Damen Shiprepair Götaverken helps owners deal with upcoming emissions regulations

As shipowners cope with new regulatory limits on emissions, ship repairers are under pressure to keep the costs of installation of emission reduction equipment as low as possible for their clients.

Damen Shiprepair Götaverken, Gothenburg, Sweden, is already helping owners deal with new requirements that come into force in 2015.  Currently, the Tarbit Shipping tanker Bit Oktania is in one of the shipyard’s dry docks for regular maintenance. At the same time the vessel being upgraded by installing a catalyzer system to meet the new environmental demands.

“We try to keep installation costs at the lowest possible levels to mitigate the high costs experienced by shipowners due to new environmental demands”, says Jos Goris, Managing Director of Damen Shiprepair Götaverken. “Even though this is fully in line with our own philosophy of operating in a sustainable way, this is quite a challenge for us. Nonetheless, we feel we’re up to it! Furthermore, it gives us the opportunity to develop new ways of cooperating with our Scandinavian suppliers and we experience a knowledge increase, which has a positive effect on our workforce.”

Mr Goris says there are “several ways of fulfilling the new demands” imposed by SECA’s and ECA’s.  “For some,” he says, “vessels don’t really need to be drydocked in order to install new systems, although many shipping lines choose to combine the installation with the statutory dry docking. Since we have over one kilometer of quay, we can manage the installation of catalyzers or exhaust scrubber systems at any suitable time for our customers. Other methods involve more serious investments, for example converting a vessel to run on alternative fuels. Whatever the solution chosen by a shipowner, we realize it involves a cost that wasn’t there a few years ago. Therefore, we’re specializing in this field, both technically and financially. This enables us to work closer and more efficiently together with our customers, not only in doing our regular maintenance and repair work, but also in finding the most economical solution for their needs.”

May 10, 2012