr Daniel Teichmann, Founder and CEO of Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies.
The carrier – benzyltoluene, a thermal oil – can be loaded and unloaded with hydrogen many hundreds of times and is recyclable many times over. There is no self-discharge over
time, and the LOHC is hardly flammable with flash point 130 °C, non-explosive, even when loaded with hydrogen, and can be handled at ambient temperatures. It remains a diesel-like liquid down to -35°C.
This LOHC offers a competitive volumetric storage density of 54kg hydrogen per cubic metre of LOHC. The carrier material is commercially available and produces fuel cell grade hydrogen, achieving the required purity according to ISO 14687 by using off-the-shelf purification technology. No pressure accumulators are needed for the released hydrogen.
Dr Caspar Paetz, CTO of Hydrogenious LOHC Technologies, said: “The very special technological twist in the Ship-aH2oy project will be the targeted high-level thermal integration allowing SOFC residual heat to be used in the hydrogen release unit for the endothermic dehydrogenation process. With this targeted efficient heat integration, a high overall system efficiency can be achieved. Along with the inherent safety and handling benefits of LOHC, this makes it the very viable emission-free fuel for ships.” (Approximately 11 kWkth/kgH2 heat at approximately 300oC is required for dehydrogenation.)
The Ship-aH2oy project will run until 2027, and while the fuel cell supplier is yet to be confirmed, the partners plan to retrofit more vessels with LOHC/SOFC systems after the first successful demonstration of the 1MW powertrain. The consortium intends to design a scalable system architecture for larger ships and power plants by integrating several megawatt LOHC/SOFC modules, and six service operation vessels under construction by Edda Wind have been prepared for power systems of up to 3MW.
The consortium includes the whole value chain including design offices, class, ship builders, owners and operators, so the partners expect efficient commercialisation. “Within the Ship-aH2oy project, we will enter the range of megawatt drive power provided by emission-free LOHC technology. This depicts a relevant power range for a wide operation range of service operation vessels and other ship types,” says Skår, who also notes ROPAX as likely targets. “The project is a large step towards the serial production of on-board LOHC power systems in the megawatt range.”
JUNE 2023 Southampton United Kingdom 13 15 TO
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The 24th edition of Europe’s largest commercial marine and workboat exhibition, is a proven platform to build business networks.
Seawork delivers an international audience of visitors supported by our trusted partners.
Seawork is the meeting place for the commercial marine and workboat sector.
12,000m2 of undercover halls feature 500 and equipment on the quayside and pontoons.
Speed@Seawork on Monday 12 June at the Royal event for fast vessels operating at high speed for security interventions and Search & Rescue.
Speed@Seawork Sea Trials & Conference
The European Commercial Marine Awards (ECMAs) and Innovations Showcase.
experts, helps visitors to keep up to date with the latest challenges and emerging opportunities.
The Careers & Training Day on Thursday 15 June 2023 delivers a programme focused on careers in the commercial marine industry.
Split incentives between charterers and shipowners remain a barrier to clean technology uptake, but not an insurmountable one, says Simon Potter, director of sustainability advisory at independent design and engineering consultancy, Houlder
The decarbonisation transition is driving unprecedented change in shipping, and with it comes risks but also great opportunities. Those who can manoeuvre multi-decade assets forward through the decarbonisation maze will not only survive but thrive. This year, it will be critical to maximise the opportunities brought about by the European Union’s Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the International Maritime Organization’s Carbon Intensity Indicator (IMO CII).
While the CII rating system has aptly been described as ‘having teeth made of jelly’, the commercial impact may yet be significant. Depending on the demands of cargo owners, a favourable CII rating may become a ‘licence to operate’ – or at the least vessels with strong CII ratings will likely be more attractive on the long-term charter market and demand higher rates.
With all of this in mind, you would expect shipowners to jump at the opportunity to adopt energy efficiency, renewable propulsion and auxiliary (clean) technology solutions. There is an abundance of effective clean technologies available, and investments offer a clear opportunity to reduce emissions and operating costs by reducing fuel use.
At the same time, it becomes increasingly clear that alternative fuels will be expensive and less energy-dense than current fuel, meaning the necessity for investment in clean technologies alongside alternative fuels only strengthens further.
Whilst technology is also often cost and time efficient to fit and can often be scheduled to coincide with an existing drydocking period, it’s important not to wait too long. Not only should the benefits of the retrofit be delivered as soon as possible, it’s also important to notice that often these additional works will mean an extension to the dry-docking period. With that comes increasing pressure on shipyard slot availability, so if too many wait, slots may prove more expensive or non-existent.
If shipping is to meet its emissions reduction targets, it must not overlook the existing fleet. That’s over 50,000 ships worth around $1.8 trillion. Proven clean technology can also be integrated into newbuilds and the vessel design from the outset. So, what is stopping shipowners from picking this ripe, low hanging fruit?
In some ownership models, such as a liner type model, the owner and operator receive the benefits of a technology that improves efficiency and reduces fuel consumption. However, in other models, such as a time charter, the cost and the benefit hit different pockets. This is a key barrier to clean technology uptake.
Here again we see the gap between large and small organisations. The dialogue between larger charterers and
larger ship owners is often more ESG-driven and has the potential to align the investment in the ship and the rate paid by the charterer. By contrast smaller owners may find it difficult to achieve this alignment in the short term. However, in the medium term CII should differentiate the fleet between the more and less fuel efficient ships and higher day rates should follow those with the best performance.
Updates to BIMCO’s CII Operations Clause for Time Charter Parties should help address this complex issue and allow shipowners and charterers to share the cost and benefits of clean technology adoption. In practice any change in the commercial arrangements will rely on charterers and shipowners having symmetric, accurate and verified data on the fuel savings and improved scoring of vessels benefiting from clean technology and/or fuel changes.
To support the decarbonisation transition, and as part of its sustainability and advisory work, Houlder recently undertook a qualitative survey of senior executives from large and small shipowners from across the container, tanker, bulk, cruise and ferry sectors. A key theme consistently raised in its interviews was access to accurate, reliable, verified data.
