MAY 4, 2016 — A new high performance multipurpose tractor tug for Vessel Chartering LLC designed by Jensen Maritime, Crowley Maritime’s Seattle-based naval architecture and engineering firm, is powered by a pair
APRIL 13, 2016 — The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has made a number of submissions to IMO’s Marine Environment Committee (MEPC) ahead of its next meeting, which will be held in
“Tank cleaning is where companies try to establish a competitive edge,” says Ajay Gour, INTERTANKO’s chemicals and vetting expert and Regional Manager for the Indian Sub-Continent, Middle East and Africa. “This is where they can claim to be better than the competition. But the majority of ship operators are all experienced, and the technology and methodology are pretty much the same across the board. Cleaning chemicals have seen some significant advances, but where we found the biggest change was not in cleaning, but in tank testing.”
Testing technology has improved immensely, Gour relates, but operators have not necessarily been the drivers behind improvements. “There are many different external influences, including scientific community, and testing today can measure levels of cleanliness far beyond the original requirements for the same cargoes.”
Ever more sensitive testing methods beg the question: Should tanks be as clean as possible? Or just sufficiently clean?
Lacking a working standard
INTERTANKO studied cases emanating from Houston, a major chemical tanker hub.
“We looked at over 250 different listings,” Ajay Gour recalls. “We found that there were various cleaning standards and varying results for the same cargo with the same end-use. There was evidence that resources were being wasted in over-cleaning, including manpower, energy, time, chemicals, and the resulting emissions were excessive.”
In response, INTERTANKO has proposed a simplified set of standards in order to bring the high-flying cleanliness requirements back down to sea level. “Product manufacturers realize that they have been pushing unduly stringent standards, and they understand that this is a cost driver. In a number of cases, small deviations will not push the cargo off-spec,” Gour maintains.
A working group of chemical tanker operators, owners, charterers, and manufacturers is in the early stages of reviewing existing standards, not for tank cleaning, but for tank cleanliness. “We are not telling anybody how to clean in order to achieve a certain standard,” Gour clarifies, “just advising on what standard they need to clean to.”
Nor do the proposed standards advise on how to test. “For example wall washing,” Gour relates. “It’s been around for a long time, but it has its weaknesses. It gives only a snapshot, not the status of the entire tank.” All the same, INTERTANKO is not singling out wall wash tests, or any other particular method.
“We are simply trying to refine cleanliness standards,” he says, “to make sure they are appropriate for today’s needs. High sensitivity testing is feeding anxiety in cargo owners and charterers, and our intention is to ensure quality while improving efficiency in the use of resources.”
Regarding the timeline for change, Ajay Gour’s advice to owners and operators: Watch this space. “The process is set in motion, and the first draft of new guidelines should be presented by the end of 2016,” he reports. “For this to happen, though, operators, shippers, and cargo buyers must all be on board. The drafting process will be used to quantify the overall benefits, but the end result should be that the goalposts are fixed for everybody.”
Taking the confusion out of tank cleaning
Understanding the required cleanliness standard for your vessels’ next cargo is one thing, but consistently achieving it can be a challenge. With decades of experience in the field, here are some words of wisdom from service leader Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) on how not to go astray in the critical business of keeping tanks and cargoes up to spec.
Regardless of whether it is the result of poor preparation, lack of knowledge, time constraints or inadequate equipment, an unsatisfactory tank cleaning can become very costly, very quickly. Extra time in port, additional labour and chemicals, added surveyor charges, and in the worst cases demurrage claims, can turn what should be a routine exercise into a laborious and dreaded task.
To make matters worse for owners and operators, the issues affecting the tank cleaning process are amplified by the increasingly vigorous ad-hoc cleanliness standards currently being demanded by charterers and cargo owners. Often over-zealous and in many cases totally unnecessary, when it comes to the actual chemistry of contamination, there is unfortunately no officially-defined, universal set of cleanliness standards at present.
Instead, there are just two, very broad and de-facto criteria covering the various tank cleaning requirements currently demanded by charterers.
An inadequate pair
The first is the Water White Standard, which means the tank is visually clean, dry and odour-free. A suitable standard for CPP/vegetable oils, this standard does not involve a wall wash test.
The second, the High Purity Standard (HPE), is required for sensitive cargoes to be loaded such as products applied in food processing (Food Grade) or in pharmaceutical production (USP), where any contamination is unacceptable. All active solvents, such as chlorinated hydrocarbons, glycol ethers, light alcohols, for example, methanol, ketones such as acetone and many hydrocarbons like hexane also require the HPE.
In addition, many chemical companies require the HPE because the application of the product during processing is very sensitive to contamination.
Though there are guidelines on the procedures and typical level of cleanliness required by the High Purity Standard for each and every product available, many companies have additional, off-spec requirements. Creating unwanted confusion for cleaning crews and posing considerable problems when it comes to demurrage claims, these ad-hoc requirements are why bodies such as Intertanko are eager to establish a new, detailed set of cleaning standards. An ongoing initiative aimed at creating an industry wide set of rules, its acceptance is by no means guaranteed. So, for now we’re stuck with the existing pair of standards and the numerous company-by-company and cargo-by-cargo variations demanded by charterers.
