Green List 2019: how firms are making ships eco-friendly

Michele Witthaus looks at the products and services that are making a difference
Green List 2019: how firms are making ships eco-friendly
Wärtsilä’s Aquarius UV Ballast Water Management System prevents the spread of invasive marine species

By Michele Witthaus |


This article was first published in the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of Spring/Summer 2019 issue of International Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed.

Water Treatment
From ballast water treatment to systems that purify water for onboard use, operators are investing in a range of solutions at both newbuild and retrofit stages. MSC Cruises has installed Alfa Laval’s PureBallast 3 Compact system on two newbuilds. The system is delivered ready assembled and is type approved by both the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the US Coast Guard. Each system can handle a flow of 170 cubic metres per hour. Regent Seven Seas Cruises has ordered a system for its two new ships PureBallast 3 Compact Flex system of 500 cubic metres per hour each, delivered as loose components. 

Wärtsilä has been awarded a number of contracts to supply its Aquarius UV Ballast Water Management System to global shipping operators. The contracts cover in total 13 systems, the orders for which were all booked in quarter four of 2018. The work is being carried out for ships being built at yards in China. The orders include two ro-pax ferries.

In October 2018, Scanship Holding and its subsidiary Scanship, entered into a contract with Carnival Cruise Line for advanced wastewater purification systems in accordance with the IMO MARPOL MEPC 227(64). Any residuals from the Scanship processes can be recovered for reuse. Early in 2019, Scanship signed contracts with several shipyards to deliver advanced wastewater purification systems to large cruise newbuilds. 

Case Marine provides reverse osmosis systems and installations to cruise customers including Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises, Seabourn and Windstar Cruises. The company handles the installation of product from shipment through commissioning to provide a turnkey system to the customer. 

Germany-based RWO Veolia supplies water management solutions for cruise ships, covering oil/water separation, advanced wastewater treatment, fresh and process water treatment, ballast water treatment and copper removal to clean the condensate water aboard ships for reuse. In January 2019, Carnival Corporation selected Veolia’s reverse osmosis systems for 15 Carnival Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Costa Cruises ships.

Propulsion
Innovative hybrid, gas and electric systems are in evidence across a wide range of new ships, especially in the ferry sector. 

Norwegian Electric Systems chose Corvus Energy to supply lithium-ion battery-based energy storage systems for five new all-electric ferries being built by Havyard Group for Norwegian ferry operator Fjord1. The company’s HybriDrive propulsion system was also chosen for Red & White fleet’s Enhydra ferry. 

Gas and electric systems from Rolls-Royce will power up to nine Hurtigruten ships. The aim is to achieve exceptionally low emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxides, sulphur oxides and diesel particulates. 

Norway-based Havyard Group is developing a high-capacity hydrogen energy system to power four ro-pax ferries for the Havila Kystruten. The company received a NOK104 million (US$12 million) grant from Pilot-E (a partnership of Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and Enova) for the project, known as FreeCO2ast.

MTU delivered combined LNG-electric systems for Rederij Doeksen ferries, and low-noise engines for Canada’s Blue Heron Cruises’ latest ferry.

Wärtsilä company Eniram has supplied digital energy management technology for ferry operator La Méridionale, enabling it to achieve annualised fuels savings of around 2%.

Exhaust Gas Cleaning 
The installation of scrubbers on cruise vessels is continuing as shipowners seek ways to reduce the emissions of both new ships and existing members of their fleets. In 2018, MAN Energy Solutions received €100 million (US$113 million) of orders to supply seven new cruise ships with engines and exhaust gas treatment systems in the first eight months of the year. The ships are of varying sizes and run on a variety of fuels, including LNG, and will be delivered between 2019 and 2022.

Norwegian Cruise Line picked Yara Marine Technologies for scrubbers on its fleet, both newbuilds and retrofits. Two of its ships, Norwegian Sun and Norwegian Jade, feature lightweight in-line scrubbers that are a hybrid technology developed to operate in open-loop, closed-loop and closed-loop with bleed-off mode.

Automation
Several cruise lines have committed to increasing automation to improve efficiency and thus reduce environmental impacts. Valmet’s automation system was installed on Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas. In 2018, Royal Caribbean also upgraded the automation systems on Mariner of the Seas, which was built in 2003. New Valmet DNA user interfaces were installed along with data storage, analytics and reporting tools. 

ABB is supplying power, automation, propulsion and digital solutions for the new Lindblad Expeditions’ polar expedition ship, National Geographic Endurance, due for delivery in 2020. The ice-going vessel will feature ABB’s power and automation solutions, as well as two Azipod DO propulsion units. 

Scenic Cruises opted for Kongsberg’s integrated ro-pax concept, which unites vessel systems for control of operational assets. The K-Master bridge system, advanced manoeuvring and automation technology are in use on the new Scenic Cruises ice-class polar expedition ship, Scenic Eclipse, which was delivered in 2018 from Uljanik Shipyard in Croatia.

Sewage Systems
Evac provided vacuum toilets, wastewater treatment systems (membrane bioreactors) and systems automation for the Rederi AB Gotland high-speed ro-pax ferry built at GSI Shipyard in China and delivered in 2018. The LNG-fuelled passenger and cargo ship has a capacity of 1,700 passengers and crew. 

Hamann’s sewage treatment technology, based on the Dissolved Air Flotation principle, is of particular interest to ships with IMO certification covering MARPOL Special Areas (Baltic Sea) or Alaska. The company’s HL-CONT Plus OceanCruise uses a combination of DAF modules and Moving Bed Bioreactors.

Cleaning Up
Pronomar’s professional drying equipment ensures fast, internal drying of all sorts of clothing (including kayak suits, parkas, winter boots, life vests, boots and gloves), by using a powerful but energy-efficient warm-air blower. Clothes can be dried in 1-4 hours, limiting unnecessary energy consumption and reducing carbon dixoide emissions in comparison to traditional drying rooms.

Rotterdam-based maritime start-up company, Whalewashing, is developing an innovative hull-cleaning service to tackle biofouling. Dubbed ‘car washing for ships’, the technology will clean the hulls of medium and large vessels while in the water, using brushes, sensors, pumps and filters, with all wastewater recycled.

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