Owners identified a lack of good quality, relevant operating data as a key barrier to the uptake of clean technology. There is also a perceived shortage of independent corroboration for the claims made by some technology vendors. None of
8 Simon Potterthe participants accused technology providers of suggesting deliberately misleading results but did highlight that the data in a brochure will inevitably relate to another ship. So the results (and the unintended consequences) of any technology intervention need to be recognised as a retrospective, and sometimes fundamental, design change.
It is much easier to demonstrate a case for clean technology investment in the liner trade with long term charters than on the voyage/spot market. In the latter case many technologies such as wind assist will have highly varied and unpredictable benefits and in a market which is over supplied its often the cheapest ship that wins. As with large and small owners there is a potential gulf between the liner and tramp trades in the ability to trial and assess clean technologies. Better collaboration between owners is essential to bridging this knowledge gap.
Houlder’s whitepaper also identified the reliance on ad hoc collaboration as a major barrier to the decarbonisation of shipping. The senior executives interviewed confirmed their willingness to collaborate However, collaboration is less evident in practice, as owners focus on achieving emissions reductions while safeguarding competitive advantage.
Collaboration is more than just shipowners sharing technical data on a new technology. It encompasses all stakeholders and often supply chains. Collaboration needs to be a proactive process with a wide range of stakeholder involvement if its to become more than a buzzword.
Effective collaboration needs proactive convenors to
safeguard participants and break down barriers. Convenors can act as a central black box, bringing sensitive information together to paint the full picture while protecting the confidentiality of the data owners. They can also help shipowners share the cost of trialling a new technology while giving them all access to the benefits.
Shipping needs more proactive convenors. Flag states, national chambers and the international chamber, industry coalitions and independent consultants all have a key convening role to play if significant barriers are to be overcome. Only then can clean technology take its rightful place as a powerful tool in the decarbonisation toolbox.
Collaboration is more than just shipowners sharing technical data on a new technology. It encompasses all stakeholders and often supply chains. Collaboration needs to be a proactive process with a wide range of stakeholder involvement if its to become more than a buzzword
Newly developed 40 BN lubricants will gain service experience with the growing uptake of methanol dual-fuel 2-stroke engines
Gulf Marine was the first lubricant manufacturer to receive MAN Energy Solutions’ Cat II 40 BN no-objection-letter (NOL) in August 2021, and by May 2022, the company was supplying it to customers – again claiming an industry first as the earliest supplier of Cat II 40BN cylinder oils to the marine industry. Others, including Castrol, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies Lubmarine, have followed since then, and MAN released a service letter in August 2022 presenting the Cat II 40 BN cylinder oils which have shown excellent overall performance in MAN B&W two-stroke engines, especially when focussing on cleaning ability.
MAN introduced Cat II performance levels in 2020. Extensive testing has been completed in partnership with lubricant manufacturers to meet the standards set by MAN for 40 BN, 100 BN and 140 BN cylinder oils. Cat II 40 BN lubricants were tested at same feed rate as 100 BN.
“It was difficult for all involved, but finally we – the industry –succeeded in achieving 40 BN cylinder oils that performs equal or better than a 100 BN oil in regards to cleaning,” says Dr Julia Svensson, Senior Research Engineer, Fuel & Lube, at MAN.
“Operation on low sulphur fuels is the most predominant way of operating today, and fuel-efficient engines with high pressures and temperatures require lubricants with matching performance. To secure an acceptable TBO (Time Between Overhaul), it is important to ensure that piston rings, top lands, ring grooves and piston crowns are clean. These lubricants will also decrease the risk of ash deposit build-up in EGR and SCR NOx compliant Tier III-systems.”
The new lubricant formulations are suitable for all of MAN B&W 2-stroke engine types and are recommended for MAN B&W two-stroke engines with Mark 9 and higher, including ME-GA engines. However, even though MAN’s Cat II lubricant certification relates to its modern engines running on a range of fuels, much of the testing and experience gained so far has involved LNG rather than methanol dual fuel engines.
Over the three years of research and development for the Cat II formulations, the popularity of MAN’s methanol dualfuel ME-LGIM engines has increased, and the range of bore sizes has expanded. MAN’s ME-LGIM reference list, starting with two tankers in 2016, has now included a range of vessel types including container ships and bulk carriers. In February 2023, long-term MAN licensee, Mitsui E&S Machinery, won another contract to supply a MAN B&W 6G50ME-LGIM engine for a 65,700dwt bulk carrier slated for construction at Tsuneishi Shipbuilding.
Currently 101 ME-LGIM engines are on order or in service, with 20 of them already operating on the water today, gaining in excess of 200,000 operational hours on methanol. Svensson expects close scrutiny of the performance of the Cat II 40 BN lubricants in these engines over at least the next 12 months, but she is not expecting problems. “We need service testing, to get the oil onboard and have the crews onboard inspecting the engines,” she said. “We are grateful for the support we have already received from shipowners and operators and from the lube oil industry.”
Building on previous experience with the Horizon 2020 project Hercules-2 where WinGD successfully demonstrated combustion of alcohol-based fuels on its test engine, the engine designer is currently running a methanol engine development program focusing on application from 2024. WinGD’s development program includes a systematic testing sequence beginning with intensive combustion property investigations on their one-of-a-kind Spray Combustion Chamber, followed by component and systems performance verification, finally leading to full scale validation on their lab engines.
“Methanol is a low viscosity fuel with relatively poor ignition properties when compared to traditional diesel,” said Bartosz Rozmyslowicz, Senior Expert Fuels & Lubricants, at WinGD. “Potential improper fuel combustion might lead to mixing of methanol with lubricant which would decrease oil lubricity and lead to increased wear. However, when proper ignition control measures are taken, all fuel should be fully consumed and no interactions between methanol and cylinder lubricant should exist. Additionally, due to the 2-stroke concept, the combustion chamber is separated from the crankcase by the gland box, which prevents mixing of methanol with system oil.”
