From LNG to Hydrogen? Pitfalls and Possibilities

Liquid hydrogen could get a leg up from the industry’s experience with LNG propulsion,writes Stevie Knight.

Gerd-Michael Wuersig, DNV-GL’s business director for Alternative Fuels explains: “While hydrogen doesn’t come under the IGF code as yet, from my point of view I’d say the maritime industry’s hesitancy is more due to missing experience; most of the process technology and safety principles that relate to LNG will relate to hydrogen, and while there are different factors involved, in the end the risk level will not be very different. This is the good news.”

The bad news is that while your shipboard or bunkering design might look very similar, the components, like valves, hoses and piping are not necessarily interchangeable: “It’s a smaller molecule and it can escape through joints or seals that would retain LNG,” he adds. “You’d have to look to see if the current components would be suitable – but most likely I think you’ll have changes in your equipment,” says Dr Wuersig. And, he adds, it’ll work out quite a bit more pricey.

However, he also points out that the while it may be a novel application, the technology itself is not new.Joe Pratt underlines this point: “The equipment and expertise has been in existence for a long time. In North America, for example, LH2 production, handling, and distribution have been mature for over 50 years… So a lot of the components will come off the shelf.”

More, LNG developments can’t help much here as at this point the design deviates sharply. Two characteristics of LH2 are low density and low boiling temperature: together these demand an extremely low heat flux through the tank walls.

Dr Wuersig explains that the normal 40cm LNG insulation “just won’t work”. He says a moderately large LNG tank could lose 0.2% of its total volume a day but “store hydrogen in the same kind of tank and you would actually lose 5% of the contents every day to vaporisation”.

“Therefore to get down to roughly the same boil off rate the insulation of the hydrogen tank must be about 10 times more efficient than an LNG tank,” says Dr Wuersig. “In fact you need a system that is gas tight from the outside as well as the inside with no chance of the air finding its way into the insulation – if it does it will condense, and this will suck yet more air in.”

A multilayer approach with an evacuated space between the inner and outer shell is already being used to keep LH2 and liquid helium cold in the industrial sector, but there’s only one project so far – for a KHI-designed ship – that’s being scaled for the marine trading world, although the eventual development of larger vessels will have an advantage because higher capacity tanks exhibit a lower boil off rate.

There are other dissimilarities between LNG and LH2. Dr Pratt says when it comes to bunkering, “the biggest difference is the much colder temperature of LH2” and explains that unlike LNG, H2 is actually colder than oxygen or nitrogen. While LNG can hover at -163°C, liquid hydrogen needs to be kept at -253°C.

So, “even through vacuum insulation you will get very cold temperature on the outside of the pipe that can freeze or condense oxygen and nitrogen out of the air”.  For practical purposes, not only do you need a very high grade of insulation, “there will be some drip pans and possibly restrictions on fuelling over asphalt to prevent any fire possibility as a result of having pure oxygen forming around the pipes”, said Dr Pratt.

BIG QUESTION

Hydrogen is already the chosen option for a number of smaller vessels with an environmental agenda: “Norway is working on constructing hydrogen fuelled vessels, mostly battery hybrids, as it is aiming for zero emissions in the fjords,” says Dr Wuersig. The autonomous Energy Observer, which electrolyses seawater for fuel, has recently set off on a six year missionand Dr Pratt is himself pursuing the build of a small, multipurpose freight carrier for California through GGZEM.

But, the most obvious question is: would hydrogen be a useful alternative for big ships?

First of all, bigger ships will need to bunker liquefied, not compressed, hydrogen. Dr Pratt says: “In general, it’s always better to go to LH2 if you can get it and afford the cost difference – it gives you more range or longer times between refuelling than gas, no matter what the size of the vessel.” This obviously needs the development of infrastructure – and here again, the industry experience with LNG will be invaluable – but on which kinds of vessels could it find a home?

Sandia’s research Practical Application Limits of Fuel Cells and Batteries for Zero Emission Vessels* (at the time lead by Dr Pratt), has dug deep into the nitty-gritty, with a look at no less than 14 possible ships and their associated routes.

This takes a detailed look not just at the power required, but whether the ship could actually accommodate the necessary architecture – helped of course by the fact that fuel cells, unlike a shaft drive engine, can be positioned in a variety of areas.

