EXHAUST GAS CLEANING
Are you ready for 2020 ?
Shipowners have been faced by many challenges and investments especially after complying with the latest BWTS ratifications they now have to decide about meeting the sulphur cap by 2020. One major reason for slow development of orders have been the large CAPEX investments involved to purchase and install EGC systems for their respective vessels. Investments between USD 1 – 6 Mio. per vessel make the economical calculations of each vessel more difficult as the charter rates have not significantly picked up to cover such investments. However these investments will guarantee the long term operability of their vessels up and beyond 2020.
As budgets are tight, shipowners look at investments in EGCS as a high one time investment but the long term benefits are neglected as bunker prices will most likely increase and the price difference between IFO and MGO will increase even further. Savings on bunker can repay for the high CAPEX between 8 months – 2 years depending on the chosen system.
We at hold the knowledge to empower the shipowner to make the most economical decision for their vessels.
Bottlenecks ahead
Mayn shipwoners currently negate the need for the EGC change as there is still time till 2020…. Is there really ? No, even though there is still 2 years left shipowners should not wait with their decision making process as order for EGCS has picked up since the beginning of the year substantially. Production and delivery times for EGCS from the biggest manufacturers in the market have now increased substantially and they all work on the basis “first come first serve”. However even though EGCS manufacturers have vowed not increase price in an over demand, placing an order today in 2018 will still result in a long delivery of the respective EGCS in 2Q 2020. In addition shipyard availability and engineering capacity will in turn decrease and result in higher costs due to over demand.
Shipowners and -operators are facing several questions related to costs, benefits, and possible difficulties of using various fuel technologies and machinery concepts. In essence, they want to know what machinery configuration to choose for newbuilds, or for the reconfiguration of older vessels, with the main objective to maximize lifecycle profit. In addition to the cost aspect, environmental considerations are increasingly important as emission regulations are getting stricter. Today, most vessels have fuel oil machineries installed, running on heavy fuel oil (HFO), marine diesel oil (MDO), or marine gas oil (MGO). These machinery types are based on well-proven technology, they are fairly cheap in procurement, and the fuel is easy accessible. A problem is however that they tend to generate high levels of air pollutants, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter (PM). In the long run, international shipping will contribute to vast amounts of air pollution if not various measures to reduce emissions are implemented. The International Maritime Organization regulates some of the emissions, and in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) certain sea areas are defined as special areas, or so-called emission control areas (ECAs), in which there are higher levels of protection.
Irrespective of the commercial conditions in maritime business, the daily operation of vessels is framed by rules and regulations issued by different governing bodies such as flag states, governments, organisations and classification societies.
The following represent a summary of environment-selected shipping, regulation and design issues shipowners/ operators are facing:
• Emission Control Areas (ECAs)
• NOx Emissions
• SOx Emissions
• Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) Emissions
• CO2 Emissions
• Ballast Water
Shipowners and shipbuilders as well as their supply industry must be mindful of domestic, international and industry environmental requirements. Many environmental regulations impact maritime transportation and the marine offshore industry.
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and the best option very much depends on vessel size & type, trading patterns and fuel availability. Considering a retrofit, it is important to investigate the complexity of installation, possible off-hire and the remaining lifetime of the vessel. There are basically two technologies available today: dry and wet systems. The wet systems are by far the most predominant. Within the wet systems there are three alternatives: open loop, closed loop and a hybrid system that can operate either as a closed- or open-loop system. MES supports you to make the right decision by assisting with feasibility studies, detailed planning with regard to installation as well as managing the whole retrofit project for you in cooperation with classes and major scrubber suppliers.