Previous lab engine tests with alcohol-based fuels demonstrated no piston running issues while using commercially available cylinder lubricating oils. Nevertheless, WinGD will continue collaborating with major lubricant suppliers to ensure the readiness and high quality of cylinder oils for its future methanol engines.
8 MAN ES’ ME-LGIM engines (such as the 6 cylinder G50 version pictured) have gained over 200,000 operational hours on methanol
MAN Energy Solutions has rolled out an optimisation programme to improve the performance of its dual-fuel, low-pressure ME-GA engine before the first reference for its new two-stroke off
MAN Energy Solutions announced that it is introducing an optimisation programme to improve the performance of its new dual-fuel, low-pressure ME-GA engine during a customer webinar held in mid-February 2023.
The optimisation programme addresses higher-thanexpected fuel consumption in gas mode, which was detected during prototype tests at HHI and HSD in the first half of 2022, representatives of two-stroke promotion and customer support told the audience.
The prototype testing was otherwise a success, and confirmed the basic design of the Otto Cycle based ME-GA engine. It demonstrated that the engine could operate at full load in both gas and diesel mode, and all failure modes.
modifications were required to increase the volume and pressure of air scavenged from the cylinder, potentially including the diffuser, nozzle ring or rotor.
MAN identified a number of different solutions for each of the root cause issues. These were then trialled on a 1-cylinder test engine at HHI-EMD for a fortnight in October, and subsequently on a full-scale engine test at HSD in November 2022 for three weeks.
The successful development of the optimisation solutions means that new MAN B&W 5G70ME-C10.5-GA version will achieve lower specific fuel consumption (SFC) in gas mode than the original design. It is also expected to permit improved performance optimisation, due to improved mixing and scavenging.
The issues were related to excessive heat loss from the cylinder, as well as issues relating to early combustion in gas mode. MAN ES noted that the development of solutions to control the air volume and scavenging pressure, and combining it with the normal controls of engine tuning, meant that MAN was able to improve the operation of the cylinder, particularly at part load.
MAN ES has an established procedure for rectifying errors identified during the commercial production stage. This requires the identification of the origin (or root cause) of faults, and the development of solutions, which are then subsequently verified.
The investigation identified that the higher-than-expected fuel consumption was the being caused by two separate issues: excessive cooling losses in the combustion chamber, and insufficient performance optimisation.
The cooling losses were addressed by modifications to the design of the cylinder liner, reducing the cooling bores in the cylinder cover, as well as the introduction of a recirculation loop and insulating pipes in the cylinder liner helped to reduce heat losses.
MAN ES previously implemented a similar cylinder liner design concept on its conventional engines around 2012 in response to concerns about cold corrosion. The Load Dependent Cylinder Liner cooling (LDCL) solution is in service on many hundreds of engines with good results.
The performance optimisation issues were the result of a tendency to pre-ignition as well as excessively fast heat release, which were in turn the result of uneven air and fuel mixing.
The early heat release meant that a significant proportion of the energy was being released before top dead centre (TDC). MAN identified that optimising the geometry of the safe gas admission valve (SGAV) would improve the flow of gas into the cylinder. However, other turbocharger specific
The solution meant that MAN ES would be able to increase the maximum pressure within the cylinder and increase the compression pressure which improved the gas consumption.
The solution would also allow the ME-GA to be operated with the exhaust gas bypass closed at all loads, which should help to reduce energy losses.
The optimisation configuration has been applied to the “two dozen” of the engines that have already been delivered by MAN Energy Solutions’ licensees, and they are already being updated before the first vessels to be powered by ME-GA engines undertake sea trials, Thomas Hansen, head of twostroke promotion and customer support at MAN Energy Solutions told a group of customers in February 2023.
The first LNG carrier to be powered by a ME-GA engine was expected to undergo sea trials in April 2023, with the first deliveries to customers expected in May.
The optimisation solution will be introduced to all 242 of the engines on order.
MAN Energy Solutions has won a number of contracts to supply its dual-fuel low-pressure ME-GA engine to six LNG tankers currently under construction in two different shipyards in China.
Thomas Hansen did not specify where the engines would be built. He noted that the majority of the 242 orders placed for the ME-GA engines had been received from the South Korean shipyards, HHI, SHI and DSME.
The optimisation solution will be introduced to all 242 of the engines on order
The volatility of LNG prices since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine means that sophisticated ship owners and operators are reassessing price indices
If a week is a long time in politics, as a British prime minister famously said in the 1960s, the past year has seen the complete transformation of Europe’s energy imports. The volatility in energy markets following the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also affected the price of LNG.
For ship owners whose vessels use LNG as fuel, the recent rise in methane prices has meant tough decisions. Many operators were forced to revert to using MGO in their dualfuel engines.
More recently, the price of LNG has fallen back, but many companies have remained understandably wary about whether the recent fall means that the crisis is over.
“LNG is more attractive now of course as it reaches MGO parity, I am wary of declaring that we are ‘out of the woods’ as I do not believe that sufficient alternative supply has been achieved to replace the Russian molecules,” said Daniel Gent, Energy & Sustainability Manager at the short sea car carrier operator UECC in Norway. The company has recently introduced three dual fuel battery hybrid vessels with a capacity of 3,600 ceu each.
“The low prices are in part because of increased supply but largely down to demand collapse. While the short-term outlook remains unclear, over the longer term I think the investment case for LNG is still sound. What we are seeing now is the birth of a new era in terms of LNG supply in Europe and one that probably comes with lower geopolitical risk,” he continued.
the company has 12 23,660 teu container ships on order that will be delivered within the next two years.
Brussels Express has continued to use LNG on its route between East Asia and Europe, Haupt said, despite the recent turmoil on the market for the fuel. He said that the current expectations are that the newbuildings will also use LNG as they gradually enter service.
However, Gant sees a possibility that the price of LNG could stabilise at an attractive level in the future. “If the US can start exporting in the order of magnitude that we have talked about for years, then I see no reason that competitive LNG prices could not be here to stay,” he concluded.
