Integrated Automation System News

Ammonia is one of several renewable fuels seen as an option to help the maritime industry decarbonize.One of the companies working to unlock the fuel’s potential is Brooklyn, N.Y. based Amogy, developer of an onboard system that feeds liquid ammonia through a cracking process to create hydrogen on demand for power generation via fuel cell—without carbon emissions.Having already demonstrated its technology on an aerial drone, tractor and semi-truck, Amogy is currently working to…

A first-of-its-kind project to convert a 1950s tugboat to run on ammonia-to-power technology is moving forward, with several key milestones recently achieved, involved technology partners report.The Amogy-led retrofit project involves a comprehensive overhaul of the tugboat's original diesel generators and electric motors, integrating the Brooklyn startup's 1-megawatt ammonia-to-power system.Once installed, Amogy’s onboard solution will feed liquid ammonia through its cracking modules integrated into a hybrid fuel cell system that will provide zero-carbon power to the vessel’s electric motors.

A fire on board a multi-purpose vessel chartered by the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) while transiting the Southern Ocean highlights the risks and challenges of operating in harsh, remote conditions.On April 5, 2021, the 145 meter MPV Everest was en route from Antarctica to Hobart with 37 crew and 72 Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) staff on board when a fire broke out in its port engine room.The fire was contained and eventually extinguished using the engine room water mist fixed fire-extinguishing system after about 2.5 hours…

A first-of-its-kind ammonia-powered, zero-emission tugboat will be put to the test by Brooklyn, N.Y-based startup Amogy in late 2023.Having already successfully demonstrated its technology on an aerial drone, tractor and semi-truck, the ammonia power solutions company revealed in early March that it is retrofitting a scaled up 1-megawatt (MW) version of its ammonia-to-power system onto a tug at Feeney Shipyard in Kingston, N.Y. as a test run for its emissions-slashing power and propulsion technology in the commercial maritime sector.Once installed…

Ammonia power solutions company Amogy on Monday said it plans to unveil a first-of-its-kind ammonia-powered, zero-emission tugboat in late 2023.The Brooklyn, N.Y-based company revealed during CERAWeek 2023 that it is retrofitting a 1-megawatt version of its ammonia-to-power system onto a 1957-built tug at Feeney Shipyard in Kingston, N.Y. Amogy’s ammonia-to-power technology feeds liquid ammonia through its cracking modules integrated into a hybrid fuel cell system that provides zero-carbon power to the electric motors.Ammonia…

Turkish Cemre Shipyard has awarded HAV Group ASA’s subsidiary Norwegian Electric Systems AS (NES) a contract to deliver energy design, and smart control systems for two “Windkeeper” service operations vessels (SOV).The Turkish shipyard is building the Windkeeper for the Norwegian firm GC Rieber Shipping. NES’ scope of work is to manage the complete energy design plus act as system integrator for the vessels’ power system and smart control set-up. NES will supply frequency converters and electric motors for the propulsion system…

Høglund Marine Solutions has delivered an automation and control system for the Pacific Ineos Belstaff, reported to be the world’s largest ethane carrier.Høglund esigned an integrated automation system with ship performance monitor and a customized control system.The technology was created to support Babcock LGE’s cargo handling system (CHS) and fuel gas supply system (FGSS) for the vessel, which is owned by Pacific Gas, the Chinese very large gas carrier.“Most of the groundwork was laid in early 2021 with an early design of an overarching integrated automation and power management system…

Shipbuilder VARD announced it has secured a new contract for the design and construction of one stern trawler for Deutsche Fischfang-Union GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. The contract value  is in excess of  NOK 500 million.The stern trawler has been developed by VARD in close cooperation with Deutche Fischfang-Union (DFFU). The new vessel will be the first trawler of VARD’s own design sold to Germany.The VARD 8 03 trawler design is developed to meet the latest demands for fish health management, efficiency, and environmentally friendly operations.

Shipbuilder VARD said Friday it had secured a new contract to design and build one stern trawler for Nergård Havfiske, the fishing arm of the Nergård group in Norway. The contract value is in excess of NOK 500 million (~$57,35 million)."The VARD 8 02 trawler design is a well-proven design that VARD has continuously developed to meet the latest demands for fish health management, efficiency, and environmentally friendly operations. With a high focus on quality of catch, safety of crew…

UK-based offshore vessel owner North Star Group has won another service operations vessel (SOV) contract at the Dogger Bank wind farm, this time for the third phase.North Star Group said Thursday it had secured a long-term charter worth about £90 million ($118,7 million) to deliver an additional ship for Dogger Bank C to support offshore wind technicians working in the field.The contract comes a week after SSE Renewables, with partner Equinor, reached financial close on Dogger Bank C, the third phase of what will be the world’s largest offshore wind farm, located in the UK North Sea.

