ABB presents recommendation for zero-emission marine technology
ABB Marine & Ports delivered testimony in the US House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure about the future of marine technologies. Underpinning ABB’s commitment to tackling the ever-increasing consequences of climate change, ABB Marine & Ports presented a comprehensive approach to reducing marine emissions at a hearing in front the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
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Wind ships ahead
The physical principle is the same one humans have used on sailing boats since eons ago: the wind hits the leading edge of the sail and splits into two flows which are redirected and travel at different speeds towards the trailing edge, causing a pressure difference that simultaneously pulls and pushes the sail and the craft forward. What has changed is the efficiency. Advanced science has doubled the amount of propulsion power per square metre of sail surface, says Marc Van Peteghem, naval architect and co-founder of VPLP Design. Together with the French engineering firm CNIM, VPLP has developed a new wing sail concept they call OceanWings, based on an existing VPLP idea. In recent years a number of attempts have been made to combine the propulsion principle of traditional sailing boats with the aerodynamic efficiency of an aeroplane wing with the trailing edge flap extended for starting or landing.
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2019 – A good year for LNG as marine fuel
Unifeeder, the operator of the LNG retrofitted Wes Amelie and first adopter of LNG as marine fuel in the European container feeder segment, must be quite satisfied with the bunker costs of the vessel in 2019. MV Wes Amelie, a 1.000 TEU container feeder vessel converted to LNG operation in 2017, is operated in one of Unifeeder’s widely ramified feeder network in the North and Baltic Sea and frequently calling Rotterdam as its main port. From Rotterdam the vessel is passing the Kiel Canal and serving several ports in the Baltic. After each round voyage, which takes between 12-13 days, the vessel receives an average of 130 tons of LNG. Since July last year LNG bunkering can be done ship-to-ship. So, on that particular service the vessel consumes an average of 10 tons per day and that consumption per day applies to the full year.
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Shipowners keep investing in dry bulkers
Dry bulk owners are still keen on more investments in dry bulk tonnage, both newbuildings and second hand vessels, despite the fact that the dry bulk market is experiencing one of its most severe periods of downwards pressure, now at a 9-month low. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking said that in the newbuilding market, “despite the fact that the current freight market and global trade prospects remain uncertain for the dry bulk market, 13 new units were added recently to the dry bulk orderbook. The majority of new orders were limited to smaller size segments, with buyers showing their preference to segments that provide more flexibility in terms of trading options.
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$1.14Bn of venture funding invested in maritime last year
Over $1bn was invested in technology companies working in the maritime sector in 2019 according to a new report published yesterday. A new report published yesterday by technology research and innovation consultancy Thetius, found that 2019 was a record year for venture capital investment in maritime. But the headline figure is distorted by the massive $1bn investment in Flexport, led by Softbank’s Vision Fund. If Flexport’s contribution is removed from the figures, venture funding in the industry actually declined by 24percent, from $190m in 2018 to $144m in 2019. Overall, 8percent fewer deals were made through the year compared with 2018, though the average size of deals has increased by 18percent from $2.2million to $2.7million in 2019.
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Price of fuel the main reason of concern for ship owners
With availability no longer an issue, ship owners are lamenting the significant rise in operating costs, due to the IMO 2020 rule. The reason being the almost doubling of fuel costs. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Intermodal said that “the early days of IMO 2020 coming into force have certainly had an impact on the industry, but so far it seems that those who feared of major problems for global shipping have not been verified and it looks like we have avoided the destructive consequences.
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Ships’ recycling activity needs to pick up pace in 2020
With 2019 marking one of the low-points of the past decade, in terms of ships’ demolition activity, things need to pick up pace in 2020, for the shipping markets to start recovering. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Clarkson Platou Hellas noted that “the first full week return to the offices of the New Year looks to have finally brought back some renewed optimism with increased demand for tonnage across the waterfront. One surprise, but very welcome, has been the resurgence of Pakistan which appears finally to have awoken from their 18 month slumber with reports suggesting that it is once again offers a viable competition for their counterparts in India and Bangladesh.
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High-sulphur fuel stocks drop at ports
The number of ports at which high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) is offered is reducing and could be limited for ships equipped with scrubbers in the first months after 1 January 2020, when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) sulphur regulation takes effect, according to Marine Bunker Exchange, MABUX, which follows the global bunker market closely.
As the global bunker market adapts, and players observe how demand for the different types of bunker fuel will pan out in the first months after 1 January 2020, high-sulphur fuel oil (HSFO) inventories are reducing at a number of ports, as the use of non-compliant fuel will drop significantly under the new regulation, data from MABUX shows.