Features: - Tanker Operator

TAKEROperator 

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2009 

www.tankeroperator.com 

Features: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cometh the hour, cometh the man 

Gibraltar – crisis, what crisis? 

Impending sulphur limits create headache 

Choice of cleaning chemicals vital 

Various initiatives to contain emissions 

UKHO unveils the future of navigation

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Contents 

04 

06 

10 

Markets 

Valuing a vessel 

Intertanko Profile 

New chairman outlines the challenges 

BP Shipping Profile 

Oil major revises Control of Work policy 

32 Emissions 

32 The alternatives 

34 ‘Virtual Arrival’ concept 

37 Fuel pump operations 

40 Scrubbers gain in popularity 

43 avaids 

43 Passage plans made easier 

47 New control systems 

48 Ship Description 

Offen’s latest tanker unveiled 

11 

20 

Gibraltar Report 

Looking for expansion 

Flag state growth 

Services reap the benefits 

Bunker supplies on the increase 

Bunker Report 

High seas bunkering growth 

Risk of switching fuel 

Maximising efficiencies 

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50 Training Systems 

Management courses introduced 

55 Foulings 

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27 Tank Cleaning 

Tank cleaning chemicals 

New oil cleaning process 

Front cover photo 

Intertanko’s new chairman Capt Graham 

Westgarth’s term of office coincides with the worst 

crisis in shipping’s history. He arrives at a time 

when the industry is faced with rock bottom rates, 

environmental pressures and issues of quality and 

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November/December 2009 TANKEROperator 01

COMMENT 

Pushing to get the industry involved 

We have the Round Table and other august shipping 

organisations and now we have the ‘Ginger Group’. 

The ‘Ginger Group’ is a self-constituted shipping foursome dedicated to 

improving the quality of shipping and that of the people employed in 

the industry. 

You would think that there are enough organisations and individuals 

addressing this problem and that the industry had by and large got its 

act together. Indeed, the industry has been improving for the past 20 

years, especially in the tanker sector. 

However, there are the ‘bottom feeders’, who are not directly 

involved in the upstream stakeholders. They include obscure banks, 

non-IACS class societies, so called recognised organisations (ROs) and 

smaller flag states with not quite the same definition of quality as the 

mainstream players. 

For example, there are certain ROs, class societies and surveyors 

who will act for unregulated flag states as there are those who think 

that money can still be made by going down market. 

If this was not enough, major problems are looming such as the 

challenge of conducting quality maintenance in the face of the grave 

economic crisis, the reduction in the number of seafarers that are ‘fit 

for purpose’ leading to human errors, plus shoreside organisational 

problems, system errors, shipbuilding and repair quality and there are 

probably others. 

Prevent quality slippage 

Clay Maitland, one of the ‘Ginger Group’s’ leading lights, said he 

wanted to prevent slippage in quality due to financial pressures. He also 

said that he wanted to involve charterers, insurers and primarily 

bankers – those on the fringes of the other groups, but with a big say in 

shipping matters, as well as the mainstream operating concerns and 

their organisations. 

“We want to be a catalyst to the organisations always pushing to get 

the industry more involved,” the group said. 

Maitland made it clear that the views of the group, which also 

includes former GL marine head Dr Hans Payer, veteran writer and 

lecturer Michael Grey and former Lloyd’s List deputy editor and IT 

writer Neville Smith, who is responsible for the ‘blog’, were each 

acting as individual and were not influenced by any current positions 

held. 

TANKEROperator 

However, Maitland did illustrate his introductory talk about the group 

with the case of bankrupt Eastwind. He said that the Marshall Islands 

flag state, managed by International Registries with whom he is a 

managing partner, had thrown the company out a couple of years ago 

due to quality issues. 

However, since then certain banks continued to lend the company 

money, despite the quality issues being well documented until the company 

finally went bankrupt resulting in some of the banks losing money. 

Today it is easier than ever to find out about a vessel or company 

from the various websites, Port State Control, P&I clubs, class societies 

etc. With the electronic age has come more transparency. However, there 

were always the rogue traders ready to make a fast buck. 

At the group’s launch, Dr Payer talked of the problems of maintenance, 

shipbuilding and repair. He said that not only were freight rates suffering 

in today’s economic climate, but also newbuilding prices had fallen. 

Price pressure 

Some owners who may need new tonnage are under pressure to secure 

even cheaper newbuilding deals. New and exotic newbuilding yards are 

touting for business and are being favourable received in some quarters, 

despite bargain basement prices being offered by the more established 

and experienced shipyards. 

He warned that many of the new yards lacked experience of building 

a vessel to international standards, thus putting extra demands on 

owners’ inspectors and class surveyors. Despite the attentions of 

owners’ representatives and class, an owner may end up with a vessel 

not built to adequate quality standards and failing on safety 

performance, as seen before in the 1970s and 1980s. 

“Society will not tolerate any noticeable decline in ship safety and 

environmental protection performance today,” Dr Payer emphasised. 

“Everyone in the responsibility chain in shipping has to be vigilant and 

alert to any indication of developing slackness in safety standards in 

shipping. Our initiative is meant as a contribution in this sense at this 

critical time.” 

In a separate issue but continuing on the theme of quality, Dr Payer 

also warned that laws should not be written under pressure. 

To help channel the group’s efforts, a blog has been created at 

www.claymaitland.com where news and views can be found and 

commented upon. 

TO 

Vol 9 No 2 

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02 

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INDUSTRY - MARKETS 

What’s in the value 

of a vessel? 

Since the start of the financial (and shipping) recession about a year go, 

a lot of attention has been drawn to placing values on commercial vessels.* 

In normalised and efficient markets, the 

price of a vessel is simply what a buyer, 

cognisant of the relevant facts and 

under no compulsion to act, would pay 

to acquire the asset from a knowledgeable 

seller equally under no compulsion to act. 

In less active markets there are infrequent 

transactions to maintain a clearly delineated 

asset price curve, while several other variables 

may remain highly uncertain and fluctuate 

liberally (ie freight rates, availability of debt 

financing, etc); valuing a vessel in such a 

market can become an intellectual and 

sophisticated assignment and subject to 

numerous counter arguments. Since vessel 

valuations have been used heavily for 

accounting and financial purposes, arriving at 

a proper vessel valuation has thus had 

practical consequences as well. 

Valuing assets, and shipping assets ie vessels, 

has been the subject of professional standards 

and well-established practices. There have 

been both commercial and academic guidelines 

to providing an assessment of the value (Fair 

Market Value) of a vessel. In normalised 

markets, the commercial and academic values 

usually converge to the purchase price that a 

rational, well-informed investor (buyer) would 

pay for the acquisition of the vessel. 

However, in a world of high volatility and 

uncertainty (ie shipping rates, future estimates 

of earnings, financial inputs and reality, etc), 

there is room for the ‘animal spirits’ to push 

market values to widely aberrant levels from 

the intrinsic value of the vessel; while in early 

2008 the sky was the limit in terms of values, 

presently we are talking on how low vessel 

prices will get. 

The three widely accepted asset (and thus 

vessel) valuation methods - Market Approach, 

Replacement Cost and Income Approach - can 

provide a different perspective and insight into 

the value of a vessel, and each one of these 

methods has its own strengths and intrinsic 

limitations at the same time. 

Market Approach 

Under the Market Approach method, a vessel is 

valued in comparison to the recent sale 

04 

of a comparable vessel, adjusted for age, cargo 

carrying capacity, vessel specifications, etc. In 

overall efficient markets, or in shipping sectors 

and shipping assets that are fairly liquid, the 

‘last done’ transaction can offer a definite guide 

for the value of a comparable vessel. 

As an illustration, Aframaxes are the 

workhorse of the crude oil trade and in 

general there are transactions with a 

semblance of regularity to provide guidance 

for asset pricing and valuations. For other 

assets, such as LPG carriers that are not 

bought and sold very often even during 

‘normal’ markets (the reasons being – a niche 

market, comparatively small fleet, 

comparatively small number of buyers and 

sellers, higher barriers to entry, long term 

relationship business, etc), the Market 

Approach is less helpful. 

During inactive markets, the Market 

Approach faces additional limitations due to 

continuous uncertainty in the market despite 

the ‘last done’; one needs to keep in mind that 

in illiquid markets a month’s lapse since ‘last 

done’ can be tantamount to eternity as 

opposed to a normal market when a month’s 

lapse is just the continuance of the status quo. 

While the Market Approach is the tangible 

proof of what the ‘market’ would bear for the 

vessel, the critique for this method is equally 

important: during uncertain times weak sellers 

are keener to sell than stronger players and 

therefore, the weak players get to ‘write the 

history’ book while stronger players can afford 

not to act if sellers’ price ideas are deemed too 

low. Further, in certain instances, motivation 

to sell in anemic markets might not 

necessarily reflect a sellers’ compulsion to sell 

due to weakness, but the execution of a 

strategy that was put in place in different 

market conditions. 

There were examples of drybulk vessel sales 

earlier this year when the owners were just 

exercising in-the-money purchase options on 

vessels (options that were priced in 2002 before 

the super-cycle and subsequent correction took 

place) and immediately ‘flipping’ the vessels 

for a profit, or owners who were selling tankers 

that were built at the shipowners’ yard, were 

trading captive cargoes, and were financed ‘inhouse’ 

with ‘negative carry’ and thus had a low 

‘cost basis’. 

Replacement Cost 

The Replacement Cost method is mostly 

applicable to vessels that are uniquely suited for 

certain trades and projects; usually, they have 

been vessels heavily customised for such trades, 

and therefore there are is a narrow demand in 

the event of a sale. A notable example of 

vessels that the author has valued based on the 

replacement method include drybulk vessels 

that had been fitted with accommodation and 

hotel services for 120 people, quarter-deck ramp 

to load vehicles and tanks, helipad, 

containership capacity, heavy lift, and steelreinforced, 

humidified cargo holds for the 

carriage of dynamite (the vessels were on longterm 

bareboat charter to an operator with a 

contract to supply with provisions military bases 

in the Pacific). Under the replacement cost 

method, the vessel is valued on the assumption 

of the value of the vessel is simply the cost of 

supplanting a replacement vessel in the present 

market environment. The obvious critique of 

such valuation method is that cost to replace the 

vessel is not necessarily the price that a thirdparty 

buyer would pay; in short, the historical 

cost is not necessarily a market number; in the 

valuation example above, without the military 

contract, the vessel would have limited 

commercial value, the high replacement value 

notwithstanding. 

Income Approach 

The method of most interest for vessel 

valuations is the value (the net present value, 

properly) of all net earnings the vessel is 

presumed to generate during her remaining 

commercial life plus her residual value itself 

(salvage value). While the Income Approach 

method is the most academically rigorous 

method available, and widely accepted as the 

proper method of determining the value of 

assets, vessels included, arriving at 

appropriate inputs to the financial model can 

heavily impact the value of the vessel. 

The most crucial assumption in modeling 


INDUSTRY – MARKETS 

Income Approach is of course the projection 

of freight revenue, which in turn is based on 

assumptions of future market conditions of 

tonnage supply (available vessels to compete 

for same cargoes, etc), tonnage demand 

(subject to world economic conditions and 

trade and also trading patterns), and also the 

chartering strategy of the buyer (spot market, 

sequence of short-term charters or very longterm 

charters). The cost and availability of 

debt finance will be another major input in the 

Income Approach financial modeling. 

Additional assumptions include operating 

expenses (such as crewing and insurance 

expenses, bunker fuel expenses), the 

commercial life of the vessel (taking into 

consideration that regulatory framework and 

technological innovation can impact the 

longevity of a vessel), and projections on the 

residual value of the vessel (resale value in case 

of an after-sale or scrap value for demolition). 

Therefore, while the Income Approach offers a 

fundamental and well documented approach for 

the value of the vessel, there is a sizeable 

amount of inputs and assumptions that still can 

render a vessel valuation subjective. 

Valuation standard 

In an effort to provide a uniform set of criteria 

for the Income Approach method, in early 

2009, the Hamburg Shipbrokers Association 

(Vereinigung Hamburger Schiffsmakler und 

Schiffsagenten, VHSS) established the 

Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standards (also 

known as the Long Term Asset Value, LTAV) 

by narrowing the guidelines on the income 

approach method. 

In brief, for presently charter-free vessels, the 

estimate for future earnings can be substituted 

by the historical average earnings and operating 

expenses of the last 10 years for each type of 

vessel. It is assumed that the cost of financing 

will also reflect historical 10-year LIBOR 

Valuation method 

(4.036%) average plus the bank’s margin 

(1.375%) for an overall debt cost of 5.41%. 

Based on 70% leverage, the implied 

discount rate is 6.6%, at present. Similarly, 

the historical 10-year average for scrap should 

be used for the vessel’s salvage value, where 

the overall vessel economic life is to be 20 

years adjusted by a vessel-related coefficient 

(for vessels presently less than 15 years of 

age) or 25 years for vessels older than 15 

years of age at the time of the valuation. 

The most frequently mentioned critique of 

the ‘Hamburg Method’ is that relying on 10- 

year averages for freight rates, financing costs 

and demolition prices rely heavily on the 

assumption that history repeats itself, and 

given that the 10-year historical average 

incorporates never-seen-before market 

conditions, valuing vessels on such guidelines 

might resemble driving a car based on the 

images shown on the rear-view mirror. 

However, the accounting and auditing firm 

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has recently 

approved the LTAV method, and therefore can 

be used for banking purposes. 

While these methods are based are open to 

interpretation and can be used depending on the 

loan agreement terms between the lenders and 

the borrowers as per agreed, there is a unique 

valuation method that the author as come upon 

recently and is mandated by law, in particular 

the German law under the ‘Pfandbrief Act’. 

Tanker type 

MR Tanker Aframax Tanker VLCC 

(52,000 dwt) (105,000 dwt) (300,000 dwt) 

Market approach (FMV) $34.00 $53.00 $96.00 

Replacement cost $37.00 $52.00 $98.00 

Income approach $34.00 $46.00 $91.00 

Hamburg rules $59.00 $80.00 $150.00 

PFandbrief Act $34.00 $53.00 $96.00 

ote: Values in US$ million for vessel delivered in 2009. Author's Estimates, without prejudice. 

Such valuations as used for issuing bonds in 

the German capital markets and the law 

stipulates that the value of a vessel shall be 

the least of a) replacement cost (construction 

cost for a newbuilding), b) present market 

value of the vessel, or c) the average historical 

value of similar vessels in the last 10 years. 

Since this method stipulates for the least of 

the three values, it is usually the least 

generous valuation method. 

For strictly illustrative purposes, the table 

provides valuations for an MR, an Aframax 

and a VLCC delivered in 2009. The author 

has used market data provided by Compass 

Maritime Services, and has made standard 

assumptions in terms of financing for the 

Income Approach as per industry standard 

practices and prevailing rates. 

Based on the table, obviously the argument 

can be made of what constitutes ‘value’ these 

days. But again, ‘value’ and ‘price’ are not 

always equivalent and there is a fortune to be 

made for those who can take those two 

concepts apart. After all, Warren Buffett has 

made a business (and a fortune) out of it! TO 

*This article was written exclusively for 

TankerOperator by Basil M Karatzas, 

managing director for projects and finance, 

Compass Maritime Services. He can be 

contacted at bkaratzas@compassmar.com 

Tel +201 585 9999. 

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INDUSTRY - INTERTANKO PROFILE 

Intertanko’s new 

chairman sets the 

agenda 

Intertanko introduced its new chairman last month 

– Teekay Marine Services president Capt Graham Westgarth. 

In a wide ranging discussion, 

Westgarth said that he is a champion 

of ‘promoting best practices and 

competence schemes’, citing as an 

example - Tanker Officers Training Standard 

(TOTS) - introduced by the association 

last year. 

He outlined three priorities to be addressed 

during his chairmanship of the organisation. 

1) To profile the tanker industry in a 

proactive manner. 

2) To educate the general public in tanker 

operations. 

3) To promote the services offered by 

Intertanko. 

“We need to be progressive and proactive,” he 

said. “The industry needs to speak as one as 

different points of view offered up by the 

same industry are not helpful.” 

Also sharing information among the 

membership was another vital service that 

the association should continue to promote, 

he said. 

His 12 years spent with Maersk was the 

“best grounding”, he said. Down the years 

with Maersk and Teekay, Westgarth said 

that he had gained a “round knowledge of 

the industry.” 

The challenges were of a “significant 

operational perspective,” he thought. “I 

believe in co-operation and collaboration. 

We need to be solution focused on what we 

can do positively in technical, safety, 

environment, human, operational terms and 

find mutually accepted pragmatic solutions 

by interfacing with stakeholders.” 

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Capt Graham Westgarth 

- a potted biography 

Intertanko chairman Graham Westgarth has 

accumulated some 38 years experience in the 

shipping industry, including 17 years spent at 

sea, including five years with command 

experience. 

He joined Teekay in 1999 and prior to this spent 12 years with 

the Maersk Company heading up its UK fleet. During his spell 

with Maersk, he established and became general manager of AP 

Moller-Maersk’s FPSO operations in the North Sea. 

During his time with Teekay, in 2006 Westgarth relocated to 

Norway for eight months following the company’s acquisition of 

Petrojarl and as an interim CEO, successfully led the company and 

integrated it into Teekay. 

In August 2007, he returned to Vancouver and resumed his 

position as president of Teekay Marine Services. 

Today, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the 

Teekay fleet, involving 165 vessels and almost 5,000 multidisciplined 

sea and shore staff. His mandate includes 

newbuildings, conversions, repair and maintenance, manning and 

training, procurement, marine and last not least – HSEQ. 

During his career, Westgarth has held several positions at board 

level and has also found the time to complete the Columbia 

Business School Senior Executive Development Programme. 

He has served as an Intertanko council member for nine years 

and joined the executive committee in 2006. He was elected vice 

chairman in May 2009. 

06 



Intertanko’s md Peter Swift thought that 

joining together was the way ahead. 

Managing director Peter Swift said that 

gathering collective expertise, such as the 

Round Table initiative, which includes 

Intertanko, IACS, OCIMF, among others, is 

the way ahead. By joining together, an 

environment and agenda is thus created to 

approach other industry bodies. For 

example, the right dialogue with the right 

people was needed. 

One example of industry joining together 

to promote safety was the case of the 

Common Structural Rules (CSR), which was 

developed by Intertanko and OCIMF and 

taken on to its final conclusion by IACS. A 

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has 

also been signed with the ITF and another 

with IMPA as there was increasing pressure 

today on supply chains. 

Westgarth said the biggest problem 

confronting the industry today was the 

human element. There has been an increase 

in groundings, fires and explosions and 

machinery incidents during the past 

few years. 

Intertanko admitted it did not know the 

reasons for the increase in incidents but that 

a review was underway. As for engine 

failures, this could be caused by fuel 

switching due to the increasing number of 

areas where vessels have to switch to low 

sulphur fuel oil (LSFO). 

There is also the question of LSFO quality 

and also on engine reliability, especially in 

those vessels built in new yards, mainly 

in Asia. 

Workshop 

Following the review, there are plans for a 

workshop next year involving various sectors 

of the industry, including insurance interests, 

shipowners, class societies and others to share 

the analysis and learn from it. 

““All vessels should be fitted with [a Tanker 

Efficiency Management Plan] which is aimed at 

setting out all of a tanker’s operational elements 

enabling benchmarking to take place within 

a fleet and even between sister vessels.” 

” 

 

 

 

 

 



be given a mandate to produce an emissions 

plan, which could be finalised by MEPC 62 in 

2011, having gone through the formulation 

stages at MEPC 60 and 61 next year.” 

Capt Westgarth said that the biggest problem facing the industry was the human element. 

Intertanko is to commence a ‘confidential 

accident reporting’ scheme during the early 

part of next year, whereby a tanker owner 

would share confidential information with a 

charterer, including serious near misses. 

Turning to piracy, despite some owners 

coming out in favour of armed intervention, 

Intertanko was firmly of the belief that armed 

guards were not the way forward. “It would 

just escalate the level of violence,” Swift said. 

As for the environment, Swift said that 

Intertanko had been accredited by UNFCCC 

as a shipping association. On the question of 

emissions, Swift said; “We need a level 

playing field with a flag and vessel neutral 

solution through the IMO. We don’t want 

regional schemes.” 

Trying to forecast ahead of Cop15 at which 

Intertanko will be represent, Swift said; “It is 

not unreasonable to assume that the IMO will 

Efficiency plan 

Another Intertanko initiative soon to be 

launched is a Tanker Efficiency Energy 

Management Plan (TEEMP), which is aimed 

at setting out all of a tanker’s operational 

elements enabling benchmarking to take 

place within a fleet and even between sister 

vessels. 

It is a fundamental design index for 

tankers, taking into account such anomalies 

found in these particular types of vessels, 

such as cargo heating and equipment 

redundancy, for example the twin engine 

configuration found on shuttle tankers. 

“All vessels should be fitted with one. We 

need to encourage the industry to use the 

software,” Swift said. 

TEEMP is based on the Ship Energy 

Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP) but is 

tanker specific. It also provides further 

guidance on the usage of the Energy 

Efficiency Operational Indicator (EEOI). 

Intertanko is also actively involved with 

other stakeholders in the development of a 

programme called ‘Virtual Arrival’, which is 

an initiative to persuade tanker operators and 

their charterers to agree to adopt the ‘just-intime’ 

type principle when on a voyage. 

‘Virtual Arrival’ is a software program that 

will calculate when a vessel needs to present 

itself within the laycan at an empty berth 

either to load or discharge, rather than full 

steaming to make a laycan only to wait for 

several days for a berth to become vacant. 

This will help ensure the efficient use of a 

tanker by optimising the speed and fuel 

consumption, thus controlling emissions 

(see page 32). 

TO 

08 


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INDUSTRY - BP SHIPPING PROFILE 

Managing the risk 

BP Shipping is rolling out is rolling out a revised version of the company’s 

Control of Work (CoW) system throughout its 53 vessel fleet. 