Nils Haupt, Head of Corporate Communications at HapagLloyd Container Line told The Motorship that the Hamburg based deep sea container shipping operator has recently taken delivery of the 15,000 teu Brussels Express. In addition,
When LNG started to make inroads as marine fuel, some commentators said that its price would not be as volatile as that of oil, which would add to the attractiveness of the fuel. However, Haupt is careful not to jump into far-reaching conclusions about the recent developments on the market. He noted that theoretically these events have reduced the attractiveness of LNG as a fuel, but added that it would be necessary to see how its price would develop in the future before any significant conclusions could be made.
Mathias Sundberg, Technical Manager at the Finnish ferry company Viking Line said that the price of LNG had started to climb already in the autumn of 2021, i.e. before the Russian attack on Ukraine, as debate emerged about whether or not the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany should be commissioned. “Following the (Russian) invasion on
We had high expectations for the TTF pricing model, but unfortunately the latest gas price fluctuations have shown that we need to also consider alternative gas pricing models and that’s what we are already doing right now. Our goal is to achieve security of LNG supply and a controllable price fluctuation
Ukraine and subsequent events have made the LNG market extremely volatile and hard to predict,” he told The Motorship
Two of the five vessels that the company operates are fitted with dual fuel engines, the 57,655 gross ton Viking Grace and the 65,211 gross ton Viking Glory that both serve on the 10 hour crossing between Turku in Finland, Mariehamn on the Aland Islands and the Swedish capital of Stockholm. They make two crossings each day.
Both of these vessels currently use LNG, Sandberg pointed out. However, in the autumn both ships used low sulphur MGO as the price of LNG was triple of that of the oil fuel, Johanna Boijer-Svahnstrom, Corporate Communications Head at the company said in October.
Forward pricing curves indicate that the price of LNG would start to rise again over the next six months, Sandberg continued, adding that the demand should increase again after the winter as European gas storage facilities would need to be refilled again. However, forecasting the future development of the price is difficult, he concluded.
Chief Captain and Head of Ship Management, Captain Tarvi-Carlos Tuulik at the Estonian ferry company Tallink said the company was ready to use LNG on its vessels again, once the needs for gas from industry and domestic households have been met and are covered. “We also want to make sure that the natural gas that we use does not originate from an aggressor state,” he told The Motorship
The company has two dual fuel powered ships in its fleet, the 2017 built MegaStar of 49,134 gross tons and the 50,622 gross ton MyStar that entered service at the end of last year. Both vessels serve the short crossing between the Estonian and Finnish capitals and have an unusually high service speed of 27 knots.
Tuulik said that when Tallink had first started using LNG on its vessels, it was possible to make agreements regarding the price of gas according to various pricing models. “We had high expectations for the TTF pricing model, but unfortunately the latest gas price fluctuations have shown that we need to also consider alternative gas pricing models and that’s what we are already doing right now. Our goal is to achieve security of LNG supply and a controllable price fluctuation,” he concluded.
Bruegel, the Brussels based economic think tank, said in a report on 2 February that the European Union had so far weathered the energy crisis brought on by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and that it would manage winter 2022/23 even if Russia abruptly halted all pipeline gas flows. “However, preparations must be made for winter 2023-24. In particular, gas storage facilities should be 90 percent full by 1 October 2023,” it said in the report.
Shell’s LNG Outlook 2023 described why LNG prices rose sharply in 2022, as European countries increased imports of LNG by 60% year on year in 2022 to 121 million tonnes of LNG in 2022. Looking forward, the report expects European importers to become an important source of demand for LNG, while potential competition with Asia for limited new supply may see renewed price pressures in 2023.
“We assess the demand reduction needed if the 90 percent storage target is to be achieved. Our assessment takes into account EU imports, exports to refill gas storage facilities in Ukraine and Moldova, the weather and the situation in power markets, where gas demand is highly dependent on non-gas energy sources,” Bruegel said.
“Assuming limited Russian exports continue, and weather conditions are typical, demand up to 1 October 2023 must remain 13% lower than the previous five-year average. The EU should therefore extend its demand-reduction target, which is currently set to expire on 31 March 2023,” the think tank commented.
8 Global LNG, range of expected demand vs expected supply, 2023, TWh
Many market participants monitor futures settled against the Title Transfer Facility (TTF) in the Netherlands, which is the EU's most commonly used gas price benchmark for the settlement of gas contracts. The liquidity of the index facilitates the use of hedging instruments.
Some physically-based assessments of LNG bunker prices remain in the market. SEA\LNG, the trade body representing LNG
suppliers, publishes monthly averages of S&P Platts Global daily assessments of LNG bunker prices for LNG stems delivered at the ports of Rotterdam and Singapore.
The average monthly premium for LNG bunkers on a marine LSFO equivalent basis over fuel oil bunkers has narrowed since peaking in September 2022, but remained close to the pre-Ukraine war high reached in September 2021.
GTT, the LNG containment specialist, is expanding its strategic focus to include digitalisation solutions as well as hydrogen solutions, Anouar Kiassi, GTT’s vice president of Digital & Information explains to The Motorship in an exclusive interview
GTT is planning to establish three separate pillars to underpin the business, including its core LNG business, a new focus on hydrogen solutions and its digital business, Anouar Kiassi vice president of Digital & Information at GTT said.
The three verticals will pursue independent growth strategies, but will also offer expertise for developments in other parts of the business.
From the perspective of GTT’s digital services, this will build on the steady growth in the range of services that it offers to its customers since the middle of the last decade, Kiassi added.
While GTT has invested in enhancing its own digital capacities over this period, it has also made a series of acquisitions. In 2017, GTT acquired a Singapore-based fuel analysis and monitoring company, Ascenz, and this was followed by the acquisition of Marorka in 2020, which had an established energy monitoring and optimization systems service installed on over 600 vessels.
Kiassi noted that the two constituent businesses which form the core of GTT’s digitalisation solutions had been early movers. “You could call them kind of pioneers”, Kiassi said.
Ascenz was one of the first companies if not the first companies to introduce digital solutions into the bunker measurement market, and Marorka began producing environmental emissions analysis for its customers well before current environmental regulations came into effect.
