For 2007, NOL (Neptune Orient Line) posted a profit of USD 523 million, up 44 per cent compared to 2006.
APL is a fully owned subsidiary of NOL, and APL’s liner business also did very well with revenues at year-end 2007 reaching USD 6.9 billion, up 15 per cent from 2006, and fourth quarter revenues up 26 per cent compared to 2006. APL carried
a volume of 2.4 million feu (forty-foot equivalent units), 12 per cent more than in 2006. The fleet’s vessel utilisation was at a high average level of 96 per cent. APL provides customers around the world with container transportation services through a network that combines high-quality intermodal operations with state-of-the-art information technology. APL serves more than 25,000 locations in 140 countries around the world with a staff of about 4,000 at 200 offices worldwide. APL owns 46 vessels and operates a total fleet of 129 ships from Singapore with ‘lots more ships’ on long-term time charters managed and operated by others, such as ER Schiffahrt in Germany.
Good results are a consequence of good work and we met with two of the men behind APL’s successful operational results: Capt. Tey, Vice President, Technical Services, and Alam Khorshed, Director of Engineering Research & Energy Management Technical Services. We discussed operational matters over a Japanese lunch across the street from the APL head office in Singapore and the discussion can only be summarised as hands on and professional at all levels in their way of conducting business.
“We follow our vessels from the cradle to the grave,” says Khorshed. “Everything is decided here in Singapore, from the technical decisions of Engineering and Environment to the decision of Policies and Strategies. We enhance engineering and research projects to address the issues of environment and energy management. These enhancements can be observed in our newbuilding projects and continuous retrofitting of the available ‘state of the art’ technologies on our existing vessels. We decide on what and where to retrofit, optimised energy consumption and the provisions for environmental and user friendliness in the newbuilding projects. We meet our customers’ needs by offering them what they want.”
Environmental gains from optimising operations
“If a customer wants us to reduce speed to care for the environment we will of course do so, but this may naturally require additional ships for the same trade route in order to maintain the capacity or even increase it. The best thing for the environment is of course a fully loaded ship. But we have also introduced silicone paint with great success and we have achieved a fuel reduction of five per cent, with a potential of up to eight per cent. We can maintain the same speed and the engine load is reduced. That results in reduced fuel consumption.
“Other actions that benefit the environment include trim optimisation and the use of less ballast water. We also see how a good rudder design can reduce the rudder vortex. Working with the engine manufacturers, we are moving towards electronically controlled engines. For the existing engines, we retrofitted slide valves, which reduces NOx emission by 20 per cent. On the lubrication side, we retrofitted Alpha, SIP and ECL electronically controlled lubricators to optimise the lube oil consumption, which also contributes to the environmental care,” says Khorshed.
When asked about cold ironing, Capt. Tey confirms that there are several projects dealing with this: “In port, we successfully tried portable gas generator supplying the ship’s power grid backfeeding through the bow thruster transformer. We see that the terminals offering gas turbine producing power plants are better for the environment, and they can also normally offer different voltages for different vessels’ needs. This I see as an advantage as I envisage that cold ironing will become more and more popular. There are no standards for this today and these standards are needed. I favour solutions with one gas-fired power plant supplying all the ships in a terminal.
“We would like to reduce our environmental footprint as much as possible and when doing so we have to consider the engine, hydrodynamics, coatings and emissions to air. On the emission to air side, we are trying out emulsified fuel and humidification of scavenge air to reduce the NOx emission at the uptake,” says Capt. Tey.
“In the prevention of international migration of marine organisms, we successfully carried out a ballast water treatment project on a post panamax vessel. Currently, we are working on the installation of another type of ballast water system on another vessel. In addition to addressing the microbes in the ballast water, this Deoxygenation system will also prevent corrosion of the ballast tanks by inerting them with CO2.”
APL won the Los Angeles Award last year for Air Quality Efforts – ‘Global shipping line honoured as a friend to the environment’. The award was given to APL in recognition of its initiatives to achieve cleaner air:
A partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, California air quality districts and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to test fuel emulsification aboard the container vessel APL Singapore. The innovative process injects water into ship fuel to reduce harmful emissions
A test of new valve and lubrication technology that improves combustion, reduces oil consumption and further cuts emissions
Conversion to cleaner burning and low sulphur fuel on all 23 APL vessels calling on California ports.
Fire safety, hull integrity and condition monitoring
“Bigger pumps and fire lines and more number of hoses are the key factors for successfully fighting an open deck fire,” says Khorshed. “Here there is still some way left to go. A below-deck fire is of course easier to fight as CO2 will just kill the fire. But the safety standards for above deck will have to improve. Furthermore, we are actively working on hull integrity matters, such as the torsion and bending factors. We carefully calculate what the torsion and bending parameters are as these must not be exceeded. On our new vessels, we include a hull stress monitoring system.
“We are working closely with DNV and the Flag State on a running project of ‘Condition Based Drydocking’, meaning that we will drydock only when deemed necessary. In this regard, among other monitorings, hull inspection and hull integrity monitoring play very important roles. All monitored data are gathered and discussed in a tripartite steering committee of APL, DNV and the Flag State. We pioneered this project working from inwards to outwards. In order to understand the pattern and the rate of deterioration of coatings, structural wastage including rudder, equipment wear and tear etc, a comprehensive checklist and trend graph have been formulated, which are assessed annually. Once the pattern is understood, addressing the issues through a proactive maintenance plan is not difficult at all. If you build a ship properly, give it adequate power and proper maintenance, you can double its life,” says Khorshed.
Crew conditions
“Our philosophy is to improve the living environment on board. Money is not everything these days, and on the new vessels we have provided room for family members to come along from time to time. We help our crew to close the gap between work and their private life. We make our ships clean and comfortable. To ensure the safety of the vessels, crew and cargo, we spend a lot of time training in simulators, including an engine room simulator. We train our personnel in English language skills as well – after all the number one shipping language is just that: English,” says Capt. Tey.
Research and development
“Class can do much to continue carrying out research aimed at reducing the environmental footprint and further optimising operations. To us, a container ship must be well built and of good quality, which will lead to it lasting longer. Class can take the lead in R&D.”
APL operates the liner service and is a logistics house. APL has received numerous awards for the excellence of its operations and its work as a logistics provider. In addition, APL has taken the initiative to introduce the 53-foot container, which is now deployed with select customers in the Asia to US market. This innovation will make a significant impact on the economics of global trade as, for instance, manufactured goods can be transported directly from the manufacturers in Asia to US shops.
We have highlighted some key issues relating to APL – please refer to www.apl.com for further information.