In spite of this, with detailed planning, preparation and access to some basic information on the cargo’s properties and the conditions inside and outside the tanks, tank cleaning should actually become a matter of routine. Systematic, efficient and completed quickly to the required standard, whatever that may be. No rejections, hold-ups, incidents or accidents.
Chemistry 101
Knowing the properties of the products you’re discharging and loading, along with understanding how they interact with each other and with the surface of your tanks is obviously key. However, learning this from scratch can seem a daunting prospect, hence the ongoing success of Supercargo specialists. But in practice, the vast majority of commercially traded cargoes and their associated tank cleaning processes can comfortably be managed in-house with access to a specific cargo-handling database, such as Miracle or Milbros, and just a little basic knowledge on the major product groups, as outlined below.
Water-soluble or water-miscible
Water-Soluble substances and water-miscible substances are easy to clean with water. In addition, the solubility of such substances might increase at higher temperatures. While the use of a cleaning agent is not required, it can help reduce cleaning times.
High melting point
Such products should be washed at a temperature of 15-20C above melting point. During washing there should be no ballast water or cold cargoes adjacent to the tank to be cleaned. Special attention must also be given to liquid and vapor line systems to avoid freezing/solidification at cold line segments. Beginning the tank cleaning process as soon as possible after discharge is strongly recommended.
High viscosity
These products should be washed at higher temperatures. In general the viscosity is closely related to the temperature and will decrease at higher temperatures. During washing there should be no ballast water or cold cargoes adjacent to the tank to be cleaned. As with products with a high melting point, washing should begin as soon as possible after discharge.
High vapor pressure/boiling point
Products with a high vapor pressure (higher than some 50 mbar at 20 C) can actually be removed from the tank by evaporation. As always, during ventilation, special care must be taken to prevent the risk of explosion (flammable products) and emissions (toxic vapors).
Polymerization
The initial wash of products that tend to polymerize should be carried out with cold (ambient) water. Washing with hot water results in polimeric residues being left in tanks and lines, meaning an incredibly difficult clean-up job.
Evaporation of volatile substances
Cargoes consisting of mixtures with different vapor pressures should neither be cleaned by evaporation, nor prewashed hot. The evaporation of the light substances from a mixture could result in non-volatile residues, which are very difficult to remove.
Isocynates
Must never come into contact with water, not even the residues, because the reaction product and insoluble urethane (plus CO2) are very difficult to remove. Such products must be washed with a suitable solvent that does not contain any water.
Reaction with oxygen
Drying and semi-drying vegetable and animal oils react with oxygen to form a varnish-like polymeric film. This is very difficult to remove from bulkheads. Since heat increases the speed of the reaction the initial washing of these products must be done with water at ambient temperature, and as quickly as possible.
Reaction with hard water
Formed by the calcium and magnesium present, seawater, for example, has a very high water hardness. This poses no problem for most products, but fatty acids and vegetable oils with a high free fatty acid content will form white sticky residues if they are cleaned with a water of a high water hardness.
Smell
Minor residues of a smell-producing cargo left in lines, valves and pumps (including pump cofferdams) can contaminate a sensitive cargo. To neutralise the smell of some chemicals (e.g. Acrylate, Nitrobenzene or Pygas) the use of a smell killer may be recommended.
Understanding the conditions. Inside and out
Along with product knowledge, an understanding of just how the conditions in and outside tanks can affect a cleaning job is vital for consistently successful cleaning:
The neighboring areas
Temperature is one of the major parameters in any tank cleaning procedure and it must be monitored and managed carefully. The temperature in the cargo tank can be significantly influenced by the surrounding conditions, including outside temperature, seawater temperature, ballast conditions, and the temperature of adjacent cargoes.
Deviations from the desired operating temperature can affect the entire tank or just parts of the tank, typically around bulkheads, tank bottoms or tank walls. Two common results are freezing due to lower than allowed temperature, and polymerization/drying due to higher than allowed temperature.
The Tank Surface
Having managed the surrounding conditions, focus should turn to the surface of the tanks. Their composition and condition can have significant implications for the cleaning process.
Stainless steel
Corrosion can occur if there is surface contamination. Both pickling and passivation are chemical treatments applied to the surface of stainless steel to remove contaminants and assist the formation of a continuous, passive chromium oxide film. Pickling and passivation are both acid treatments and neither will remove grease or oil. If the steel is dirty, it may be necessary to use a detergent or alkaline cleaning before pickling or passivation.
Zinc silicate coating
An anti-corrosive paint system made from zinc dust, with certain additives and a binder. The high levels of zinc dust produce a zinc-zinc metal contact resulting in cathodic protection, similar to that obtained from galvanizing. However, zinc coatings are inherently porous, presenting a variety of cleaning problems. It is believed that the cargo migrates into the pores and capillaries, similar to fluid adsorption processes. Zinc coatings have a good resistance against solvents, but are not resistant to strong acids and bases.
Epoxy coatings
Pure epoxy, phenolic epoxy and isocyanate epoxy form cross linkages resulting in relatively good resistance to a greater range of cargoes. Epoxy systems are usually resistant to some weak acids and strong alkalis and do not absorb oil-like substances. Epoxy coatings are, however, prone to absorbing some solvent-like cargoes. This absorption is caused by swelling and subsequent softening of the coating. After transporting aggressive cargoes, the coated tank has to be ventilated until the cargo has been desorbed (released) from the coating film, which results in hardening and decreased swelling. This can take up to several days, depending on the type of cargo, type of coating and film thickness. Water may not be used for cleaning until this ventilation process is finalized. Otherwise the water can lead to blistering and subsequent serious damage of the coating. The more solvency power a cargo has, the more cargo residues could still be present in the coating. This could lead to either contamination of the next or subsequent cargoes, or breakdown of the coating film.