The system was put in place in 2007 

and following feedback from BP 

Shipping’s seafarers, 

improvements resulting in more 

standardisation are being introduced into the 

system, which is aimed at continuous 

development of shipboard performance. 

CoW is a written policy within BP 

Shipping’s Quality Assurance Manual and 

assigns clear accountability when conducting 

work on board for health, safety, security and 

environmental performance to designated 

individuals within each shipboard 

management team. 

It requires that the risks associated with 

each task be assessed before it is performed 

and that personnel obtain permits to enable 

them to work on potentially hazardous 

procedures. Each work permit must contain 

a written description of any potential risk 

and required mitigations associated with a 

task about to be performed. It must also 

be signed by everyone engaged in the 

work activity. 

Senior officers are designated as Area 

Authorities (AA) responsible for managing 

safety within their respective departments, 

while Performing Authorities (PA) serve as on 

site leaders. The Officer of the Watch (OOW) 

takes on the role of registrar issuing or 

cancelling permits. 

The training resources were designed to 

ensure that there was a formal approach to 

managing the risk faced by BP Shipping’s 

seafarers and vessels. It is equally applicable 

to shore staff, seafarers and sub-contractors. 

To create the system, a film crew filmed BP 

Shipping’s operations on board oil tankers and 

LNGCs in Trinidad, Spain, California and 

Washington State. To develop the eight 

computer-based test modules, John Sabella & 

Associates, the company that designed the 

training resources, used Norwegian software 

house Seagull. 

Each computer-based test generates a set 

of random questions to improve the 

reliability of the testing.. Each question is 

preceded by a video clip, which is intended 

to remind the trainee about the DVD’s 

contents at the point in the training session 

where the question’s subject was addressed 

without revealing the answer. 

“The system should be simplistic, robust 

and safe and be applicable holistically”, Paul 

Manzi, BP Shipping’s manager of fleet 

HSSE and operations, explained. “There 

should be a standard, simple piece of kit 

across the board with everyone working on 

the same system.” 

The phase-in of the revised training 

materials started on 1st October this year 

and the integration is scheduled to last until 

the middle of December. This phase-in 

period will allow the seafarers to become 

familiar with the system and will also help 

to identify and eliminate any problems 

revealed, Manzi said. 

He also said that BP Shipping noticed that 

personal injury incidents had fallen since the 

introduction of the system. For example, from 

“ 

2004 to date, the company had seen a near 

50% reduction in injuries, although he added 

that the number of incidents was already low. 

All the reported incidents were investigated 

and the results embedded in the upgraded 

system where necessary. 

As well as circulating a DVD and 

organising computer-based testing sessions, 

fleet training safety officers (FTSOs) visit 

BP’s vessels to give practical hands-on 

advice. BP Shipping firmly believes in 

practical training on board, as well as taking 

in the theory. 

Manzi also said the system is being 

integrated well into shipboard work routines. 

The system started with the junior officers and 

encompassed shore-based training, as well as 

on board sessions with the visiting FTSOs, 

vetting auditors and superintendents. 

Ratings are given a five-day ‘basics of 

safety seamanship’ course to ensure they 

understand the fundamentals of BP’s 

expectations for shipboard operations, 

mainly in India and the Philippines. These 

are interactive courses with only less than 

one day given over to a classroom theory 

type sessions. 

BP Shipping also has a seven-day safety 

officers’ training course on which the first and 

second days are given over to lectures and the 

balance is focused on hands on training. “For 

safety learning, there is no substitute for 

actually doing it,” Manzi said. 

Manzi firmly believed that a good safety 

culture is engendered by the shore 

management having a sound relationship with 

the seagoing staff. “We encourage real 

personal contact with the FTSOs,” he said. 

“Working together on safety issues on a faceto-face 

basis is a crucial part of the learning 

process. Any training aide memoire should be 

“The system should be simplistic, robust 

and safe and be applicable holistically” 

- Paul Manzi, BP Shipping 

” 

complimentary to face-to-face hands on 

training and not instead of it..” 

At any one time, the company operates 

many chartered in vessels and employs time 

charter superintendents to ensure the level of 

safety and operations that BP requires. 

Workshops are regularly held with the 

charterers’ representatives to outline the 

safety and commercial goals needed by the 

oil major. 

“This is a mutually beneficial exercise 

as smaller shipowning companies often 

have great safety cultures,” Manzi explained. 

This was partly due to the introduction of 

TMSA, BP’s focus on creating partnerships 

with its timecharter operators and partly 

down to the vetting of the vessels put up 

for charter. 

“We regard them as partners, not just in 

word, but in actual practice,” he said. “We like 

to have a personal relationship from the CEO 

down to the superintendents.” 

TO 

10 


INDUSTRY - GIBRALTAR REPORT 

Photo credit – NORDEN 

Gibraltar looks to 

both anchorages as 

expansion needed 

Gibraltar is still experiencing significant growth in the number of calls made to the 

anchorages and there is vast potential to increase the number of callers still further. 

Various plans are in place to handle 

the extra volume of shipping 

anticipated. TAKEROperator 

spoke with some of the major 

players on the Rock about their plans for 

the future. 

Captain Peter Hall, Port of Gibraltar CEO 

and Port Captain saw one of his main 

marketing tasks as answering the question; 

“What can Gibraltar do about building on the 

transit traffic?” 

Plans are currently being implemented to 

increase the number of bunker slots available 

in the light of the steady increase in business 

seen since 1998 when bunker calls passed the 

3,000 mark for the year. 

Since then the number of vessels arriving 

for bunkers has climbed to almost 6,000, 

registering 5,965 in 2008. Adding other vessel 

calls to the list gives a grand total of 9,749 for 

the year. 

The surge in bunker calls has not stopped 

as in the first eight months of this year, the 

number of vessel calls was up by a further 

16% to 4,343 vessels, which took on around 

3 mill tonnes of fuel – up 10% compared 

with figures produced up to the end of 

August 2008. 

Naturally, having such a volume of vessels 

anchored just a mile or so from the port for 

several hours has attracted a plethora of other 

concerns offering services, such as those 

involved in crew changes, ship supply, repairs 

and maintenance and general agency work. 

Such is the volume of traffic in and around 

the Bay of Gibraltar, the Port Authority has 

been studying ways of increasing the number 

of anchorage slots for several years, which 

today are more or less full. 

One solution was the opening up of the 

Eastern Anchorage, which until recently was a 

free anchorage zone primarily used by vessels 

awaiting orders. However, the Port of 

Gibraltar has introduced a fee system for 

vessels anchoring in the area. Trials have also 

taken place involving a bunker barge 

refuelling a vessel. One of the major concerns 

were the conditions encountered, which at 

times could restrict operations. 

For large vessels, about 10 slots are 

available in the more sheltered Western 

Anchorage, which are more or less full most 

of the time. On the Eastern side, as well as 

bunkers, spares, crew changes, fresh water 

and stores could and are being delivered. 

However, the risks have to be constantly 

balanced against any operations, Capt 

Hall said. 

To help overcome these problems, as well 

as monitor shipping in the area, Transas is 

installing a VTS, which should be operational 

in the New Year. The system will include 

weather sensing software in an effort to give 

early warning of the approach of inclement 

weather conditions, radar systems and CCTV. 

The sensors would be married up to the 

procedural requirements. This move was 

partly prompted by two high profile drybulk 

carrier incidents in the past couple of years. 



The need for a VTS is clearly illustrated by this busy seen in the Western Anchorage. 

Gibraltar will soon have its own AIS, which 

Capt Hall explained would give the Port 

Authority greater scope to see approaching 

vessels at around 60 miles distant. This will 

enable the port to schedule calls more 

effectively and try to avoid bottlenecks at the 

anchorages. Information can then be 

exchanged with the various service providers 

whereby a vessel’s turnaround time could be 

reduced by alleviating waiting time. 

Security and efficiency are high on Capt 

Hall’s priorities. To this end, bunker supply at 

Gibraltar is undertaken adhering to a strict 

code of practice while the Port employs a 

dedicated bunkering superintendent. Both the 

suppliers and barges are vetted. 

During the past few years, the older single 

hull bunker barges have been replaced by new, 

or secondhand double hull product tankers, 

many of which have a larger capacity than 

their predecessors. 

Gibraltar is one of the last major bunkering 

ports available for vessels entering the 

northern ECAs, resulting in more low sulphur 

fuel being stemmed. Many vessels will take 

on both HFO and LSFO while at the 

anchorage. 

Capt Hall explained that due to the piracy 

problems in the Red Sea area and the costs 

now associated with Suez Canal transits, more 

vessels were making use of the South African 

route. Vessels sailing on the North/South 

routes pass within about 20 miles of the Rock, 

while Mediterranean traffic (East/West) 

transits within a few miles of Gibraltar in the 

two vessel separation zones. 

Another long term project was to look for 

alternatives to the floating storage tankers 

anchored in the Bay used to supply the bunker 

barges. Handysize and MR product tankers 

currently transfer fuel into the storage tankers 

in a ship-to-ship transfer operation. One 

solution being discussed is the opening of 

land-based storage facilities on the Rock, but 

any move was still a long way off, Captain 

Hall confirmed. 

Flag increases 

This has been a good year for the Gibraltar 

Maritime Administration (GMA) despite the 

dramatic downturn in the maritime world, 

claimed Alan Cubbin, Gibraltar’s Maritime 

Administrator. 

Notwithstanding this, the GMA has 

continued its excellent work in maintaining a 

high quality ship register and has further 

improved its services to shipping through the 

updating of legislation and procedures. This 

has also ensured compliance with international 

conventions and in maintaining the Gibraltar 

Ship Register’s status as a Red Ensign Group 

Category 1 Register. 

The Registry has also enjoyed further 

growth and stood at 301 vessels at the end of 

October 2009, an increase of 11% over the 

previous year. This clearly demonstrates the 

high regard in which the Registry is held by 

the international shipping community, 

Cubbin said. 

While the fleet is a mixture of types of 

ships, tankers make up approximately 24% or 

70 plus vessel. Many of these are registered 

in Germany and the GMA has visited 

Germany twice in the last two months to call 

on owners and to discuss the present difficult 

conditions and evaluate various ways in which 

the Administration can assist, while at the 

same time ensuring that international 

standards are maintained, or improved. 

Cubbin also said these visits to the 

companies are useful, not only to listen to the 

companies’ comments on the present position 

but also to inform them of the intentions of 

the Administration to introduce new ideas like 

Customer Service Managers (CSMs). “This is 

not a new idea,” said Cubbin, “but it is a 

change for the GMA. The companies will 

have an individual CSMs who will deal with 

all the ships the company has on our registry 

and will be a focal point for any new 

registrations or change of flag. With this 

personal attention we are aiming to provide a 

better service while improving the fleet 

performance in the various inspection regimes 

around the world.” 

The registry’s staffing levels have recently 

been increased with additional experienced 

surveyors and these new staff, allied to the 

experience of the existing staff, enables all 

types of ship to be accommodated. While not 

concentrating on tankers, or small chemical 

carriers, these are an important part of the 

fleet, Cubbin said. 

He explained: “Alan Fairney who was 

director of operations in the UK MCA has 

recently joined our team. He has a huge 

amount of experience on all types of ships. 

We have also recruited another ex MCA 

surveyor and two from other sectors of the 

industry. All of these plus the extensive 

experience of my exisiting surveyors means 

we can deal with all types of ships. 

“It is not only the technical aspects that are 

important but the experience of the whole 

registration team means we can register a 

ship, if all the documents are presented 

correctly, in a very short timescale, within 

two/four days in certain cases. We have also 

recently addressed the concerns of the 

shipowner in the case of ships being 

completed in China, where only original 

documents will be accepted. We can now 

offer a system which ensures the documents 

are available in China on the day the 

registration is being completed in Gibraltar. 

“Similarly, we issue provisional acceptance 

of STCW certificates within the same working 

day and we are refining our system such that 

both the provisional and the full term 

endorsements can be issued online. 

12 



“In themselves, these are not big changes 

but we are continually looking at how we can 

help the owner meet the challenges of a 

difficult situation with no reduction in 

standards. We are not specifically looking for 

change of flags, although we have had some 

10-15 this year to date. We have also rejected 

several whose performance and Port State 

Control records did not meet to our 

expectations. 

“These visits (to Germany) are not new for 

the GMA but we are considering extending 

these in to countries such as Holland, Norway 

and possibly Sweden from where we have 

recently had some enquiries. 

“Being a member of the Red Ensign Group 

(REG) has certain advantages, not just the 

reputation of the flag, but also the provision to 

call on colleagues in the UK and the other 

REG registries for help and assistance to carry 

out inspections and audits on Gibraltarregistered 

ships around the world. Although 

not used often this does mean that in some 

case the costs to the owners can be reduced by 

using a surveyor from another REG member 

who is closer to the port where the ship is 

berthed,” Cubbin said. 

The other advantage Gibraltar enjoys is 

Bunker calls are increasing leading to the ‘full up’ sign being posted over the Western 

Anchorage. 

being in the European Union; this allows ships 

registered in Gibraltar to enjoy all the 

advantages of the cabotage rules but also 

requires compliance with all of the other 

marine safety and environmental protection 

legislation, including the Marine Equipment 

Directive (MED). 

“The MED has been a matter of some 

concern,” said Cubbin, “in the case of ships 

building in the Far East to a non-EU flag and 

then trying to switch on delivery. We have 

made a special point of reminding our owners, 

recognised organisations and agents that 

compliance with MED is something which 

requires careful attention and, whilst we may 

allow time for small items to be replaced, we 

have to be very strict in the cases where large 

items of equipment, like lifeboats or davits do 

not comply. 

“The bunkering operations in Gibraltar 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



holders can pass through Gibraltar 

immigration with RMS’ letter of guarantee 

and can then be transported either directly to 

the vessel, or to a hotel. 

Should the airport be closed due to 

inclement weather, which does happen from 

time to time, crew can be transported from 

Malaga, about a 90-minute bus ride. The one 

problem here is that Spanish immigration will 

insist on Indian crew members and others 

having a European Shengen visa, which, if the 

plane is diverted at the last minute, causes the 

agents headaches and might result in the crew 

being sent back to the UK, or their place of 

origin. 

Aegean has introduced a newbuilding double hull bunker tanker to the area. 

continue to grow and there are continual 

changes in the ships operating in this area. 

This keeps the surveyors very much in touch 

with this kind of operation. Furthermore, the 

GMA is also looking at proposals to extend 

the operational activities of Gibraltarregistered 

bunkering barges in other ports,” 

Cubbin concluded. 

Gibraltar-based independent bunker trader 

and ships’ agency concern Rock Maritime 

Services (RMS) took delivery of a new larger 

supply boat in September. 

The 12 m long RMS 2 is capable of carrying 

12 persons, is fitted with a 1 tonne capacity 

deck crane and has a flat deck for carrying 

supplies. She replaced a 6 m boat, which has 

been sold. 

In the past few years, a rapid increase has 

been seen in the number of LNGC calls in and 

around Gibraltar, especially in an area 

designated off-port limits (OPL), which is one 

of the reasons why a larger supply boat was 

needed. 

Despite the Port of Gibraltar introducing 

dues for vessels calling within three miles of 

the Rock in the Eastern Anchorage last May, 

RMS operations manager Mark Mills said that 

Gibraltar was still cheaper than other ports in 

the area. 

RMS has operations in Algeciras, Ceuta and 

Tangier, which are linked up with the 

Gibraltar head office. The company offers a 

full agency service and being independent, 

Mills claimed that a more personalised service 

could be given to clients. 

Crew changes are easily handled through 

Gibraltar’s airport where a new terminal is 

currently under construction as is a new road 

linking the Spanish border with the town 

centre, which will go underneath the main 

runway by way of a tunnel. 

Mills explained that non-EU passport 

UK law 

One of the many advantages of setting up 

shop in Gibraltar is that maritime law is based 

on that practised in the UK. That is one reason 

why ship arrests are easily executed and 

handled. In such cases, the crew and the 

vessel are looked after until a new owner 

takes over, following a Gibraltar Admiralty 

Marshall auction. 

Today, one of the main concerns for any 

service company is credit control. Ships’ 

agents are in a unique position at the front end 

in that they are sometimes asked to fund 

bunker stems and other services, such as ‘cash 

to master’, which when added up, could run 

into thousands of dollars per ship call. 

Mills said that RMS will offer credit terms 

to established clients, however, for 

newcomers, at least two calls must be funded 

by the owner/operator/charterer up front. The 

bulk of RMS’ business is concerned with 

agency work and a good percentage of this is 

acting as charterers’ agents. 

For bunker supplies, RMS links up with 

Aegean, Cepsa/Peninsula and Bunkers 

Gibraltar, which has linked up with Bominflot, 

Boluda manages 

Cepsa’s bunker 

barges operating 

in the Bay. 

14 



among others. In addition, Aegean recently 

opened a bunker station at Tangier. 

Ideal location 

Mills described Gibraltar as the third busiest 

bunker port in the world as the Rock is in the 

ideal location for East/West, as well as 

North/South traffic, which passes within a few 

miles of the anchorages. 

All grades are offered and Gibraltar is one 

of the last bunker stops before a vessel arrives 

in the European ECA area, thus low sulphur 

fuel is now readily available. Once the new 

VTS is up and running, bunkering operations 

will be possible on both sides of the Rock – 

weather permitting. 

In addition to the two anchorages, OPL 

calls are also handled regularly whereby a 

vessel transiting the straits needing supplies, 

crew change, medical assistance etc deviates 

from the traffic separation zones and is 

serviced from an agent’s boat while steaming 

off the Rock at slow speed. 

Since its inception about 18 years ago, the 

bulk of RMS’ business is concerned with 

agency work and a good percentage of this is 

acting as charterers’ agents for vessels calling 

at the anchorages. 

The company offers a full agency service, 

including bunker supplies, either at the 

anchorages or alongside. Gasoil is normally 

supplied from one of two jetties in the port, 

which can handle vessels of up to 100 m in 

length. Fresh water is also available by barge 

or alongside, while security can be arranged, 

especially for vessels, which have recently 

called at North African ports, such as 

LNGCs. 

Another string to RMS’ bow is being able 

to offer underwater inspections by diver, 

while Gibraltar is also one of the world’s 

largest suppliers of lube oils, either in drums, 

or in bulk under an agreement with Shell. 

The Cammell Laird shiprepair yard is also 

very active and RMS offers a dockyard 

agency service. 

Third parties 

Agency services on the Rock and in Algeciras 

are split on the usage of supply boats. Some 

like Rock Maritime Services own their boat, 

while others like Inchcape Shipping Services 

(ISS) lease boats from third parties, as and 

when they are needed. 

From its local base in Gibraltar, ISS has 

been offering agency services, either direct or 

by using a network of sub-agents, to the 

whole of the Iberian Peninsular, Morocco 

(Agadir, Casablanca and Tangier) and the 

Atlantic Islands, including Cape Verde, 

Azores, plus the Balearic Islands, for a 

number of years. 

A full agency service is offered and similar 

to other companies spoken to by 

TAKEROperator credit controls have been 

tightened. At present, ISS has over 90% of its 

costs pre-funded. Both operations and 

financial control for the region is co-ordinated 

through the ISS’ offices in Gibraltar and 

Madrid, offering only one point of contact. 

The largest client in Gibraltar in the tanker 

sector in terms of port calls is Maersk/ 

Brostrom. AP Moller-Maersk has signed a 

worldwide agency agreement with ISS. 

Local operations manager Chris Linares and 

finance manager Brian Gomila said that ISS 

has had “…..a very good year, which 

surpassed expectations.” They also said that 

the forecast budget would be exceeded again 

this year, for the second year running. 

In Gibraltar, ISS has 12 staff having 

increased the number of personnel on the 

Rock and in Spain. Agency services in both 

Gibraltar and Algeciras was now very “cut 



Most service providers hire boats, such as these seen at Algeciras, as and when necessary. 

throat” due to the increase in vessel calls at 

both locations for bunkers, crew changes and 

supplies. 

ISS uses local Spanish agency Berge 

Maritima in Algeciras as sub-agents. 

They both agreed that Gibraltar was a good 

place to arrest vessels as the agency work is 

guaranteed as is crew wages until they are 

repatriated, following a sale. 

As for the future, it was “….more of the 

same”. ISS was looking for a larger share of 

the passing traffic, which could make use of 

the Eastern Anchorage as the Western 

Anchorage was virtually full. To expedite calls 

at the anchorages, clearance is accomplished 

by means of VHF. 

One problem for the local agents are the 

number of stowaways arriving in Gibraltar 

and elsewhere in Spain. ISS represents several 

of the leading P&I clubs and will deal with 

the problem as and when necessary. 

ISS can trace its history on the Rock back 

to 1877. In 1992, the agency acquired another 

old established player in the market – Lambert 

Brothers. 

According to ISS, Gibraltar offers owners, 

managers and charterers competitive services 

due to the high turnover. For example, the 

average stay for a vessel in the Western 

Anchorage bunker slots is around six to eight 

hours. Several vessels often anchor or slow 

steam off the Rock, waiting for a slot to 

become vacant. 

Costs, both for calls and services, are kept 

to a minimum, due to Gibraltar’s unique status 

of being tax free within the European Union. 

ISS also said that the Gibraltar Government 

continuously monitors the shipping market 

and its players to ensure a competitive 

environment for the benefit of vessels using 

the many services on offer. 

The company has been certificated to ISO 

9001:2000 standard by Lloyd’s Register 

Quality Assurance (LRQA), operates its own 

global QA team and has issued an ISS Code 

of Excellence. 

Disbursement accounts (DAs) are 

standardised throughout the company for 

reduced admin costs and better efficiency. In 

Gibraltar, ISS has implemented an improved 

DA turnaround to reduce any backlog. 

For example when calling for bunkers, an 

electronic DA submission is issued within 48 

hours of the operation and for husbandry, the 

submission is made within 20 days. A single 

point of contact is offered 24/7 to all vessels 

and their principals calling under the agency. 

Engineering 

There are several smaller engineering 

concerns offering repair and maintenance 

services in both Gibraltar and Algeciras. 