One of the 14 studies was the 397m Emma Maersk. Despite the large power and energy requirements, the research showed that the ship is able to hold a fuel cell powerplant using liquid hydrogen, scaled for a single voyage from Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia to Port Said, Egypt with a total voyage time of 256hr at an average speed of 19.6 knots and average shaft power of 36.1MW. This would require bunkering with 616t of LH2.

Likewise, a detailed look at Colombo Express (335m) showed that it could carry out three of its typical, single trips between Singapore and Colombo, Sri Lanka, fuelled with 183t of LH2.

The devil is in the detail. Dr Wuersig points out that hydrogen has a low energy density by volume (though not by weight) which is only around 40% of that LNG. As already pointed out, LH2 isn’t heavy, but one tonne of it takes up over 14,128 litres by volume: this means 8,500m3 of LH2 for that Emma Maersk journey on LH2.

Could it be done? Yes, but it’s tricky as deep sea routes aren’t made up of single journeys. Taking the kind of operational profile that’s used onboard the latest LNG-fuelled CMA CGM ships which require an 18,000m3 tank installed underneath the wheelhouse, “you’d need 50,000m3 instead” he says. Further, he estimates the Asia-Europe string is 40 days: therefore the Emma Maersk would need around 72,000m3 to transit this on LH2 alone.

However, the case is different for shorter runs: according to the Sandia study, Colombo Express fairs better: 833m3 for that Singapore-Colombo single trip (2,500m3 for three journeys).

More, both agree that when it gets to ropax crossings like those between the east coast of the UK and Rotterdam, there’s obviously an advantage as it’s a short, regular, point-to-point journey “and you do need the infrastructure to deliver the hydrogen, something that’s caused other viable projects to fail” says Dr Pratt. Certainly Sandia’s investigation showed that Pride of Hull has room for a fuel cell and LH2 tank scaled for 15.8t of fuel, yielding no less than five crossings on just one fill up.

Dr Wuersig adds there are many other areas that might see hydrogen as a viable alternative for slightly larger ships on a regular run: “Baltic carriers for example, could benefit because they could be filling up every few days; then there’s the US-Hawaii traffic on the Jones Act ships.” More, he adds that Chinese river traffic is presently looking LNG, but there could soon be a lot of renewable energy capacity in China that might not all be easily absorbed by the grid “which might change the maths when it comes to the generation of sustainable fuels”.

It’s not just China, some of the windfarms and renewable arrays around offshore Europe are presently considering generating hydrogen in their off-peak periods.

More, Sandia’s study on the offshore supply vessel Maersk Frontier showed it could take on no less than 28 single trips (14 round trips) on the 166nm journey between home port in Aberdeen UK and the Janice offshore facility at an average 9.7 knots, so LH2 could be worthwhile for wider ranging applications. Even closer to realisation is Zero-V, a coastal research vessel concept by Glosten, Sandia and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography that’s just been given AIP by DNV GL. Supported by bunkering of its 11,000kg capacity tanks at four ports along the US West Coast, it will have a 10kn range of 2,400 nautical miles.

However, another niggling detail presents itself: LH2 is also expensive to create: “At present production costs alone come to around $2.00 per litre, that’s without the base feed,” says Dr Wuersig. And no, it probably won’t get a lot cheaper – it’s down to the physics. The amount of energy required for liquefying hydrogen takes a huge 30% slice out of the total, compared to about 5% for LNG.

This is one of the main reasons that hydrogen hasn’t already found a niche: however, we’ve not experienced this regulatory landscape before, points out Dr Wuersig. “If we keep to our carbon ambitions, then yes, there will be reason to employ hydrogen as one of a number of multiple fuel options.”

* Practical Application Limits of Fuel Cells and Batteries for Zero Emission Vessels (http://energy.sandia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/SAND2017-12665.pdf). 

AMBIENT-LIQUID HYDROGEN TRANSPORT?

The LH2 demonstrator is not the first long-range hydrogen supply chain project targeting Japan.

Last year, Chiyoda Corp started to work on transporting hydrogen extracted from natural gas at an LNG plant in Brunei and delivering it to the city of Kawasaki in Japan – but rather than chilling to -253°C, the hydrogen is bound to a carrier substance and carried in simple chemical tankers which slot neatly into the existing supply-chain technology. No need for expensive cryogenics.

