NO 01.2017
IDEAL CONDITIONS AND MOTIVATION
Launched in 2011, the Wes Amelie is a modern 1,000-
TEU carrier, optimized for 45-foot containers, that operates in the North and Baltic Seas. Owned by the German shipping company Wessels Reederei, the vessel will be retrofitted to dual-fuel operation. The motivation for the retrofit came from a number of directions. The first reason was regulatory, as Christian Hoepfner, General Manager and Head of Business Development & Special Projects at Wessels, outlines: “The design, construction and high ice-class parameters of the Wes Amelie meant that it is predestined for the shipping routes spanning the highly regulated North and Baltic Seas,” he explains. “As they are both within Emission Control Areas, the ships need to meet the highest environmental standards and strictest limits for emissions. By converting to a low-emission fuel, we are safeguarding the future of this container ship as well as our own competitiveness in this market.” Once it was announced that regulations would be tightened in the North Sea and Baltic Sea Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs), Wessels started investigating how to maintain, and increase, the competitiveness of their container ships for charterers in this zone. Here, after 2015, all ships have to reduce emissions of sulfur oxides (SOx) from 1% down to 0.1%, and would have to eventually also reduce nitrogen oxides (N0x). What they found out: Running on LNG, the Wes Amelie would drastically reduce emissions of SO x by over 99%, NOx by approximately 90%, and CO2 by up to 20%, without the need for aftertreatment. The numbers were convincing.
THE ENVIRONMENT AND EXPERTISE
The second reason for adopting LNG was more of a
personal motivation to protect the environment. Basically, the choice came down to continuing with marine diesel oil with the addition of a scrubber for exhaust gas cleaning, or
A global focus
Dr. Uwe Lauber , CEO, MAN Diesel & Turbo, is convinced that the only way forward is through global policies.
“A container ship transports huge quantities of goods over thousands of sea miles with a single engine. Compared with the emission levels of private transportation, they are almost negligible. In absolute terms, however, the scale of the maritime industry means that its global emissions remain too high. If we are serious about decarbonization, we need rules that apply to everyone. If we want the shipping industry to be carbon-neutral by 2050, then we have to take action today. Only when there is a clear regulatory framework, will we all know what needs to be done. This can all be steered by policies.”
switching to LNG. The former was rejected, as an open-loop system would result in discharging waste water containing sulfur into the sea. So, the decision went with LNG, as Christian Hoepfner explains: “A scrubber would have been simply inconsistent with our desire for an eco-friendly operation.” The third reason was based on engineering expertise. A retrofit on this scale is not a trivial matter and requires specialist know-how, parts and implementation. The Wes Amelie was originally fitted with an MAN 8L48/60B diesel engine, one that MAN Diesel & Turbo had considerable experience in converting to the dual-fuel operation. Which meant MAN was the preferred partner for the task. By scheduling the retrofit during a major planned engine
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THE LNG SWITCH KEY DRIVERS