Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (July 2013)

10 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? JULY 2013 Woodside Rogers, ex-pected to enter service this month, is Þ rst in a series of seven LNG carriers being built for Maran Gas by DSME, a ship which features GE?s Induction-Based Propulsion Motor Technology. It is the Þ rst electrical LNG carrier to be ordered by Maran Gas. Built by Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) at its shipyard near Busan, the ship com-pleted sea trials in late April and was delivered to Maran Gas on July 1. The remaining ships in the series are sched-uled for delivery through 2015.?We expect our ship builders to propose the most cost-effective and sustainable solutions for our require-ments,? said Andreas Spertos, techni- cal director, Maran Gas. ?DSME made a strong case for using the GE technol-ogy based on their substantial experi-ence over the years, in combination with the tri-fuel engine. This is our Þ rst time working with GE?s electric pro- pulsion system. We are very impressed by the level of their technical expertise and conÞ dent in the decision to use their electric propulsion systems.?DSME and GE already had cooper- ated on electric propulsion systems for six vessels prior to the Woodside Rog- ers. Over the last 18 months, GE has won contracts to supply induction-based propulsion motor technology on no fewer than 31 LNG carriers. The Woodside Rogers will be the Þ rst of those to go into commercial service. For the Woodside Rogers, GE sup- plied a complete system comprising of four 9.85-MVA generators, main and cargo switchboards, four transform- ers, two converters, two 13.26-MW motors and remote control. GE also provided project management, system and equipment engineering, commis-sioning and assistance for sea and gas trials.The Technology GE?s induction-based propulsion motor technology has proven to be a technology of choice for LNG carriers because of its combination of high-power pulse width modulation (PWM) technology based on insulated gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), together with robustly simple induction motor technology. The electric drive system for the Woodside Rogers is powered by tri-fuel engines that run on natural gas, marine diesel gas or heavy fuel oil. The ship operator can choose the mode ac-cording to current prices of the differ- ent fuels, enhancing the cost-effective operation of the systme. The layout of the tri-fuel engine provides a high lev-el of redundancy, which improves the safety of the carrier avoiding off char- ters. Fuel consumption and emissions also are lower. DSME has chosen GE?s electric power systems for numerous vessels in recent years. www.gepowerconversion.com NEWSMonthly Change SecondhandVessel Values by Year & Size VesselsValue.com provides data driven ship valuations for tankers, bulkers and containerships. These graphs show how vessel value de-pends on age for the major types. Vessels are assumed to have typical size and speciÞ cation for age and high built quality at a top tier shipyard. Electrical LNG Carrier Electrical LNG Carrier to Maran Gas to Maran GasBy the NumbersThe U.S. Maritime Administration last month released a report entitled ?The Economic Importance of the U.S. Shipbuilding and Repairing Indus-try,? and below are some of the more interesting numbers from the report.$36B MarAd said that the na-tion?s shipyards support $36B in gross domestic product (GDP)$7.9B In labor income to the national economy107,000 Number of jobs provided by 300+ shipyards$73,000 Average income for these industry jobs10 States account for 85.2% of private shipyard employment. In order, they are: Virginia (24.9%); Louisiana (12.1%); Mississippi (9.4%); Connecti-cut (8.3%); California (7.6%); Maine (5.6%); Florida (5.4%); Texas (5.1%); Alabama (3.6%); & Washington (3.3%). The report notes the U.S. shipbuilding industry has run a trade surplus in six out of the last 10 years, with a cumu-lative trade surplus of $410m over this period. The report also shows that from 2010 to 2012, deliveries of vessels of all types, including tugs and towboats, passenger vessels, commercial and Þ sh-ing vessels, and oceangoing and inland barges, exceeded 1,200 vessels per year, reaching 1,457 vessels in 2011. The re- port can be found at www.marad.dot.gov/documents/ MARAD_Econ_Study_Final_Re-port_2013.pdf MR #7 (10-17).indd 10MR #7 (10-17).indd 107/1/2013 1:16:17 PM7/1/2013 1:16:17 PM