Transforming hydrogen into an ambient liquid means binding it with a carrier substance, such as toluene, converting it to methyl cyclohexane (MCH) by hydrogenation: three H2 molecules attach to every molecule of toluene. At the other end it’s reconverted to hydrogen gas, the toluene being recovered for the next round.

Professor Kazuyuki Ouchi, University of Tokyo explains that the density, while not quite as high as LH2 (500 times that of hydrogen gas, as compared to 700 times) “it is of the same order” so yields a tolerably similar output.

Interestingly, the project, which is expected to start production in 2020 with an output of 210 tonnes (enough to fill up 40,000 fuel cell vehicles), has Mitsubishi Corporation, NYK and Mitsui onboard.

More, while it’s starting with a fossil fuel base, Chiyoda believes that production will eventually move to renewably-derived hydrogen.

Source: The Motorship

A sustainable maritime industry in a 2°C scenario – has the ship already sailed?

Shipping has long been a fundamental enabler of trade, although its important role may go unnoticed. Think about where the clothes you are wearing were made and how they arrived here. What about your phone? How did its components all come together to reach your hand right now? It’s very likely that shipping played a role in both examples. How is this all made possible?

Containerisation, a system of multimodal transport storage, means that ships remain the cheapest and most efficient transport method. Today, they can carry tens of thousands of containers around the globe with only a small crew.

The industry has been growing at a remarkable rate. Already producing 2.5% of global carbon emissions, this industry is expected to grow by between 50% and 250% by 2050. Shipping fuel is often much more dense and polluting than that allowed on land, presenting an environmental challenge that needs to be met by more sustainable measures in the shipping industry.

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

The acclaimed Paris climate agreement in 2015 achieved great success in establishing binding carbon targets by sector. However, due to extensive lobbying of the International Marine Organisation (IMO), shipping was the only sector excluded from legally binding emissions reductions. This has impacted the drive towards developing more sustainable fuels and shipping systems, despite the IMO committing to some form of carbon reductions.

As a result, international shipping legislation around environmental impacts has been slow. But there has been some progress. A recent development was the introduction of a lower sulphur content cap for shipping fuels from 3.5% to 0.5% from 2020, with an aim to improve air quality near ports and shipping routes.

Environmental legislation is increasingly coming from regional and local levels, although its impacts are felt at a global scale. A notable example is the EU, which has declared that any ship over 5,000 tonnes must monitor, report and verify their annual carbon emissions from 1 January 2018. This drive for sustainability has come from individual ports as well. For instance, the Port of London Authority has introduced a 5% discounted green tariff for more environmentally friendly ships.

WHERE ARE WE GOING?

These examples look set to become trends, with increasing responsibility being taken by port authorities. The World Ports Sustainability Programme (WPSP) was launched in March this year, aimed at creating holistic sustainability plans for ports to shape the shipping sector thorough a series of tariffs, investment, efficiency improvements, and bans.

There has been much innovation regarding clean-energy shipping, including the soon-approaching world-first electric, driver-less barge; hydrogen-powered shipping; and a solar-powered bulk-carrier ship. However, these technologies are unlikely to contribute significantly to carbon reductions in the shipping sector any time soon. The near future of sustainable shipping therefore looks increasingly based around new fuel blends, efficiency measures, and taxes. Unlike road fuels, marine fuels are currently not taxed, and a CO2 tax is gaining momentum worldwide. This method helps to drive the cheapest emissions reductions, through optimisation of shipping speeds, fuel shifts and efficiency improvements.

The sector is facing some big changes, although the mechanisms remain unclear. If sustainable shipping is to make a tangible contribution to global climate targets, both international legislative pressure and bottom-up regional and port-led initiatives will need to be ambitious, economically viable, and aligned.

Action or inaction in the industry will also have significant consequences for the outcomes of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), most notably SDG 13 on climate action and SDG 14 relating to life below water. The maritime industry will need to play an integral role in development that conserves our oceans and marine resources, an essential requirement for a sustainable future.

