Page 31: of Marine News Magazine (December 2016)

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WORKBOAT EMISSIONS & COMPLIANCE platforms (such as Olympus, tapping the huge Mars ? eld) ing has gained a wider acceptance, and other boat build- in the Gulf of Mexico, based in Port Fourchon, where they ers are jumping into the fray. Also in the States, Conrad also take on LNG as fuel. The 5,150 DWT boats were Shipyard, based in Morgan City, La, in the news with its built at Gulf Coast Shipyard in Gulfport, Miss., based on construction of a barge to handle fuel for Tote’s new con- a design from Vard Marine (part of Fincantieri Group). tainerships, has recently launched a business unit to spe-

The design, dubbed Vard 1 311, has gained the ABS EN- ci? cally handle LNG projects. Brett Wolbrink, who will

VIRO+ certi? cation. The trio are the ? rst U.S. ? ag vessels lead the new effort, told MarineNews that Conrad LNG to have this notation. would “take advantage of our experience and knowledge

In discussing the performance of the boats, Mr. Ver- gained during the construction of North America’s ? rst ret told MarineNews, “We are extremely proud of their LNG bunker barge. We believe that LNG as a marine fuel performance so far. The three boats have been operating will prove to be instrumental in reducing emissions and for 1,261 total days and we’ve had no forced downtime.” providing operators with long term economic advantages.”

The vessels are powered by 3 Wärtsilä 6L34DF dual fuel main engines, providing 7.5MW (just over 10,000 hp) of

Caveats & Collaboration power. He added, “We run almost exclusively on LNG;

On supply boats, the placement of LNG tanks is not we are always burning 1 percent diesel fuel [for piloting constrained by vessel dimensions. But practicalities may the ignition in the cylinders]. With the ? ip of a switch, we militate against LNG fueling of small tugs. Robert Allan, could go to 100 percent diesel if we needed. If there’s ever Executive Chairman of the Board at Vancouver-based na- a problem with the gas, the engines would automatically val architects Robert Allan Ltd, said, “LNG is a fuel option switch over to the diesel backup.” that makes a lot of sense in bigger vessels, where you have

Harvey Gulf has three additional boats delivering, Har- the storage capacity,” but he cautioned that LNG fueling vey Freedom in March 2017, and Harvey America in Octo- required a multiple of six times the space of an equiva- ber 2017. Both of these vessels will be placed in service to lent diesel powered tug, for the storage of the fuel and the

Shell. The ? nal boat in the series, Harvey Patriot, due in equipment needed to regulate and burn the gas. Thus, a 2018, is currently uncommitted. pure LNG burning tug would have a very limited range.

Mr. Allan, whose ? rm is considered a leader in the de- sign of high performance escort and ship-handling tugs,

A Little ahead, Across the Pond

In other offshore markets, Eidesvik, a Norwegian opera- added: “At the moment, you pay about 50% more for the tor of PSV’s, is running a trio of dual fueled boats sup- same size and power tug … compared to conventional die- porting oil producers in the North Sea and Barents Sea. sel.” For these reasons, Mr. Allan is a strong advocate of

The company’s pioneering efforts go back to 2004, when duel fuel systems, “…because you take the range limitation its Viking Energy delivered from the Kleven Verft in Nor- out of the equation.” He highlighted a building program way’s west coast. The latest vessel, Viking Prince, delivered of three boats (with the RAstar design) being built at Astil- in 2014; these boats are also deploying dual fuel engines leros Gondan, in Spain, for the Norwegian owner Østen- from Wärtsilä. Eidesvik also operates a pair of dual fueled sjø Rederi. All three will be working for Statoil. supply vessels built at the Westcon yard, one of which, the In June, 2016, the Gondan yard, at Figueros (in north- fuel cell equipped Viking Lady (with cells fueled by LNG), ern Spain), launched the ? rst of the three boats, followed built 2009, had subsequently demonstrated the feasibility by a second vessel in September- both to be delivered in of battery power in 2014. early 2017. The vessels, 40.2 meters length and 16 meters

Kleven built another dual fueled PSV, also with propul- beam, will provide tug and escort services at a Statoil ter- sion and storage/ containment from Wärtsilä, Rem Eir, for minal in the northern reaches of Norway, at Melkøya, near

Romoy Shipping, also on charter in the North Sea. In wa- Hammerfest. He explained, “The tugs are a true “dual- ters northwest of Australia, where major new gas produc- fuel” vessel. For purely spatial reasons the volume of gas tion projects have been steadily coming online, gas pro- which can be carried is somewhat limited so the tugs will ducer Woodside Petroleum has contracted with another work on gas when in harbor doing ship handling, but vir-

Norwegian operator, Siem Offshore, for a ? ve year charter tually any other time where somewhat longer range/endur- of a PSV being built in Poland at the Remontowa yard. ance is required will be on MDO.”

Spurred by the pioneering efforts of the Norwegians, Importantly, Melkøya is the terminus of an underwater and now, closer to home – with Harvey Gulf – LNG fuel- pipeline that transports natural gas over 100 miles from 31

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