One, Sandvik Marine Electronics, has 

experienced significant growth during the past 

two to three years as during a period of low 

freights, owners and managers are more prone 

to repair and maintain existing electronic 

equipment on board ship, rather than order 

new replacements, service manager John King 

explained. 

King said that Sandvik had experienced an 

upturn in maintenance tasks, but this was a 

less lucrative business when compared with a 

replacement of a part, or complete electronic 

section. He also revealed that Sandvik was 

going through a period of expansion with 

more branches opening in Spain. 

He described the company’s operation as 

twofold. One was to maintain and repair 

bridge equipment on vessels already on 

extended contracts (about 40 thus far) and the 

other was to attract passing traffic, as a large 

stock of spares is kept in both Gibraltar and 

Algeciras, especially of older generation 

bridge equipment for which spares could be 

difficult to source. 

Sandvik maintains and repairs many OEM’s 

bridge equipment and the company has been 

approved by most of the major class societies. 

For example, radar, VDR, GMDSS, Satcom, 

gyro and autopilot installations are carried out 

and radio and VDR surveys are also offered. 

A major advantage claimed for the area is 

that an engineer/technician is able to embark 

OPL Gibraltar or Algeciras to install, or 

repair/maintain a piece of equipment, 

disembarking at for example - off Malta, or 

the eastern Mediterranean – a few days later. 

The company employs six engineers in the 

area, but King admitted that recruiting 

technicians was becoming a problem. 

Sandvik’s clients are 60% Scandinavian, 

due to its Nordic background – it was founded 

more than 25 years ago in Oslo landing in the 

southern Spain area in 1994. Today, the 

company represents Kongsberg on the Iberian 

Peninsular. 

In Gibraltar, the office trades under the 

name of Sandvik Services Ltd, while in Spain 

it is known as Sandvik Marine Electronics. 

Following TAKEROperator’s visit to 

Gibraltar, King was travelling to Turkey as he 

saw potential for new business in the recent 

fleet expansion in that country and also with 

the plethora of small shipyards, especially in 

the Tuzla Bay area. 

Rapid growth 

Since the early days of Barwil on the Rock, 

consisting of just one agent working out of a 

small office, its successor Wilhelmsen Ships 

Service (WSS) has experienced rapid growth 

in the region. 

Gibraltar operations manager Nicholai Bado 

claimed that during the last five to six years, 

WSS had experienced significant growth per 

annum, gaining a large share of the market. 

One of the driving forces of this growth 

pattern was the integration of Unitor and its 

products a few years ago. WSS can now offer a 

16 



full service package on both sides of the Bay. 

Bado explained that in Gibraltar, WSS was 

handling six or seven vessels per day and so 

had to come up with a strategy to almost 

double the size of the agency. This included 

the hiring of three co-ordinators and three 

boarding agents to liaise with WSS’ clients. 

Like other agencies, OPL transits form a 

significant part of the business with 

westbound traffic being met around two miles 

east of the Rock and eastbound shipping about 

6.5 miles south of the Rock. 

The company also has an agreement with 

local ship chandler for the lease of supply 

boats as and when needed. 

WSS has several global and part global 

agreements in place with owners, operators 

and charterers and has 260 customer account 

managers worldwide. 

As for the Unitor products, they are claimed 

to have a considerable market share 

worldwide and can be distributed from 

Gibraltar, or Algeciras, or both. A dangerous 

goods store for the chemicals has been erected 

in Gibraltar’s port area, designed specifically 

for Unitor’s gas products, mainly bottles. 

As well as storing WSS products, the 

warehouse is offered up to third parties for 

storage with several companies currently 

taking advantage of this service. 

For logistics purposes, WSS has a 15 tonne 

truck whereby deliveries can be co-ordinated 

in the Algeciras warehouse and then trucked 

to Gibraltar. An advantage is that the Gibraltar 

warehouse is no more than 50-100 m from the 

quayside, where the supply boats are moored 

and a spares warehouse is also available 

within the confines of Algeciras port. 

Large ship-to-ship transfers are normally 

carried out around 30 miles off Gibraltar by 

SPT, as apart from supplying the bunker 

storage vessels anchored in the bay, large STS 

operations are banned. 

Mooring masters and fenders can be taken 

from Gibraltar to the site and Fenmar has a 

store of Yokohama fenders within the port area, 

which can be used for bunkering operations, or 

STS transfers. This company also offers STS 

transfer services, chandlery and from 

September 2007, a ships agency service. 

WSS’ presence in Algeciras forms the 

company’s main hub for southern Spain. Four 

boarding agents are available as similar to 

Gibraltar, Algeciras is experiencing an 

increase in bunker only calls, both within the 

anchorage and OPL. 

Also similar to the Gibraltar operation, 

WSS hires supply boats as and when needed 

from the two supply boat owners in Algeciras, 

who operate around 10 boats of various sizes, 

port operations manager for southern Spain, 

Ana Martinez explained. 

The Algeciras office offers products and 

technical services, as well as logistics plus a 

full agency service. A sales engineer is 

available to give customer support as is a coordinator 

for the delivery of products and 

technical services. 

WSS operates what it calls VOSS (vessel 

operations support system), plus IFS 

(information for customer service) worldwide, 

which is used by all agency offices. 

At Algeciras, two warehouses are available 

– one in the port area for spares and the other 

outside the port for liferafts, plus storage 

space within the office complex. Spares, 

supplies etc are trucked down from Rotterdam 

on a weekly basis and are stored in the 

warehouse until ready for use. 

Giving a boost to the area, Alpetrol is 

installing storage tanks, primarily for fuel oil, 

adjacent to the new Hanjin container terminal 

presently under construction at the Isla Verde 

site. The storage capacity will be in the 



Another two year 

charter was 

agreed for the 

storage tanker 

Europa Venture 

by Bominflot 

Gibraltar. Note the 

large fenders 

along the side of 

the vessel. 

region of 320,000 cu m and the contract for 

the terminal’s construction was signed earlier 

this year. 

Elsewhere, Astilleros Cernaval has reopened 

a former newbuilding dock as a 

shiprepair centre, close to La Linea. One large 

400 x 50 m graving dock is supplemented by 

a smaller floating dock. The larger dock will 

be able to accommodate two vessels 

simultaneously, once a dividing caisson has 

been installed. 

Due to the new massive Isla Verde harbour 

construction outside the main APM container 

terminal and ferry port, vessels’ anchoring 

slots will be moved further seaward into the 

bay, due to the need for a turning circle off 

the berths. 

Liferaft exchange 

Liferafts have been in the news recently and 

WSS recently launched a liferaft exchange 

programme. During October, the company 

announced that this service had been extended 

to cover 743 ports in 74 countries and 

continued to expand, hence the Algeciras 

facility. 

The concept involves swopping liferafts and 

lifesaving equipment, which are due for a 

service, with operational equipment. 

According to WSS, this minimises the 

chance of becoming caught out by unforeseen 

service dates and costly weak links in the 

supply chain. 

At the time of TAKEROperator’s visit to 

Algeciras, WSS was undergoing the process 

of gaining the necessary local permits to store 

liferafts and their attendant pyrotechnics. All 

capacities will be handled at the new 

warehouse, ranging from a four person to a 

24-person liferaft. 

Marine electronics 

Algeciras-based marine electronics service 

and repair organisation Aage Hempel handles 

around 106 vessels per week in and around 

the Iberian Peninsular, plus the Canary 

Islands, Gibraltar and Morocco and has 

around 11 offices at present with more 

planned. 

The company has come a long way since its 

founding in 1992 and today its turnover runs 

at about Eur11 mill. 

Among the new service stations planned are 

Lisbon and Malta as Aage Hempel has signed 

a service agreement with Malta Drydocks. The 

company told TAKEROperator that it had 

ambitious plans for growth and today 

represents most of the navigation and 

communications suppliers as an ‘authorised 

service station’. 

For example, it has service agreements in 

place for VDRs/S-VDRs on behalf of the 

OEMS under the mandatory IMO 

requirements. The company also has approvals 

for GMDSS and annual performance tests, 

plus radio surveys from most of the major 

class societies. 

One of the major goals is to try to maintain 

the current 80% success rate of first time 

fixes. The company has around 60 people 

spread around its out stations and in the 

Algeciras headquarters, including about 32 

technicians. 

From Algeciras, Aage Hempel runs a coordination/logistics 

department and also has a 

warehouse, which houses around Eur1.5 mill 

of new equipment and spares. Equipment 

repairs can also be undertaken in the 

warehouse and spare parts ordered in Europe 

can be delivered in 24-48 hours. 

The company has become increasingly 

involved in international services and has seen 

an increase in longer term service contracts. 

Just over a year ago, Aage Hempel started a 

sales department to represent OEMs, which 

is currently running at around Eur1.5 mill 

per annum. 

Training also forms an important part of the 

operation in which the company has made a 

significant investment. More recently, the 

Bominflot 

Gibraltar has also 

chartered another 

tanker to operate 

alongside the 

Europa Supplier 

1, pictured. 

18 



technicians have been trained for VDR, AIS 

and SSAS installations. Technicians are 

regularly sent on training courses and the 

company also has its own training centre. 

Bunker suppliers 

In August, Aegean Marine Petroleum 

etwork took delivery of the Kerkyra, a 

6,290 dwt double-hull bunkering tanker 

newbuilding from Qingdao Hyundai Shipyard 

in China. 

The vessel is now deployed at Aegean’s 

bunker station at Gibraltar. 

E Nikolas Tavlarios, Aegean Marine 

president, commented at the time of her 

delivery, "Including the Kerkyra, Aegean has 

taken delivery of seven double-hull bunkering 

vessels to date in 2009. As we continue to 

execute our well-capitalised growth plan, we 

expect to enhance our ability to meet the 

strong demand for modern tonnage and 

strengthen Aegean's leading brand for the 

global supply of marine fuel. We intend to 

deploy the Kerkyra to Gibraltar in order to 

further develop future sales volumes in this 

broad and attractive region." 

A few weeks later Aegean announced that it 

has commenced operations in Tangiers, 

Morocco. 

In June, Bominflot Gibraltar chartered the 

Ruth Theresa to join the Europa Supplier 1 

offering bunker supplies at Gibraltar. 

Ruth Theresa was built in 2008 and has a 

maximum cargo capacity of about 8,800 

tonnes with a pumping rate of 500 cu m per 

hour, while the Europa Supplier 1 has a 

capacity of 6,200 tonnes with a pumping 

capacity of 400 cu m per hour. 

A new two year charter was also agreed for 

the 78,000 dwt products storage tanker 

Europa Venture and Bominflot Gibraltar 

claimed to be well equipped to cover all 

customer's and market's requirements. All 

products such as LSFO, HSFO, MDO, MGO 

are available. All other grades can be provided 

due to existing blending facilities fitted on 

board the vessels. 

In and around the area, Bominflot has 

physical bunker locations in Las Palmas, 

Gibraltar, Ceuta and Genoa. Further locations, 

particularly in the Eastern Mediterranean, will 

be announced soon, the company said. 

Leading Gibraltar supplier CEPSA Marine 

Fuels (CMF) has reinforced its resources in 

the Spanish port of Huelva. 

CMF claims a leading position in the ports 

of Algeciras, Ceuta and Gibraltar. This success 

is due to the constant quality and reliability of 

the products that come out directly from 

Cepsa’s local refineries, the company said. 

As part of a larger upgrading project for the 

oil company’s Huelva refinery, CMF has 

enlarged its storage capacity and has put in 

place new supply facilities, with the aim of 

widening its offering in and around the Straits 

of Gibraltar. 

Deliveries will be undertaken through 

DECAL facilities, connected by pipeline with 

the Huelva’s refinery. There will be new 

bunkering points on two berths from where 

bunkers will be supplied by pipeline as 

necessary, with a dedicated berth for a barge. 

There will also be a double hull barge, the 

Spabunker 60, which will supply vessels at 

the anchorage. It will have capacity for 2.400 

tonnes of fuel oil and 680 tonnes of MGO, 

with a pumping capacity of two 600 cu m per 

hour for fuel oil and two 210 cu m per hour 

pumps for MGO. 

Smaller deliveries will be undertaken 

by truck. 

TO 

service & quality are within your reach 

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TEL: +1 703 620 4880 

FAX: +1 703 476 8522 

MARITIME@REGISTER-IRI.COM 

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THE MARSHALL ISLANDS MARITIME AND CORPORATE ADMINISTRATORS 


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INDUSTRY - BUNKERS 

Increase in high seas 

bunkering seen 

If we’re truthful no one particularly 

likes change. We think we should, 

because consultants and ‘modernists’ 

tell us to ‘embrace’ it. The reality is 

that change is driven, in the main, by 

necessity; an increase in competition, 

organisational transformation, a financial 

crisis like we have recently witnessed, or the 

evolution of technology that redefines 

operations and services. And ironically, 

while scepticism is always the primary 

emotion, acceptance, belief and conviction 

always seem to follow.* 

Within in the shipping industry, the past 12 

months have all been about change. While 

the financial crisis has expedited 

consolidation, it has also significantly 

increased competition and intensified the 

pressure from customers to transport goods 

faster and cheaper. In response, shipowners 

and operators have been forced to scrutinise 

every element of their organisational 

infrastructure and methods of operation to 

identify ways of improving services, 

increasing efficiencies and reducing costs. 

One area that has been embraced, 

particularly by tanker operators, is the 

methods of purchasing bunker fuel. 

Accounting for over 50% of a vessel’s 

overall operating costs, managing bunker 

fuel procurement is a full time responsibility 

and a key part of the overall profitability of 

an organisation. It is interesting that in the 

past year, many operators, as well as 

How a change in bunker 

delivery is fuelling 

performance improvement 

and reducing costs. 

OW Icebunker md Per Funch-Nielsen. 

implementing effective hedging and risk 

management strategies to manage price 

volatility have also looked at the actual 

physical method of purchase as another 

means of increasing efficiencies. This has 

resulted in a significant increase in high seas 

bunkering activity in 2009. 

For many years, high seas bunkering has 

been a service traditionally associated with 

the global fishing fleets, where trawlers, in 

an industry continually faced with dwindling 

resources and increased legislation, need all 

the time they can get to maximise their 

catches. Coming into port is simply not 

an option. 

It is a trend, which is now starting to be 

utilised by other facets within the industry. 

OW Icebunker, part of the OW Bunker 

group, has seen a significant increase in its 

customer base over the past year, which now 

includes tankers, container vessels, bulk 

carriers and reefers. 

The company is in the process of deploying 

another vessel to the Pacific Ocean to meet 

the increase in demand and to support the 

barge Otilia, which is already in operation in 

the region. Central to providing a quality high 

seas bunkering service, the vessels are doublehulled, 

with fast pumping rates of 600 cu m 

per hour ensuring a quick supply of fuel oil, 

and can provide all grades of quality IFO 

products up to 380 cst, as well as MGO DMA. 

The one common denominator for this 

change is that all of the new customers have 

been motivated by the significant efficiency 

and cost savings that can be generated, as well 

as the real developments that have been made 

in high seas bunkering services over the past 

few years. 

For a start, deviating from a route can save 

days in time that would otherwise be spent 



High seas bunkering 

has increased 

dramatically this 

year. 

sailing to a port, and high seas bunkering is a 

fast and efficient way to refuel for vessels 

with time-sensitive cargo, virtually anywhere 

in the world. There are then the additional 

costs associated with entering a port, 

including pilotage, port fees, agency costs, as 

well as tug usage. Finally, high seas 

bunkering provides a guarantee on product 

availability, when and where the customers 

want it. There is no waiting in port for the 

right product to be made accessible. 

The conviction of this move to high seas 

bunkering has also created the opportunity to 

dispel any concerns that some of the industry 

may have had about the service. This is 

specific to the physical and environmental 

safety of the actual delivery of products 

while at sea. The reality is that the methods 

of delivery can vary depending on the 

condition of the seas. If calm, the bunker 

barge can deliver product side-by-side to the 

tanker, or in rough waters it can be supplied 

via a stern line; either way, safety is 

guaranteed. 

Clearly, the process of building confidence 

within the industry needs to continue. It is 

vital that suppliers guarantee the same care 

and due diligence while at sea as they do in 

port, not just in health, safety and 

environmental terms, but also in relation to 

product quality, where highly skilled crews, as 

well as on board blending and testing facilities 

are essential. 

There is no doubt that the recent increase 

in high seas bunkering services is fuelled by, 

and set in the context of, the global financial 

crisis. But evidence suggests that while this 

may have been a catalyst for change, for 

many operators it is change that will be 

embraced on a permanent basis, particularly 

once they have experienced the efficiency 

and cost benefits. 

Ultimately, it is about providing customers 

with both choice and flexibility, where a 

bunkering solution can be specifically tailored 

to meet their operational needs, whatever they 

may be. High seas bunkering is a good 

example of this, as well as a highly efficient 

way of providing operators with an additional 

option of getting goods to where they need to 

be, faster, and at a lower cost. And in today’s 

market, that is a compelling proposition for 

TO 

anyone. 

In calm weather s-t-s bunker transfers can be undertaken side-by-side. 

22 

*This article was written for 

TAKEROperator by Per Funch- 

ielsen, managing director OW 

Icebunker Ltd. 



Low sulphur marine 

gas oil quality could 

increase switching risks 

Fuel quality problems associated with low sulphur heavy fuel oil, combined with the 

current regional quality of low sulphur gas oil, pose a potential increased risk 

to engines when a switch to marine gas oil is subsequently made*. 

Cascading attempts to limit sulphur 

emissions around the world mean 

that ship operators already using 

low sulphur fuel oil could now 

face a greater machinery risk as they switch to 

low sulphur marine gas oil to meet new 

requirements in Europe and California. 

Although more expensive, low sulphur heavy 

fuel oil (LSFO) does, in some specific areas 

and from some specific suppliers, offer 

increased challenges compared to the quality of 

normal heavy fuel oil (HFO). This can leave an 

engine with problems that are exacerbated by 

change-over to low viscosity marine gas oil 

(MGO). Reduced maximum engine output, 

reduced starting performance, reduced low load 

performance and even, at worst, black-outs and 

the consequent risk of oil spills and loss of life 

at sea, may be the result. 

“Prior to 1st January 2010, vessels calling to 

European ports could choose their fuel strategies 

but the requirement to use 0.1% sulphur fuel at 

berth effectively means switches involving 

marine gas oil,” said John Stirling, business 

development manager of Det Norske Veritas 

Petroleum Services (DNVPS). “Ensuring fuel 

quality and understanding engine performance 

will be paramount in preventing failures such as 

those already seen in California and this will 

require a more sophisticated understanding of 

fuel properties for both operators and crew.” 

DNVPS has acted as project manager for a 

research project called Marine Use of Low 

The Bominflot Network 

Europe / Africa 

Hamburg 

Bremerhaven 

Kiel 

Rostock 

Scandinavia 

London 

Rotterdam 

Madrid 

Gibraltar 

Ceuta 

Las Palmas 

Malta 

Athens 

Tallinn 

St. Petersburg 

Cape Town 

The Americas 

Houston 

New Orleans 

Delaware 

Norfolk 

New York 

Panama 

Buenos Aires 

Rio de Janeiro 

Ecuador 

Far/Middle East 

Singapore 

Hong Kong 

Shenzhen 

Shanghai 

Taipei 

Seoul 

Mumbai 

Fujairah 

and services 

available in all 

other ports 

Bominfl ot is an international 

company operating 

around the globe, with 

more than 30 years of 

experience in the bunker market. Our business portfolio 

covers activities ranging from cargo trading to 

the supply of bunker fuels, lubricants and other services 

of crucial importance to the shipping industry: 

at competitive prices 

energy 

at work 

Bominfl ot imposes strict 

standards on all its operations, 

and accepts 

nothing less. We offer 

round-the-clock service, whenever and wherever 

you need us. You can always count on Bominfl ot at 

your next port of call. 

Choose a dynamic partner: www.bominfl ot.net 



From 1st January 2010, vessels berthed at European ports will have to use 0.1% sulphur 

fuel oil, effectively meaning a switch to gas oil. 

Sulphur Fuel Oils (MARULS) in collaboration 

with the Research Council of Norway, 

Marintek and 19 Norwegian shipowners. The 

project’s aim was to develop technical 

guidelines and new, simple indicators for the 

ignition and combustion quality of bunker fuel 

to aid in the process of making the complex 

task of bunker purchasing more transparent. 

Due to modern refinery processes and the 

blending techniques used to produce a product 

that meets regulatory sulphur levels, DNVPS 

and its customers saw that the quality of some 

LSFO had poorer ignition and combustion 

properties than ‘normal’ fuel. 

The heavier molecules in LSFO require 

more energy for ignition and can delay 

ignition and prolong combustion. “An engine 

needs combustion energy at exactly the right 

time, when the piston is in the right place. If it 

doesn’t get that, then the energy is not utilised 

to the maximum potential, and worse, we run 

the risk of engine component breakdown,” 

Stirling explained. 

Fouling problems 

Poor combustion leads to increased fouling 

and, in extreme cases, moving parts such as 

exhaust valves are inhibited. Excessive 

fouling of the exhaust gas receiver, combined 

with late ignition, or prolonged combustion, 

has even led to exhaust gas fires. 

The concentration of abrasive aluminium 

and silicon particles (catfines) can also be 

greater in LSFO. Catfines can lead to damage 

to all moving parts of the engine that come in 

contact with the fuel, such as high pressure 

fuel pumps, fuel valves, piston rings/grooves 

and cylinder liners. 

“Of course, the effect of both poorer 

ignition and combustion and high catfine 

levels can be reduced if the vessel is aware of 

the potential problem before use, and 

procedures can be put in place to minimise 

their effect,” said Stirling. 

So how does this all tie in with EU and 

Californian regulations, including ultra low 

sulphur gas oil? 

Engines in a worse condition than they 

would otherwise be if only ‘normal’ HFO is 

used can therefore be more vulnerable to 

switching to low viscosity MGO, as the 

quality of low sulphur gas oil is very different 

from that of ‘thick’ fuel oil. 

