WORLD NEWS

Several initiatives within the industry are helping shipowners and operators to adjust to stringent environmental regulations

HELPING TO MEET TOUGH TARGETS

This month sees the launch of DNV’s Maritime Forecast to 2050, which was conceived to help shipowners navigate the technologies and fuels needed to meet global greenhouse gas targets.The report features an updated carbon risk management framework, including a new “decarbonisation stairway” model to help owners map a path to sustainability.

The report aims to assist an industry facing the dual challenge of increasingly stringent climate change targets and regulations coupled with uncertainty over future fuel choices, technology and supply. It is, according to DNV Maritime CEO Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, “the grand challenge of our time”.

“Choosing the right fuel today for operations tomorrow is a daunting task that all owners must face up to,” says Ørbeck-Nilssen. “The business environment is changing in line with the natural one, leading not just to increased regulatory requirements, but also to new cargo-owner and consumer expectations and more rigorous demands from capital investors and institutions.

“A misstep today in newbuild fuel strategies can have damaging consequences for businesses and assets in the future. So, owners need practical, expert advice and smart solutions to ensure vessels stay competitive, compliant and commercially attractive over their lifetimes. This is where the Maritime Forecast to 2050 can help turn strategic uncertainty into confident decisionmaking,” he says.

To support shipowners, DNV provides an updated framework for managing carbon risk in newbuilding designs, a technoeconomic evaluation of fuel strategies, and the vessel design implications of those chosen approaches. The decarbonisation stairway is introduced to show how individual owners can adapt to stay below the required greenhouse gas emission trajectories. It also helps to inform decisions on newbuildings a far as fuel storage and propulsion, design, safety and fuel ready solutions.

SOLAR SOLUTION

Class society Bureau Veritas has delivered an Approval in Principle to Dutch renewable energy company SolarDuck for its offshore floating solar solution King Eider. This is the first time such an approval has been granted to an offshore floating solar technology, marking the beginning of a new era for this form of renewable energy.

Launched in April, SolarDuck’s first pilot consists of four triangularshaped units, which are mounted by 156 solar panels and deliver a combined electrical output of 64kWp to the grid. The project was deployed in IJzendoorn, in the Netherlands.

The structure holds the solar panels more than three meters above water level. The platform is designed to handle coastal sea conditions and hurricane-force winds. It is also optimised for offshore sites in estuaries, natural harbours, as well as near-shore sites.

The project was born from the ambitions of a group of maritime and energy engineers, who founded SolarDuck in order to play an active role in getting the world to net zero.

Upon realising that solar energy is the cheapest and most efficient form of renewable energy for many cities, islands and regions around the globe, but inaccessible to many of these regions due to land scarcity constraints, the team initiated the project to make solar panels float offshore.

WINGD SCOOPS CONTRACT

Engine developer WinGD has won a contract to integrate hybrid energy systems on four newbuild pure car and truck carriers (PCTC) vessels for Japanese owner NYK Line.

The four PCTCs will run on LNG as main fuel, with WinGD’s 7X62DF-2.1 two-stroke engines coupled with shaft generators, DC-links and battery systems. Based on its knowledge of the main engine’s performance, WinGD has optimised spinning reserves, peak shaving and energy flow to run the main engine constantly at its sweet spot, while avoiding inefficient generator loads. WinGD will be responsible for the system integration and system-level energy management, through WinGD’s new Hybrid Control System.

Combined with other ship design enhancements, the LNG-battery configuration is expected to cut overall CO2 equivalent emissions by around 40% compared to conventionally powered vessels operating on HFO.

SURVEY SEEKS ANSWERS

BIMCO is launching a survey with the aim of gathering information from shipowners about the effectiveness of their anti-fouling systems (AFS). The information gathered will help BIMCO provide factual information to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) about biofouling management in practice.

BIMCO encourages shipowners – both members and non-members – to take part in the survey, as this will help build robust argumentation when it comes to help improving the biofouling regulations. To take part in the BIMCO Biofouling Survey 2021, visit: tinyurl.com/BimcoSurvey

GAC JOINS EYESEA

The GAC Group has announced its membership of the maritime pollution reporting and mapping initiative, Eyesea.

With the support of the shipping and maritime industries, Eyesea uses a smartphone app with which users submit geotagged photographs to report hazards and pollution.

“Eyesea have developed a simple and effective way for companies involved in the maritime sector to play a critical part in improving the health and conservation of our oceans,” says Neil Godfrey, group commercial director – shipping.

Eyesea is a non-profit organisation that comprises a wide range of representatives of the shipping and maritime community.

After successful testing on board commercial vessels and among community volunteers and recreational boat users, the app is now available to download to anyone keen to play a part in tackling maritime pollution effectively.

WORLD FIRST

Bureau Veritas (BV) has classified the world’s first hybrid-powered Surface Effect Ship (SES), the CWind Pioneer, which features an air cushion, twin hulls and an innovative diesel and electric drivetrain with considerable battery storage onboard.

The CWind Pioneer is equipped with a hybrid diesel and battery electric power system, which enables the vessel to operate purely on battery power alongside or at slow speeds, such as when transiting restricted waterways or on standby in the windfarm, which helps reduce fuel consumption, reduce diesel engine running hours and lower CO2 emissions.

However, the electric hybrid system implementation comes with a good level of complexity that needs to be managed carefully. BV’s notation Electric-Hybrid addresses the complexity of these systems, defining requirements for storage, power distribution, control and instrumentation, as well as tests that must be carried out especially when it relates to power management and critical safety considerations, such as thermal runaway.