Kiassi became animated when he discussed how integrating GTT’s core expertise in LNG containment systems with these wider digitalisation solutions created additional benefits for customers.
“One of the big opportunities our solutions offer is to help improve the operational performance of our customers assets. I think our customers intuitively understand that how a ship is operated over the course of a term charter, or even a voyage, can make a big difference in a ship’s efficiency.
However, the variables involved in managing a vessel efficiently during a voyage are much greater than minimising
unnecessary acceleration and deceleration during a long autoroute journey, Kiassi explained.
Route optimisation is an important part of the story, and forms a part of GTT’s offering, but there are wider considerations about ensuring assets on board are operated efficiently.
GTT had experience in offering advice in areas as diverse as hull and propeller performance, trim optimisation, and optimisation relating to LNG fuel transportation.
One aspect of the solution was that it would allow ship operators to optimise for different variables, ranging from fuel consumption to shortest transit time to environmental emissions.
Kiassi noted that while fuel consumption would typically be the important KPI for customers, there may be some scenarios where a ship operator may prioritise CII, if “you have a catastrophic CII score and you're reaching the end of the year, for example”.
The variables considered by the solution also included specific voyage routing optimisation to minimise the impact of sloshing on membrane containment vessels, as well as the loss of LNG cargo during transit as a result of boil off. This was an area where GTT researchers had world leading expertise and insights.
“When it comes to vessels that can be fuelled with LNG or vessels that carry LNG as cargo, we are convinced that we have the most comprehensive understanding on how all these things work.”
In fact, Kiassi noted that the scope of GTT’s digital solutions was expected to extend into streamlining the management of the company’s existing containment solutions.
Kiassi noted that as the company improved the operational performance of its containment systems, it was adding greater and greater complexity to the management of the systems.
“The more we add systems on board to optimise the overall energy performance of the system, the more you will
need intelligence to hide the complexity. And the crew will be for sure overwhelmed with all the system they will have on board, they will have carbon capture, they will have LNG, they will have sub coolers, they will have plenty of things.”
Kiassi provided a little more detail, discussing the expected increasingly close interaction between the containment system and connected sub-systems.
“Although we refer to the containment system as a passive system, the management of the system’s thermal dynamics requires a lot of active systems on top. GTT is developing some of these actually for [a major container vessel operator], such as our recent Recycooler system.”
Kiassi explained that managing the interaction between active systems alongside the company’s traditional membrane containment technology would also require the development of automated control systems.
“This is an area that we are actually moving into, which is to look at how you automate the active systems, how you control them, and how you ensure that the passive and active work together perfectly. We expect that digitalisation will act as the brain.”
Looking further ahead, Kiassi noted that advances in data analytics were also leading to the development of new solutions.
“The overall vision is really this is that there will be plenty of solutions to optimise the environmental and energy efficiency of the vessel. The reason why we engaged into this digital journey is to really help make all these things work together as efficiently as possible.”
While GTT was combining data from a physical model with data from a model to predict the impact of environmental conditions on tank conditions, the ability to produce a model and simulate thousands upon thousands of different situations also opens up the door to other applications for machine learning (or AI) models, Kiassi explained.
The uses of these models could range from technoeconomic modelling to calculate the overall environment emissions of a design modification over the lifecycle of a vessel against its impact on an asset’s total cost of ownership, through to simulations of the impact of product refinement on a modelled fleet of vessels over their operational life.
GTT’s ‘Sloshing Virtual Sensor’ is developing a digital twin solution for sloshing activity assessment to optimise the LNG membrane tank maintenance frequency.
The solution will allow the survey frequency for membrane containment
GTT began to look into the potential application of artificial intelligence analytics to energy systems for its existing business late in the last decade. In 2020, GTT acquired a small French AI company, OSE Engineering.
OSE Engineering is participating in several new projects on behalf of GTT, including a pilot project into the development of a hydrogen fuelled lightweight utility vehicle powered by hydrogen, and a separate pilot project into the development of a wind-assisted vessel operating on alternative fuels that will incorporate a carbon capture system.
8 GTT’s recently acquired AI company, OSE Engineering, is participating in a pilot project looking into the development of a hydrogen fuelled lightweight utility vehicle
tanks aboard LNG carriers to be extended, subject to the approval of the request for a Tank Alternative Survey Plan by GTT, the classification society and the flag state.
A joint project with Lloyd’s Register and Lloyd’s Register and Shell International
Trading and Shipping Company Limited (STASCO) demonstrated that the Sloshing Virtual Sensor could accurately predict the impact of sloshing on the inside of a membrane containment tank on board an LNG carrier.
When it comes to vessels that can be fuelled with LNG or vessels that carry LNG as cargo, we are convinced that we have the most comprehensive understanding on how all these things work8 Anouar Kiassi, GTT’s vice president of Digital & Information
Researchers from VTT have developed a concept for counter-
Gains in hydrodynamic efficiency will result in reductions of harmful environmental emissions, irrespective of the energy source, and this has been the driving force for a team of researchers at the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
Solutions for emission reductions will need to combine a variety of technologies, operational practices, energy sources and efficiency measures, says Dr Antonio SánchezCaja, but ship emissions seem shifted around rather than eliminated by some clean technologies. “For example, the use of scrubbers often transfers harmful gas emissions from air to water with uncertain ecological consequences. Other example is the use of fully electric propulsion in regions where electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels. Even in fuel cell propulsion the problem persists since the cells generate electricity from hydrogen. The hydrogen has been usually made by steam reformation of natural gas, generating CO2 as a waste product.”
On the other hand, from a hydrodynamic standpoint, conventional marine propellers are known to be low in efficiency, he says. As an indicative example, a large number of propellers installed on cargo vessels waste about 40% of the energy in the form of rotational losses in the wake, vortex generation, noise, cavitation, etc. Design constraints, such as the maximum propeller diameter, result in a reduced propulsive area and thus a high blade loading, which penalizes efficiency.
“The development of highly-efficient innovative propulsors with efficiencies far above current levels would be desirable. Hence, an effective strategy for cutting ship emissions is focusing on hydrodynamics.”