For example, as a result of the (possibly 

too) low viscosity, internal leakages between 

the pump cylinder and plunger can occur. 

With reduced fuel supply to the engine, nonoptimal 

atomisation and reduced starting 

performance can be experienced. 

The fuel is also acting as a lubricant 

between the metal surfaces of the pump. If the 

viscosity is too low, then there is the risk of 

metal to metal contact and the vessel risks 

either stopping or not being able to start (or 

retstart) when switching. 

Low viscosity is especially challenging for 

larger boilers as it may cause a change in the 

fuel/air ratio due to pressure changes and 

increase the risk of smoke emissions. 

Additionally, especially for rotary cup burners, 

unless suitable heat shields are fitted, there is 

increased risk of coke deposits. 

Boiler problems 

For larger boilers that are used for propulsion 

and steam generation for cargo pumps on 

LNGCs (to atomise fuel), there can be 

relighting challenges after flame failure when 

using gas oil. However, according to boiler 

manufacturers, all the potential low sulphur 

gas oil problems can be avoided if upgrades 

are made to existing burners. They have also 

reminded users that boiler pumps may not be 

suitable for viscosities below a certain 

minimum level and that a separate pump may 

be needed for low viscosity MGO operation. 

Looking at DNVPS statistics, MGO 

viscosity has decreased in many ports in the 

lead up to the EU and Californian regulations. 

“As you reduce the viscosity, you generally 

also reduce density. This can be both a 

commercial and a statutory problem as lower 

density, if not referenced properly on the 

delivery note, can lead to less fuel received. 

“More importantly, it can be a safety issue. 

DNVPS statistics show you often also reduce 

the flashpoint and if this falls below 60 deg C 

then you are outside SOLAS regulations. 

Your vessel loses its class and you have no 

insurance,” said Stirling. “Upon receipt of 

low flash point gas oil, you should contact 

your classification society immediately for 

instructions.” 

Sulphur regulations are becoming 

increasingly complex as more Emission 

Control Areas (ECAs) are being discussed and 

EU regulations enter into force. Even when 

regulations are well established, local 

variation in the application of rules can be 

confounding and could lead to unnecessary 

delays and detentions, said Stirling. 

The European ports requirements, for 

example, could see one country accepting 

bunker delivery notes showing sulphur 

content of 0.1% and allowing tested sulphur 

up to 0.14% where other countries may 

accept less statistical variation and insist on 

0.1% maximum. 

DNVPS constantly monitors fuel quality 

around the world and helps bunker purchasers, 

operators and crews to be up-to-date on local 

regulations and any variations in bunker 

quality. The organisation can pinpoint 

emerging problems in specific ports and 

specific supplier variations on a daily basis so 

that its clients can avoid the worst problems, 

or at least take appropriate action to guard 

against risk. The Norwegian class society 

subsidiary also provides support in training 

and procedure development to cater for 

different fuel qualities through adequate 

housekeeping, fuel treatment and the 

adjustment of engine operational parameters. 

“Always, when using any fuel, we say that 

the chief engineer should be vigilant and 

regularly check engine state. If poor quality 

fuel is received, we will then teach routines and 

give advice on what we feel the chief engineer 

should check for,” said Stirling. “Additionally, 

we advise that all customers test all samples 

and trend, historically, all fuel used.” 

The purpose of the MARULS project was to 

ensure that bunker purchasers can have 

confidence in the quality of the fuel they buy so 

that poor ignition and combustion properties 

can be catered for through appropriate 

procedures. “This will protect engine condition 

and, ultimately, life and property at sea,” said 

Stirling. “The better the engine condition, the 

better the chance of avoiding switchover 

problems and we continue to benchmark both 

LSFO and MGO quality going forward in order 

to inform our customers, the industry and the 

IMO about the trends.” 

TO 

*This article was written exclusively for 

TAKEROperator by DVPS. 

24 



Maximising efficiencies 

for January’s distillate 

switch 

EC Directive 2005/33/EC will require the use of 0.1% Sulphur bunker fuel 

in EU port waters from 1st January, 2010. There will be issues, 

many of which can be resolved, says Infineum’s Jamie Pender* 

from shipping due to 

the combustion of marine 

fuels with high sulphur 

‘Emissions 

content contributes to air 

pollution in the form of sulphur dioxide and 

particulate matter, harming human health, 

damaging the environment, public and private 

property and cultural heritage as well as 

contributing to acidification,’ according to EC 

Directive 2005/33/EC. 

During a recent European Maritime Safety 

Agency (EMSA) meeting Intertanko and 

OCIMF (Oil Companies International Marine 

Forum) said they were worried about the 

switch from heavy fuel oil (HFO) to ultra low 

sulphur (ULS) content marine gas oil (MGO) 

for oil tankers' auxiliary boilers. 

The groups noted that while the use of ULS 

MGO is possible, there was a need for a 

safety evaluation to be made across the 

industry so that safe solutions could be 

provided. 

Intertanko added that while it understands 

upgrades will have to be made, the current 

timeframe of 1st January, 2010 posed a 

notable challenge. Upgrades require eight 

months and many tankers were still awaiting 

those upgrades. 

Intertanko and OCIMF have asked for a 

phase-in period to be delayed to 1st January, 

2011 so that "enough numbers of tankers and 

their on board installations could be safely 

evaluated and eventually modified." 

During the meeting concerns were also 

raised over a lack of standards "to define and 

check the required marine fuel with a 

maximum 0.1% sulphur content," especially 

with regard to viscosity and lubricity. 

Despite Intertanko’s repeated warnings that 

an EU requirement for ships at berth to burn 

only 0.1% sulphur fuel is unworkable, it is 

looking increasingly unlikely that Brussels 

will u-turn on its deadline. 

Peter Swift, Intertanko’s chairman, was 

reported as saying that most ships would not 

be able to carry three grades of marine fuel, 

and that it was unlikely there would be 

enough 0.1% sulphur bunker product to meet 

projected demand anyway. In light of this, 

Intertanko have been calling for the 

introduction of the directive to be postponed. 

There are already ominous implications for 

EC Directive 2005/33/EC from California and 

the so called ‘mini ECA’, where ships are 

required to burn lower sulphur marine 

distillate oil out to 24 nautical miles offshore. 

Since its inception in California on 1st July, 

2009 , there have been numerous reported 

incidents in which ships’ main engines have 

stopped or had to maintain higher rev/min in 

order to keep the engines operating as they 

enter the harbour. This has resulted in vessels 

coming in at a higher speed that could 

potentially compromise safety. There has also 

been some discussion of suspending 

enforcement of the California Air Resource's 

fuel regulation. 

A further significant concern for tanker 

operators entering EU ports from 2010 will be 

Infineum has drawn on the experience gained in the automotive industry. 



managing the additional cost of running MGO 

in the generators while at berth. 

Under the EU’s Directive 2005/33/EC there 

remains an exemption for vessels (such as 

ferries) that spend up to two hours at berth 

(secured alongside a berth or at a secure 

anchorage while cargo handling, bunkering and 

hotelling), as they would be able to continue to 

use 1.5% sulphur fuel. However tanker 

operators will not be privy to such reprieves. 

Distillate fuel management 

With average vessel stays in port typically 

ranging from 12 to 18 hours - requiring the 

switch to 0.1% sulphur fuel - and further 

exceeding the port stay due to the need for 

changing over fuel grades before arrival and 

after departure, operators will encounter 

inevitable fuel management issues. 

Apart from the uncertainty of fuel costs 

there are other potential issues associated with 

operating on low sulphur marine distillate 

fuel; namely the build up of liner lacquer, bore 

polish and associated increased lubricant oil 

consumption in two- and four-stroke engines, 

as well as a build-up of deposits on piston 

rings, injector nozzles and valves. Another 

issue that is becoming increasingly significant 

for many engineers is that the desulphurisation 

of fuel during the refining process removes 

natural lubricity agents, which can result in 

metal-on-metal contact in fuel pumps and 

injectors which can lead to hardware sticking 

and ultimately seizure. 

At Infineum, a petroleum additives group of 

companies, we have drawn upon our technical 

expertise in automotive additives where we 

have addressed fuel issues for many years in 

order to develop marine additives that can 

provide solutions to issues associated with 

marine fuel handling, combustion and engine 

cleanliness. Infineum F7451 marine distillate 

fuel additive is recommended for combustion 

chamber clean-up in distillate fuel burning 

marine two - and four -stroke engines. In 

addition, Lloyds Register FOBAS has 

independently verified Infineum F7451 as 

improving lubricity in desulphurised fuel. 

Smoke emissions 

Feedback from ship trials has shown 

improvements in combustion chamber fouling, 

cylinder liner lacquer control, bore polish 

control, lubricating oil consumption and black 

smoke reduction when the fuel is treated with 

Infineum F7451. 

For ships burning residual fuel – Infineum 

F7455 combustion improver may help reduce 

soot and deposit build-up in the exhaust tract. 

A reduction in smoke emissions has also been 

observed – with obvious benefits for ship 

operators concerned about visible black soot 

emissions from the stack and subsequent 

contamination of decks and cabins. 

Environmental legislation has brought about 

many challenges for the tanker market and 

there will be more difficulties ahead. 

Dealing with these challenges amid the 

worst economic period for 70 years requires 

ensuring that every detail of ship operation is 

optimised. Switching to marine distillates 

will create its own problems, and fuel 

additives can contribute towards optimising 

fuel combustion and marine engine 

operations and improving maintenance 

TO 

efficiencies in tanker fleets. 

*Jamie Pender is marine business 

development manager for Infineum’s 

EMEA region. 

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26 


TECHNOLOGY - TANK CLEANING 

How efficient are 

cargo tank cleaning 

chemicals? 

Understanding what is required to clean between different grades of liquid cargo on a 

tanker is challenging enough when one considers the various elements that usually have 

to be taken into consideration before a tank cleaning operation.* 

The four main checklists that should 

be considered are:- 

1) The chemical and physical 

properties of the cargo being 

cleaned. 

2) The chemical and physical properties of 

the next nominated cargo; which will 

directly impact on the type, duration and 

intensity of the necessary cleaning. 

3) The material with which the cargo tank is 

lined; stainless steel, organic coating, 

inorganic coating, other specialised 

coating. 

4) The experience of the crew carrying out 

the cleaning operation. 

But throw into the equation the massive 

choice and variety of branded and nonbranded 

tank cleaning chemicals and the 

degree of complexity moves to another level. 

If one considers only the branded cleaning 

chemicals, there are literally hundreds to 

choose from, all apparently available for the 

purpose of cleaning cargo tanks. As one might 

expect with such a large number of products 

available, there is a considerable price 

differential between the various products and 

their respective suppliers; with most suppliers 

claiming that their products are better than 

their competitors. 

Cleaning chemicals are usually used when a 

vessel is cleaning from a cargo that is oil 

based and/or insoluble in water and with this 

in mind, they are generally termed as 

‘hydrocarbon removers’ or ‘degreasers’. They 

are diluted in water and applied to the 

contaminated cargo tanks either by means of 

recirculation, direct injection into the vessel’s 

tank cleaning system or by manual 

application, depending on the extent and the 

severity of the contamination. 

The majority of cleaning chemicals contain 

detergents, although perhaps a more accurate 

name would be surface active agents, based 

What is needed is a cleaning chemical that effectively cleans the bulkhead surfaces – 

surface active cleaners, explained L&I Maritime. 

on the mechanism that makes them effective 

as cleaning agents. 

Basically, when we say a cargo tank is 

contaminated with a previous cargo, it is 

actually the cargo tank bulkheads that we are 

talking about. So clearly what is needed is a 

cleaning chemical that effectively cleans the 

surfaces of the bulkheads, hence the need for 

surface active cleaners. 

It should also be considered that the internal 

surface area of any cargo tank is relatively 

small compared to the volume, which means 

that only relatively low concentrations of 

detergents should be required to effectively 

clean any particular cargo tank. However, in 

order to maintain recirculation inside a cargo 

tank, or optimise the working pressure of a 

tank cleaning system, significant volumes of 

water need to be used on board vessels and 

this can and does have a significant impact on 

the amount of cleaning chemicals that are 

required for any particular operation. 

But now the actual mechanism that makes 

detergents effective should be considered. It is 

found that the surface active agents in the 

cleaning chemical become concentrated at the 

oil-water interface, thereby applying the 

necessary cleaning action at the place where it 

is most required, which in the case of a cargo 

tank, is the internal surfaces of the bulkheads. 

So even if large volumes of water are required 

to ‘carry’ the cleaning chemicals, the amount 

of detergent required to effectively clean the 

cargo tanks is not directly related to this 

volume, it is related to the surface area of the 

cargo tanks. 

No magic formula 

Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that 

can be used to indicate the most effective 

concentration of cleaning chemical for a cargo 

tank (based on its size), but it should be 

accepted that the most effective detergents are 

‘most effective’ at low concentrations and if a 

cargo tank can be cleaned with 50 litres of 

cleaning chemical, this will be largely the 

same irrespective of the volume of water in 

which the cleaning chemical is diluted. 

It should be noted that this theory only 

applies to surface active cleaners, but 



essentially, using a cleaning chemical at a 

dilution rate of 10% in water will not 

necessarily make it 10 times more effective 

than using the same cleaning chemical at a 

dilution rate of 1%, and this is extremely 

important to consider. 

Having looked at the basic make-up of 

cleaning chemicals, it should also be 

considered that different cleaning chemicals 

do contain other active ingredients designed to 

make the materials more effective at cleaning 

specific residues. Most commonly these 

ingredients fall into three main categories: 

1) Alkaline based. Primarily for the purpose 

of saponification of vegetable oil based 

residues. 

2) Acid based. Primarily for removing more 

stubborn residues that do not readily 

dissolve in water, but become more 

soluble in acids, for example hardness 

salts and other surface contamination that 

otherwise render the appearance of the 

cargo tank as ‘dull’ or ‘not typical’. 

3) Organic solvents for the purpose of 

‘cutting’ heavy hydrocarbon residues. 

Indeed, many cleaning chemicals that are sold 

into the domestic market for various 

applications are based on the same 

formulations, but that is where the similarity 

ends. The method of operation for domestic 

cleaning chemicals is completely different to 

the cleaning of chemical and product tankers 

and this raises a question, relating to the 

cleaning chemicals used on board tankers being 

‘fit for purpose’ and whether or not any studies 

have actually been carried out by the cleaning 

chemical manufacturers to determine this. 

Domestic cleaning chemicals tend to be 

used on floors (horizontal surfaces) and walls 

(vertical surfaces), both of which are readily 

accessible and can therefore be manually 

scrubbed or brushed. Other surfaces or areas 

that need cleaning (including clothing) can 

usually be soaked in a solution of the cleaning 

chemical for any given period of time and it 

has to be accepted that soaking is probably the 

most effective way of cleaning any material or 

surface because there is intimate and 

prolonged contact with the cleaning material. 

But of course on a tanker, it is just not feasible 

to ‘soak’ the inside of a cargo tank with a 

cleaning material. 

Inefficient method 

Furthermore, when one considers the way in 

which a cargo tank is cleaned, it soon becomes 

apparent that this method is actually quite 

inefficient. The aqueous solution of the 

cleaning material is sprayed over as many 

points of the tank as possible, usually via the 

rotating nozzle of a tank cleaning machine, 

which really only allows the cleaning 

material merely to run down the surface of the 

bulkhead, with an extremely short contact time. 

Prolonged cleaning will of course increase 

the contact time of the cleaning material on 

the bulkhead, and this is really the only viable 

option for enhancing the efficiency of the 

cleaning operation, but when a vessel has a 

number of cargo tanks to clean 

simultaneously, time is not always available. 

Consider one more point, vessels that are 

cleaning to a very high purity standard (for 

example prior to loading chemical cargoes), 

very often have to pass a methanol wall wash 

inspection prior to loading. For coated cargo 

tanks, the wall wash test is not just a measure 

of how clean the surfaces of the tanks are, it is 

also a measure of the amount of absorbed/ 

adsorbed residues that the wall wash solvent 

(usually methanol) is able to chemically 

extract from the outer layers of the coating. 

Organic coatings readily absorb and retain 

low carbon chain molecules, for example lower 

alcohols, some aromatics, ketones, chlorinated 

solvents etc. and it is known that these products 

will stay inside the coating, until they are 

actively removed, either by tank cleaning 

methods or by extraction into a subsequent 

cargo. The degree to which they can be 

removed is largely influenced by their volatility. 

Inorganic (zinc silicate) coatings absorb the 

same types of cargoes, but because of the 

open/porous nature of the coating surface, 

these cargoes are generally not retained. 

However, due to their inherent porosity and 

their fairly rough surface profile, previous 

cargo residues may become absorbed and/or 

adsorbed into the coated surface and as a 

result some cargo residues may be retained, 

including non volatile and ‘oil-like’ cargoes. 

These must be actively removed either by tank 

cleaning or by extraction into another cargo, 

otherwise they could pose a contamination 

threat to subsequently loaded sensitive 

chemical cargoes. 

In other words, if a cleaning chemical 

claims to be able to remove previous cargo 

residues to a standard where a wall wash 

inspection will be accepted, (in the case of 

cleaning coated cargo tanks) this actually 

means that the cleaning chemical must have 

the ability to penetrate inside the coating and 

remove traces of previous cargoes that may be 

residing there. 

This is an extremely bold claim to make, 

particularly as the industry is rapidly moving 

away from the use of solvents as cleaning 

materials for coated cargo tanks (for safety 

reasons), even though solvents are still proven 

to be the most effective way of removing 

absorbed/adsorbed residues from within cargo 

tank coatings. 

Clearly the challenge is to find surface 

active cleaning materials that can clean coated 

cargo tanks to a wall wash standard, before 

the use of tank cleaning solvents is prohibited, 

otherwise owner and charterers of chemical 

and product tankers will be facing serious tank 

cleaning headaches in the future. 

All of this being said, whether the cleaning 

chemicals are for cleaning stainless steel or 

coated cargo tanks, for general use or for 

achieving a high purity standard, they should 

still be effective (particularly in view of the 

significant volumes that are used on board 

tankers today). As noted, there seems to have 

been no evaluation of this type in the past, 

with the efficiency of most cleaning chemicals 

seemingly based on the ability of the chemical 

to visually remove previous cargo residues 

during the tank cleaning process. 

However, as noted with more vessels now 

being inspected to a chemically clean standard 

(by means of a wall wash inspection), it is 

really no longer acceptable for cargo tanks to 

be merely visually clean prior to loading many 

chemical cargoes and with this in mind, L&I 

Maritime (UK) Ltd (LIM) was asked by a 

major chemical tanker owner to investigate 

this issue in more detail. 

Procedure 

One of the reasons why monitoring the 

efficiency of tank cleaning chemicals does not 

appear to have been carried out in the past, 

could be because there is no official or 

immediately straightforward procedure to do 

so. The procedure adopted for this project was 

standardised as far as possible in order that the 

results generated could be reproduced as long 

as the test panels were treated in the same 

way. But as noted, the procedure is not an 

industry standard. 

There are many different causes of cargo tank 

contamination and as noted, many different 

types of tank cleaning chemicals available to 

remove the contamination. However, for the 

purpose of this project, one particular 

situation/scenario was chosen and that was 

cleaning zinc silicate coated test panels after 

exposure to Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB), 

which is a known persistent hydrocarbon. 

It is known that zinc silicate coatings actively 

retain hydrocarbon based, non volatiles and it 

also accepted that one of the most common 

generic types of tank cleaning chemical is the 

‘hydrocarbon remover’ so bearing these two 

points in mind, it made sense to base the project 

around this particular scenario. 

28 



It was also considered that cleaning 

persistent hydrocarbons from zinc silicate is 

one of the most challenging operations facing 

chemical/product tanker owners and operators 

so it could be assumed that the tank cleaning 

chemicals that performed the best under the 

conditions of the project, would most likely be 

some of the most effective in the market 

place. 

The efficiency of each tank cleaning 

chemical was monitored by means of wall 

washing the test panel with a fixed volume of 

methanol. This methanol was then tested for 

water miscibility (hydrocarbons) in 

accordance with ASTM D1722, but rather 

than just visually ‘passing’ 20 or ‘failing’ the 

sample (as stated in the ASTM procedure) 

the extent of the hydrocarbon failure was 

quantified using the L&I WAVE II UV / Vis 

Spectrometer. 

The following test protocol was agreed: 

1) Three zinc silicate coated test panels were 

fully immersed in Linear Alkyl Benzene 

(LAB) for 48 hours. 

2) The panels were removed from the LAB, 

flushed with cold freshwater for 

approximately 1 minute (in order to 

remove the free LAB from the surface of 

the test panels) and then naturally 

ventilated to dryness. 

3) The panels were then washed by recirculation 

using the tank cleaning 

chemical (at the concentration specified 

by the manufacturers) for 2 hours at 

60 deg C in fresh water. 

4) The panels were again flushed with cold 

freshwater to remove any residual 

detergent and then naturally ventilated to 

dryness. 

5) Each panel was then wall washed with 

methanol and tested for hydrocarbons 

using the LIM spectrometer to quantify 

the hydrocarbon content of the sample. 

The reported result was an average of all 

three results. 

It was agreed to limit the cleaning water 

temperature to 60 deg C, because this 

temperature is considered to be the lowest 

‘hot’ water temperature that can be readily 

achieved and maintained by most 

chemical/product tankers. 

The cleaning was carried out using a tank 

cleaning rig that LIM has made specifically 

for the purpose of replicating the tank 

cleaning action on board chemical/product 

tankers. The test panels were sprayed with the 

cleaning chemical solution, in a similar 

manner to the way the bulkheads of a cargo 

tank would be sprayed. 

In order to create a control (reference) for 

the project, the zinc silicate coated panels 

were initially treated in the same way as 

above, apart from the fact that no cleaning 

chemicals were added in part 3. It was 

expected that the cleaning effect on the test 

panels without using tank cleaning chemicals 

would be minimal and when the panels were 

wall washed the results would show the 

highest residual hydrocarbon readings. 

