Page 54: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 2013)

TECHNICALFUELS & LUBRICANTSWhile increased regulation is often cited as the primary culprit driving ship-owners to adopt new energy ef Þ cient technologies and practices for their ships, one major shipowner has a differ- ing opinion.?You can make the argument that regu- lations are what?s driving it, but person- ally I think it?s more economics,? said Chris Errington, Director of Engineering at Maersk Line. Errington, along with industry veteran Graham Westgarth, Ex- ecutive Vice President of Operations and Strategy, GasLog Logistics, was part of a panel discussion led by Dr. Kirsi Tik- ka, President and COO, ABS European Division, on energy ef Þ ciency of mari- time vessels held on March 19, 2013 at the Connecticut Maritime Association?s Shipping 2013 event in Stamford, Con-necticut.?I think, even without the regulations, the shipyards and the economics of it are driven by the owners. The owners are the people that are demanding bet-ter designs and better efÞ ciencies on the vessels.? Errington said, linking much of the industry?s focus on energy solutions to the ?present Þ nancial climate and the economics of more energy ef Þ cient ves-sels.?Given the market?s Þ nancial turbu- lence, squeezing ß eets for the very last drop of proÞ t has become a necessity for many shipowners. Vessel ef Þ ciency and company proÞ ts often go hand in hand, forcing shipowners to set their sights on energy solutions as an approach toward ß eet-wide savings. ?[Maersk] has targets every year. Last year the target was $40 million in fuel savings, and we exceeded that. I think it was $78 million. We actually doubled it. And in the U.S. we achieved $16.7 mil-lion of that cost,? Errington said. ?At the end of the day, everything is going to equate in dollar values. We?ll continue to challenge ourselves each year as we go. This year it?s a similar challenge of $80 million globally.? But these savings are not achieved without careful consideration and atten-tion to detail. Even seemingly small fea-tures such as marine coatings can draw big savings, Errington said. ?Paint sys-tems play a huge factor in your econo-mies,? he noted. ?We found that you can have huge savings by having the right paint system on a vessel. At Maersk in the last two years, we have taken six of our vessels out of the water, not when they were due but drydocked them early just to change the paint system. And we could see the paybacks virtually imme-diately.? Echoing Errington?s view on econom- ic-driven energy advancements, West- garth said, ?Because of the price of fuel and the pressure the industry?s under, I?m seeing more innovation than I ever have before. ?There?s different hull designs, there?s retroÞ ts, there?s different engines, there?s a lot of focus on using LNG as a marine fuel on ships outside of the LNG business. In 10 years? time I think we will look back and see a quantum leap.? Speaking to the economy?s impact on future design, he added, ?The new gen-eration of ships, in my view, are going to be at least 10-15% more efÞ cient than anything that we actually see right now.? Westgarth also referred to regulation as a driving force for proactive energy efÞ ciency initiatives?still not without strong economic implications. ?One way or another, there will even- tually be a tax on greenhouse gas emis-sions, whether it is a levy or a tax, there will be some form of cost associate,? Westgarth said. ?The legislation will come, and I think if you?re a responsible company it makes a lot of sense to have the systems and processes in place before the legislation so you?re not scrambling at the last min-ute.?Both Maersk and GasLog along with many other companies have used ABS framework to adopt efÞ cient best-prac- tices for their respective ß eets, but cer- tainly not without consideration to their company?s Þ nancial interests. Regulations provide benchmarks which help keep shipowners on track; but the economy is ultimately shining the spotlight on energy solutions and catalyzing industry efforts toward ef Þ -ciency. In Big Ship Fuel EconomyFinances Trump Regulation Left to right: Graham Westgarth, EVP Operations and Strategy, GasLog Ltd.; Kirsi Tikka, President & COO, ABS Europe Division and Chris Errington, Director, Engi- neering Maritime Technical Services, Maersk Line Ltd. By Eric HaunAccording to Kirsi Tikka On the sidelines at the Connecti-cut Maritime Association?s Shipping 2013, in the wake of the ABS led panel discussion on energy ef Þ ciency of maritime vessels, Dr. Kirsi Tikka, President and COO, ABS European Division shared with Maritime Re- porter & Engineering News.Maersk and GasLog are strong players obviously, but was there a particular reasoning for including them in this high-level discussion? First and foremost, they were some of the Þ rst companies to receive this certiÞ cation through ABS (ISO 50001 through our HSQEEN frame-work, so basically they have our nota-tion for energy management. For many years ?being green? was more marketing slogan than corpo-rate policy. Is this changing? I believe that almost all com- panies are taking some measures for fuel efÞ ciency. Some do it in a more structured framework, such as Maersk and GasLog; others do it within their own operational framework.In the conference, you ß oated the notion of self regulation for the maritime industry. Is this a reality, and what would be the driver? Being with a class society, we are part of the industry which to a large extent is self-regulating. If you think of the class rules, it is self regulation for the industry. We have traditionally focused on structures, machinery and safety aspects ? but the class role is changing clearly now we look at energy ef Þ ciency and per- formance. As Graham (Graham West- garth, EVP of Operations and Strat- egy, GasLog Logistics) mentioned, there are a lot of political drivers, par- ticularly in the greenhouse gas discus-sion. 54 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? MAY 2013 MR #5 (50-57).indd 54MR #5 (50-57).indd 545/2/2013 10:06:48 AM5/2/2013 10:06:48 AM