NEW NOTATIONS

Class society DNV has released the latest updates to its rules for ship classification, with a raft of new class notations designed to enable the maritime industry to tackle the decarbonization challenge.

The new updates include “Fuel Ready”, a class notation that offers shipowners the option to prepare for a later conversion to multiple different alternative fuel options, and “Gas fuelled ammonia” for ammoniafuelled vessels, to stay ahead of shipping’s ever-tightening carbon reduction requirements.

DNV’s annual report on the energy transition in shipping, Maritime Forecast to 2050, has identified fuel choice as the most critical decision facing shipowners and operators today. Maintaining flexibility in the choice of fuel, especially when the bunkering environment is in flux, can minimise the risk of stranded assets and maintain a vessel’s lifetime competitiveness.

“The whole maritime industry, and particularly shipowners and operators, are facing a great deal of uncertainty around their choice of future fuel,” says Knut Ørbeck-Nilssen, CEO of DNV Maritime.

“With the industry under pressure to bend the carbon curve towards zero, inaction is not an option, but picking a future winner in a complicated fuel landscape is a significant challenge. ‘Fuel Ready’ gives owners the option to tailor their future conversion with more than one fuel in mind, while ‘Gas

fuelled ammonia’ provides a practical path for owners who are looking to move towards a zero-carbon fuel option with their next newbuilding.”

Fuel Ready

The “Fuel ready” class notation is applicable for ammonia, liquefied natural gas (LNG), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and LFL (methanol) as a ship fuel – either individually or for more than one fuel at the same time. It is built around two mandatory options, (D) Design and (Ti/Tc) Tank, with basic and optional levels of preparation that offer a simple framework for all involved parties in newbuildings.

Optional attributes cover the structure, engine and machinery, piping and bunkering, and miscellaneous requirements. With all of the options, owners can choose to prepare for a later installation of any system or go ahead with the actual installation and obtain certification of the system during construction.

Gas fuelled ammonia

Ammonia is emerging as an extremely promising alternative fuel option for shipping to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With the “Gas fuelled ammonia” class notation, DNV provides owners looking to build ammonia-fuelled vessels the option to start today.

Currently, owners are faced with the long, challenging, and costly, “alternative design” approach under the SOLAS regulations. The new class notation sets out the requirements for the ship’s fuel system, fuel bunkering connection, and on through to the consumers.

DNV has also updated some of its signature notations that focus on reducing shipping’s overall environmental impact, including: Fuel cell installations, “LFL fuelled” for low flashpoint liquid fuelled engines, the “Silent(E)” notation for underwater noise, and “Quiet” for external airborne noise emissions.

The new notations and rules updates were launched on 1 July, 2021 and enter into force 1 January, 2022. WEATHER ROUTING

Maritime technology company DeepSea Technologies has partnered with Seanergy Maritime Holdings to develop and test Pythia, the world’s first weather routing and voyage optimisation platform tailored to the exact performance of vessels, under all conditions.

This platform has allowed Seanergy’s capesize vessels to achieve a reduction in fuel consumption of up to 12%, with average fuel savings of 8%, as recorded over a series of voyages during the first four months of this year.

Seanergy and DeepSea have worked closely on the development of Pythia, with the aim of building a unique performance-routing tool tailored to the needs of shipping companies. Pythia uses AI-based performance models – based on detailed realtime data – to analyse 19 different parameters.

The AI models accurately track how a vessel performs over time under any conditions, including those related to the weather and the state of the vessel, such as the fouling levels. ROADMAP TO NET ZERO

Maersk Broker Advisory Services and McKinsey & Company have joined forces to assist shipowners and operators in defining their decarbonisation roadmap and strategy.

The two companies are launching the Fleet Decarbonisation Optimizer tool to assist stakeholders in the maritime industry in developing their decarbonisation strategies.

The partnership is built on research of both Maersk Broker Advisory Services and McKinsey on the total cost of ownership and carbon abatement implications of ship efficiency levers and alternative fuels such as e-ammonia, e-methanol, biomethanol, bio-LNG and biodiesel.

The shipping industry is recognized as a “hard-to-abate” sector, as the decarbonisation solutions of the industry carry a high abatement cost compared to current alternatives. The collaboration aims to help stakeholders in the maritime industry to make decisions on the best possible information platform with expert guidance.

CR OCEAN ENGINEERING:

A NEW PRESIDENT & COO TAKES THE HELM

For more information, contact: Dominique Philibert, President & COO CR Ocean Engineering, LLC Email: dphilibert@croceanx.com Phone: + 1-973-455-0005, Ext.123 croceanx.com

Dominique Philibert was promoted on July 1 this year to President and COO of CR Ocean Engineering (CROE), a company where he’s been a key team player since its founding in 2013.

Previously, Philibert held the post of Technology Director at CROE, working alongside then-President and COO Nick Confuorto, who has now retired and supports the company in an advisory role.

As Technology Director, Philibert led a team of engineers in the development, testing, deployment and sales of CROE’s exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as marine scrubbers. CROE is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of this technology.

For most of his career, Philibert has focused on the field of flue gas cleaning with a large array of wet and dry systems and he has worked with the most respected names in the air pollution control industry, both in the US and Europe.

A native of France, Philibert received his engineering degree from ECAM school of engineering in 1990.

For an international roster of CR Ocean Engineering clients, Philibert brings extensive language skills – he is fluent in French and English, with working knowledge of Korean, Spanish and German.

CROE was founded to meet the demand for cleaner emissions in the maritime environment under the MARPOL Convention. Today, hundreds of CROE exhaust systems provide cleaner emissions for commercial vessels sailing around the world. Based in New Jersey, privately-owned CROE has a worldwide network of partners.