His team’s propulsor concept focuses on reducing both emissions and operational costs. The design consists of thrust-producing counter-flapping foils cyclically oscillating along a closed trajectory. The arrangement of lifting surfaces allows for optimum generation of a steady and uniform overall thrust over the propulsor swept area, says Sánchez-Caja, and no rudders are needed for directional motion control.
“The huge reductions in hydrodynamic losses from the new propulsor concept result from:
i) Large propulsive area: hydrodynamic efficiency grows as propeller loading (thrust per square meter) decreases,
ii) Recovering of lateral losses in counter-flapping foil arrangements (similar to energy-loss recovering in contra-rotating propellers),
propulsive efficiency than conventional propellers ls easily
iii) Uniform distribution of blade loading along the propulsive area, and of propeller induced velocities,
iv) No need of rudders (no rudder drag) for manoeuvrability: the propulsor can act as a rudder by controlling the foil angles in the fore and aft- rows,
v) Self-adjusting blade pitch for off-design operation with optimum incidence angle along the span, contrary to controllable pitch propellers with portions of blade sections working at wrong incidence angle.”
Previously, other attempts to reduce propeller loading for
a given thrust have been made by increasing the surface area of the propeller. However, increasing propeller diameter is limited by ship draught. Twin or multi-screw configurations take advantage of more of a ship’s breadth, but unconventional, propulsors with a rectangular propulsive area have also been proposed – including oscillating foils and cycloidal propellers.
In the VTT concept, an endless-chain/belt mechanism controls for foil motions so unsteady phenomena are limited to a small portion of the trajectory. The foils are motor-driven and arranged in two parallel rows travelling in opposite directions. They move perpendicular to the direction of the inflow of water. The foils in the downstream row benefit from the velocities induced by the foils in the front row, recovering lateral losses in the direction perpendicular to the vessel motion. Losses due to unsteadiness are reduced as they are only produced only at the edges of each row. This results in uniform flow over most of the trajectory.
In a study published in Ocean Engineering, the VTT team highlight that: “In principle, the new propulsor is conceived to operate in off-design conditions by adapting the foil pitch angle to achieve the required force in magnitude and direction. Contrary to controllable pitch propellers, the effective inflow at the sections along the blade span will not present strong variations in angle of attack.”
The team claims that the use of large area propulsors combined with counter-flapping foils easily increases the levels of attainable hydrodynamic e above 15% compared to conventional propellers for both design and off-design operations. “The challenge is to mechanical solution for the propulsor and to build the first prototype,” says SánchezCaja. “Here at VTT we are working on possible mechanical solutions, and we are looking for partners interested in developing the concept.”
flapping foils that offer greater
increases
fficiency
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Former The Motorship deputy editor Paul Gunton recalls his first encounter with wave foils and explores what happened next
Four decades ago, in August 1983, The Motorship described a novel propulsion device that converted wave energy into forward motion. Our report was picked up by The Financial Times newspaper and by the BBC, which followed in our footsteps and visited its inventor, Einar Jakobsen, at his purpose-built model tanks in a former barn, located a few miles north of Oslo.
Mr Jakobsen’s demonstration for the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World programme can still be found on YouTube.
His invention, which he had patented in 1977, involved a horizontal foil mounted at the base of a strut that could be attached to the bow or stern of a vessel. As the hull pitches in waves, the foil glides forward on both its downward and upward strokes, drawing the craft forward, both with and against the waves, the video confirms. The footage also shows a 7.5m yacht fitted with the device reaching 6kts in choppy waters.
Norway’s state broadcaster NRK also featured the technology. Its report – also available on YouTube – opens with a reporter sitting on a small catamaran and pushing a vertical pole up and down. It is connected to a submerged foil and the craft moves forward at an impressive rate.
Taken together, the two videos provide vivid demonstrations of his invention’s potential to both extract natural energy or absorb mechanical power and use them to deliver propulsive force.
Mr Jakobsen was not alone in experimenting with foil propulsion. In 1982 Hitachi Shipbuilding Co conducted a conceptual study of wave powered boats while, in the same year, Japan’s Tokai University was working on a similar concept, which it called ‘wave devouring propulsion’.
Nor was he the first to realise this means of using wave energy: literature on the topic mentions Herman Linden who, in 1895, was working at the Naples Zoological Station when he noticed how a boat was affected by passing waves and explored how this could be harnessed to move it forward. He subsequently built a prototype craft, Autonaut, with horizontal foils fitted below its bow and stern.
It is pictured in a detailed history of foil power on the environmental engineering website Bluebird Earth Concepts (www.bluebird-electric.net; look for ‘Wave powered boats and ships’ in its index), which mentions other early pioneers and includes a photograph of an unknown Californian inventor holding a foil-powered model in 1935. It also refers to an article in 1950 about an Australian wave-powered boat concept and includes a link to a 1966 patent application (granted in 1970) by a Canadian sculptor, painter and inventor Joseph Gause, for a “Flexible fin propulsion system and vessels incorporating same”.
He fitted three pairs of fins to a 10.4m boat, Gausefin I, which the magazine Mechanix Illustrated reported in 1972 had reached 5mph during a demonstration for Canadian Government officials.
Mr Gause’s foils were flexible but rigidly fixed; what made Mr Jakobsen’s concept notable was that his foils were rigid
but spring-loaded – a “milestone in the development of wave-powered boats”, according to a 2013 paper for the Third International Symposium on Marine Propulsors. It was written by Eirik Bøckmann and Sverre Steen, then of the Department of Marine Technology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Their paper focused on the effect of a fixed foil on a ship’s propulsion and motions and found that it reduced heave and pitch significantly and that maximum thrust was obtained with the foil slightly ahead of the bow for wavelengths equal to or longer than the ship’s length.
Dr Bøckmann’s subsequent PhD thesis was also about wave power for ships and he went on to found the company
11%
Wavefoil in 2016, which produces retractable bow foils that “give significant fuel savings, reduced motions and a more comfortable experience at sea”, he says on LinkedIn. Dr Steen is now head of the university’s marine technology department.