Integrated automation and energy specialist Høglund announced it has been commissioned to supply advanced, fully integrated hybrid, automation, and digital solutions to two asphalt carriers to be built in Wuhu shipyard, China. The owner, Continental Bitumen, is an integrated procurement, logistics and distribution company supplying bitumen in Europe, Africa and Middle East. The technical manager and operator of the vessels is Tipco Asphalt.The central part of this delivery is the hybrid electric system…

Kongsberg Digital (KDI) announced that its long-term system support program (LTSSP) contract with the Evergreen Marine Corporation has been renewed for another 10 years.The Taiwanese shipping company, one of the largest of its kind in the world, has used KONGSBERG simulators for crew training for over 20 years, with the first maritime simulator delivered to the firm’s training center in 1999. Since then, Evergreen Marine Corp. has used KONGSBERG simulator solutions to train its crews…

Kongsberg Maritime (KM) said it will supply an equipment and simulation package for the maritime training vessel MS Gann, helping both to reduce the vessel’s emissions and enhance the education offered on board. The contract, worth 41.2 million NOK, is part of an extensive refit and will include KONGSBERG’s SAVe Energy battery system and hybrid shaft generators, in addition to power management, propulsion control and monitoring systems.MS Gann – which ran passenger services along…

French submarine cables services company Orange Marine has ordered a new cable repair vessel for delivery in 2023.The specialized newbuild was designed by VARD in Norway and will be built at Sri Lankan shipyard Colombo Dockyard. The 1,800 dwt vessel is 100 meters long with a beam of 18.8 meters and a depth of 7.15 meters. It will have accommodation facilities for 76 persons.The VARD 9 03 design for Orange Marine is designed for the maintenance of submarine cables, both fiber-optic…

Norwegean global marine automation and system integration expert Høglund Marine Solutions (HMS) will supply Fuel Gas Supply Systems (FGSS) to Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC) for Tallink Grupp’s newest LNG powered ferry, MySTAR.Høglund will work with Finnish tank manufacturer West Welding to design and supply the systems that will handle LNG onboard MySTAR, constructed by Rauma Marine Constructions. MySTAR will sail on Tallink's Tallinn - Helsinki route.The design and engineering of FGSS solutions is a key challenge for the future development of LNG powered shipping, particularly for passenger vessels. The process must take into account complex safety concerns stemming from impacts on the engine cooling system…

Wärtsilä’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) Fuel Supply System (LFSS) has completed full scale testing with a full sized two-stroke marine engine burning LPG as fuel. This was the world’s first such testing protocol, according to Wärtsilä.It was initially decided to retrofit the Wärtsilä LFSS to four very large gas carrier (VLGC) vessels owned by Oslo-listed BW LPG. However, following the tests, in which the performance exceeded expectations, BW LPG decided to exercise their option to retrofit an additional four vessels, making a total of eight ships to benefit from this technology.

German shipping company Rhenus-Arkon-Shipinvest has placed orders for the first four environmentally-friendly vessels known as Hanse Eco Short Sea Coasters.The short sea bulkers are expected to be delivered during the second half of 2021, with the construction work scheduled to begin in February 2020.The vessels are based on the latest developments related to environmental protection, digitization and design.The ‘Hanse Eco’ fleet is the result of an initiative launched by Torsten Westphal, one of the founding members of Arkon Shipping. Developing a future-oriented short sea fleet provides a sustainable solution for shipbuilding that is designed to meet specific needs – and this work is taking place with its partner Rhenus…

Fleet Data from Inmarsat has received Approval in Principle (AiP) from leading classification society Bureau Veritas.This is a major milestone for the maritime industry’s leading secure sensor data and Internet of Things (IoT) platform. Conditions of approval by Bureau Veritas verify that Fleet Data can be installed safely on board without its operation affecting existing navigation, safety and radio communication systems.The bandwidth-inclusive platform allows ship owners and managers to take control of sensor data collected on board, pre-process, extract and aggregate it in cloud-based storage to be exploited by the operator’s own decision-making software or third party applications.

KONGSBERG has been contracted to deliver hybrid power solution for the Tidewater Marine offshore supply vessel (OSV), Bailey Tide.As a single supplier under the terms of the contract, KONGSBERG said it will deliver and install a K-Pos DP (Dynamic Positioning), K-Chief 700 IAS (Integrated Automation System) and AGS (Advanced Generator Supervisor) upgrades designed to improve energy efficiency, optimize power management and enhance vessel positioning maneuvers. As well as advancing onboard safety and energy storage…

Norwegian Electric Systems (NES) has signed a contract for the delivery of a further three equipment packages with IAS/PMS and NavCom to Esvagt, a pioneer in offshore wind.This will be vessels number eight, nine and ten delivered to Esvagt, where NES will deliver the same integrated automation system (IAS) and navigation and communication package with Concept Bridge as those delivered for the other windfarm service vessels.The contract is worth $2.35 million.Good conceptThe first equipment package with engineering is scheduled for delivery in March 2020.

Ulstein and Schottel  announced that they will start cooperating to take the next step in automation and digitalization within marine operations. The former Ulstein subsidiary, Ulstein Blue CTRL, will continue as an independent company under the name Blue CTRL. Both Ulstein and Schottel will own 50 percent of the shares in the company. X-CONNECT is a universal digital platform for marine automation, control and monitoring. All functionality in the system is predefined and configurable supporting the work philosophy; configure, plug and play.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA), Høglund, the marine solutions and system integration company, ferry operator Fjord1, and the classification society DNV GL have completed the first testing phase of the ROMAS (Remote Operation of Machinery and Automation Systems) project.As ship systems become more complex, operators increasingly rely on the suppliers of individual systems to operate and maintain them. At the same time, finding machinery engineers who have the skills to deal with these sophisticated systems and are willing to work on board for weeks or even months is challenging.One way of dealing with this is through remote operations.

Earlier this summer Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ventured to Ålesund/Sunnmøre area of western Norway visiting local manufacturers and suppliers serving the global maritime industry and featuring a series of business and technology presentations by leading sector companies including Inmarsat, VARD Group, Ulstein Group, Brunvoll, Ulmatec, Jets, ABB Marine & Ports, Fostech AS and Rolls-Royce Marine. Tom Mulligan reports on new business developments and technology innovations…