At the same time, when the panels were 

cleaned with the individual tank cleaning 

chemical solutions, the hydrocarbon readings 

from the wall wash samples would be 

expected to be significantly better. The most 

efficient cleaning chemical solutions would 

therefore be expected to show the lowest 

hydrocarbon readings. 

Cleaning chemicals from seven different 

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Email: eco@emirates.net.ae Website: www.ecouae.com 



manufacturers were used, but as can be seen, 

the names of the manufacturers and the 

specific product names are not disclosed for 

reasons of confidentiality and also because the 

objective of the project was not to say that one 

cleaning chemical manufacturer was better 

than another, rather that different cleaning 

chemicals do not behave the same way under 

the same conditions. 

Consideration should also be given to the 

concentration of use of the respective cleaning 

chemicals, as this will have a direct impact on 

the total cost of tank cleaning, assuming it 

was carried out on board a vessel. 

Results 

The following results were noted: 

The results are extremely interesting and very 

clearly show that not all cleaning chemicals 

are as efficient as each other under the same 

conditions. 

The first and most noticeable observation is 

that even the best cleaning materials still 

result in a hydrocarbon failure, which 

confirms the fact that cleaning zinc silicate 

from persistent hydrocarbons is indeed very 

challenging. 

It is also interesting to note that five out of 

the top eight performing cleaning chemicals are 

used at a concentration of less than 1% and 

four out of the top eight are actually used at a 

concentration of 0.5% or less. This does not 

particularly justify the fact that most effective 

detergents are effective at low concentrations, 

but it does suggest the same. With this in mind 

it would be interesting to note whether the 

products 1, 2 and 3 from Company E 

performed equally as well at lower 

concentrations, which would of course make 

them far more cost effective to the vessel. 

If one considers that re-circulating a cargo 

tank with a solution of tank cleaning 

chemicals will usually require a minimum 

volume of 10 cu m of liquid to maintain 

suction on the pump, it is clear that a product 

used at an active concentration of 0.5% will 

utilise 50 litres of pure cleaning chemical, 

whereas a product used at an active 

Cleaning Chemical Concentration Average Hydrocarbon 

of use Reading in FTU 

(LIM spectrometer) 

Hot water only 645 

Company A – Product 1 0.5% 179 

Company B – Product 1 0.5% 230 

Company E – Product 1 3% 268 



Company C – Product 1 0.4% 320 

Company E – Product 4 0.8% 322 

Company D – Product 1 0.4% 325 

Company C – Product 2 2% 335 


Company E – Product 6 0.5% 363 


Company B Product 2 3% 400 

Company G – Product 1 0.5% 415 



Company F – Product 1 0.4% 498 

Company F – Product 2 3% 530 


Company E – Product 11 3% Aborted due to excessive foaming 

Company F – Product 3 3% Aborted due to excessive foaming 

concentration of 3% will utilise 300 litres of 

pure cleaning chemical. 

If this figure is then multiplied by the 

number of cargo tanks that need cleaning on 

each vessel and the number of tank cleaning 

operations carried out on that vessel in a year 

and the number of vessels in any particular 

fleet, it is easy to see how quickly the costs of 

cleaning chemicals alone can run into tens or 

even hundreds of thousands of dollars/euros 

each year. 

So clearly the correct choice of tank 

cleaning chemical for the owners/operators of 

tankers is extremely important and not one 

that should be taken without a better 

understanding of efficiency and the fact that 

actually, not all cleaning chemicals are the 

same, even though at first glance, they may 

appear to be very similar. 

To close, it is fair to say that while answering 

a number of points, projects like this also tend 

to raise many more questions and LIM would 

be very interested to hear from any parties 

interested in taking this project further. Of 

particular note are the following points: 

1) The use of the appropriate cleaning 

chemical for the particular tank cleaning 

procedure. This project specifically looked 

at the efficiency of ‘hydrocarbon 

removers’ on cleaning a hydrocarbon from 

a zinc silicate matrix, but there are many 

different cleaning chemicals that are 

specifically sold for particular tank 

cleaning jobs and identifying whether 

these cleaning chemicals are actually 

suitable for the job is perhaps of equal 

importance to how efficient they are. 

2) The subject of cleaning chemical 

concentration was touched upon in the 

main report, with specific reference to the 

overall cost of any tank cleaning 

operation. Clearly this is an important 

factor that could very well be studied 

further, particularly under the control of a 

laboratory based project. 

3) Washing water temperature is also a very 

important factor that could have a 

significant impact on the efficiency of any 

tank cleaning chemical. Again, this factor 

would benefit from a laboratory based 

study under controlled conditions; as 

opposed to “on-board” experimentation, 

which from experience tend to be costly 

and cannot really be expected to produce 

the same level of certainty in the results as 

compared to a laboratory based study. TO 

*This article was written by Guy 

Johnson, director L&I Maritime (UK) 

operations@limaritime.com 

Tel: +44 1909 532 003. 

30 



Innovative oil 

cleaning process 

introduced 

This process cleans oily surfaces, 

such as ship tanks, by being 

sprayed in an undiluted condition 

onto the oiled surface. Following a 

short period, CYTOCLEAN coats the oil and 

isolates it from the water on the surface of a 

tank wall. 

At the end of the process, the water and oil 

can then be collected separately with the water 

claimed to be clean enough to be re-circulated, 

or re-used in the next cleaning cycle without 

any further treatment being required. 

The oil can also be reused with any 

additional treatment. The oiled surface can be 

cleaned following a single application, Global 

Concept claimed. No residues remain after the 

cleaning process. 

CYTOCLEAN can be used for any type of 

mineral oil and has been tested and approved 

by the US Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) and the Norwegian institute SINTEF. It 

was also nominated for this year’s Green Ship 

Technology Award, due to “its impressive 

results in the cleaning of oiled ship tanks 

while on voyage” – and was awarded second 

place. 

It is a biological and non-toxic product, 

which is claimed not to harm the environment. 

It is biologically declinable with a 50% lifespan 

of only 96 hours. It also does not harm 

the surface being cleaned. 

Several shipowners have already tested the 

process. Costs can be saved as the concept 

cleans surfaces faster and more effectively 

than other processes, as no chemicals are 

used. 

There are also no costs involved in 

disposing of hazardous wastes, or in 

transporting heavy equipment to the site to be 

cleaned. Following the process, the treated 

tanks are washed down with water under low 

pressure. The ensuing oily/water mixture is 

then pumped into empty containers (IBCs), 

stowed on deck. After a short while, the clear 

separation of oil and water inside the IBCs 

can be seen, Global Concept said. 

An independent laboratory specialising in 

German concern Global 

Concept has developed 

the CYTOCLEA oil 

cleaning process. 

mineral oil has analysed the viscosity, density, 

water content and sulphur content of a tank 

both before and after the treatment. Global 

Concept also produced a material safety data 

sheet in accordance with EC Directive 

91/155/EEC. 

Specialist cleaning team 

Global Concept head Klaus Vrey explained 

that the company had formed what it called a 

CATCO team, which undertakes the cleaning 

without the need for additional space on board 

and without disturbing the daily working 

regime on the vessel, while it is on voyage. 

The team is available for consultancy, 

support and action 24/7. Vrey said that the 

team offers three levels of support - 

Environmentally friendly, biological and 

non-toxic cleanup without producing 

additional dangerous waste. 

Minimising costs by complete recycling. 

Customer orientated, open minded 

consultancy and support, including an 

effective cleanup task force at any location. 

Vrey explained that the time taken to clean a 

CYTOCLEAN can be used for any type of mineral oil. 

tank depends on many different factors, but 

for example for a cargo tank that can be 

‘butterworthed’, it would take no more than 

four times the Butterworth system, plus a 

maximum of one hour for the CYTOCLEAN 

contact time. This means that a mid-size cargo 

tank should be cleaned and ready for loading 

within four hours. 

If ballast, heeling, double bottom, or bunker 

tanks need cleaning, the time used depends on 

the placement of the tanks on board and also 

how many frames are involved, etc. 

For example, a Ballast tank with a capacity 

of about 300 cu m should not take more than 

one day to be clean and gas free. All the times 

are dependant upon the quality of fuel oil and 

grade of contamination. 

Thus far, Vrey said that the company had 

cleaned ballast, heeling, double bottom and 

bunker tanks. But he explained that there are 

no tank types that are favourites for 

CYTOCLEAN process, as it combats all types 

of mineral oils and hydrocarbons. 

He also stressed that CYTOCLEAN not 

only saves time and money but also protects 

the environment and is the only method of 

cleaning vessels’ tanks during a voyage 

without the need to use any heavy equipment, 

which save costs. 

Among Global Concept clients thus far are 

several shiprepair yards and shipmanagement 

concerns, plus bunker suppliers. 

TO 


TECHNOLOGY - EMISSIONS 

Cap & Trade or a 

Bunker Levy? 

In advance of UFCCC’s COP 15 meeting in Copenhagen this month, 

earlier this year the Danish shipping industry came up with a plan for 

an International Fund for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ships*. 

The IMO has already agreed on 

nine fundamental principles 

involving technical and 

operational instruments, plus 

market based instruments. However, the 

rationale behind the Danish proposal was the 

relatively long life of a ship; the expected 

growth in international shipping, despite 

today’s downturn; contributions from all 

sectors and offsetting the GHG emissions. 

The key elements to the plan are roughly 

split between GHG contributions and 

revenues. 

As for the contributions, these would take 

the form of a collection from each tonne of 

bunkers delivered. These would include all 

ships in international trades and include all 

marine fuels. 

Bunker suppliers would have to be 

registered and the collection of fees would be 

based on the Bunker Delivery Note as 

evidence of the amount of fuel delivered. This 

would be policed by Port State Control. The 

fee collection would be undertaken by 

registered bunker suppliers and the sums 

would be directly transferred to the 

International GHG Fund. 

What would the revenues be used for? 

According to the Danish Maritime Authority 

(DMA), they would be used for mitigation 

and adaptation activities, R&D projects for the 

benefit of mankind, technical co-operation 

within the IMO and administration expenses 

needed to operate the fund. 

To put this in place, a global, binding, 

separate legal entity in the form of a new 

convention would have to agreed. 

Speaking in Copenhagen recently, Gitte 

Mondrup, special adviser to the DMA, 

claimed that the virtues of the scheme include 

the meeting of all the nine fundamental IMO 

principles. 

She claimed that this plan would contribute 

to the reduction of global GHG emissions and 

would apply to all vessels regardless of flag, 

while still allowing the industry to grow. 

Technical innovation and R&D could be 

supported from the fund, which would be easy 

to administer. 

Revenues could also be used to help 

developing countries. Mondrup said that the 

fund would embrace common but 

differentiated responsibilities within the flag 

states and respect the stance of no more 

favourable treatment for the shipping industry. 

It would rely on well-established conceptual 

approaches within the IMO and she also 

claimed that it could be developed quickly and 

efficiently. 

The plan was submitted to the IMO MEPC 

meeting held last July and will be discussed at 

the March 2010 MEPC meeting, Bondrup said. 

The Danish Shipowners’ Association is 

actively encouraging its members to reduce 

emissions by 20% by 2020. A special 

partnership has been put together with the 

Danish Environment Department. 

Most Danish owners spoken with by 

TAKEROperator recently are supportive of 

this scheme. Most, if not all, are embarking on 

their own environmental schemes, as well as 

embracing industry schemes, such as the 

‘Virtual Arrival’ initiative (see page 32). 

Cap & Trade system 

On 23rd September, the shipping associations 

of Australia, Belgium, Norway, Sweden and 

the UK published a discussion paper in which 

they opted for emissions trading when dealing 

with CO2. 

Entitled ‘A global cap-and-trade system to 

reduce carbon emissions from international 

shipping’, the authors claimed that the paper 

demonstrates how a global and open 

emissions trading scheme could work in 

practice. 

Katharine Palmer, BP Shipping’s 

environmental manager and chair of the 

executive committee at Shipping Emissions 

Abatement and Trading (SEAat), led the UK’s 

Chamber of Shipping working group on the 

development of this paper. 

“It is important that legislators and 

“ 

“Shipping is, by a considerable margin, the most efficient way to 

transport goods, but it still produces about 3% of the CO2 emitted as 

a result of human activity. Clearly such a major industry, transporting 

over 80% of world trade, has a responsibility to reduce carbon outputs. 

We believe some form of emissions trading system is the way to do it.” 

- Jesper Kjaedegaard, president, UK Chamber of Shipping 

” 

32 



regulators find a practical way of including 

shipping in the international work to reduce 

global warming,” said UK Chamber of 

Shipping president Jesper Kjaedegaard at its 

launch last September. 

“Shipping is, by a considerable margin, 

the most efficient way to transport goods, but 

it still produces about 3% of the CO2 emitted 

as a result of human activity. Clearly such a 

major industry, transporting over 80% of 

world trade, has a responsibility to reduce 

carbon outputs. We believe some form of 

emissions trading system is the way to do it.” 

“It is important,” Kjaedegaard continued, 

“that any solution is global and developed 

through the IMO. It is also vital that any 

emissions trading regime is implemented 

without driving goods to other modes of 

transport, which would increase overall 

emissions and damage commercial shipping.” 

Although improvements will continue to be 

gained through ship design and operational 

efficiency – and any new system must take 

account of these – ‘cap-and-trade’ is the only 

way to guarantee overall CO2 emissions 

reduction, the UK CoS said. 

Using the power of market forces, such a 

system would put the incentives in the right 

place to drive standards and behaviours. For 

example, it would force operators to pay more 

attention to efficient voyage-planning and 

management of their fleets, and investment in 

modern tonnage, as lower emissions would be 

financially rewarded. It would also promote 

change by supporting innovation and 

technological development. 

Meanwhile, in late October, the EU 

Environment Committee said it considered 

that global reduction GHG emissions from 

shipping should be agreed at 20% below the 

2005 levels by 2020 and be implemented 

globally in a manor that ensures a level 

playing field. 

The EU also said that it supports the use of 

market-based instruments to reduce emissions 

and that such instruments should be developed 

by the IMO in the case of shipping. 

Twelve month’s grace 

A couple of months ago, Brussels gave the 

IMO a year to draft a measure to cut carbon 

emissions. 

Barbara Helfferich, EU environment 

spokeswoman reportedly said recently: “The 

EU wants to make maritime reduction part of 

December’s Copenhagen Agreement on the 

environment. So far, there has been no 

commitment by the sector to climate change, 

and it has done nothing about fighting it.” 

Greece, Cyprus and Malta persuaded the 

27-member bloc at the recent EU Council of 

Environment ministers meeting to channel all 

work on emissions through the IMO. 

Carbon emission reduction should be 

“implemented globally” to ensure a “global 

playing field”, they said. 

As mentioned, the EU council's final accord 

said ships must cut carbon emissions by at 

least 20% by 2020. The agreement, which also 

covers aviation, said the EU supported the use 

of “global market-based instruments to reduce 

emissions from these sectors”. 

The IMO aims to draft an accord at 

December’s meeting in Copenhagen to 

succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires 

in 2012. 

TO 

*This article was written before the 

results of the COP 15 meeting were 

known. 

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Virtual Arrival - 

saving fuel and 

emissions 

According to Intertanko, current emissions-reduction measures mostly focus on 

ship operators, however, the pan-industry ‘Virtual Arrival’ initiative also brings 

charterers and port authorities into the picture. 

Applicable to all classes of ships 

on voyage charters, ‘Virtual 

Arrival’ calls for ship operators 

and charterers to agree on a 

specific speed reduction against the 

contracted speed as agreed in the charterparty 

if the ship is due to arrive sooner than 

required due to port congestion, or 

unavailable resources, or facilities. 

By slowing at a given point of the voyage, 

fuel would be saved and air emissions 

reduced, Intertanko’s Singapore-based Tim 

Wilkins explained to delegates at a Marine 

Environmental Seminar organised by the 

Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) last 

October. 

A crucial component of ‘Virtual Arrival’ is 

an independent third party, which will 

calculate the revised estimated time of arrival 

(ETA) based on weather and currents to 

provide an auditable post voyage record on 

the basis of legal requirements. 

The virtual arrival time is then tendered to the 

voyage charterer and the port authority and the 

value of fuel saved and potential CO2 credits 

are shared between ship operator and charterer. 

According to data provided by Weathernews 

International, actual voyages undertaken by 

the Bro Elizabeth, the British Mallard and the 

British Progress, which executed 'real eco 

routing' under the ‘Virtual Arrival’ formula, 

saw bunker savings from 7% to as high as 

21.5%, Wilkins said. 

Weathernews ocean data assimilation was 

responsible for accuracy, strategic voyage 

planning and post voyage analysis. 

Going forward, Wilkins said that a ‘Virtual 

Arrival’ charterparty clause needed to be 

worked out, with possible adaption to and coordination 

with the EEDI and the SEEMP, or 

TEEMP. 

Parties involved also need to trust the third 

party voyage calculations for ETAs and 

‘Virtual Arrival’, which need to be binding, 

Wilkins stressed. An area that needs to be 

explored for it to work is the possibility that 

charterers would have to indemnify operators 

for possible bill of lading claims by reason of 

any reduced speed required by charterers. 

Aside from bunker savings and reduced 

emissions, other benefits of ‘Virtual Arrival’ 

included lowering of collision and grounding 

risks arising from less vessel queues and less 

engine wear and tear, Wilkins claimed. 

Thus far, the ‘Virtual Arrival’ concept has 

been adopted or endorsed by BP Shipping, 

Chevron, IMO, Intertanko, OSG, Vitol, 

BIMCO, Euronav, Shell, TORM, NORDEN 

among others. 

Danish initiatives 

As can be seen from the list above, several 

Danish tanker owners and operators have or 

will endorse the ‘Virtual Arrival’ concept. 

For example, TORM is working on the 

‘Virtual Arrival’ software and said that due to 

the nature of the spot market, vessels 

primarily focus on arriving at the load/ 

discharge port as soon as possible and often 

find the berth is not ready to receive them. 

The targets are emission reductions, safety 

enhancement, fuel savings, carbon credits and 

to avoid port congestion. 

Some 75% of tanker emissions come from 

propulsion, as speed is the most critical factor 

affecting emissions – twice the speed equals 

four times the emissions. The system is aimed 

at setting a ‘Virtual Arrival’ ETA, based on 

actual weather information and vessel data to 

allow it to reduce speed and thus save fuel. 

Any fuel saved will benefit the charterer, 

while the vessel owner will still earn the 

revenue from the charter hire as if steaming at 

full speed. 

Fellow Danish tanker owner NORDEN is 

also working with the software and has 

calculated that there is a significant potential 

for a reduction in fuel consumption. 

The company has calculated that a vessel 

arriving at a discharge port in 8.1 days at 

normal speed would save 26% in fuel if she 

arrived for discharge in 10.2 days by slow 

steaming and not had to wait for a berth. At 

8.1 days, the bunker consumption was 

calculated at 247 tonnes per day, as against 

183 tonnes per day consumed at the 10.2 days 

sailing period. 

To give some idea of the extent of the 

problem, TORM has worked out the average 

resource streams for an MR type tanker per 

year. The company took the case of a vessel 

with a cargo capacity of 47,200 tonnes and a 

complement of 22 persons steaming 64,800 

miles amounting to 2.8 bill tonne/miles at an 

average sea speed of 13.7 knots. 

The amount of fossil fuels burnt in a 12- 

month period was 6,712 tonnes of hfo; 904 

tonnes of lsfo (low sulphur fuel oil); 232 

tonnes of MDO/MGO. The consumption split 

was 75% for propulsion, 12% for electricity 

production, 11% for cargo heating and 2% for 

inerting the tanks. 

TORM calculated that the emissions created 

during the period were 24,800 tonnes of CO2, 

440 tonnes of SOx and 587 tonnes of NOx. 

The amount of garbage collected was 2 mill 

cu m of plastics and 8 mill cu m of other 

garbage incinerated on board; other garbage 

sent ashore equaled 41 mill cu m plus special 

garbage of 300 kg. Garbage disposed at sea 

totaled 22 mill cu m. 

Special garbage was described as batteries, 

sensors, light tubes, metals, ink cartridges, 

etc, while the other garbage sent ashore 

included mainly plastics, packaging, 

containers, cloths etc. 

34 



closed gauging 

TORM has introduced several initiatives to reduce CO2. 

As for the sewage accumulated, this amounted to 1,602 tonnes of 

grey sewage and 282 tonnes of treated black sewage. In addition, the 

vessel carried out five ballast water exchanges during the year. 

The number of tank cleaning exercises in the 12-month period was 

nine using 1,373 litres of IMO compliant detergents, 2,053 tonnes of 

water discharged overboard and 746 tonnes of slops discharged ashore. 

Emissions cut ashore 

TORM is committed to reducing CO2 emissions by 20% per vessel by 

2020, compared to 2008 figures. A further strategic move will see CO2 

emissions cut by 25% per employee ashore during the same period. In 

general, the Danish shipping industry has set a target of a 15% CO2 

reduction by 2020. 

Some of TORM’s initiatives to achieve this reduction in CO2 

emissions include the installation of electronically driven main engines, 

the optimising of the cleaning of both the hull and propeller, optimising 

tank cleaning and cargo heating operations, improving the monitoring 

of engine performance across the fleet and at a later date, the testing of 

scrubber technology and the possible installation of alternative 

propulsion technologies. 

TORM has also listed what is calls its ‘value-chain’ initiatives, 

including the installation of ‘Virtual Arrival’ software, participation in 

the Danish ‘Green Ship of the Future’ scheme, the reporting of the 

company’s climate strategy and CO2 accounts to the Carbon 

Disclosure Project, participation in the UN Global Compact, a 

member of the BP Environmental Group and the provision of data for 

a customer carbon footprint. 

As for the ‘value-chain’ initiatives, TORM has installed Wärtsilä full 

electronic engines on eight LR2s and six Ice Class MRs. A further 11 

newbuildings from Guangzhou (GSI) are to be fitted with MAN Diesel 

electronic engines, which are expected to reduce daily fuel oil 

consumption by 950 kg, or 2.3%. 