Tucked away in southwestern Finland is Salo, a town of about 50,000, where 40 percent of all the doors for large cruise ships are produced. Antti Marine’s production facility in Salo has produced a quarter of a million doors for 300 cruise ships in just over 20 years. It takes about 10 weeks to produce a typical order of 3,000 doors. They are supplied over a period of six months, as and when the ship’s cabins are built
“We are devoted to lean thinking,” says Commercial Director Markko Takkinen. “The production time of the doors is short, as we do not want them remain in storage here.”
Antti Marine specializes in what it calls ‘“tailored mass production”—necessary because on one cruise ship there may be 150 different types of doors.
Antti Marine is not the only Finnish marine company that benefits from many of the world’s large cruise ship fleet being built in Finland.
Cruise ships also have a lot of toilets and a need for a lot of waste management systems. Finnish headquartered Evac Group has just received its biggest cruise vessel contract ever: total waste management systems for four large cruise ships plus an option to outfit an additional six vessels. The initial four-vessel contract is valued at about EURO 30 million.
Each ship will have an Evac Cleansea wastewater treatment plan, allowing operation in Environmentally Sensitive Sea Areas (ESSAs) and Special Areas (SAs), dry and wet waste treatment systems, a bio sludge treatment unit, plus vacuum collecting systems and some 3,000 vacuum toilets.
Evac also supplies its products to a wide range of users ashore and afloat. So, too, does fire protection specialist Marioff Corporation Oy, but its roots are in the marine market and it last year launched a new generation Hi-Fog 3000 sprinkler series for marine applications that replaces earlier Hi-Fog 1000 and Hi-Fog 2000 sprinkler series.
“With the launch of this new generation of Hi-Fog 3000 sprinklers, we are offering to our marine customers enhanced Hi-Fog systems with faster activation, more efficient suppression and improved passenger and crew safety,” says John Hemgård, Director of Marine Business, Marioff Corporation Oy.
The Hi-Fog 3000 sprinkler series is designed, tested and type approved according to IMO Res.A800(19) as amended in IMO Res.MSC.265(84).
Another Finnish product that really took off after its widespread adoption is ABB’s Azipod. It’s become the propulsor of choice for cruise ships and ABB is currently delivering the complete electrical power plant and propulsion systems for two new 3,300 passenger cruise ships building at Germany’s Meyer Werft. The 20.5 MW Azipod XO propulsion unit for the first of the ships recently left the ABB factory in Helsinki.
ABB has delivered, or has on order, Azipod propulsion units for about 200 vessels
Each Azipod propulsion unit takes about two months for technicians to assemble at ABB’s Vuosaari plant. Across town at ABB’s Helsinki motors, generators and drives factory, the powerful synchronous motors at the system’s core take shape over six months.
COOPERATION AMONG STAKEHOLDERS
The major driver for marine engine designers is bringing engines into compliance with emissions requirements while keeping fuel consumption and maintenance costs under control.
A new pressurized EGR (exhaust gas recovery) economizer from Alfa Laval shows how Scandinavian maritime innovation often results from a cooperation between suppliers, university departments and shipowners. It also illustrates that, for some ships, EGR may be a better means of coming into compliance with new NOx limits than the better known SCR (selective catalytic reduction).
In a project supported by the Danish Energy-Technological Development and Demonstration Program (EUDP) and developed in cooperation with Aalborg University, the EGR economizer has been rigorously tested aboard the containership Maersk Cardiff.
“As a front-runner in the pursuit of green technologies, we were keen to see what the Aalborg EGR-HPE could do,” says Ole Christensen, Senior Machinery Specialist at A.P. Moller-Maersk. “But while we were enthusiastic about the boiler’s potential, we were also somewhat uncertain as how it would handle the physical realities of EGR. The temperatures are twice as high as those of traditional waste heat recovery, and the gas pressures are far greater.”
Those concerns disappeared when the boiler was brought online with the Maersk Cardiff’s two-stroke MAN B&W 6S80ME-C9 engine in November 2014. “Not only did the boiler survive,” says Christensen, “[but also] the results we have seen during testing are very promising.”
“EGR provides Tier III NOx compliance with a very compact footprint, but compliance itself is only part of the full potential,” says John Pedersen, Business Manager, Boilers, Combustion & Heaters at Alfa Laval. “Working closely with MAN Diesel & Turbo to optimize the EGR technology, we saw additional opportunities through our expertise in marine boilers.”
In the EGR process, around 30% of the exhaust gas is directed back into the engine, which reduces the combustion temperature and thus the production of NOx. Since only the remaining 70% of the gas reaches the traditional exhaust gas boiler after the turbocharger, waste heat recovery is reduced by 30% as well.
The Aalborg EGR-HPE is a revolutionary new economizer enclosed in a pressure casing that is placed in-line ahead of the pre-scrubber sprayers in the EGR circuit.