Source: Hellenic Shipping News

Port Reception Facilities: ESPO welcomes draft report but calls for stricter application of the “Polluter Pays” principle

The European Sea ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the proposals put forward by the European Parliament Rapporteur Ms Gesine Meissner in the draft report of the Transport Committee on the review of the Waste Reception Facilities Directive (Com (2018) 33).  The Draft Report will be discussed in the Transport Committee meeting of 10 July.

The proposals of the Parliament’s rapporteur are aiming to better protect the marine environment and decrease the administrative burden for stakeholders. ESPO welcomes in particular proposals such as the definition of catering waste which would increase the quantities of recycled plastics and contribute to the targets of the European Plastics Strategy.

European ports believe however that the ‘polluter pays’ principle, which has been the cornerstone of the EU’s environmental policy, needs to be strengthened. Introducing a fee system whereby ships would deliver unreasonable quantities of garbage, including dangerous waste for a fixed fee would be a severe divergence from the ‘polluter pays’ principle. It risks to discourage reducing waste at the source.

“The report of Ms Meissner is clearly a step forward. Overall, the report pursues the objectives of the circular economy and aims to reduce administrative burden for authorities and stakeholders. We strongly believe however that the ‘polluter pays’ principle needs to be better reflected in the new Directive. We cannot accept a regime whereby ships are not incentivised to limit waste at the source and ports have to carry the costs of delivering unreasonable amounts. Additionally, we oppose an automatic rebate for “green” ships. Any green rebate, if not corresponding to a real cost reduction, will have to be borne by the port authority. Not all port managing bodies have the financial ability to cover this cost and to give such rebates. We plead for an efficient, but responsible management of ship waste. We count on the rapporteur and Transport Committee members to further optimise the Directive in that sense” says ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.

Any mandatory green rebates for waste, as proposed by the Commission proposal, would prevent ports from addressing local environmental challenges. In some areas, waste pollution is a great environmental concern while in others it is air quality and emissions. Furthermore, mandatory rebates disregard the existence of different business and governance models in ports across Europe.

The Commission has been preparing an EU submission to the IMO proposing a 100% indirect fee without quantity thresholds at international level (here).  “I regret that a submission is being introduced to the Council when Parliament has not expressed any views, and negotiations with the Council have not even started. This initiative seems to bypass the ongoing democratic process and lacks legitimacy” adds ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.

Source: ESPO Press Release

Toyota presents the first vessel propelled by hydrogen

The vessel, which travels around the world, has a reduced weight thanks to its production system, as it does not have to store all the energy in batteries.

Toyota has just presented the first energy-autonomous boat, which runs on hydrogen and does not emit greenhouse gases or particles. The Energy Observer, launched in 2017 in the French town of Saint-Malo, uses a combination of renewable energies and a system that produces hydrogen from seawater without emitting any carbon.

The vessel, which will sail around the world, uses technologies that will serve as the basis for tomorrow’s energy networks. It’s voyage of approximately six years constitutes a challenge from the human and technological point of view that will put the systems used in extreme circumstances to the test.

Hydrogen is the key to the Energy Observer project and the main reason for Toyota’s participation in the project. Thanks to its production system, the weight of the ship has been considerably reduced compared to the alternative of storing all the energy in batteries.

Its use as a means of storage is key to overcoming the problem of intermittent power supply both on land and at sea, because it allows to take advantage of the surplus and extend the autonomy of mobile facilities.

Source: Cadena de Suministro.

The value of openness in transport data

The value of openness is best demonstrated by arguably the biggest technological revolution of modern times – the internet. Had the early technical pioneers at ARPANET and CERN who developed the technical protocols that make the internet – and the Worldwide Web that it underpins – kept them proprietary, the internet as we know it would not exist. Giles Bailey, CEO & Director of International Relations at TravelSpirit, James Gleave, Founder and Director of Transport Futures, and Beate Kubitz, COO of TravelSpirit, explain why transport companies now need to do the same, or risk cutting off channels to potentially industry-changing innovation.

Imagine that your access to the vast services and content of the internet was entirely dependent on which browser you used, and that each one required you to hand over your personal and financial information. This might mean that you could only access your email through Firefox, your bank through Chrome, Facebook and Twitter through Safari, etc. Following a link to an outside site would require you to download and register a new browser – one that, more often than not, does not work in most geographic locations. Under these conditions, whole swathes of the open internet as we know it would be unavailable, unfindable and unusable.

