Page 24: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 2013)

Seated at his desk with a view of St. John?s harbour, Ocean- ex Executive Chairman Cap-tain Sid Hynes is highlighting the innovation in the Oceanex Conn-aigra, Oceanex Inc.,?s 210-m custom- designed container/roll on roll off (Con/Ro) ice class 1A ship that is presently coming to life in the Flens-burger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft mbH & Co. (FSG) shipyard in Flensburg, Germany. According to FSG, it will be ?one of the longest, most innova-tive, environmentally friendly, and flexible Con/Ro ferries in the world.?Following four years of study and research, the design stage was com-pleted. First steel was cut in October 2012, and the keel was laid on Febru-ary 11, 2013. The Oceanex Connaigra will become the largest Canadian flag Con/Ro ship with its carrying capacity of 19,500 deadweight tonnes and ser- vice speed of 20 knots. It is expected to go through first-year ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence at close to full speed. Based in St. John?s, Newfoundland, Oceanex provides intermodal trans-portation services throughout eastern Canada and carries approximately half of all freight to Newfoundland. The fleet currently consists of Ocean-ex Avalon (1,004 TEU LoLo), Ocean- ex Sanderling (1,125 TEU RoRo), and Cabot (644 TEU RoRo). The Oceanex Sanderling and the Cabot can trans-port trailer traffic and automobiles utilizing their RoRo decks. To address the MARPOL Annex VI emissions regulation that will be go-ing into effect in 2015 and to ensure the Oceanex Connaigra will be en-vironmentally friendly, a dry scrub- ber air emission cleaning system designed by Couple (Germany) will be installed. The decision was made after viewing a prototype dry system in Germany. According to FSG, this is the first shipboard dry exhaust gas cleaning system in the world. The Oceanex team decided to go this route after researching all available systems including wet scrubber systems. ?We couldn?t find a system that had been in operation for a year where every-body was singing its praises,? said Capt. Hynes. The dry scrubber sys- tem uses pelletized hydrated lime which reacts with the sulfur, causing the sulfur to attach to the lime result-ing in close to zero sulfur emissions. This technology has been applied in shore-based power stations, said Thomas Ritte, FSG?s Vice President, FEATURE VESSEL OCEANEX CONNAIGRA(Photo Credit: Flensburger) Oceanex Is Building Innovation Into Largest Canadian Flag Con/Ro Ship By Andrew Safer 24 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? MARCH 2013 Keel Laying of the Oceanex Connaigra, Flensburg, Germany ? February 11, 2013. MR #3 (18-25).indd 24MR #3 (18-25).indd 243/4/2013 12:24:04 PM3/4/2013 12:24:04 PM