Torsion meters will be fitted on board each vessel. These will 

measure the force needed to operate the propellers and their installation 

will make it easier to optimise the efficiency of the main engines, 

TORM said. By the end of last year, the company had installed meters 

on 16 vessels. 

An online fuel testing system was due to be tested this year on one of 

the vessels to assess whether the fuel consumption can be reduced 

through the tighter control of combustion temperature. Furthermore, a 

number of software tools were installed last year to select the optimal 

The HERMetic 

UTImeter Gtex is 

a portable electronic 

level gauge 

for closed gas tight 

operation resulting in 

increased safet and efcienc 

The unit is used for custody transfer, 

inventory control measurement and 

free ater detection on marine vessels 

Connected to a HERMetic vapour 

control valve, the UTImeter Gtex avoids 

any gas release during operation and 

enables 3, optionally 4 measurements 

in one single operation, Ullage, 

Temperature, Oil-water interface level 

and Innage y increasing safety and 

efciency, Honeywell Tansystem 

helps customers improve business 

performance 

For more information visit our website 

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November/December 2009 TANKEROperator


voyage speed through the analysis of bunker 

costs, charter demand and laytime. The 

optimisation of route planning and vessel speed 

to arrive at the most cost and environmentally 

effective balance between tonnage supply and 

demand is ongoing, TORM said. 

The ‘Green Ship of the Future’ is a Danish 

project involving equipment suppliers and 

shipowners. It is being co-ordinated by the 

Danish Centre for Maritime Technology 

(DCMT). The target is to be able to 

demonstrate technologies that can deliver 

CO2, SOx and NOx reduction to the tune of 

30%, 90% and 90% respectively. 

TORM is participating in the project 

covering the electronic main engines with 

variable turbochargers. 

NORDEN - a 50:50 partner in the Norient 

Product Pool (NPP) along with Interorient - 

has developed its own software system called 

Master Operations & Environmental 

Performance System (MOEPS), which is 

about to be implemented across the whole 

fleet. It includes a weather routing system. 

Fleet enhancements 

The company manages drybulk carriers, as 

well as tankers and to save fuel and therefore 

to reduce emissions, several enhancements 

have also been added across the fleet. 

These include the fitting of slide valves; 

CASPER software, which is a continuous 

performance monitoring system; Alpha 

lubrication system; ExxonMobil’s scrape 

down analysis system, which is an early 

warning system for the main engine; torque 

measuring system; garbage monitoring and 

reporting system; NORDEN’s FLAME engine 

analysis system; non-oscillating p/v valves on 

the tankers; hull cleaning every five years to 

SA 2.5 level; propeller cleaning every six 

months; frequent turbocharger, scavenge air 

cooler, fuel and injection pumps control and 

servicing; plus active research support. 

For the future, the company is also looking 

at variable geometry turbochargers and a CO2 

measuring system. For last year, the company 

claimed a 2.4% reduction in CO2 emissions 

and a 3.34% reduction in 2009 year-to-date. 

NORDEN is also introducing the Green 

Steam trim system, which collects data 

relating to wind, weather, waves, draught, 

speed etc and then gives online 

recommendations on optimum settings and 

sailing conditions. This system could give 

potential savings on fuel and CO2 of around 

4.5% the company claimed. By using this 

system, comparisons can be made with sister 

vessels across the fleet. 

The company has also introduced Norient 

Re-imbursement System (NORS). This is an 

environmental benefit sharing scheme, which 

includes the ‘Virtual Arrival’ software. 

Both companies said that they were 

champions of the Danish bunker levy/tax 

system for emissions control (see page 30). 

NITC sets targets 

Another major international tanker operator has 

also given detailed information on the steps it is 

taking in response to the shipping industry’s 

quest to lower vessel GHG emissions. 

Iran’s NITC currently manages 42 crude 

oil tankers totalling over 10 mill dwt; these 

include 28 VLCCs, nine Suezmaxes and five 

Aframaxes. 

In addition, there is a large newbuilding 

programme, with 22 crude oil tankers due for 

delivery between 2010 and 2013, including 

three Caspimax (Caspian Sea) tankers. 

Speaking in Dubai at ME Ship Tech 2009 

conference last month, Mohammad Souri, 

chairman and managing director of NITC, 

said that climate change was the greatest 

challenge facing the world today. The IMO 

has agreed to voluntary proposals aimed at 

cutting vessels’ carbon emissions. How should 

shipowners respond? 

Given the industry’s global nature, 

mandatory measures to reduce carbon 

emissions must have almost universal 

participation. Improvements in clean 

technology were seen as an efficient means to 

reduce CO2 intensity, he said. 

Therefore, a step-wise plan of action was 

needed. He advocated promoting broad 

participation in voluntary measures. There was 

a vast potential for improvements in 

operational efficiency, fleet management, traffic 

control, cargo handling and energy efficiency. 

As to NITC’s stated potential targets to 

reduce its energy consumption by 28%, these 

were - voluntary speed reduction (10%); 

reduced hull roughness (5%); reduced 

propeller roughness and propeller vortex loss 

recovery (3% each); speed optimisation (5%); 

main engine fine tuning (2%). 

The company also intends to apply silicon 

antifouling to reduce hull resistance, 

consequent to reduction of fuel consumption 

(by 2.1%); modification of propeller edge and 

installation of Cap Fin propellers (newly 

designed by Wärtsilä), resulting in 6% saving 

in fuel consumption; plus the installation of 

Cap Saver Fin on newbuild VLCCs, reducing 

fuel consumption by three tonnes per day. 

In addition, there will be underwater and 

hull inspection every four months and 

cleaning if needed; optimising fuel by 

maintaining the fuel and turbocharger system; 

and installing a Marinox system on the new 

vessels in order to tune the engine further by 

looking at all aspects of the engine 

combustion system and to deliver greater fuel 

saving while remaining within the limits of 

the NOx technical code. 

Souri revealed that NITC had formed a 

strategic partnership with Carbon Limits, 

Oslo, a leading international climate change 

consultancy and developer. Together they will 

analyse approaches and methods by which the 

Iranian and international shipping industry, 

proactively, effectively and without market 

distortion, could contribute to climate 

mitigation efforts. 

NITC will co-operate in development of the 

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project 

related to reduction of natural gas wastage, 

such as reducing flaring, elimination of leaks 

from infrastructure, and bringing gas to markets 

for use to foster sustainable development. TO 

NORDEN is 

introducing the 

‘Virtual Arrival’ 

concept. 

36 



IMO global sulphur 

regulations impact on 

marine pumps 

minimised 

Stricter sulphur limits being imposed by the IMO and other worldwide national 

authorities can significantly influence the operating conditions of marine fuel pumps. 

In a worst-case scenario, marine diesel 

fuel with low sulphur content and 

viscosity levels can damage components 

in fuel pumps – causing propulsive 

power failure or electrical blackout on a 

vessel, according to leading German pump 

manufacturer Allweiler. 

Under the most recent revision of Annex VI 

of Marpol 73/78, IMO has adopted stricter 

limits to cap the sulphur content of all marine 

fuels at 0.5% worldwide from 2020. This 

revision lowers current sulphur limits of 1.5% 

in Emission Control Areas (ECAs) – such as 

the Baltic and North Sea – to 1% in 2010 and 

0.1% in 2015. Additionally, EU Directives for 

2010 require ships in inland waterways and at 

berths to use marine fuel with 0.1% sulphur 

content. 

Achieving these goals demands technically 

and economically sound options, taking into 

consideration all ship subsystems. 

Allweiler, a Colfax business unit, fully 

supports IMO and other international 

initiatives to curb shipping emissions, but 

advises operators to check how new fuel 

parameters will affect the operating conditions 

of on board pumps. Lower sulphur marine 

diesel fuels exhibit lower viscosity and 

lubricity levels, thus affecting the performance 

of a wide range of pump brands in the marine 

market. 

Yuriy Vladimirov, technical superintendent 

of the Russian-based Novorossiysk Shipping 

Company (Novoship), believes that emerging 

emissions regulations will have a big impact 

on the industry. 

Shipowners face stringent demands by the IMO for 0.5% sulphur content in oil fuels by 2010. 

“The IMO, EU, US and Canadian 

authorities are moving quickly to restrict NOx 

(nitrogen oxides), SOx (sulphur oxides), 

particulates and CO2 emissions in ECAs,” he 

said. “We expect that maritime authorities in 

other regions will do the same.” 

Vladimirov explained that to reduce sulphur 

emissions, shipowners must either install 

exhaust scrubbers or use low-sulphur fuels, 

which are more expensive and can cause 

safety issues. 

“Low sulphur fuels are lighter, so they tend 

to leak more – creating a potential fire risk in 

the engine room,” he said. “In addition, these 

lighter fuels don’t lubricate as well, which 

may result in long-term damage to engine, 

boiler components and other equipment – 

including pumps.” 

Since many existing engine components are 

not designed to operate with lighter fuels, 

shipowners will have to install redundant 

systems and separate fuel tanks for heavy, 

diesel, and light fuels, which will allow them 

to switch to different fuel types when 

necessary. While there has been a lot of 

industry focus on boilers recently, pumps – 

which are especially critical to merchant ship 

operation – remain an issue of concern. 

“If pumps cannot reliably operate with 

lighter fuels, shipowners face significant safety 

and environmental risks,” said Vladimirov. 

“Through intensive checking, upgrades and 

replacements, Novoship has made all 

adjustments to guarantee the life cycle and 

functionality of pumps, regardless of the liquid 

handled and the substances it contains.” 

Novoship recognised market initiatives to 

manage risks associated with harmful 

emissions. For example, DNV has developed 

a class notation to manage emissions issues 



measuring the effects of low sulphur content 

on pumps, it has developed new technology 

and techniques to ensure high pump 

performance to meet current and future 

demands with innovative solutions. 

Dr Michael Matros, Allweiler CEO and vice 

president of Colfax Corporation, confirmed 

that close customer relationships enable firstclass 

solutions: “A very important factor for 

the success of our company is to reflect the 

voice of the customer. We are focusing on 

specific smart technologies to help the 

customer lower life cycle costs and to meet 

environmental standards. 

“Our claim ‘All fluids-o limits’ 

implements not only our wide range of 

products and our global service capacity, but 

also our unfailing ambitions to assist the most 

cost-effective usage of our high-quality 

pumps. With our comprehensive selection of 

screw, centrifugal, and progressing cavity 

pumps, Allweiler is always able to offer an 

optimised solution regardless of the 

customer’s liquid or application,” he claimed. 

Lower viscosity levels found in new regulation sulphur fuels significantly affect the 

performance of various pumps in today’s marine market. Allweiler pumps offer high 

performance despite stringent global emission initiatives and lower viscosity levels, even 

in higher pressure applications. 

and is working with the appropriate regulatory 

authorities, shipowners and suppliers to 

reduce emissions. 

“Despite tough markets, we believe that 

these rules will go into force, and Novoship, 

despite the industry’s slow adaptation to the 

changing regulatory environment and the 

major upgrade costs involved, is ahead of the 

game, able to operate globally with clean, 

green ships within all global regulatory 

deadlines,” said Vladimirov. 

For the past decade, Allweiler has closely 

followed new regulations governing the limits 

for total sulphur in marine fuels. By 

Low sulphur damage 

Sulphur-containing compounds in general are 

regarded as providing anti-wear properties, 

but the reduction of sulphur and other 

components providing lubricity may cause 

overheating and friction. This severely affects 

all moving parts like bearings and spindles. 

Further, while mechanical seals are 

controlled leakage devices, a lower viscosity 

level found in low-sulphur fuels may cause 

additional seepage, thus increasing the fire 

hazard risk in the engine room. 

Novoship is ahead of 

the game, claimed 

Vladimirov#. 

38 



Allweiler pumps operate efficiently at 

viscosity levels as low as 1 sq mm/s, but 

maintaining high pump performance when 

using low-sulphur fuel oils may demand an 

upgrade kit or a replacement pump featuring 

specially treated spindle and housing 

materials. 

Allweiler Solutions 

In the majority of low-pressure applications, 

Allweiler pumps can handle new fuels without 

modifications, but there is a greater need to 

check the operational condition of pumps in 

fuel oil applications with higher pressure 

requirements. 

If uncertain, Allweiler can investigate the 

current operating conditions of a pump and 

recommend remedial action. 

Check tool 

Allweiler’s new fuel oil pump check tool 

assesses the affect of low sulphur fuels against 

original pump specifications. 

The tool, available on Allweiler’s Service 

Portal (www.allweiler.com), is simple to use, 

requiring information about the pump series, 

size, pitch, current material combination, 

operating mode, pressure, speed and the 

lowest operational viscosity expected. 

On entering the required parameters, users 

receive an immediate pump assessment 

report and recommended actions if pump 

limits are exceeded. Additionally and 

contingent upon detailed information, 

Allweiler can assess pumps from other 

suppliers on request. 

Allweiler upgrade kits are occasionally 

recommended by the check tool. These kits 

reduce mechanical failures and total 

ownership costs, while increasing equipment 

performance and mean time between failures. 

Further, they protect metallurgical, hard 

facings and coatings to resist wear, erosion 

and corrosion damages caused by low-sulphur 

diesel fuel, thus prolonging the life of internal 

parts and overall pump reliability. 

ALLFUEL 

ALLFUEL, Allweiler’s new generation 3- 

screw pump series for light and heavy fuel 

oil, is fully compliant with current and 

upcoming low-sulphur diesel fuel regulations. 

The series meet regulations requiring 

operation of ships in inland waterways and 

ports to be powered only by fuels containing 

less than 0.1% sulphur. 

They feature heating elements for the 

mechanical seal and filter chamber, to enable 

the pump to start smoothly with heavy fuel oil 

and a filter design for easy maintenance. By 

Allweiler’s new generation pump series – ALLFUEL – is compliant with current and 

upcoming low sulphur diesel fuel regulations. 

modifying how liquid flows through the pump 

filter, dirt particles are retained in the filter 

and held in place by a magnetic filter base. A 

vacuum meter continuously monitors the 

cleanliness of the filter, which can be changed 

without having to drain, dispose and refill 

the oil. 

ALLSEAL 

Delivered with the new ALLSEAL leak 

detection and collection system, Allweiler 

screw pumps utilise an opto-electronic sensor 

monitoring of the mechanical seal to indicate 

when maintenance is needed and when 

emergency shutdown should be activated to 

prevent environmental and expensive pump 

damages. 

Many operators are now retrofitting existing 

pumps with ALLSEAL equipment to closer 

gauge the wear and leakage of the mechanical 

seal. Featuring a bracket sensor and an 

innovative leakage collecting solution, 

ALLSEAL provides condition monitoring of 

the pump and shaft seal, thus avoiding system 

downtime and reducing the risk of 

environmental and engine room damage. 

ALLSEAL fully complies with SOLAS 

directives for flammable and explosive 

liquids. It is available for vertical installed 3- 

screw pumps of ALLFUEL and ALLMARINE 

SN series. 

"Allweiler is the only manufacturer to offer 

a complete approach to sealing," claimed 

Dr Matros. 

Concerning shaft seals, shipowners can 

select Allweiler’s traditional mechanical 

seal with or without the leak-detection 

system ALLSEAL or the hermeticallysealed 

MAGDRIVE pumps with magnetic 

TO 

coupling. 



Scrubbers are 

here to stay 

The Exhaust Gas Scrubbers Association (EGSA) recently celebrated 

its first anniversary by introducing a code of conduct. 

Director Don Gregory explained 

that as this particular sector was 

becoming more mature with 

shipowners looking to invest long 

term in scrubbing technology, scrubbing 

manufacturers needed some sort of protection 

for their product and R&D. 

Poor behaviour, such as creating 

expectations that cannot be met, is one area to 

be addressed by EGSA’s membership and 

education is another, such as the exact 

definitions of particulate matter. 

“We would like to ensure owners are 

properly informed enabling them to make an 

informed decision,” Gregory said. “There is a 

lack of industry understanding and one of our 

remits is to educate the shipping industry.” 

Scrubbers have been used in land-based 

installations for many years and so there was a 

considerable amount of experience available. 

“Also the key criteria are to apply proper 

competences and high standards of 

commercial services,” he continued. An 

illustration of a common problem in the 

industry is the certification of the box, rather 

than the meter, which should be operational 

continuously. 

Gregory explained that confidentiality of 

EGSA’s Don Gregory. 

client information and unsubstantiated claims, 

both commercially and technologically, while 

dispelling misconceptions about equipment for 

removing SOx and particulate matter (PM) in 

the shipping industry, are some of the 

problems that the association and the code 

will try to overcome. 

EGSA has 11 members with another 

pending with at least four different types of 

scrubbing technology. The membership is 

open to all those involved in the design, build 

and commission scrubber systems. An 

associate category will also be available for 

other companies involved in the fringes of 

scrubbing technology, such as gas sensor 

manufacturers, water and waste water 

monitoring suppliers. 

Thus far there have been several scrubber 

installations “numbered in the teens,” Gregory 

said, including some on super yachts. 

Discussions have been centred on ‘Black 

Carbon’, which Gregory described as a big 

problem. He said that all types of fuel oil 

produce black carbon and the switch to 

distillates would create even more. 

The US already allows the use of scrubbers. 

A workshop is planned for next year and the 

concept was presented at IMO’s July MEPC 

59 meeting and along with IMarEST at the 

earlier sub-committee meeting on bulk liquids 

and gases (BLG 13) held in March. 

Norwegian answer 

Following scrubber tests on a Klaveness 

managed asphalt carrier and land-based test 

using a 1MW diesel engine at MAN Diesel’s 

Holeby facility, manufacturer Clean Marine said 

that it intended to enter the market next year. 

The land-based tests were conducted 

between 2006 and 2008, while the shipboard 

tests were undertaken this year. 

Since its inception in 2006, Clean Marine – 

50:50 owned by Klavenss Invest and Clue – 

has been developing exhaust gas cleaning 

systems (EGCS) for the marine industry. Its 

system was developed to fulfill all the relevant 

requirements adopted by the IMO’s MEPC in 

October last year. 

Its scrubber design is based upon the AVC 

principle and technology. Clean marine said 

that although EGCS is associated with 

seawater scrubbers for reduction of SOx and 

PM (particulate matter), it sees EGCS as a 

family of existing and future technologies 

designed to reduce any harmful substances in 

exhaust gas from any engines, irrespective of 

fuel type. 

With this wide definition, the company said 

that it recognised that stricter requirements in 

combination with new materials and 

technologies will make it feasible to develop 

sustainable cleaning processes that will surpass 

the technological boundary seen today; 

A scrubbed and cleaned exhaust may be 

exposed to ultrasonic light and TiO to split 

NOx into N and O2. 

Adding NaOH (caustic soda) to a seawater 

scrubber has given a 15% reduction of 

CO2 where then CO2 is bound as 

carbonates in seawater. 

Today EGCS are widely used ashore to reduce 

emissions – in land transport, factories and 

power stations. These are in the form of 

scrubbers, filters, catalysts, EGR, SCR etc. 

Hence there exists considerable experience 

within the field, Clean Marine said. 

With respect to SOx and PM removal, the 

EGCS is competing with fuel oil standards in 

the marine industry. 

Today the large marine engines are burning 

the residual oil coming out at the bottom of 

the refinery process. This residual oil contain 

in average, 2.8% sulphur (28,000 ppm) 

compared to the auto diesel ashore containing 

0,005% sulphur (50 ppm). 

As SOx, it will either contribute to, or form 

harmful particles in itself when diluted and 

cooled by air, thus there is a strong need to 

reduce the SOx emitted by ships close to port. 

Such cleaning can either be achieved 

through exhaust cleaning – 99%, 

desulphurisation, or by higher grade products 

– diesel products. 

Desulphurisation is a very energy intensive 

and costly process and the realistic fuel oil 

options are therefore; 

40 



To coke or hydrocrack the residual oil and 

thereby convert this to distillate. 

Or simply use more crude oil to produce 

more distillates. 

The latter imply that several hundred million 

tonnes of additional crude oil will have to be 

supplied each year. The former imply that the 

residual oil must be exposed to high 

temperature, pressure and large amount of 

hydrogen, to be converted to lighter products. 

Clean Marine claimed that compared to the 

distillate option, installation of EGCS in the 

form of scrubbers, represents a superior 

alternative; 

Higher cleaning efficiency unless the 

prescribed distillate has ultra low sulphur 

content. 

Less costly alternative. 

Less CO2 footprint. 

Better use of scarce petroleum resources. 

A ship or a marine installation has sufficient 

manpower and infrastructure to operate and 

maintain advanced EGCS. In that respect 

there is little difference between such facilities 

and factories, or power stations ashore. 

Description 

Being a retrofit or a newbuilding installation, 

the exhaust from all sources on board is drawn 

through one cleaning unit by a fan installed 

after the unit. 

The fan is dimensioned to take the highest 

relevant accumulated engine loads – 

propulsion engines plus auxiliary engines, 

plus boiler, as the case may be. Unless the 

accumulated load is very low, the fan speed 

will be kept constant and the exhaust will be 

recirculated back to the cleaning unit. 

The cleaning unit consists of an Advanced 

Vortex Chamber (AVC) where seawater or 

seawater mixed with caustic soda (NaOH) is 

sprayed into a vortex created by the exhaust. 

The vortex principle allows operation with 

extremely small droplets, which together with 

the forceful mixing of liquid and gas gives a 

high SOx and PM uptake in the liquid. 

The liquid is subsequently cleaned through 

a flocculants system to a standard meeting the 

IMO requirement with respect to turbidity 

and PAH. 

The sludge from the flocculants system is 

filtered out, compressed and stored in drums 

on board before taken ashore. 

Design and installation 

The system has been designed to be a modular 

concept with the following qualities claimed: 

High cleaning efficiency. 

It shall be independent any engine or 

boiler type, or make. 

The Baru was retrofited with a Clean Marine scrubber in China. 

Production efficiency achieved through 

standardisation. 

Quick and simple installation. 

Low cost. 

The illustration shows an installation on board 

the Panamax tanker Baru with a highest 

accumulated machinery load of 10MW. 