This is the sort of ‘closed future’ that the TravelSpirit Foundation seeks to combat by championing a vision for MaaS that is universal and accessible to all people, regardless of their location or destination.

We are advocating an ‘Open Internet of Mobility’, a framework that does not seek to define the solution to be used but, like the internet, defines a common ruleset and governance structure to challenge the drift into the closed ecosystems that we have today. This way, regardless of the technologies deployed – such as blockchain and the Internet of Things – the ecosystem is able to support interoperability, be trustworthy for its participants, and reduce costs and network latency for providers.

Data is critical

Data is increasingly driving innovation in transport, including MaaS. When paper tickets were purchased, operators could collect data showing revenue and approximate usage, but this only represented an approximate picture of network travel.

This scenario is now changing rapidly, with the initiative taken by non-transport actors to take big data feeds and analyse them. On the roads, for example, a number of organisations take data and provide precise network status overviews. For instance, Google is able to determine traffic speed and density from mobile phone positions along routes. In dense urban areas, transport planners such as CityMapper have an overview of transport generated by combining their own user data (collected when people request and navigate public transport routes) with transport operator service feeds to gain city-wide pictures of capacity and demand.

Now, a variety of innovative mobility operators are using big data to provide services. They often use the extraordinarily detailed location data available from mobile phone operating systems in conjunction with their customer requests, to provide services and also predict overall demand and shape services over the longer term. For instance, location data in hailing an Uber is essential to the service provision for both customer and driver – plus map and traffic data enables price and journey length prediction and navigation. Whilst Uber has probably the highest profile – and the most controversy regarding the amount of data it collects on customers – it is not the only innovator that depends on data and data analysis in order to provide a service. From on-demand bus services to bike-share schemes, user data is combined with usage data, mapping and traffic tools to provide and shape services. The details of terms and conditions and privacy policies frame how these datasets are limited to service offerings, or potentially enabled for marketing and wider commercial partnerships.

The emergence of these new transport operators, as well as wider trends in services across society, makes the development of more personalised services through apps and improved data feeds inevitable.

It’s about collaboration

Many of these new technologies and business models are clearly already in place. An example of this is the ‘Contactless Transit Framework’ from the UK Cards Association, which contains three models for enabling the development of contactless payment systems on public transport networks across the UK. The system is being adopted by all major public transport operators by 2025.

However, with few exceptions, no culture of collaboration currently exists to allow MaaS and other new mobility services to be delivered systemically. The message from many transport operators (private and public) to customers is that the best value can be gained from travelling primarily on their services and buying from them directly. Few inform customers about alternative service options provided by other operators and modes, or even if a customer has made the best decision by purchasing from them directly. Furthermore, most operators make no attempt to link a range of services to provide the best overall journey for the traveller. For example, research by the Office of Rail and Road in 2015 identified that one in five rail customers purchased the wrong ticket due to a lack of information on the tickets available for their journey.

Open data is showing the way

Open data has already shown that there is potentially significant public and private benefit for mobility providers. The demand for transport data is most ably demonstrated by transport datasets being the top four most downloaded datasets from the UK Government’s data website since it began service in 2012. The UK is known for its innovation and excellence in openness, with the ‘Open Data Barometer’ ranking the UK’s public transport data as among the most open in the world.

Within major cities across the UK, particularly those with smart city capabilities or aspirations, excellent work has been undertaken to make publicly-owned transport data, such as car park locations, open as standard. However, practice is far from uniform or sufficiently thorough, with many local authorities not publishing any transport data at all. Local authorities should be accelerating the publication of transport datasets.

The delivery of transport apps, powered by open data provided by Transport for London, has also demonstrated significant impacts of open data. Doing so leads to a virtuous circle of benefits, which Deloitte has estimated to be around £130 million per annum through wider job creation, saved journey time, and savings for Transport for London itself. After all, why develop a bespoke solution when open source can help you do it?

Read the full article on the Intelligent Transport website.

Study says LNG inadequate for GHG reduction

Rolling out LNG infrastructure for shipping in Europe would cost US$22bn but only deliver a maximum 6% reduction in ship greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 compared to the replaced diesel, a new study has found.

