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INTERVIEW GLENN EDVARDSEN, CEO, UECC tainable rates. We have an opportunity build a ship with this type of one best piece of advice?

here to offer them a great product, but it propulsion and propulsion

Don’t sit back and wait for the per- doesn’t come for free, you need to pay a management system, ver- fect solution to come along. There are little bit more for it.

sus a ship that is just with viable technologies, there are opportu- traditional diesel power?

nities out there. So don’t sit back and

For shipowners mulling

A few years ago they were all saying, wait, jump on it.

their options, what is your “Yes, it’s good, but the LNG plant is so expensive and hard to justify.” Yes, it is an additional cost. But in order to meet all and exceed the new regulatory requirements (and taking into consider- ation the other potential solutions) and achieve the same emission standards as you have with the LNG, we are not very far off today’s conventional ves- sel. But if I was to answer your ques- tion, it all depends on the size of the vessel. For these vessels, we usually talk about between $6 to $7 million (in additional cost).

That leads perfectly into my next point, because I noted with interest in the press release regarding the keel laying for the third vessel, you mentioned that this is not just good for the environment, but it’s a busi- ness imperative. Can you elaborate on that?

I think it speaks for itself; it is a busi- ness imperative. The (automotive) in- dustry needs to show that not only are their vehicles focused on decarboniza- tion, but that their logistic chain is, too.

What do you consider to be the greatest challenge for

UECC in this de-carboniza- tion path?

When people asked me back in 2014 if we saw a risk in building the LNG vessel, I said frankly, not at all. We looked at it as a great advantage, a com- petitive advantage. We were sure of the direction we needed to go; we saw the direction the world was heading. The challenge will be money. We know that in introducing environmentally sustain- able vessels, there will always be an add-on cost. With that, we need sus- www.marinelink.com 25

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