Our 1983 article referred to mathematical modelling of the hydrodynamics of unsteady hydrofoil propulsion, carried out by Prof Johannes Lunde at Sweden’s Chalmers University. He considered the merits of a variety of foil shapes and found that curved leading and trailing edges would give better performance than a rectangular foil; “the similarity with the tails of fast-swimming fish did not escape his notice”, we reported.
Such creatures have vertical tails, which they use in the same way as a powered foil. Cetaceans, on the other hand, have horizontal tails and research in 1989 at the Memorial University of Newfoundland found that they do benefit from wave energy. Bluebird Earth Concepts mentions a paper that looked at an immature fin whale and found that – in a fullydeveloped seaway at a low swimming speed and in following seas – it obtained a third of its propulsive power in this way.
Research into foils as propulsion units has continued. In the early 2000s, for example, Rolls-Royce Marine – since taken over by Kongsberg Marine – explored their potential for a number of years, led by its then director of research and technology, Rune Garen. Interviewed for the company’s publication Vision in 2005, he said that “we have much to learn from nature”. For example, a pike can accelerate at 8-12g, which “makes animal locomotion a very interesting field of study.”
His remarks came in a discussion about how ship propulsion technology might develop over the following 20-30 years and predicted that “oscillating propulsors may well challenge today’s rotating ones.” Now, nearly 20 years later, he told The Motorship that although foils are not part of Kongsberg’s portfolio – where he is senior vice-president for business concepts – understanding nature is still vital “in order to become better at [tackling] the energy conservation issue.”
Other companies are actively exploring foil propulsion within an EU-funded three-year project, SeaTech, which is due to end this year. Its seven partners – coordinated by Wärtsilä –set out to develop “two symbiotic ship engine and propulsion innovations that when combined, could lead to a 30% reduction in fuel consumption,” according to background notes on the project’s website.
One of those innovations is aimed at reducing engine emissions; the other is “a biomimetic [inspired by nature] dynamic wing mounted at the bow of the ship to augment propulsion in moderate and heavy sea conditions.” By capturing wave energy, the notes explain, “extra thrust is produced and ship motions are dampened.”
One of those involved is Dr James Bowker, a senior research fellow in engineering and physical sciences at the University of Southampton – one of the SeaTech partner organisations. In a lecture to the local branch of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects in December 2022, he described foil propulsion as “a proven concept” for small craft and that SeaTech’s mission was to look at its application to ships of around 100m length.
From tank tests using a 2m scale model of a 100m bulk carrier, he reported a reduction in delivered engine power in waves of up to 50% – depending on their wavelength – as a result of using the foil, along with average reductions of 10% in heave and 20% in pitch. There is a link to a YouTube video of his presentation from the project website.
Although the technology and sophisticated analysis techniques he described were not available to Herman Linden in the 1890s, the foil arrangement used in Dr Bowker’s tests would look familiar to him. After 130 years, his time may have finally come.
8 Dr Eirik Bøckmann identified a need for hull optimisation for ‘whale tail’ foils to improve performance further during early stage tests at Norway’s NTNU in 2013
Their paper focused on the effect of a fixed foil on a ship’s propulsion and motions and found that it reduced heave and pitch significantly and that maximum thrust was obtained with the foil slightly ahead of the bow for wavelengths equal to or longer than the ship’s length8 The SeaTech Consortium has produced a concept design that can take advantage of the dynamic thrust provided by the foils Source: SeaTech
Custom-built to meet the complex requirements for ocean transportation of rocket components, the 121m ro-ro Canopée has made her first transatlantic crossing, writes
David TinsleyThe voyage from Rotterdam to French Guiana, with arrival in Pariacabo harbour during mid-January, marked the culmination of extended sea trials and qualification of the vessel’s intended regular shipping route and port infrastructure. The return leg to Europe was expected to provide further key data for future voyages.
The 10,670gt ro-ro has been designed and constructed to carry large, indivisible and fragile loads on behalf of ArianeGroup for the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG–Guiana Space Centre), an assignment entailing not only throughyear ocean transits but also navigation of the shallow Kourou River to the Pariacabo terminal.
The French ship is of added technical distinction through the preparation for fitting with an auxiliary sail propulsion system, to augment and complement her twin main mediumspeed diesels, thereby imbuing a hybrid power arrangement. It is anticipated that the use of Canopée will ultimately cut the costs of shipping Ariane rocket components by up to 50%.
The vessel is set to transport the inaugural flight Ariane 6 launcher during the forthcoming summer, to be followed by shipments of launchers currently being integrated at ArianeGroup’s sites in France and Germany. By that time, the ship is due to have been equipped with four AYRO automated wingsails.
Canopée was ordered by French marine contractor Jifmar Offshore Services from Neptune Marine of the Netherlands, which assigned hull construction and initial outfitting to Partner Shipyards of Szczecin, Poland. Final work was
effected by Neptune at its Hardinxveld-Giessendam premises, located on the Dutch river network upstream of Rotterdam. Under a 15-year commitment to ArianeGroup, the vessel’s operation and commercial management is the responsibility of Alizes, the joint venture of Jifmar and the Nantes low-carbon shipping consultancy Zephyr & Boree.
The project draws on technological input from VPLP Design, the French consultancy and originator of the wingsail concept launched on the trimaran USA 17 in the bid for the 2010 America’s Cup. VPLP advanced the sail-assisted cargo ship’s design under contract to, and in cooperation with, the Alizes partnership, to fulfil the performance criteria stipulated by ArianeGroup for the Ariane 6 transport logistics. Canopée will load components of the sixth-generation Ariane launcher in Bremen, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Bordeaux and Livorno.
In the design process, VPLP paid particular attention to the aerodynamics of the foreship section so as to facilitate air flow and integration of the prospective wingsail array, as well as to overall aerodynamic trim so as to obviate overmuch drift or helm angle under sail. Other areas of close investigation included propeller settings and vessel speed when in sail-assist mode. The speed facet reflected VPLP’s consideration that fully automated and optimised wingsails when used in conjunction with a conventional propulsion system promised a 30% reduction in CO2 emissions at low speed, and 20% at full speed.
