HYDRUS ENGINEERING - Inside Marine

HYDRUS ENGINEERING

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HYDRUS ENGINEERING

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PROFILE

As decarbonisation becomes the latest buzzword to echo around the marine industry, the team at Hydrus Engineering provides both mid and long-term, high-end solutions to the global fleet.

Business Development Director and Company Partner George Ntroulias talks ammonia, the company’s ambitions and drawing up plans for electric ferries. By Andy Probert.

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ig challenges and bigger ideas are the fuels that fire the furnace deep within the innovative minds of Hydrus Engineering. Since 2009, those same minds have helped redesign the fate of many vessels the world over, but it appears they have only just begun.

As a global engineering firm consistently delivering the latest technologies, Hydrus Engineering’s aim, by default, is to leave a lasting impression on ship owners and shipyards. Given its blistering performance in 2021, the Athens-based company is confidently striding ahead in delivering on the decarbonisation agenda.

Trying to distil the very DNA of Hydrus, Business Development Director and Company Partner George Ntroulias replied candidly: “We care for our clients. We want excellent results by any means.

We want them happy! And that has nothing to do with profit. For us, it’s a matter of attitude.”

With that in mind, the company has put itself on the front foot in demonstrating an alternative view for the shipping industry as calls to reduce carbon footprints continue to ring out.

“It is a strategic goal for Hydrus to have a major engineering role in the decarbonisation era of shipping,” he said. “Within this scope, certainly in the last two years, we have tried to be in the vanguard of alternative fuels development while investigating several available fuels and technologies.”

Strategies built on success The company’s successes remain based on four foundation pillars: people, practices, client satisfaction and corporate sustainability.

Established back in 2009, the engineering service provider set out to manage new shipbuilding projects before expanding into repair, retrofit, field attendances and energy management services.

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Ambitions to build the next eco-friendly era of shipping have also been matched by Hydrus riding high in business. It completed a highly successful 2021, which translated into a 35% growth compared to 2020.

Ballast water treatment retrofit studies and installations continued to be a substantial profit centre.

“We completed over 200 retrofit studies and more than 100 installations in 2021, surpassing 800 green retrofit projects in total,” reported Mr Ntroulias. “We also supervised more than 120 dry docks in the last year and our new-building division committed on 12 new projects relating to LNG, LPG, tankers and containers.”

The company has also invested in specialised engineers, software and training that will allow its teams to perform advanced analysis involving computational fluid dynamic principles.

Following the organisational restructuring of 2018, which led to the creation of three main divisions and three supporting departments, in 2021, Hydrus transformed into Société Anonyme to strengthen its financial foundations and promote its competitive advantages more efficiently at a global level.

Recognising the market’s needs not only for engineering solutions but also for technological ones, since January 2022 Hydrus’ energy and innovation department has been partnering with experts from the IT sector to operate a separate legal entity called EniSolv.

EniSolv aims to be a technology company providing turn-key solutions for ships’ performance monitoring and optimisation, through a wide range of products and services. These include IMO DCS and EU/UK MRV compliance tools, GHG emissions’ KPIs and analysis, fuel management systems, hull condition monitoring, trim optimisation and tailor-made solutions for shipping companies and charterers.

On the decarbonisation frontline These approaches to making shipping smarter also back up Hydrus’ deep commitment to playing a major engineering role in the industry’s decarbonisation era.

In December 2021, Hydrus’ proposal for ammonia storage on a large scale on commercial ships, up to 900 cbm, was accepted in principle for Horizon Europe funding. Horizon Europe is the successor Inside Marine

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programme of H2020, the European Union’s flagship research and innovation programme, and will have a budget of more than €90 billion over seven years.

Mr Ntroulias commented: “The project’s overall goal is to develop a next-generation, sustainable, commercially attractive and safe technology for long-term storage and transportation of NH3-fuel on ships.

“Teaming up with our partners in the project, we will develop new design solutions that will also offer the feasibility of storing 900 cbm of liquid ammonia and demonstrating it on a 31,000 DWT multi-purpose vessel by 2025.”

Additionally, five different types of vessels and related fuelstorage tank concepts will be studied and documented for the best optimisation of the development process.

New era solutions Hydrus also remains highly focused on the decarbonisation challenges presented by clients for the short and long term.

“For the next few years we will be working to achieve turnkey solutions for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) retrofits with a focus on short-sea and coastal shipping. Through these services, we aim to assist our clients in extending the lifecycle of their vessels by achieving considerably lower CO2 emissions to comply with the upcoming limits.”

The company’s strategy and vision also include the development of in-house eco-designs such as electric ferries and hybrid Ro-Pax ships. Hydrus has already completed the concept and basic design of two electric ferries of 50m and 100m in length.

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“For the 100m concept, we have also investigated the option of hydrogen fuel cells in combination with a battery management system,” Mr Ntroulias revealed. “For us, in Hydrus, shipping needs massive R&D work to meet the upcoming challenges.

“Unfortunately, the maturity of the available technologies is quite low, especially when we talk about ocean-going ships,” he reflected.

Mr Ntroulias said that having developed comprehensive know-how in engineering and project management in the last four years, Hydrus was now taking its first steps beyond shipping. “Our aim is to provide solutions to the energy sector by focusing on sustainability.”

These focus on green recycling with upgraded recycling procedures and infrastructure, floating wind farms in Greek seas in cooperation with major EPC contractors, and the energy upgrade of core and comprehensive EU ports.

Challenging times While Covid-19 has placed companies on notice to prepare for alternative business models and develop smart ways of engagement, decarbonisation, predicts Mr Ntroulias, will certainly change the way the shipping industry works.

“Considering the upcoming regulations for the emission control and reduction, most clients face an asset management problem.

Ships built less than ten years ago need major modifications and

considerable speed reduction to comply with the IMO’s new CO2 emission limits,” he reflected.

“In the next few years, we‘ll see major changes in global trade which must be followed by fleet renewal. But honestly speaking, I don’t see major developments in the shipbuilding industry. That’s a bottleneck we cannot avoid.”

With the volatility in the energy markets, he foresees the industry having to react quicker with efficient solutions, especially for the LNG fleet, where a substantial number of ships cannot meet the IMO’s CO2 emission limits due to the high trading speed.

He added: “As far as our clients are concerned, we listen to their needs and cover them in the most efficient way. As a service provider, we support our strategy in two main pillars: our employees and clientele. Both have been developed with hard work and honesty.

“For our suppliers, I believe it’s matter of trust and respect.

We are investing in long-term co-operations, building a robust network of reliable suppliers, many of whom have remained with us since our first year of business.”

He concluded: “From day one, our motto has been ‘Engineering Excellence’. It remains unchanged because that’s where we are at.

Not only delivering engineering excellence to clients now, but investing in future eco-solutions for all.” n

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