“By moving the break point for waste heat recovery from a medium engine load down to a low load, the Aalborg EGR-HPE enables even slower steaming,” says Pedersen. “That means fuel savings that quickly pay back the economizer, offset the EGR investment and lower CO2 emissions on top of the NOx reduction.”
Positioned ahead of the pre-scrubber spray jets, the Aalborg EGR-HPE has access to much higher temperatures than traditional exhaust gas boilers. It is integrated with the conventional waste heat recovery after the turbocharger by its steam drum, which is shared with the traditional exhaust gas boiler. With the output of the traditional economizer feeding into the shared drum, the Aalborg EGR-HPE produces extremely high-quality steam with a temperature of just above 400°C, bringing the waste heat recovery system to a much higher level of efficiency.
Using the Aalborg EGR-HPE in an integrated system allows waste heat recovery to occur at lower main engine loads than possible with a traditional waste heat recovery system in Tier III operation. This creates the possibility of even slower steaming.
“The EGR economizer makes waste heat recovery beneficial at far lower engine loads, down to around 30%” says Pedersen. “This means that vessels can steam even slower, with huge fuel savings as a result.”
DUAL FUEL
B&W in MAN-B&W stands for Burmeister & Wain and the Burmeister & Wain shipyard in Copenhagen built the Selandia, the world’s first successful diesel-powered oceangoing ship. That was in 1912.
More than a century later MAN Diesel & Turbo in Copenhagen is still on the cutting edge of diesel innovation.
One beneficiary of this is TOTE Maritime which opted for MAN Diesel & Turbo dual fuel technology for its two new Marlin Class, Jones Act containerships. Both of these ships have been delivered for operation between the U.S. and Puerto Rico, burning LNG as fuel and thereby meeting all U.S. SECA emissions requirement. Each is powered by the world’s first dual-fuel slow-speed engine, an MAN-B&W 8L70ME-GI, built in Korea by licensee Doosan Engine.
The technology in the ME-GI engines wasn’t just pulled out of a hat. It is a natural development of the MAN B&W low speed electronically controlled ME family of engines. The first testing of the GI principles was carried out in 1987 and MAN Diesel
& Turbo introduced its first two-stroke ME-GI dual fuel engine series in 2011, adding the ME-LGI engine series (which can burn liquid fuels such as methanol and ethanol) in 2013.
In theory, any ME engine can be converted into an ME-GI engine, but to be recognized by a classification society as “LNG ready” an ME engine equipped newbuild will have to be designed with provision for such things as the necessary LNG fuel tanks, piping and other ancillaries.
MEDIUM SPEEDS, TOO
LNG fueling has also proved an attraction for many operators of vessels with medium speed diesels who have to operate in emissions control area.
That trend sees Wärtsilä set to deliver the 100th Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel marine engine from the factory in early 2016. It is part of an order for three new large escort tugs under construction for Norwegian operator Østensjø Rederi by Spanish shipbuilder Astilleros Gondan. The tugs will operate at Statoil’s Melkøya terminal near Hammerfest in Norway.
“These 100 engines do not include those delivered for land-based energy generation applications,” says Lars Anderson, Vice President, Wärtsilä Marine Solutions.
“Within its power range, the Wärtsilä 34DF has become the workhorse of the marine industry, thanks to its superior reliability and lower operating costs. It is a highly efficient engine that is also making a notable contribution to environmental compliance,”
The Wärtsilä 34DF dual-fuel engine was upgraded in 2013 with a higher MCR (maximum continuous rating) and better efficiency than its earlier version, the first of which was delivered in 2010. The upgraded version has a power output range from 3,000 to 10,000 kW at 500 kW per cylinder.
ELIMINATE THE ENGINE?
Of course, if you can eliminate the engine and switch to battery power, that gets rid of emissions issues entirely. One area where this could be possible is in certain short range ferry operations and we have already noted the E-ferry way project under way in Denmark at Søby Værft AS.
Wärtsilä, too, is eyeing this niche. In January it launched a concept for a series of zero or low emission shuttle ferries. The concept has been developed in line with new Norwegian environmental regulations for ferries, and Wärtsilä says this regulatory trend is also evident in other countries.
The ferries are designed to run entirely on batteries or in a battery-engine hybrid configuration where the fuel options are liquefied natural gas (LNG) or biofuel.
In plug-in operation, the fuel consumption is reduced by 100 percent compared to conventional installations, and all local emissions are completely eliminated. With the plug-in hybrid configuration, emissions are reduced by up to 50 percent.
The concept features Wärtsilä’s new wireless inductive charging system, which offers major benefits for typical shuttle ferry operations involving 20,000 or more departures a year because of its time and energy savings. The system eliminates physical cable connections, thus reducing wear and tear and enabling charging to begin immediately when the vessel arrives at quay.
Wärtsilä has now signed an agreement with Cavotec SA to jointly develop a combined induction charging and automatic mooring concept. It would incorporate Wärtsilä’s wireless induction power transfer into a vacuum-based automated mooring technology in which remote controlled vacuum pads recessed into, or mounted on the quayside, moor and release vessels in seconds.
