In this issue of Tanker Update we are focusing on fuel efficiency and IMO’s Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). We also have an article about Thenamaris, the first company to receive DNV’s Triple-E rating, and we have interviewed Capt. Svein-Arne Gusdal on board Arctic Lady, the world’s first winterized LNG carrier, purpose built to carry LNG from the Melkøya terminal in northern Norway.
Text and photos: Magne A. Røe, except where otherwise stated.
Date: 2011-12-28
Piracy and very high bunker prices are at the top of many tanker owners’ agendas right now. These factors, combined with depressed freight rates, are making life very challenging for people in the tanker industry.
The first formal CO2 control regulations were adopted by IMO at the MEPC 62 in July 2011. These comprise the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) and Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), both of which will enter into force on 1 January 2013.
The amendments to MARPOL Annex VI on CO2 emissions were adopted by IMO in July 2011 and will enter into force in 2013. IMO commissioned a joint study by Lloyd’s Register and DNV to estimate the impact of the new requirements.
Intertanko fully supported IMO’s adoption of mandatory measures to reduce the industry’s contribution to greenhouse gases (GHG) this summer. But with some issues yet to be settled, Intertanko insists that Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) requirements should apply equally to all ships on the same effective date.
In order to help designers and owners navigate the jungle of measures available to improve fuel efficiency, DNV has recently issued a Fuel Saving Guideline for Tankers, prepared in cooperation with Hamburg Ship Model Basin HSVA.
The required Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) is a potential tool for owners to reduce the fuel billl. While the requirement of having SEEMP on board vessels is still a year or more away, DNV is already making great efforts to help shipping companies get this right. This builds on a long tradition of working on energy efficiency with owners/operators around the globe in most ship segments.
Greek ship operator Thenamaris is the first company to receive DNV’s new Triple-E rating, which was awarded for the Seabravery tanker. The rating, which is designed to demonstrate active environmental management and the energy efficient transportation of goods, is a voluntary scheme developed in close cooperation with Thenamaris Ship Management in addition to Stena RoRo, Seaspan Ship Management and Skaugen Petrotrans.
During the months of September through November this year, DNV has received three different innovation awards, as described below. Triality has been an important contributor to this, in addition to DNV’s other innovation projects over the last couple of years.
The Arctic Lady and her sister ship the Arctic Princess are Moss-design LNG carriers purpose built to serve Statoil’s Melkøya LNG terminal close to the Norwegian city of Hammerfest, the northernmost city in the world. The Melkøya LNG terminal is also the northernmost LNG terminal in the world, and the Snøhvit LNG carriers were the first winterized LNG carriers in the world.
A practical and extensive training event, called Tanker Week, was held at the DNV Academy in Gdynia, Poland, on October 17–21.
They say “…you never know where you’re going until you know where you’ve come from…”. Everybody seems to know that, yet it is difficult to see that the oil tanker market may have learnt much from history.
