Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2022)

The Ship Repair & Conversion Edition

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COVER STORY THE CALM THROUGH THE STORM it was before, with the ferry segment or the offshore PSV sec- the wide adoption and use of ‘green fuels’ – maritime fuels tors. Now it’s spreading into the deep sea and many of the generated by renewable sources, but there are myriad show- different segments. If you look back to 2019, about 6% of the stoppers today, namely the quantity of fuels themselves plus vessels ordered where with alternative fuels. Fast forward to the infrastructure, the distribution network and the facilities in 2021, that has doubled to about 12% of vessels ordered. By the ports that still needs to be developed. gross tonnage (it’s even more impressive, at 20-25%). As with any industry in any country, many decisions boil

While hybrid propulsion systems, as well as optimized de- down to cost, and while Ørbeck-Nilssen maintains it is not signs and energy saving devices continue to penetrate new possible to give an exact answer (premised on the diversity of ships, Ørbeck-Nilssen insists that the transformation has not vessel types, types of energy saving devices or fuel systems, been fast enough, and in fact it’s time for those sitting on the plus where it is built) of an exact generalized cost impact, fence to pick a direction. “I’m preoccupied with the fact that owners can generally plan a CapEx hit of 10 to 30% in design- we need to do what we can do now, rather than wait another ing, building and out? tting a vessel optimized for emission 10 years to ? nd a better solution, because that will be 10 years reduction. “(But it’s really a case-by-case basis) for example wasted. As I’ve said before, we shouldn’t make good the en- if you go with methanol instead of LNG on a dual fuel sys- emy of perfect.” tem, methanol is less cost-intensive because the systems are

Small, incremental steps in emission reduction, from slow somewhat simpler.” steaming to optimized route planning, from propulsion assist “Whether it’s an air-lubrication system, a hybrid propul- devises to better coating application and maintenance, are sion solution or a battery package; you can simply say that available today for all. the more equipment and systems you put in, the more you ‘Perfect’ in this decarbonization drive sense appears to be pay,” said Ørbeck-Nilssen. “But I would say that everything that saves energy makes sense.

Because whatever the fuel choice will be, fuel is getting more ex- the decarb puzzle ... There is no SILVER BULLET pensive, and it will be even more expensive in the future. So what- ever you can do to bring down the energy consumption onboard makes a lot of sense.”

But he also said the bigger ? nancial consideration lies in lifetime of the asset, particularly when you factor in the in- creasing speed of new regulations and more strict emission reduction mandates. “These are assets you will have for 20 to 25 years, maybe longer. So if you have a stranded asset (that is unable to be used because of regulation or upgraded) that would be very bad.”

The maritime renaissance

As technology evolves, classi? cation naturally evolves in step, and the past two years have seen a seeming avalanche of Approvals in Principle (AIPs) from all class societies. “As we’ve talked about before, I really believe that this is the de- cade where we are entering into this maritime renaissance,” said Ørbeck-Nilssen. “We have to look at things with new eyes and challenge a lot of existing truths. Engine manufac- turers, vessel designers, yards and owners are all trying to harvest these new ideas and to make things better. I think it’s a really good thing, innovation is at the core and naturally class has a big role to play in making sure that some of these concepts are being looked at, they are being matured; that they are checked against safety and practicalities. And that’s where

I think that class can really play an important role. Naturally we spend quite a bit of time on this, but it’s also in our interest to use these innovative projects to help develop our rules.” www.marinelink.com 37

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