FILTER PROMISES TO CUT NOX
The Exilator, an environmental filter for smaller ships, able to reduce both sulfur, carbon monoxide, NOx and noise, has been successfully tested on a Danish Maritime Authority ship. The technology has been testing over a 12-month project phase followed by a three-month practical test of the concept on the Danish Maritime Authority’s ship Poul Løwenørn. The filter’s performance has been documented by the Danish Technological Institute, and the installation and mounting of the filter has been approved by LR.
The filter has been designed for ships with engines of up to 6 MW. Current regulations don’t require the cleaning of exhaust gas from smaller ships if they already sail on marine diesel with a maximum sulfur content of 0.1%. Still, developer Exilator ApS
believes that there is already a market for the filter, as it reduces soot pollution and NOx on the ship itself and also cuts engine noise considerably — particularly attractive in the yachting sector, or expedition vessels sailing in very sensitive nature areas.
According to the test from the Danish Technological Institute, the filter reduces soot particle emissions by 99,1%, carbon monoxide by 98% and NOx by 11%. Though those tests didn’t cover the filter’s noise reduction properties but the company expects a noise reduction up to 35 dB, including low frequency noise.
Financing for development and testing was secured through the Danish Growth Fund and investment & development company CapNova.
The filter works by catalytically incinerated the soot in the exhaust as soon the ship’s engines reach exhaust temperatures above 325 degrees C. Ash is accumulated in the filter, which means that the filters must be cleaned after about 5,000 operational hours, as part of the recycling process.
The filter requires that the ship uses marine gas oil with a maximum sulfur content of 0.1%. According the test, the filter improves the ship’s fuel consumption by around 1%.
The exhaust gas, after passing through the turbo charger, goes to a muffler that removes the deep resonance. Then comes the particle filter, which also serves as an oxidation catalyst, where the soot is captured and burned – and finally the gas is led through a reducing catalyst, which minimizes NOx and NO2, before being emitted into the atmosphere.
Development is now underway in a collaboration with DTU, the Technological Institute and an engine manufacturer aimed at increasing the filter’s NOx reduction from 11% to 40% in phase 1, and to 80% in the subsequent phase 2. When this is achieved, the filter will enable compliance with IMO Tier III NOx limits.
SCRUBBERS
Shipowners face no shortage of options if they decide to use exhaust gas scrubbers to cut sulfur emissions. Recent customers for Alfa Laval’s PureSOx exhaust gas cleaning systems include Buss Shipping, which is retrofitting hybrid PureSOx systems on two 1,025 TEU container feeder ships that operate exclusively in Emission Control Areas (ECAs). Since they frequent the low-alkalinity waters between Rotterdam and St. Petersburg, as well as ports like Hamburg with zero-discharge requirements, a scrubber with closed-loop mode was a necessity.
Each ship will receive a hybrid PureSOx system with multiple inlets, connecting the main engine and two auxiliary engines to one U-design scrubber. In contrast to earlier systems with multiple inlets, the inlets will now lead into a single scrubber jet section – an advance in construction that will make the scrubber even more compact.
“The PureSOx solution was well engineered and allowed a sophisticated integration of the scrubber system into our container feeder ships,” says Christoph Meier, Project Manager, Buss Shipping. “The custom construction let us avoid major modifications inside the vessel, which together with the pre-outfitting gave us a short installation time. All those factors contributed to a competitive price.”
Though there’s no doubt that scrubbers work, they also involve a substantial investment. That led Finland’s family-owned Langh Ship to develop a scrubber of its own, the decision was made a little easier by the fact that another family-owned company has 40 years’ experience in cleaning washing waters.
The resulting product was successfully tested over an extended period on one of Langth’s own ships, the M/S Laura, and received final class approval from GL in August 2014. All of Langh’s five vessels have now been fitted with the scrubber and last year a hybrid version was installed on Bore Shipping’s M/V Bore Song.
“It has lived up to our expectations: minimum sludge handling, very clean outgoing water and in that respect minimum impact on the environment,” said Jörgen Mansnerus, VP, Marine Management at Bore Ltd.
Scrubbers could become less expensive as the result of a pilot project developed by Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) researchers Carlos Dorao and Maria Fernandino.
Called the Lynx Separator, the technology now being examined for possible use in marine exhaust gas scrubbers was originally developed for use in the natural gas industry and involves using a steel sponge along with centrifugal force to remove the fluid from a gas stream, offering a brand new solution for the gas industry.
In the Lynx Separator, wet gas flows through the separator. A tubular metal sponge spins rapidly so the liquid is separated from the gas and thrown to the side and down, allowing dry gas to stream up to where it’s needed.
The Research Council of Norway’s Innovation Program MAROFF (Maritime activities and offshore operations) has now funded a pilot project to examine the possibility of applying the separator technology to cleaning ships’ exhaust emissions from ships andetheoretical calculations and testing show promising results
BALLAST WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Another major focus of compliance concern for shipowners is, of course, ballast water management. Needless to say, most of the major players in the Scandinavian marine equipment sectors have horses in this race. It’s just to soon to pick any winners given the fact that no system has yet gained full U.S. Type Approval.
As this was written, Norway’s Optimarin was claiming to be on the brink of the coveted approval and was pleased when the U.S. Coast Guard told manufacturers of ultraviolet (UV) based BWMS that it will not accept the Most Probable Number (MPN) testing method in its approval process. The MPN methodology evaluates organisms on the basis of “viable/unviable,” with most UV systems depositing “unviable” organisms back into the water – meaning they are still alive but cannot reproduce. The USCG said that the FDA/CMFDA test, which judges life forms as “living/dead,” must be the standard for approval.