With bridge and superstructure arranged forward, all cargo loading and unloading is undertaken across the 200t
stern axial ramp. Handling and positioning of components on the 1,590m2 main deck is facilitated by a 60t gantry, and payload scope is enhanced by a freedom from headroom restrictions in open-hold conditions. A removable mezzanine deck of 305m2 gives extra flexibility as to cargo intake, as does the possibility to use 655m2 of lower hold, tanktop stowage space.
Wärtsilä’s ubiquitous 320mm-bore medium-speed engine series was selected to provide main propulsion, by way of two 6L32 diesels rated at 3,480kW apiece. These are geared down to drive twin controllable pitch propellers, abaft of which are high-angle (60deg) balance-type rudders. Manoeuvring at berth and in the restricted fairway of the Kourou River is assisted by a pair of 450kW bow tunnel thrusters from Wärtsilä’s FT150H range.
The auxiliary outfit comprises two main gensets driven by Scania Dl-13 diesels of 300kW, with electrical power while under way efficiently engendered by two 500kW shaft alternators. To obviate environmental impact while in port, provision has been made to obtain electricity from the landside grid via connections on each side of the ship at the bunkering point.
The four 30m-high, reefable AYRO Oceanwings will be installed in 2 x 2 configuration on each side of the ship. With sufficient wind force and suitable direction, it will be possible to shut down one of, or potentially both, the main engines and feather the propeller(s). To further reduce fuel consumption and carbon footprint, the Canopée will also be equipped with a weather routing system supplied by the French firm D-Ice Engineering and conceived to optimise wind energy.
Under contract to Neptune, the Dutch firm Groot Ship Design (GSD) supplied naval architectural and engineering consultancy relating to the steel construction and information for processing the plates and profiles. Given the ship’s
PRINCIPAL PARTICULARS - Canopée
Main deck gantry 60t
Main engine power 2 x 3,480kW Speed 17kts
Sails 4 x 363m2
Bow thrusters 2 x 450kW
Main gensets 2 x 300kW
Shaft alternators 2 x 500kW
Shore connection (each side) 400kW Class Bureau Veritas Class notations 1+ Hull, + MACH, Ro-ro cargo ship, Unrestricted navigation, +AUTUMS, MONSHAFT, COMF-NOISE 3, COMF-VIB 3
Flag France (RIF)
Berths 21
capability to carry outsized items of freight in the hold without the use of hatch covers, GSD’s experience in opentop vessel design was salient to the newbuild’s development.
As to the commercial deal, Neptune is no stranger to Jifmar, having built many of the latter’s fleet of dynamicpositioning, multi-purpose work vessels.
8 A rendering of the Canopée after the installation of four 30-metre high Oceanwingsto prevent leakage
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The March 1973 issue of The Motor Ship included no fewer than four special supplements: Marine Automation, Worldwide Fishing, Prevention of Tanker Explosions, and a look at three Austin & Pickersgill designs for standardised cargo ships.
It was the subject of tanker safety that was exercising our editorial predecessors at the time. Following the 1969 explosions on the VLCC Mactra and two other similar vessels, the Court of Inquiry was recommending the fitting of inert gas systems to all tankers with cargo compartments exceeding 10,000m3. This echoed a recommendation by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) and Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) for installation of inert gas and deck-froth systems for new crude carriers exceeding 50,000 dwt. A leading article noted that if the ICS/IMCO recommendation became mandatory, over 1000 tankers would need to be equipped, at a cost of some GBP 300,000 each – even at 1973 prices. With only 20 or so companies worldwide making such systems, the supply and demand equation would prove highly problematic, albeit profitable. In fact, a similar situation to that which arose around ballast water treatment systems many years later. The Court of Inquiry recognised this, saying that retrofits should be carried out “subject to the capacity of the shipbuilding and repairing industry.” Nevertheless, the topic was considered well worth a comprehensive survey of the economics, problems and methods of explosion prevention by inert gas and other methods.
Three engines recently demonstrated by Burmeister and Wain were examined in some detail, being considered suitable for “modern demands” of the industry. The K90GF, forerunner of a range of five new low-speed engine size, had already secured a large number of orders through licensees
worldwide, mostly for large tankers. It was designed for a high power output from the size and weight of the engine, as well as long service intervals, well in advance of competing engines. The K90GF was seen as having the potential to compete with steam turbines for the new generation of ULCC and container ships beginning to enter service.
The other new engines were the U50HU medium speed engine, similarly attracting pre-production interest and expected soon to be followed by the 1500bhp/cylinder 60P, while another four-stroke, the high speed U28L was well advanced in its initial testing.
As far as the actual ships were concerned, one notable vessel reported on in March 1973 was the Esso Fuji, said to be the largest LPG carrier to enter service. Built in Japan by Hitachi Zosen, the 100,000m3 234m long ship carried liquefied butane and propane gases at atmospheric pressure and low temperature in insulated prismatic tanks. Cargo handling relied primarily on shore equipment to handle vaporisation during loading and unloading, though a reliquefaction plant was installed onboard to provide partial vapour requirements when shore systems were not available. Machinery comprised a Hitachi-B&W 8K84EF main engine rated 20,000 bhp at 114 rpm driving a four-blade fixed pitch propeller, proving a service speed of 17.6 knots. Four HitachiB&W 826MTBH40 auxiliary diesels provided the high levels of electrical power needed for the cargo and other systems.
Another Hitachi yard, that at Sakai, was building a series of economical 260,000 dwt standard oil tankers, notable for the attention paid to prevention of corrosion, with epoxy-type paints employed for the hull, topsides and cargo tanks with chlorinated rubber protection on the decks. Main and auxiliary machinery was all steam-powered, with a Hitachi UA-360 two cylinder impulse cross compound turbine of 35,000 hp coupled to a five-blade propeller, plus two Fuji Electric 1320kW alternators driven by single-cylinder back-pressure steam turbines.
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