These emissions savings would likely be cancelled out by the growth of maritime trade, even before possibly higher rates of methane slip are considered, according to the independent study for Transport & Environment (T&E) by the UMAS consultancy.

Faig Abbasov, shipping officer at T&E, said: “LNG is not a bridge fuel, it’s an expensive distraction that will make it harder for the EU to achieve its shipping climate goals and reduce gas imports from places like Russia.

“Europe should back future-proof technologies that would deliver the much greater emissions reductions that will be needed, including port-side charging or liquid hydrogen infrastructure. This means the EU needs to stop mandating LNG infrastructure in European ports.”

Detrimental effect?

In April, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) agreed that the shipping industry must halve its GHG emissions by 2050.

The EU’s 2014 Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive requiring member states to build a comprehensive LNG infrastructure across European ports will make the decarbonisation of shipping an even more challenging transition for the industry, the study warns.

If investments in LNG infrastructure are made now expecting a large LNG market for shipping, but the sector is subsequently required to switch to zero-emission technologies like hydrogen, ammonia and electric propulsion, then significant LNG assets will likely become stranded by 2050, it stressed.

Source: GreenPort

Sustainability and digital transformation – future challenges for Spanish shipping companies

Spanish ship owners live a moment of technological transformation and digitalization, dependent on the impact of environmental regulations on their activities.

The environmental sustainability of logistics chains has become a key factor for logistics management in all of its business segments.

For maritime transport, in particular, during the last months there has been a regulatory avalanche in this regard that has placed sustainability in the foreground. This was seem through the ballast water agreement or the reduction of sulfur content in marine fuels, as well as through the new CO2 reduction targets.

In this sense, as Alejandro Aznar, the president of the Spanish Association of Shipping Lines – Anave, said in the general assembly of the association that took place this week in Madrid: “The contribution of maritime transport to the sustainability of the world economy will be extraordinary.”

Maritime transport, as indicated by the president of the Spanish shipping companies, who was re-elected for a second term of three years as the head of Anave, is a sector “subject to a market and globalized regulations that force it to make huge investments.”

Precisely in this context, the sector claims that the rules for the reduction of polluting emissions that will be adopted “should take into account their possible side effects in other areas”, as, according to Aznar, is the case of the short sea shipping traffic, which, in his opinion, “if not given special treatment, it is very likely that the imposition of harsh measures may result in the transfer of charges from the maritime mode to the road, which then would result, in reality, in increasing emissions “.

Similarly, the president also insisted on the proposals that Anave has been making year after year to strengthen the competitiveness of vessels navigating under the Spanish flag and that follow the lines marked in this area by the recent experiences of the Madeira registry and of Denmark.

Aznar also highlighted that in 2017 the Spanish control merchant fleet increased by four units and by 1.1% in its tonnage, a slight growth that contrasts with the strong increase registered in the first months of 2018, when according to their data, the Spanish shipowners have received two new LNG tankers, a Suezmax tanker and a passenger ship.

In addition, 18 orders for eight different shipowners totaling almost 800,000 GT and worth 1,300 million euros remain in the order book for the coming months.

In the same sense, Anastasios Papagiannopoulos, president of Bimco who was present at the Anave assembly, stressed the digital transformation and the need to standardize the exchange of documentation at a global level within the framework of a sector that evolves to the future challenges in terms of activity, but whose most prominent risk is that of overcapacity.

In this sense, the president of Bimco estimated that the demand for maritime transport of petroleum products will have a better performance in the second half of 2018, without reaching positive figures, while the solid bulk segment already shows clear signs of recovery on the international scene.

Finally, at the Anave assembly, the Carus Excellence Award 2018 was presented to Antonio Armas, president and CEO of Naviera Armas, for his contribution to the maritime transport sector of travelers and merchandise.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

Next Generation RoRo Freight and Passenger Ships Produce Zero Emissions in Port

Latest Battery Technology, Solar Power and Unique Hull Features Halve Fuel Consumption. 

ITALY – DENMARK – CHINA – The name Grimaldi has been associated with shipping since 1348 and today the Grimaldi group operates several services under a variety of titles, but maintains at its heart RoRo ferry services throughout the Mediterranean. Last month the announcement was made that the company has ordered six new such freight and passenger vessels from the Nanjing Jinling Shipyard, China and once again a contract between the yard and Danish marine engineering and design group Knud E Hansen means further development to the already established Grimaldi/ Knud E Hansen design.