Optimarin says the decision is good news.
The Coast Guard has told UV system manufacturers that it will not accept the Most Probable Number (MPN) testing method in its approval process. The MPN methodology evaluates organisms on the basis of “viable/unviable,” with most UV systems depositing “unviable” organisms back into the water – meaning they are still alive but cannot reproduce.
“This is a clear indication to the industry that USCG wants absolute certainty with regard to standards – they do not want living organisms deposited in their territory,” comments Tore Andersen, Optimarin’s CEO. “MPN is acceptable for IMO, but that won’t be any consolation to shipowners with global fleets that want the flexibility of sailing in and out of U.S. waters.”
He says that Optimarin, which has over 20 years of industry experience and installed the world’s first commercial BWT system in 2000, is the only UV manufacturer that is currently within “touching distance” of USCG approval.
Its technology successfully satisied the FDA/CFMDA criteria during testing last year. Further tests in other water salinities are scheduled for spring 2016, after which point approval is expected later this year.
Andersen says the system’s power is the key to its efficacy. “Each of our system lamps has a 35 kW capacity, which is huge for a UV system. That power instantly kills invasive organisms and that’s exactly what USCG wants to see,” he says
FEBRUARY 23, 2016 — Chesterfield, U.K., based ballast water treatment (BWT) system manufacturer Cathelco has ]submitted a Letter of Intent to the U.S. Coast Guard verifying its readiness to begin testing its
FEBRUARY 8, 2016 — An advanced stern trawler currently completing at the Dakota Creek Industries shipyard, Anacortes, WA (see earlier story), will be the first vessel in the fishing segment to be
“In the more than seven years that Shell has held leases in the Chukchi, it has only recently been allowed to complete a single well. What we have here is a case in which a company’s commercial efforts could not overcome a burdensome and often contradictory regulatory environment,” says Murkowski. “The Interior Department has made no effort to extend lease terms, as recommended by the National Petroleum Council. Instead, Interior placed significant limits on this season’s activities, which resulted in a drilling rig sitting idle, and is widely expected to issue additional regulations in the coming weeks that will make it even harder to drill. Add this all up, and it is clear that the federal regulatory environment—uncertain, ever-changing, and continuing to deteriorate—was a significant factor in Shell’s decision.”
Murkowski made the point that just because the U.S. has created a difficult environment for offshore drilling in the Arctic, it doesn’t mean other countries have. “Development in the Arctic is going to happen—if not here, then in Russia and Canada, and by non-Arctic nations,” says Murkowski. “I personally believe that America should lead the way. The Arctic is crucial to our entire nation’s future, and we can no longer rely solely on private companies to bring investments in science and infrastructure to the region. As the Arctic continues to open, we urgently need to accelerate our national security investments in icebreakers, ports, and other necessities.”
Some Congressional opponents of Arctic drilling applauded Shell’s move. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) called offshore Arctic drilling “unacceptable” and irresponsible. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) went so far as to introduce the Stop Arctic Ocean Drilling Act of 2015, which would prohibit new or renewed oil and gas leasing in the Arctic Ocean Planning Areas of the Outer Continental Shelf.
But this should probably be viewed more like a pause as opposed to a full stop. A more favorable regulatory environment for Arctic offshore drilling could develop if a Republican is in the White House in 2017 backed by a Republican-controlled Congress. Additionally, cheap oil and gas should also increase consumption and eventually lead to higher prices and make Arctic drilling more economically attractive.
Shipyards, naval architects team on projects
Portland, OR, headquartered Vigor Industrial, the largest shipyard group in the Pacific Northwest with 12 facilities in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon, had bolstered its capabilities in anticipation of an increased workload. It added an 80,000-ton lifting capacity dry dock to enhance its ship repair and maintenance capabilities and merged with Kvichak Marine Industries, Seattle, WA, to add capabilities in new aluminum vessel construction. Vigor had supported Shell’s earlier efforts in Alaska, including the activation of the drilling barge Kulluk, and more recently repaired the damaged icebreaker Fennica.
Vigor is part of a vibrant Washington State maritime cluster that includes logistics and shipping, fishing and seafood, and shipbuilding and repair. According to a recent economic impact study, generated 148,000 direct and indirect jobs and directly creates $15.2 billion in gross business income and has a total impact of $30 billion on the state’s economy.
Back in March, Vigor “christened” its dry dock Vigourous with work on the cruise ship Norwegian Star and followed that up with repairs to the USNS John Glenn and USNS Montford Point. Now Vigor will turn its attention to completing the third Olympic Class 144-car ferry for Washington State Ferries and look forward to building the fourth in the series, which recently received $122 million in funding by the state legislature. There’s plenty of more coverage on the ferry market in this issue, including Seattle-based Elliott Bay Design Group’s support of ferry projects for the New York City Department of Transportation and Texas Department of Transportation.
Special launch system
Designed by Seattle-based naval architectural firm Guido Perla Associates, Inc., the144-car ferry is a joint construction effort between Vigor and neighboring Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, Whidbey Island, WA. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders has been contracted to build the superstructure for the first three Olympic Class ferries. Nichols Brothers Boat Builders has used a new track and dolly system developed by Engineered Heavy Service (EHS), Everett, WA, for transferring the ferry superstructures it on to a barge for transport to assembly with the hull at Vigor Fab in Seattle.