The installation includes a gas module; 

A common exhaust collector fitted on top 

of the funnel. 

The exhaust suction pipes from the 

collector and down to the AVC, the fan 

after the AVC and the exhaust and exhaust 

return pipe after fan. 

The liquid module includes; 

A 20 ft container holding booster pumps, 

NaOH and flocculants injection equipment 

and switchboard, liquid and gas 

monitoring and automation. 

The tank module includes; 

Storage tank for NaOH solution. 

Flocculants skimming and filter tanks. 

The only interface with the ship is feed water, 

high and low voltage electric power, GPS 

signal and air. 

The system as shown is designed for flow 

through and two operational modes: 

Mode 1 - Low liquid flow, 10-20 cu m per 

hour per MW. Seawater or fresh water mixed 

with NaOH. 

Mode 2 - High liquid flow, 30-40 cu m per 

hour per MW. Seawater only. 

Full re-circulation and a bleed flow to sea, 

or to a holding tank is also possible. 

The power requirement is about 1-2% of the 

machinery load covered. 

The Holeby tests show that the system is 

able to take out SOx up to 98% and PM up to 

85% measured by dilution tunnel. The 

repeatability of the measurements however, 

has not been satisfactory and further 

optimisation is required. 

As a side effect - by adding caustic soda 

(NaOH) in surplus, up to 15% CO2 reduction 

was measured. 

The take out of NOx was measured to 

4-15%. 

Tests started 

Fabrication of the full scale unit was 

undertaken in 2008 and installed on board the 

Panamax tanker Baru this year. The full scale 



test started in June and will continue 

throughout the year. Several modes of 

operations will be tested: 

Seawater. 

Seawater + NaOH. 

Fresh water + NaOH. 

Seawater and fresh water + NaOH in a 

closed loop system. 

In general all parameters in the system will 

be monitored and recorded, but particular 

focus will be set at the PM trapping 

mechanism and the cleaning liquid and 

sludge composition and handling. An addon 

‘back pack’ was successfully installed on 

the Baru by Chengxi Shipyard in China. 

The initial full scale test onboard Baru, 

proved that the system is able to reduce the 

SOx content by 98%. This was achieved while 

the main and auxiliary engines were operated 

on HFO with a 4.07% Sulphur content. 

The table below indicates a shipowner's pay 

back time in years for a 10,000 kW 

installation as function of time in ECA 

(SECA) and difference in fuel oil prices 

between Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) with an 

average sulphur content of 2.6 % and a Low 

Sulpher Fuel (LSF), which may be a distillate, 

with sulphur content as low as 0.1 %. 

Assuming a 5,000 kW installation, the 

payback time in the table should be increased 

by about 25%. While assuming a 15,000 kW 

installation the pay back time will decrease 

with about 5%. 

This non-proportional effect on pay back 

time is explained by the scaling of investment 

cost as function of kW installation. 

The table is indicative, subject to 

adjustment of investment and operation costs. 

Krystallon acquired 

Hamworthy has completed the acquisition 

Fuel spread €/tonne 

ECA time 

25 50 75 100 

50 8.64 4.32 2.88 2.16 

75 5.32 2.66 1.77 1.33 

100 3.84 1.92 1.28 0.96 

125 3.01 1.50 1.00 0.75 

150 2.47 1.24 0.82 0.62 

200 1.82 0.91 0.61 0.46 

250 1.44 0.82 0.48 0.36 

300 1.19 0.60 0.40 0.30 

400 0.89 0.44 0.30 0.22 

A Krystallon gas scrubber installation. 

of Krystallon. 

Krystallon claimed to be the pioneer in gas 

scrubber development as a commercially 

viable alternative to costly low sulphur 

content distillates, to comply with new IMO 

MARPOL Annex VI regulations on emissions. 

Over the past four years, Krystallon has 

supplied two shipboard and two on-shore gas 

scrubbing systems capable of cutting sulphur 

emissions from plant burning residual fuel oil 

with a sulphur content of 3.5%, by as much 

as 98%. 

Trials and operations of Krystallon’s plant 

were material to IMO sanctioning gas 

scrubbers as a permissible alternative to low 

sulphur marine distillate fuel to meet its 

emissions targets. 

Hamworthy CEO Joe Oatley said: "The 

emerging market for marine sulphur emissions 

reduction is an exciting global opportunity 

underpinned by international environmental 

regulations. The acquisition of Krystallon is 

consistent with our strategy of expanding the 

group's technological base in long-term 

growth markets." 

Since renamed Hamworthy Krystallon, it 

will form part of the Inert Gas Systems 

division where Hamworthy has more than 40 

years experience of sea water scrubbing, as 

well as extensive project management and 

manufacturing resources. 

“While low sulphur content fuel had 

attracted wide attention, gas scrubbing has 

now proved itself as a workable, lower cost 

alternative,” said Hamworthy Krystallon new 

managing director Sigurd Jenssen. He added 

that, as well as eliminating almost all sulphur 

emissions, gas scrubbing cuts particulate 

emissions by up to 80%. 

“Hamworthy’s experience in seawater 

scrubbing and its global manufacturing and 

service network will be critical in ensuring 

that this technical solution can now reach a 

wider audience,” Jenssen added. 

The technology can be applied to scrub the 

exhaust from both two and four stroke 

engines as well as boiler systems. The units 

thus far delivered have worked in 

combination with diesel engines in the 1– 8 

MW power range, but Krystallon has 

developed designs to work with engines of 

up to 67 MW. 

TO 

42 


TECHNOLOGY - NAVAIDS 

Electronic passage plan 

initiative introduced 

The UKHO has launched the Admiralty e-avigator service, 

which is claimed to be the first in a series of enhancements to be launched 

by the hydrographic office as aids to navigation. 

is the first phase of our 

vision”, UKHO CEO 

Mike Robinson explained. 

“This 

“Maritime navigation is 

undergoing a fundamental shift, from paper to 

digital, from protective to proactive 

navigation. It is moving beyond the basic 

avoidance of risk towards the IMO’s vision of 

e-navigation, which will deliver enhanced 

services to the mariner. The UKHO is at the 

forefront of bringing that vision to life. 

Admiralty e-Navigator will provide seafarers 

with not just navigational data, but 

intelligence, which significantly improves 

their ability to sail safely and efficiently.” 

Talking of efficiency, he also thought that 

on board and ashore operational efficiency 

was now a key business objective in shipping 

as was the drive to cut costs. Another problem 

facing the industry was how to deal with the 

shortage of skilled seafarers. 

e-Navigator was described by Robinson as a 

harmonised collection, integration, exchange, 

presentation and analysis of maritime 

information for both on board ship and ashore, 

thus saving time and money. 

One of its prime functions was to bring all 

the data together electronically in order to 

execute a passage plan. New products can be 

accessed instantly and, if appropriate, 

transferred to the front of bridge ECDIS for 

the execution of the voyage. 

As well as tide and weather data, one of the 

first new digital products available in e- 

Navigator is Admiralty Information Overlay 

(AIO), the only global digital service that 

includes worldwide Temporary and 

Preliminary Notices to Mariners. Combined 

with Admiralty Vector Chart Service (AVCS), 



e-Navigator screenshot. 

AIO will give a navigator the power, utility 

and safety, which electronic charts provide, as 

well as the quality, reliability and integrity of 

Admiralty assured data. 

The UKHO claimed that the system is 

aimed at setting a new standard in safe 

navigation, voyage planning and fleet 

management by providing accurate berth to 

berth information through one single user 

friendly application. 

Previously, bridge personnel using 

navigational products and services have had to 

work with a multitude of different information 

from different sources. The aim of Admiralty 

e-Navigator is to bring together all the 

Admiralty navigational offerings in one place 

to make every stage of navigation and fleet 

management smarter, simpler and safer. 

At the heart of the system is a free 

Admiralty product catalogue, free advanced 

chart optimisation and selection, real time 

product ordering and delivery tools, a free 

electronic chart viewer and instant access to 

Admiralty digital product updates. It is also 

claimed to be able cut the complexities of 

chart ordering. 

It has also been designed to be a gateway to 

a growing number of existing and new 

applications, datasets, products and services 

produced by both the UKHO and other 

maritime information suppliers. 

The system has been developed for both 

ashore and on board use. The on board e- 

Navigator planning station is a software 

application for use on a PC at the back of 

bridge. The e-Navigator fleet manager version 

is a web application that can be accessed via a 

company’s internet browser ashore. 

Voyage preparation 

The UKHO said that around 70% of good 

navigation is preparation. Safe and efficient 

passage planning can be undertaken across 

both paper and digital products. The system 

will also reduce the workload on board 

through electronic route planning and by 

providing immediate access to the latest 

navigational intelligence from Admiralty. 

Admiralty e-Navigator’s product catalogue, 

chart selection and ordering tools enable the 

user to purchase the navigational information 

needed, when needed and for as long as it is 

needed, the UKHO said. 

The system has what is claimed to be a 

simple product ordering facility to help the 

user to have the right information at the right 

time, in the right place. It also helps to reduce 

the cost of navigation by helping to select the 

most cost-efficient mix of charts needed to 

sail worldwide safely and in compliance with 

international and local regulations. 

Admiralty e-Navigator provides immediate 

access to any Admiralty digital charts and 

publications anytime day or night worldwide 

from a user’s preferred distributor. 

It also enables the synchronisation of product 

holdings with the latest Admiralty updates 

direct with UKHO servers in Taunton, UK. 

Routes can be planned electronically, thus 

reducing the workload on board as the 

system will calculate the charts needed for a 

voyage, check against current chart holdings 

and advise what additional charts and which 

corrections are needed for safe and 

compliant navigation. It can also be used 

to request additional charts and updates 

as necessary. 

e-Navigator also brings together the 

growing range of Admiralty and third party 

digital products and services needed for 

navigation and voyage planning in one place 

to make the viewing, use, organisation, 

maintaining and managing easier. 

As for the shore-based use, new regulations, 

environmental concerns, the demands for 

vessel security, as well as the constantly 

changing marine environment are all putting 

increasing pressure on marine superintendents 

and mariners. 

Here, the system is claimed to be able to 

make modern shore-based management easier 

by bringing together all the maritime 

information needed to manage the navigation 

requirements of a whole fleet in one place. 

It will save time by making the ordering of 

the navigational products needed easier to 

keep vessels compliant and reduce the cost of 

navigation. For example, it will help select the 

most cost effective mix of electronic and 

paper charts each for each vessel to sail 

anywhere in the world. A user will only 

purchase charts when needed and for the 

length of time needed. 

The system will also enable a fleet manager 

to improve standards and reduce PSC 

inspections by giving a real time, accurate 

view of the holdings and correction status of 

all Admiralty products on board for every ship 

managed. 

Admiralty products can be ordered easily 

from the preferred Admiralty distributor and 

permits downloaded for Admiralty digital 

charts and publications in real-time on board, 

or ashore any time, day or night. 

e-Navigation functions 

Display advance notification of 

navigationally significant changes through 

Admiralty Information Overlay. 

View licensed ENCs, ARCS charts, tidal 

information from TotalTide. 

View third party applications such as 

Maris Weather Manager, Lloyds 

Register Fairplay World Ports guide and 

DNV Navigator. 

Update via ChartCo broadcast service, as 

well as standard email and internet. 

Use in conjunction with third party paper 

44 



corrections and catalogue files) a broadband 

connection is recommended. 

Another screenshot. 

chart updating services to improve the 

management of paper chart corrections 

on board. 

As for the system’s costs, highly compressed 

data files are used to update Admiralty e- 

Navigator to keep communication costs to a 

minimum. However, costs of updating the 

system will vary according to which updates 

are needed and how urgently they are needed. 

The cost of downloading data in port will 

be negligible, the UKHO claimed. 

Downloading the catalogue and working folio 

updates every week via satellite at sea will 

take under a minute at 9600 BAUD. 

However, for downloading all data updates 

(worldwide electronic chart and publication 

New application 

To be offered as part of the system, Admiralty 

Passage Planning is a new application, which 

will only be available through Admiralty e- 

Navigator. It will work in conjunction with 

other e-Navigator functions to generate a 

complete voyage plan, including ship loading 

and trim details, squat calculation, port and pilot 

information. It will be available from mid-2010. 

Robinson said that a comprehensive support 

and training package would also be available for 

e-Navigator through CBT, which will also be 

offered to all of the distributors next year. Also 

to be launched early next year will be a 24/7 

support service, which will be available in any 

time zone, not just during UK working hours. 

At the product launch, held in London and 

at Marintec China, Hugh Phillips, head of 

products at the UKHO, concluded: “The 

UKHO has worked closely with mariners at 

every stage of e-Navigator’s evolution, and 

the result is a product which uniquely 

combines the flexibility and real-time benefits 

of digital technology with the breadth and 

depth of information the mariner requires for 

sailing today. I believe Admiralty e-Navigator 

sets new standards for safe navigation and 

efficient planning and fleet management.” TO 

New features added to standard gyrocompass 

Raytheon Anschütz has 

introduced new features to its 

Standard 22 gyrocompass. 

Among the most important new features are 

independent transmitting magnetic compass 

and individual speed error correction 

functions. With increased failure safety and 

flexibility further value is added, the 

company claimed. 

Standard 22 will now be equipped with a 

modified distribution unit, which is enhanced 

by an independent transmitting magnetic 

compass (TMC) path. Thus, a failure in the 

distribution unit or even in the compass 

system will not affect the processing of the 

magnetic compass heading. 

This enhancement ensures that the steering 

repeater would be switched automatically to 

magnetic heading in a situation of a loss in 

the gyrocompass heading. With this function, 

various flag state authorities do not require 

an optical bypass for the magnetic compass 

on board. 

According to Raytheon Anschutz’s 

gyrocompass product manager, Olav Denker, 

the independent transmitting magnetic 

compass function of Standard 22 will not only 

increase standards of safety, but will also offer 

economical benefits: “Thanks to the new 

feature, no separate TMC unit will be required 

and the yard does not have to install an optical 

bypass for the magnetic compass. This saves 

costs for the shipowner and installation time 

for the yard,” he said. 

In addition to manual and automatic speed 

error correction modes, the new Standard 22 

will also offer an individual speed error 

correction mode. In double, or triple 

gyrocompass systems it will be possible to 

input speed and latitude information directly 

into the Standard 22. This means that speed 

and latitude from more than one speed 

log/GPS receiver are used for speed error 

correction at the same time. The benefit is 

that in case of a speed or latitude error, the 

speed error correction of only one Standard 

22 is affected. Subsequent systems such as 

dynamic positioning systems are able to 

detect a heading error caused by incorrect 

speed and position data. Therefore, the 

addition of speed and position data processing 

is a major contribution to increased failure 

safety and detection. 

Since the Standard 22 gyrocompass 

was introduced to the market, Raytheon 

Anschütz has sold more than 7,700 

gyrocompasses of this type. Denker said: 

“With the new released features we make 

sure, that Standard 22 fits perfectly in 

new applications and also fulfils future 

requirements. The safety of the compass 

and of subsequent systems is significantly 

increased.” 

Standard 22 is available in various 

configurations, ranging from a double or 

triple system with possible integration of 

further heading sensors for retrofit purposes. 

All Standard 22 gyrocompasses are equipped 

with the patented data transmission 

technology that completely replaces the use 

of slip rings and offers increased operational 

safety, the company claimed. 

 

46 



ACOS Platinum 

range up and running 

SAM Electronics announced at last month’s Europort exhibition that it had received a 

first order for its new ACOS Platinum range of vessel control systems. 

Under the terms of the contract, 10 

units will be supplied for a series 

of 45,000 dwt chemical tankers 

under construction at SLS 

Shipbuilding of South Korea for United Arab 

Chemical Carriers (UACC) of Dubai. 

The vessels are scheduled for delivery to 

UACC, the recently-established subsidiary of 

containership operator United Arab Shipping 

Company (USAC), in 2011-12. 

Hamburg-based SAM Electronics, an L-3 

Communications company, introduced its 

range of new-generation vessel control 

systems combining navigation, automation 

and control functions, NACOS Platinum, in 

October, although it had its first public airing 

at the Rotterdam show. 

Jointly developed with Lyngsø Marine of 

Denmark and L-3 Valmarine of Norway, the 

series provides a full range of functionality for 

vessels of all types and sizes while ensuring 

unprecedented levels of usability and 

scalability, the company claimed. 

The entire range of the NACOS Platinum 

Benefits of NACOS 

platinum series 

One common software platform for 

navigation and automation 

applications. 

User centred design for easy and safe 

operation across systems and 

applications. 

Scalability and flexibility from standalone 

to integrated systems - for all 

types of vessels. 

LAN based network system. 

Easy to install and to maintain. 

Cost efficient solution focused on 

increasing user value. 

Extremely user friendly = 

less training. 

Common hardware platform = 

reduced spare sparts. 

The new range supports the whole navaid range, plus other requirements. 

series is based on identical components and a 

common network. They support a complete 

portfolio of Radarpilot, Ecdispilot, Trackpilot 

and Conning functions in addition to those for 

Alarm, Monitoring and Control, Propulsion 

Control and Power Management as well as 

other requirements. 

SAM said that the combination of 

networked architecture and use of modular 

components ensured unrivalled levels of 

system scalability. Based on a new platform 

concept, solutions can extend from a small 

alarm system or a stand-alone ECDIS to very 

large, complex configurations for highly 

advanced vessels. 

Moreover, any system can be easily 

expanded, upgraded or modified to provide 

increased functionality. Versatility of the 

series is illustrated by a new IP radar which, 

by direct connection to a ship’s own IP 

network, enables complete radar images to be 

accessible from any workstation. Similarly, 

NACOS Platinum’s control system. 

ECDIS displays can be made available for 

viewing in an engine control room, the 

Captain’s office or any other ship area. 

A key concept of the NACOS Platinum 

series is that all products have been developed 

observing User Centred Design principles. 

Drawing on SAM Electronics’ 50-year 

expertise and that of leading international 

Human Factors institutes, a collaborative 

design process has resulted in the 

development of a Human Machine Interface 

(HMI) which is intuitive, transparent and 

completely consistent across the full range of 

products. This results in systems, which are 

ultra-efficient and easy to operate by 

providing overviews and simplicity of 

operation, enabling crews to concentrate on 

managing ships safely without any undue 

distraction, or stress, SAM said. 

SAM claimed that the other main 

advantages of the Platinum series with its 

system-wide use of standardised hardware and 

software components, include significantly 

improved quality and reliability of 

configurations. Similarly, maintenance 

requirements are greatly simplified with a 

much-reduced requirement for spare parts, 

while continuity of operation is enhanced by 

extensive self-monitoring facilities supported 

by online diagnostics. 

NACOS Platinum series offers enhanced 

features in terms of usability, scalability and 

network by means of one common hardware 

and software platform. 

TO 


TECHNOLOGY – SHIP DESCRIPTION 

Enhanced Hyundai 

Mipo tanker design 

enters service 

HMD’s standard chemical/product tanker designs were ordered 

with enhanced equipment for speed of turnaround. 

At the end of June, Claus-Peter 

Offen Tankschiffreederei (Offen 

Tankers) took delivery of the 

first of a series of eight 52,000 

dwt MR chemical/product tankers built to 

IMO III standard - CPO Korea. 

As in the previous series of eight handysize 

36,000 dwt IMO II/III type chemical/product 

carriers, although based on a Hyundai Mipo 

standard design, Offen Tankers included 

several equipment upgrades. These were 

primarily designed to speed up load/ 

discharge times. 

For example, the cargo and ballast pumps 

installed had higher capacities and two tank 

cleaning machines per cargo tank were 

installed. For faster discharge, the hydraulic 

power pack’s capacity was increased. 

The inert gas system capacity was also 

increased and the cargo tanks were coated 

with a heavy phenolic epoxy, which Offen 

Tankers claimed offered better cargo 

resistance thus allowing a wider variety to be 

carried. A super stripping system was installed 

for optimum discharge and to ensure that less 

residues/slops were left in the cargo tanks 

again for ease of cleaning. 

The first series were built to Lloyd’s 

Register’s Ice Class 1A and were fitted with 

bow thrusters, but the later series dispensed 

with ice class and with the bow thrusters. 

Offen Tankers also opted for a fully 

certificated dual ECDIS system ahead of the 

IMO rules, thus eliminating the need for paper 

charts and chose a fully integrated software 

system for document control, planned 

maintenance and purchasing. Offen Tanker’s 

managing director Stephan Polomsky 

maintained that he was keen to “do away” 

with all the unnecessary paper work as far as 

possible with all functions integrated into one 

software system, which can be interrogated 

both on board and ashore. 

As for the crews’ accommodation, this was 

also upgraded to a higher standard. For 

example, for crew comfort, the vessels have 

improved interiors, upgraded galleys plus a 

gym and sauna fitted. As a further 

enhancement to crew welfare, the 

communications system included individual 

crew email. 

CPO Korea, the first of the larger series, 

was named at Ulsan on 25th May and was 

handed over to charterer ST Shipping and 

Trading, Glencore’s shipping arm, on 30th 

June. Three more sisters will join the fleet 

next year and the final four in 2011. 

The IMO III CPO 

Korea seen leaving 

the shipyard. Her 

equipment was 

upgraded to improve 

load/discharge 

times. 

48 


TECHNOLOGY – SHIP DESCRIPTION 

The preceding eight were built under a joint 

project with Broström France and are 

currently operating in Maersk Tanker’s 

Handytankers Pool. Maersk finalised the 

purchase of the Broström earlier this year. 

The handysize orders, which kicked off 

Offen Tanker’s involvement in this particular 

sector, were the result of contract conversions 

as they were originally ordered as 1,800-teu 

containerships. By having roughly the same 

dimensions meant that they could be built in 

the same dock as the one originally planned 

for the containerships without upsetting the 

yard’s building schedule. 

Both series are powered by a six cylinder 

Hyundai-MAN type 6S50MC-C diesel engine 

producing 9,480 kW at 127 rev/min 

(maximum continuous rating), or 8,530 kW at 

122.6 rev/min (normal continuous rating), 

giving a service speed of about 15.2 knots at 

the normal continuous rating. At this speed 

and rating, the heavy fuel oil consumption is 

around 34.6 tonnes per day. 