The design of the newbuilds was developed by the Technical and Energy Saving Department of the Grimaldi Group together with Knud E Hansen in close cooperation with the shipyard. The RoRo’s are known as the ‘Grimaldi Green 5th Generation’ (GG5G) and will have a length of 238 metres, a beam of 34 metres and a gross tonnage of 64,000 tonnes. They will be able to transport over 7,800 lane meters of rolling units, equivalent to approximately 500 trailers.

The ships, the first of which is expected to be delivered in 2020, will use electricity in port, courtesy of large lithium batteries, thus guaranteeing zero emissions whilst at berth. These batteries will be recharged during navigation, through shaft generators adding the so-called peak shaving system, and with the aid of 600 m2 of solar panels, well suited to the three Grimaldi Lines vessels working in the Mediterranean environment, but still effective in the Baltic where the balance will be deployed on behalf of Finn Lines.

Grimaldi has invested a total of over $400 million and the new vessels are capable of carrying more than twice the quantity of vehicles than the largest of the incumbent ships operated by the company. As fuel consumption is the same as the previous craft, the energy saving when fully loaded will equate to 100%. There are several patented features in the design already together with more environmentally friendly features. The dreaded sulphur produced by the propulsive cylinders is combined with salt extracted from brine which converts it to gypsum in a chemical reaction.

The hulls are coated with silicon as opposed to traditional toxic anti fouling chemicals and the keel is designed to produce low level turbulence, with the consequent bubble streams reducing friction on an already slick surface, thereby aiding fuel consumption, an avowed aim of President Gianluca Grimaldi and his fellow directors. Knud E Hansen Managing Director Finn Wollesen said:

“It’s been a pleasure to cooperate with Grimaldi on the design of these vessels. The collaboration has been very fruitful and enabled us to develop a new generation of vessels that represents real advancement in terms of sustainability and efficiency by using various new technologies.”

Source: Handy Shipping Guide

Europe redoubles efforts to boost natural gas

The EU promotes the use of LNG in transport, through support for projects that promote the development of gas infrastructure or studies that pursue a greater implementation of gas in the transport sector.

Numerous European projects promote research on natural gas as fuel, with the aim of developing new infrastructures that allow its use to be enhanced. The longed de-carbonisation of transport promoted by national and community authorities has led Member States to pay more and more attention to the advantages it offers.

The European Union declared that by 2020, 5% of transport vehicles use CNG or LNG in their journeys, which calls for continued investments in this area. One of the latest initiatives in this regard has been the HDGAS, which focused on the integration of gas engines in heavy vehicles, the conclusions of which will be published in April.

Its objective has been the optimization of the kinematic chains for dual-fuel and pure gas engines, their integration in trucks and the confirmation that they comply with the Euro 6 emission regulations in real driving conditions, as well as with the limits of CO2 or greenhouse gases emissions.

BESTway project

For its part, the BESTway project aims to implement new re-fueling solutions for Natural Gas along the Atlantic Corridor, for which it has a budget of 7.7 million euros, of which 50% is financed by the European Union.

Currently, nine service stations are being built for the refueling of LNG between Algeciras and the north of Paris that will be linked to other European mobility corridors. Five of them are located in Spain, in the provinces of Cádiz, Jaén, Toledo, Madrid and Burgos, and four others in France, in the towns of Castets, Bordeaux, Poitiers and Paris.

Started in September 2014, the project, in which Gas Natural Servicios, Gas Natural Europe and GTD Information System participate, is expected to end in December 2018.

BESTway aims to strengthen the infrastructures available for natural gas and to save entry barriers for this fuel in order to increase its consumption. In this sense, investment and energy efficiency studies are being carried out, alongside the promotion of training of workers and drivers.

An app has been developed to facilitate payment and refueling by drivers. Through this, the quality of service and safety in loading operations is expected to improve.

CEF project Eco Gate

Along the same theme the CEF project Eco Gate has been launched, which has 9.86 million euros for the construction of 39 gas stations in Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, which represents a total cost of 47 million euros.