That same transfer system is pictured on this month’s cover, to launch the ATB tug Nancy Peterkin, the first of two 136 ft x 44 ft x 19 ft sister ATB tugs being built for Kirby Offshore Marine.
This past May, Gunderson Marine, Portland, OR, had launched the Kirby 185-01, a oil & chemical tank barge.
The Nancy Peterkin’s sister ATB tug, the Tina Pyne, is set for launch this December.
The EHS launch system moved the ATB from the shipyard to the launch ramp. General Construction provided two floating cranes to assist in the final lifting of the vessel, shuttling it to deeper water.
The vessel was towed to Everett, for lightship, stability testing and fuel transfer. Following this the tug will be towed to Nichols Brothers outfitting pier in Langley, WA, located across the Puget Sound from Everett, WA, for final outfitting, dock and sea trials before its final delivery.
Used for vessels greater than 1,000 tons, the new launch system significantly increases the displacement and draft of the vessels that Nichols Brothers can haul and launch in the future. Currently the shipbuilder is engineering to install ridged buoyancy tanks to the side of the launch frame, eliminating the need for the floating cranes in the future.
Nichols Brothers followed up the launch with the signing of a construction security agreement with Kirby Offshore Marine to build two new 120 ft x 35 ft x 19 ft-3 in tugs. Each tug will be powered by two Caterpillar 3516C, 2,447 bhp at 1,600 rev/min main engines with Reintjes reduction gears turning two NautiCAN fixed pitched propellers with fixed nozzles. Karl Senner, Inc., Kenner, LA, supplied the reduction gears for the vessel. These vessels will also have two C7.1 Caterpillar generators for electrical service. Selected deck machinery includes one TESD-34 Markey tow winch, one CEW-60 Markey electric capstan, and one Smith Berger Tow Pin.
Keels will be laid for both vessels this fall with delivery of the first vessel scheduled for May 2017 and the second vessel is scheduled for delivery in November 2017.
Jensen Maritime Consultants, Seattle, the naval architectural and engineering arm of Crowley Maritime, will provide the ABS Class and functional design for the tugboats. These tugboats will carry an ABS loadline, compliant with USCG, as required at delivery.
Nichols Brothers is currently working on the second ATB Tug for Kirby Offshore Marine.
Nichols Brothers spokesperson Lacey Greene says the shipyard has just begun construction of the American Samoa 140 ft Multi-Purpose Cargo/Passenger Ferry, and next year will begin construction on the superstructure and final assembly of the WETA 400-passenger high speed catamarans.
“The vessel construction boom in the Pacific Northwest has impacted the economy in so many different ways,” says Greene. “Specific to our location our community is flourishing. Nichols Brothers is the largest private employer on Whidbey Island in Washington State and employs 300 men and women. We foresee the economic boom expanding even further; the tug market is strong in all aspects, from ATB tugs, tractor Tugs, to line tugs. We also see the passenger vessel industry sector thriving, and we predict additional passenger only high-speed ferries coming down the pipeline as well as leisure vessels.”
Jensen Maritime is also providing construction management services for the Crowley product tankers under construction at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard. It’s also been busy working on developing LNG bunker barge concepts and recently received approval from ABS for a 452 ft-long ATB version.
Engineering consultant Art Anderson Associates, Bremerton, WA, has been increasing its staff and supporting the development of passenger-only ferry service in Puget Sound. Art Anderson’s Patrick R. Vasicek, PE, LEED AP, will be on hand at the Marine Log FERRIES 2015 Conference & Expo in Seattle to discuss, “An Exportable Life Cycle Assessment Tool for Determining Sustainable Visibility of Passenger-Only Ferry Routes and Systems.”
Ballast water treatment solution
Seattle-based naval architectural and engineering consultancy Glosten reports that Marine Systems Inc. (MSI) has delivered a pair of Ballast Treatment System Deck Modules, designed for tank barge and ship operations.
MSI turned to Glosten to develop the design in response to requests from vessel operators and the first of a kind modular ballast water treatment units combine expertise from Glosten, MSI and Alfa Laval, which provided PureBallast 3.1 treatment systems, Filtrex high efficiency filters, and expertise from hundreds of ballast water management system installations.
The resulting modules, built at the Foss Seattle Shipyard, complete with lighting, ventilation, and integrated controls, were shipped ready for “plug-and-play.”
Each Ballast Module packs a treatment capacity of 1,000 m3/hr within a 20-foot shipping container footprint and is ABS and U.S. Coast Guard approved for hazardous area installations.
Using the module reduces the technical demands on busy shipyards. Rather than juggling independent components and vendors, shipyards can instead focus on fabricating a few well-defined interfaces and foundation system. Each purchased module comes pre-approved by USCG and ABS, is fully tested prior to shipment, and includes integration support from MSI and Glosten engineers.
“The demands of the vessel operator drove this design,” says Kevin Reynolds, Principal at Glosten. “Doing this as a manufactured product ensures that we get it right, every time.”
