Where traditional chemical tankers carry a full load of a single product, Chemship has established itself as a leader in parcelling. Now, Chemship has unveiled its latest innovation with a groundbreaking installation of high-tech Ventofoils on one of its vessels. Operations Director Michiel Marelis told Richard Hagan all about this exciting project.
Chemship is a tanker operator and ship owner active in the chemical sector on a trade route between northwest Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, and one running from the United States’ east coast to the Mediterranean.
From its headquarters on the outskirts of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, Chemship’s 21-strong team directs and manages the company’s uniquely sophisticated fleet of fifteen chemical parcel tankers. Through its fleet’s ability to carry multiple different products on board in a single trip, Chemship’s parcelling service sets it apart in a traditionally inflexible market.
Fleet flexibility
Out of the world’s fleet of commercial vessels, very few are chemical tankers. Of those, fewer still boast full stainless steel cargo tanks as Chemship’s fleet does. Stainless steel, being the highest standard for the chemical industry, means Chemship can transport all of the most high-end chemical parcels. Consequently, the company’s client portfolio includes
high-profile companies such as all of the oil majors and multinational petrochemical manufacturers. Indeed, in an average year, Chemship serves more than 100 different customers.
Chemship’s fleet - all in the 12,000 to 16,000DWT range - is focused on parcelling, meaning that each vessel carries several cargoes from multiple clients, jointly on a single ship. Chemship’s vessels typically boast around twenty cargo tanks, across which as many as fifteen different products might be carried.
“We have many different parcels onboard at a time, ranging generally from 200 tonnes to 2,000 tonnes, and occasionally even a vessel full of a single product,” explained
Operations Director Michiel Marelis, who estimated that within Chemship’s specific m arket niche, there are only approximately eight to ten competitors. That number is set to decrease.
According to Chemship’s forecasts for the industry, the global fleet of chemical tankers, across all sizes, is rapidly ageing out and is not being replaced in sufficient
numbers. Consequently, Chemship expects the globally available fleet capacity to shrink considerably in the coming years, creating an opportunity for those remaining to capture an even greater volume of market share.
This adds further impetus to Chemship’s ongoing effort to maintain a fleet of modern, newer, efficient vessels.
“We’re in a comfortable position with our young fleet and it’s a position that we actively maintain,” said Mr Marelis. “In our fleet, which has an average age of seven years, we prioritise onboard innovations using the latest and best technologies to ensure that our vessels are efficient, well maintained and constantly in line with the latest emissions caps.”
Sustainably wind-powered
In keeping with its focus on innovation and efficiency, Chemships is excited to announce that in February 2024, it is fitting
four high-tech VentoFoil sails to Chemical Challenger – one of its latest vessels – in a groundbreaking new sustainability project for the company. VentoFoils, which resemble aircraft wings, are foldable, autonomous, rigid structures fitted to the deck of a ship. These structures create high propelling forces, maximising thrust and substantially reducing the vessel’s fuel consumption.
The VentoFoil project has been in development for two years, having begun early in 2022 and having received final sign off in January 2024from Mr Marelis – the project’s lead. “It’s something special and we are very excited about it,” he revealed. “We have calculated that the fuel savings from the VentoFoils should be at least 10 per cent, but in optimum conditions, they could theoretically reach 20 per cent.
“However, our main focus is emissions reduction. Since wind offers non-polluting propulsion, it’s an easy choice for us. On that basis, we expect an annual reduction in our carbon emissions of about 1,000
tonnes of CO2; or the equivalent of about 500 average passenger cars per year.”
Each VentoFoil, which is sixteen metres tall, is equipped with a smart suction s ystem that uses internal fans to optimise airflow across the sail, maximising thrust g eneration and fuel consumption reduction. The VentoFoils are manufactured using aluminium, and their light weight of only seven tonnes each means that structural modifications were not required to fit them to Chemical Challenger.
Furthermore, the VentoFoils are able to fold down, allowing Chemical Challenger to maintain full visibility around the ship when entering or leaving ports, or to safely clear navigation hazards.
Safety first
Chemical shipping is subject to a constantly evolving raft of legislative, regulatory and institutional rules, with the oil industry being particularly demanding, and there are good reasons for all of that. “Safety is the biggest priority at all times, not only to protect human health and welfare, but also to safeguard the environment, for example to avoid oil spills,” Mr Marelis said.
It comes as no surprise, that Chemship devotes substantial human resources to safety compliance.
Chemship’s ability to dedicate such a large amount of resources is thanks, in large part, to its long-term relationship with Fleet Management Limited, a Hong Kongbased ship management service provider.
Established in 1994, Fleet Management Limited began working with Chemship only a few years later in 1998 and the relationship has continued to bear fruit ever since.
“They’re a big company with which we have a long tradition,” Mr Marelis proudly noted. “We were the first chemical transport company to join Fleet Management Limited and the relationship is now so close that
their team has almost become like an in-house department for us.”
Fleet Management Limited takes care of Chemship’s technical and crewing management, freeing Chemship’s staff up to focus on the day-to-day running of its ships, compliance issues and client relationships.
Concluding, Mr Marelis reflected on his enthusiasm for chemical shipping. “I’m especially excited by the day-to-day challenge of finding the perfect combinations of cargo for the most efficient voyages, all while minimising emissions. And all of this while we’re working on keeping the fleet sustainable and experimenting to see what will work best for us into the future.” n