Spain will receive funding to develop a total of 26 stations in Barcelona, Burgos, Madrid, Murcia, Salamanca, Irun, Tordesillas, La Junquera, Cordoba and Cartagena, among other cities, while in Portugal 10 will be built.

Integrated Logistics Chain

As Bestway’s predecessor, the GARneT project was the first of the TEN-T network to promote the large-scale use of LNG. The project was developed between 2012 and 2014 and resulted in the installation of seven CNG refueling stations for LNG in Spain, three of them mobile, with a budget of 7.6 million euros.

After this experience, the LNG Blue Corridors project was launched, which allowed a greater definition of European corridors by establishing 14 strategic replenishment points to guarantee the availability of fuel located in countries such as Italy, Germany, France or Spain.

To these great advances in the field of mobility through natural gas is added the Core LNGas hive, which promotes an integrated, safe and efficient logistics chain for the supply of Liquefied Natural Gas as fuel in the transport sector, in particular in the maritime field.

Promoted by Puertos del Estado and coordinated by Enagás, it has 42 partners in Spain and Portugal and includes 25 studies for the adaptation of infrastructures and logistics-commercial development for the provision of small-scale services and bunkering services .

Its budget amounts to 33 million euros, intended for the implementation of pilot projects for the development of distribution barges, the use of LNG in tugboats and port cranes, and the adaptation of regasification plants for the supply of the gas.

For its part, SamueLNG is an initiative to promote the sustainability of maritime transport through the use of Liquefied Natural Gas in the smaller vessels along the Atlantic Arc. The second part includes the installation of a mobile platform for the supply of this fuel in the port of Gijón and a barge in Vigo.

This same port facility has participated together with Puertos del Estado in the GPEC project for the development of the Off-Grid Shore Power system, OGSP, which uses LNG as fuel and allows the supply of electrical and thermal energy to the vessel while it is in port.

Source: Cadena de Suministro

ESPO publishes its position paper on the port reception facilities for ship waste

For European ports, ship waste has been one of the main environmental priorities, as indicated in the ESPO 2017 Sustainability Report.

In its position paper on the revision of the Port Reception Facilities Directive, ESPO welcomes the Commission proposal and its objective to build upon the substantial progress achieved under the existing Directive. The existing Directive 2000/59 has contributed to decreasing significantly waste discharges at sea. The minimum fixed fee, which has to be paid by all ships calling at EU ports, regardless of whether they use the waste facilities or of the quantities they deliver, has delivered. As a result, only 2.5% of oily waste is not delivered at waste facilities in ports.

European ports support, in particular, the proposal’s objectives to increase efficiency and reduce administrative burden. The new Directive should, however, also make sure that efficient but responsible regime for managing ship waste is encouraged, in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle.

European ports recognise that providing the right incentives is essential and port authorities are certainly willing to contribute. However, introducing a fee system whereby ships could deliver unreasonable amounts of garbage, including dangerous waste for 100% fixed fee, would be a severe and unacceptable divergence from the ‘polluter pays’ principle. It risks to discourage tackling waste at the source by reducing waste volumes onboard, which has been the cornerstone of the EU waste policy” says ESPO’s Secretary General, Isabelle Ryckbost.

ESPO therefore proposes to set a limit on waste covered by the 100% fixed fee. The fixed (flat) fee should cover normal quantities of waste delivered by a certain type and size of ship.  Ports should be allowed to charge on top of that if unreasonable quantities are delivered. Furthermore, dangerous waste, which usually needs special and costly treatment, should not be covered by the 100% indirect fee.

European ports believe, moreover, that any provisions leading to better enforcement of the obligation for ships to deliver waste at shore are welcome. The alignment of specific elements of the Directive with the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) is supported by ESPO. European ports also welcome that new types of waste, such as scrubber waste, have been addressed by the proposal.

The proposal is currently being discussed in the Council and the European Parliament. ESPO looks forward to working with the Parliament’s rapporteurs and the shadow rapporteurs, the Bulgarian Presidency, the Council and the Commission in view of achieving a new and efficient legislative framework that would further reduce ship generated waste discharged at sea and increase waste quantities delivered at ports.

The document can be downloaded from the ESPO website.

Source: ESPO Press Release