The energy efficient design of two vessels, the 39,000 dwt Ice Class handysize tanker Cielo di Ulsan, and the 50,000 dwt product tanker High Trader, allow them to already meet IMO standards that will come into force in 2025.
With the addition of the two ships, the DIS fleet now controls through ownership, charters and joint ventures 51.83 double-hull tankers, with an average age of 7.6 years. It owns 25.33 vessels and charters another 26.50. The two eco-ships, worth a total of over $62 million, are a part of $755 million investment plan that DIS started in 2012 and which includes, to date, a total of 22 high performance vessels, 10 of which have already delivered.
Marco Fiori, CEO, d’Amico International Shipping S.A., says, “We have added two more ships of great construction quality to our young fleet, which are capable of offering our customers safety, efficiency and profitability.”
Both of these new tankers are under time charter contracts to two major international oil companies, one lasting 30 months and the other three years, managing to anticipate the extraordinary global demand in the transport of refined petroleum products, today favored both by the transfer of refineries (from the main consuming regions to oil production areas) and the decreasing of crude oil prices.
The 183m x 29m Ice Class Cielo di UIsan is equipped to operate in temperatures as low as -20°C. It will operate in routes in Northern Europe, the Arctic and the Northern Sea. This is the first model of a group of four ships that will join the DIS fleet, resulting from the joint work of the company’s engineers and Hyundai Vinashin.
The 183m x 32m High Trader is the sister ship of two other vessels already delivered to DIS. One of its selling points is that it can guarantee an average savings of 6 tons of fuel per day (with ship fully loaded and a constant speed of 14 knots) and consequently a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions. Moreover, the profitability of the ship is driven by its great commercial versatility: High Trader can carry up to nine different types of cargo during the same trip. Cielo di Ulsan and High Trader are equipped with systems for the treatment of ballast water so as to minimize the impact on marine ecosystems and comply with IMO3 and IMO2 requirements.
DIS has an extensive newbuilding program underway, with 12 new eco-ships on order, including three Handysize, three Medium-Range and six LR1, tankers under construction.
“This extremely positive moment on the market,” says Fiori, “and increasingly close relations with major oil companies and multinational manufacturers of vegetable oils, which request our ships more and more often, confirm that DIS has taken the right route. With the addition of other 12 eco-ships currently under construction by 2018, we will further consolidate our competitive position on the global shipping market that today already sees us among the leaders.”
“This is a major contract, with a global leader in shipping,” says Optimarin CEO Tore Andersen. “Due to confidentiality clauses we can’t say who it is, but we can say that this firm, like many others we have reached frame agreements with, has chosen our system due to our unparalleled expertise in retrofitting and the reliable performance of our proven BWT solution.”
Optimarin says the contract was secured thanks to its retrofit expertise and market proven technology.
The first of the Optimarin units has already been installed, with two further systems following at the beginning of next year, and two more in spring 2016.
Goltens Green Technology, which entered into an agreement with Optimarin last year as a “preferred retrofit partner,” will manage all design and supervision from its Singapore office.
BWTS installation work will be performed at Chinese shipyards with Goltens using its proven retrofit process, employing precision 3D laser scanning and modeling as the basis for detailed design, prefabrication and streamlined system installation.
Goltens and Optimarin have joined forces on nearly 60 worldwide retrofit assignments so far and Mr. Andersen says this shared experience leads to fast-track, problem free installation, with most projects – where prefabrication and preparatory engineering work is completed – concluded within a week.
Optimarin, which fitted the world’s first commercial BWT system in 2000, has now fitted over 270 BWT systems worldwide, from an orderbook that has seen over 350 orders placed. The modular, reliable and easy to install and maintain nature of the system has made it, says Optimarin, the leading retrofit choice for vessels up to 60,000 dwt.
“Our solution combines simplicity with innovation, utilising a combination of automatic back flushing, self cleaning filters and UV irradiation to neutralise all organisms, bacteria and pathogens in ballast water,” Mr. Andersen comments. “We’ve been developing this technology for the past 21 years and that experience is a compelling proposition for owners and yards that, with the ratification of the IMO’s Ballast Water Management (BWM) convention on the horizon, need solutions that they can trust… and need them soon.
“This is particularly true in Asia,” he adds, “where we’re now working with shipowners of the stature of Pacific Radiance, Chellsea and EMAS, while winning newbuild contracts from yards such as ASL Shipyard, Jurong SY, Keppel Singmarine, China Merchant Heavy Industries and Oshima Shipbuilding.”The ten vessels, each requiring 1,000 cu.m/h system capacities, are managed from Hong Kong.
Optimarin recently completed work on extensive in-house testing facilities at its headquarters in Stavanger and its BWTS is currently undergoing a full program of USCG approval testing. It already has IMO approval, USCG AMS acceptance, and certification through DNV GL, BV, RMRS and CCS.
The U.K.-flagged Vasco de Gama has a length of 399 m and beam of 54 m.
Delivered July 27 (see earlier story) by China State Shipbuilding Corporation, it is thus largest containership ever delivered from a Chinese shipyard.
Bio-UV says it has been cooperating closely with a great number of partners, including the CMA CGM Group, in order to provide modular, reliable, innovative and energy saving ballast water management systems that are effective in all
water qualities.
The Bio-Sea system uses filtration and high power UV to treat ballast water without requiring any chemicals.