As for the auxiliary machinery, the vessels 

were fitted with three Hyundai Himsen diesel 

generators rated at 730 kW each, plus a 

Cummins emergency generator rated at 120 

kW. The complete engine room control system 

was supplied by Kongsberg. 

Cargo is carried in 12 segregated tanks – six 

on each side of the vessel. Both cargo and 

water ballast pumps are of the submerged and 

hydraulically driven Framo type. 

Each cargo tank was fitted with one set of 

pumps rated at 600 cu m per hour capacity 

each and two cleaning machines. In addition, 

each vessel is fitted with a further two sets of 

300 cu m per hour capacity and another one of 

75 cu m per hour. As for the water ballast 

pumps, each vessel was fitted with two sets of 

Framo pumps rated at 900 cu m per hour 

capacity. 

The cargo tanks were coated with a heavy 

phenolic epoxy supplied by Sigma for the 

36,000 dwt series and Jotun for the larger 

series. This type of coating was chosen for its 

resistance qualities enabling the vessels to lift 

a wide variety of cargoes. 

Tank cleaning is carried out with the aid 

of ScanJet machines and the tanks have also 

Principal Particulars - CPO Korea 

Class LR +100A1 

Double Hull Oil and Chemical Tanker, 

Ship Type 3, CSR, ESP, *IWS, LI, 

+LMC, UMS with the descriptive note: 

COW, ETA, Part High Tensile Steel, 

ShipRight (SCM). 

Gross tonnage 30,000 

Deadweight, at maximum dft 51,950t 

Length, oa 

183m 

Length, bp 

174m 

Breadth, moulded 32.2m 

Depth, moulded 19.1m 

Draught, design 

11m 

Draught, scantling 13.3m 

Capacities 

Cargo 

55,000 cu m 

Heavy fuel oil 

1,400 cu m 

Marine diesel oil 170 cu m 

Fresh water 

400 cu m 

Ballast water 

22,500 cu m 

Complement 29 + 6 

Machinery 

Main engine MAN 6S50MC-C 

MCR 9,480 kW at 127 rev/min 

NCR 8,530 kW at 122.6 rev/min 

Service speed (NCR) abt 15.2 knots 

Fuel consumption (HFO) 

abt 35t per day 

Cruising range (NM) abt 12,400 

been fitted with a super stripping system for 

optimum discharge by ensuring that less 

residues and slops remain in the tank, which 

also increases the efficiency of the cleaning 

operation. 

Increased inert gas functions were provided 

by Aalborg Smit generators. The tank level 

gauging equipment was supplied by Emerson 

Process Management, while the fixed gas 

detection system was supplied by Consilium 

who were also responsible for the fire 

detection system. 

Aalborg supplied the auxiliary boiler and 

exhaust gas economiser. The boiler’s capacity 

is 18,000 kg per hour. The oily bilge separator 

was supplied by Georim Engineering, the 

sewage treatment plant by Jonghap Machinery 

and the incinerator by Hyundai Atlas. 

Furuno supplied the navigation and 

communications equipment. Here, Offen 

Tankers opted for a dual ECDIS system 

ahead of the IMO convention, which will 

allow the fitting of two ECDIS, to eliminate 

the use of paper charts. The communications 

suite includes the use of individual crew 

email on board. 

Polomsky said that he was a champion of 

the paperless vessel and shoreside office, 

illustrated by the fact that the company has 

invested in Ulysses Systems’ Task Assistant 

integrated management software for document 

control, purchasing and planned maintenance, 

as well as taking the dual ECDIS route. 

Elsewhere, DongNam Marine Crane 

(DMC) supplied the tankers’ hose handling 

cranes, while Rolls Royce supplied the 

steering gear and Pusnes was responsible for 

the deck machinery. 

TO 


TECHNOLOGY - TRAINING SYSTEMS 

Warsash helps 

combat management 

shortage 

For the past couple of years, Warsash Maritime Academy has been developing new 

courses aimed at the management level, both ashore and afloat. 

One such course is an MSc in 

Shipping Operations, which will 

start around September next year. 

It is primarily aimed at those 

seeking a career progression when considering 

coming ashore. Moving from ship to shore can 

be problematic for some people. The aim of 

this Master’s course is to help people move into 

the realms of higher education. 

The Course will be split into units as the 

whole Master’s degree takes around 1,800 

hours to complete, or four to five years. The 

entry requirements will be aimed at full time 

employees, either self or company sponsored. 

Course deliveries will be flexible as 

employers can provide the mentors needed. 

For example, it could be delivered in short 

phases with two weeks spent on site at 

Warsash. The student will take the 

responsibility for completing the course with 

Warsash providing support. 

Claire Pekcan, the course leader, explained: 

“One of the aims of the course is to empower 

individuals to change from within and 

challenge their pre-conceptions by removing 

subjects and professional boundaries and to 

develop their strengths to be able to solve 

complex problems”. 

The course is based on research undertaken 

over many years and is based on the use of 

distance and the virtual learning environment. 

The Academy claimed that it would be 

competitively priced. 

This year, Warsash, part of Southampton 

Solent University, formed the School of 

Management and Postgraduate Studies to 

streamline its courses. 

The idea was to group a linked set of 

management courses together in one School. 

These courses range from basic familiarisation 

to advanced management level coaching and 

where appropriate are approved in accordance 

with international regulations. 

The courses have been sectionalised under 

five different titles – 

Resource management. 

Operations management. 

Petrochemical management. 

Postgraduate studies. 

Research and consultancy. 

Resource management offers courses on 

engine room resource management, steam 

propulsion plant operations, crew resource 

management, leadership and communications, 

leadership coaching for senior officers and 

advanced leadership for senior managers. 

Operations management courses on offer 

include security training, company security 

officer, ship security officer, ISPS Code 

familiarisation, training the trainer and a raft 

of international safety management (ISM) 

courses. 

Petrochemical management offers courses 

on LNG familiarisation, tanker familiarisation, 

specialised tanker training programme 

(liquefied gas, chemical and oil), liquid cargo 

operations simulator (LICOS), inert gas and 

crude oil washing, inert gas systems and crude 

oil washing, plus the transport of packaged 

dangerous goods by sea. 

The Postgraduate studies include a 

certificate in maritime education and training, 

the PGCert (MET), and the MSc in Shipping 

Operations mentioned earlier, which is under 

development. The PGCert (MET) is starting 

its third year and is being funded by the 

International Maritime Training Trust. 

Research and consultancy concentrates on 

the human factor. However, other services are 

offered including port development projects. 

DPA courses 

Warsash is also developing designated persons 

ashore (DPA) courses, the first of which was 

Bridge team management is becoming more important to training institutes, such as Warsash. 

50 



scheduled to start on 2nd November. They are 

being put together in collaboration with 

Regs4ships and are based on IMO 

MSC/MEPC circulars. 

In 2007, the Paris MOU undertook a 

concentrated campaign on the ISM Code 

where several tanker detentions were down to 

a failure to implement ISM on board ship. 

Warsash’s Simon Holford explained that the 

shipping industry was changing from a “trust 

me culture to a show me culture.” 

“The role of the DPA was not yet seen as a 

mature process by the industry,” Holford said. 

Improvements in Port State Control 

administration has led to a change of direction 

with a ‘ship risk profile’ being developed with 

generic information and company 

performance, plus historical data in the form 

of detentions and deficiencies included. 

The European Maritime Safety Agency 

(EMSA) intends to take this information into 

the public domain, enabling a company’s 

performance to be analysed by anybody 

showing interest. 

The DPA course will take in best practice 

and lasts for three days, or two, if 

accreditation has already been given by a flag 

state in a prior learning assignment. It is open 

to DPAs and/or their deputies and will include 

the question of how to maintain standards, if a 

DPA is not present. 

Warsash is working with the Liberian 

registry and the UK’s MCA among others to 

gain accreditation for the course. 

The crew resource management course is 

partly aimed at the STCW revisions, which 

have a deadline of 2012 for compliance. 

For on board resource management, 

Warsash will look to tailor courses to take in 

the whole vessel, not just the bridge and/or 

engine room. Pilotage, shore operations and 

other interests could also be included in the 

management course. Those attending the 

course can make use of the bridge and engine 

room simulators, or both combined, as 

necessary. 

A suite of courses is also being developed 

for the human interface starting with cadets, 

then junior and senior officers and moving 

onto shoreside management. They will be 

tailored to the level required in experience and 

seniority of the people attending. 

Simon Holford and Katherine Devitt, of the 

School have commenced a year long research 

Intertanko’s Howard Snaith is responsible 

for TOTS. 

project to gain an idea of behavioural markers 

across the industry. Interviews will be held 

with the MCA, MAIB, Nautical Institute, 

various shipowners, P&I clubs and others to 

obtain an in-depth knowledge of the human 

element. 

Continuing to meet your training needs 

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IMO,ISM & STCW requirements 

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Videotel Marine International, 84 Newman Street, London W1T 3EU 

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Warsash has embraced Intertanko’s 

voluntary Tanker Officers Training Standard 

(TOTS) scheme unveiled in April, 2008. 

Earlier this year, Intertanko introduced 

ETOTS, the electronic training version of 

TOTS, which has gained Nautical Institute 

and IMAREST approval. 

ETOTS was launched in association but not 

exclusively with Norwegian software house 

Seagull. 

TOTS introduced 

The initiative was introduced for several 

reasons, not least due to the increase in 

accidents on board tankers and officer training 

requirements connected to the continuous 

improvements as laid down in TMSA2. 

Howard Snaith, Intertanko’s director marine 

and chemicals, speaking at the seminar 

organised by Warsash, said that the human 

factor, which is heavily allied to the shortage of 

experienced officers, could explain the increase 

in incidents added to the fact that there is more 

transparency today than a few years ago. 

He also said that the shipping industry did 

not know why this was happening but that an 

inter-industry working group was analysing 

some 35 fires and explosions on small chemical 

and product tankers over the past 25 years. 

Snaith said that the working group had 

come to the conclusion that procedures on 

board were not being followed. “They weren’t 

complying with what they were trained for – 

the human element aspect,” he said. 

The group looked at the aviation industry 

and in particular at the CAA, which had 

designed the human element out of the cockpit 

thus the human interface had become more of 

a monitoring operation. However, humans in 

general are not good at this, so accidents 

increased, the group found. 

The birth of bridge resource management 

led to TOTS including a crew resource 

management element in the standard. The 

objective was to ease compliance by 

demonstrating that the officer had undertaken 

competent training and to ease candidates 

into the system before they would normally 

be accepted. 

The human factor element that the industry 

is trying to introduce is a training system that 

engenders the “….not only knows and 

understands, but realises the consequences of 

not doing it (the task),” Snaith said. 

At the STCW revision discussions, the IMO 

is trying to harmonise seafarer endorsements 

for handling dangerous cargoes, as some flag 

administrations have different interpretations 

of the sea time required for the endorsements. 

Raising the bar 

By and large the IMO introduces the 

minimum acceptable standard requirements 

but TOTS raises the bar to what oil companies 

are looking for when vetting a possible 

tanker’s crew for a charter, Snaith claimed. 

ETOTS licenses are issued as an alternative 

to the paper version and Seagull’s 

involvement is on a non-exclusive basis, 

Snaith explained. A company’s HR manager 

can monitor progress. As for its 

implementation, he said that all IACS 

members were authorised to undertake two 

sets of audits – on tanker companies’ 

compliance certificates and on audit centres. 

Snaith said that thus far, both the maritime 

colleges and companies were now being 

audited and that around 40% of Intertanko 

members have implemented, or are in the 

process of implementing, the scheme, or 

its equivalent. 

TO 

MPRI’S LIQUID CARGO HANDLING SIMULATOR 

THE RISKS ARE SIMULATED. THE BENEFITS ARE REAL. 

 

 

 

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GOVERNMENT SERVICES > AM&M > SPECIALIZED PRODUCTS > C 3 ISR 

 

This material is MPRI general capabilities information and does not contain any controlled technical data as defined within the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) or Export Administration Regulations (EAR). 

52 


Posidonia 2010 

7-11 June 2010 

Hellenikon Exhibition Centre, Athens, Greece 

Your opportunity 

The biggest gathering in the shipping calendar 

with the owners of the world's largest fleet. 

Welcome to the home of shipping 

The International Shipping Exhibition 

Organisers: Posidonia Exhibitions SA, e-mail: posidonia@posidonia-events.com 

Tel. +30 210 428 3608, Fax +30 210 428 3610 

www.posidonia-events.com

www.apmaritime.com/DigitalShip 

DigitalShip

TECHNOLOGY - FOULINGS 

An idle ship is the 

devil’s playground 

The economic slow-down has resulted record breaking amount of ships at anchor 

and a speed-up of organisms attaching themselves to their hulls. 

Alarge percent of anchored ships 

are in warm Asian waters with 

known high level of ‘fouling 

pressure’ activity from the 

standpoint of slime, and marine growth. 

Performance losses, just due to light growth 

an inactivation of the coating system or 

inability to ‘foul release’ can result in an 

Aframax losing six tonnes per day ($2,700 per 

day). 

The concern from a scientific and industry 

standpoint is that the accumulation of fouling 

will cause an inactivation of the anti-fouling 

properties for biocide hull coatings. For foul 

release coatings, the possibility of slime and 

marine growth accumulation is exacerbated by 

their non-biocide nature. 

The local diving contractors in proximity to 

these anchored vessels will no doubt have 

some good business in the future when these 

ships return to service (assuming Port States 

allow underwater cleanings) but what are the 

consequences of not cleaning hulls and 

propellers in a timely manner, ie before 

sailing again? 

According to Daniel Kane, Propulsion 

Dynamics vice president; “From the 

standpoint of ship technical performance, 

there are robust formulas to calculate the 

ship’s added resistance while sailing, however, 

no formulas to work with in order to 

Increase of resistance 

Source: Propulsion Dynamics. 

determine the increase in hull resistance of 

idling ships. 

“Factors such as age of ship, time since last 

docking, type of coating, underwater surface 

area, and duration at anchor will all result in 

various degrees of fouling and resistance. Then 

additional factors while underway (speed and 

loading conditions) are factors that will make it 

impossible to determine which ships need 

husbandry and which ships will recover their 

fuel efficiency prior to anchoring. In other 

words, which ships with anti-foulants will have 

deactivated antifoulant and which ships with 

foul release will be unable to wash away the 

fouling is yet to be seen. 

“The astute shipowner will at minimum 

polish the propeller and at the same time order 

an in water hull inspection prior to departure, 

other shipowners will simply sail and observe 

the speed and fuel losses in order to schedule 

husbandry (if needed) at the next port of call, 

but the latter may mean wasted bunkers. 

“Of the hundreds of ships in our 

programme, we do have several dozen that are 

at anchor until further notice. We look 

forward to observing the changes in resistance 

of these ships when they lift anchor and 

eventually do sail. Our CASPER® service 

will benefit customers by working closely 

with them to assess fouling effect on fuel 

efficiency and mitigate fuel losses in the most 

60% 

55% 

50% 

45% 

40% 

35% 

30% 

25% 

20% 

15% 

10% 

5% 

0% 

2910 2930 2950 2970 2990 3010 3030 3050 3070 3090 3110 3130 3150 3170 3190 

Days for development of added resistance 

timely and appropriate manner,” he concluded. 

For ships in long layup periods, docking 

may be needed, according to other experts. 

Below is an example of the dramatic 

increase in hull and propeller resistance for a 

ship that was at anchor for only four weeks 

off the coast of West Africa. The x-axis 

represents the time in days (2,940 days since 

delivery). The last set of performance data 

was received on ‘Day 3,130.25’ the ship then 

anchored until we received the next set of 

performance data on ‘Day 3,155’. 

The resistance of the ship increased 30% 

which is normal for an older tanker to 52%, 

which for this ship represented a 0.9 knot loss 

in speed at 85% MCR. The resistance then 

climbed steadily indicating that the antifoulant 

had been inactivated by the marine 

growth. These cases are not common because 

today’s hull coating systems are doing a 

terrific job, but with thousands of ships at 

anchor now, these cases will be more 

common. 

According to Daniel Kane: “Let’s look at 

some numbers again, assuming the following 

ship types are at anchor for only a few months 

and then sail at design speed and draft. The 

Aframax tanker at six tonnes per day ($2,700 

per day) was just due to light growth an 

inactivation of the coating system, or inability 

to ‘foul release’. A conservative pay back 

time for hull and propeller cleanings varies 

from a few months for smaller ships and as 

little as two weeks for larger ships! 

These figures shed light on why hull and 

propeller performance monitoring are key 

areas of the Ship Energy Efficiency 

Management Plan (SEEMP) drafted by IMO 

in order to increase awareness of fuel 

conservation measures. This means that CO2 

reductions, when a part of reduction in fuel 

consumption is achieved at a negative cost per 

tonne of CO2 avoided. 

In the future, more and more focus will be 

on the biological risk of hull fouling, and 

integration of reducing biorisk whilst 

simultaneously improving fuel efficiency, “ 

Kane said. 

TO 


TECHNOLOGY - NEWS 

Fit a new bow and save money 

Germanischer Lloyd’s (GL) new 

consultancy division FutureShip 

has come up with several ideas 

about how shipowners can save 

fuel costs – starting with a new 

bow. Karl Jeffery investigates. 

Shipyards are good at designing ships. They 

put together a number of possible designs, test 

them and come up with one which works. 

But what they don’t usually do, said Volker 

Höppner, managing director of GL’s FutureShip 

consulting division, is test tens of thousands of 

possible designs in a computer simulation, to 

FutureShip’s Volker Höppner 

come up with the best possible solution. 

For one German ship operator, about to 

purchase a new vessel, FutureShip was able to 

identify a bulbous bow design, which could 

reduce overall fuel consumption of the vessel 

by 10% – amounting to Eur30 mill over the 

vessel’s lifetime - compared to the design 

being proposed by a top South Korean 

shipyard, Höppner claimed. 

Taking a tour of vessels in lay-up will 

reveal that there is no standard or optimum 

bulbous bow shape for the maritime industry – 

vessels have a wide range of different designs, 

short and fat to thin and narrow. 

GL claimed that changing the bow on an 

existing vessel was not an expensive exercise 

– the class society estimated Eur200,000 if 

undertaken in China or Eur300,000 if a 

European yard is chosen - a drop in the ocean 

against a saving of Eur30 mill. 

Fluid dynamics 

There is potential for optimising many other 

areas of the vessel’s fluid dynamics (how it 

passes through the water), Höppner said. It is 

a similar process to how cars are optimised for 

reduced air resistance. 

FutureShip can model how the water flows 

over the propeller and interacts with the 

rudder – and how small changes to the 

rudder’s shape can improve efficiency. Also 

different hull coatings can be used. 

There is also the question of ‘appendages’ – 

metal shapes welded to the bottom of the ship 

by the yard thought to improve propulsion. 

“We can show if it is worth doing or not,” he 

said. 

When it comes to operating the vessel, 

small changes to the trim and draft and how 

well the hull and engine are maintained, will 

also impact on fuel costs, Höppner explained. 

Of course, small changes to vessel 

operations (different sea temperatures or 

loadings for example) can change the 

optimised set-up. 

FutureShip creates software systems, which 

can run on board the vessel, informing 

operators if there is an opportunity to reduce 

fuel consumption. 

“The chief engineer knows this – but a chief 

engineer is not always available. With this 

system, everyone can act,” he said. 

Persuading shipyards to change their 

designs is not something every shipowner is 

able to do. But ultimately, the market 

normally wins – which means shipyards 

insisting on inefficient designs will be 

disadvantaged, Höppner said. 

Already this year, FutureShip has persuaded 

seven shipping companies to change their 

designs. It was also engaged by a Navy, who 

compared a FutureShip optimised design with 

the one the shipyard was proposing and found 

the FutureShip design was better. 

Of course, FutureShip’s software can be 

used directly by shipyards – for example 

South Korean shipyard DSME has adopted 

the program. 

TO 

Teekay signs up to CASPER® 

Propulsion Dynamics has been 

awarded a monthly contract to 

continuously monitor 90 Teekay 

vessels over a three-year period. 

Two sea trials conducted on small groups of 

Aframax and LNGCs convinced Vancouverbased 

Teekay Corporation of the merits of the 

vessel performance analysis and hull 

resistance monitoring service provided by 

Propulsion Dynamics of Long Beach, 

California, the company said. 

Teekay first mooted the idea of using 

CASPER® to monitor hull and propeller 

performance on a major part of its 160-plus 

owned and managed fleet in the Autumn 

of 2008. 

This move was to establish the criteria to 

measure and monitor fuel conservation and 

emissions reduction initiative. Agreement was 

reached in December and by the beginning of 

March 2009, 70 Aframaxes and Suezmaxes 

were yielding usable information. 

The final twin-propeller LNGCs and shuttle 

tankers became active in the programme 

during the Summer of this year. Twinpropeller 

vessels require careful management 

as each propeller develops a different rate of 

revolutions, which must be measured to the 

nearest decimal reading. 

Each month, Propulsion Dynamics 

establishes fully corrected data from the 

vessels for wind force and speed, wave height, 

sea current, draught, and trim which enables 

CASPER® computer program to calculate the 

added hull and propeller resistance, true speed 

and fuel consumption. Using the monthly 

reports, Teekay has developed a benchmark 

that enables its four regional offices 

throughout the world to see at a glance the 

hull and propeller efficiency of each of its 

vessels, and the internal performance rating 

that a vessel has attained. 

The technical performance of individual 

vessels is used to evaluate realistic charter 

rates, review added resistance, and determine 

when hull cleaning and propeller polishing 

would be advantageous. 

Comparisons between sister ships enable 

different hull coatings to be evaluated for 

fouling, and the effect on speed and fuel 

consumption. Furthermore, metrics are 

presented for determining which ships have 

need for more intensive hull preparation while 

in drydock. 

TO 

56 


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Features: - Tanker Operator

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