Propulsion Technologies News

ABS chairman and CEO, Christopher J. Wiernicki, said he sees a universal, global carbon tax on shipping on the horizon, as alternative blue fuels made with carbon capture emerge as a growing part of the maritime industry's ongoing energy transition.“We need to recognize that there is an intermediate step in the energy transition,” Wiernicki said during an appearance at the CERAWeek energy conference. “Last year the conversations were focused on going from oil to a green fuel economy.

Maciej Jozwiak joined the GLO Marine team, with his experience expected to enhance the company's technical capacity to deliver high-end services to the retrofit and vessel upgrade market, with a focus on green technologies and decarbonization measures.Jozwiak brings more than six years of engineering project management at DAMEN and more than nine years as senior approval engineer at DNV’s Oslo Headquarters. His knowledge in structural engineering, adept project management, and…

RINA has awarded an Approval in Principle (AiP) for Blue Wasp Marine’s Pelican performance prediction software for wind-assisted ships.With this, Pelican has become the first software of its kind to have received class recognition.Pelican, the product of over 10 years of PhD research, is able to simulate the performance of a ship equipped with wind propulsion technologies using specific wind conditions and sea states. Pelican features a built-in force module for both aero- and hydrodynamics.

Opening this week’s International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) annual conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, President Frédéric Denèfle explained the conference theme of “strength and stability in turbulent seas” saying it is essentially “business as usual” for marine underwriters.“As marine underwriters, we are used to managing an array of casualties and losses onboard a variety of vessels and in ports and other shoreside facilities. Dealing with the fall-out from natural catastrophes such as earthquakes and weather events are also workaday issues.

Mike Complita is going on 30 years in the maritime industry. Complita started work at Elliott Bay Design Group (EBDG) as an intern while attending the University of Washington in his hometown, Seattle. “And since that time, I've served in pretty much every role, from a technical and project management standpoint, all the way up to principal of our organization,” he said. Today, as Principal in Charge and VP of Strategic Expansion, Complita works alongside EBDG’s other principals to help guide the firm’s project managers…

As the devotion to more sustainable shipping expands and regulations become more stringent, the demand for lower emissions operations continues to increase. As a result, the marine industry is confronted with the challenge of large-scale electrification as an alternative energy solution.For electric ferries, one developing technology is Rapid Charging Systems (RCS), which transfer electrical power from the shore to a vessel at a high rate. These charging systems establish a ship-to-shore connection quickly…

Spearheaded by the Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA), Bay Ferry 2050 is a visionary initiative aimed at transforming the San Francisco Bay Ferry service into an eco-friendly and forward-thinking transportation system. With a focus on fleet electrification, community engagement and the exploration of alternative propulsion technologies, the project sets the stage for a more community-minded, sustainable, operationally strong, fiscally sound and environmentally conscious…

Anemoi Marine Technologies, a UK-based developer of rotor sails for the shipping industry, said it is enhancing its efforts to provide its technology for ship owners, managers and charterers to install onboard vessels as they look to decarbonize their operations.Anemoi offers a range of rotor sails, varying in height from 24 to 35m, suitable for installation and retrofitting on deep-sea vessels including bulk carriers, tankers, ferries, ro-ros, and multipurpose vessels. These…

A shift to coastal shipping and rail could cut NZ’s freight transport emissions – why aren’t we doing it?According to a recent study, coastal shipping produces a fifth of the carbon emissions (well-to-wheel) of road freight. Rail also performed well, with about a quarter of trucking emissions.Despite this, trucking accounts for nearly 80% of New Zealand’s heavy goods transport, and a 94.5% share of the total emissions from heavy freight transport.The dominance of trucking follows the expansion of the road network…

Three marine industry partners are working to develop a concept for a high-speed internal combustion engine for ships that can run on green methanol in a CO2-neutral manner.Rolls-Royce, Woodward L’Orange and WTZ Roßlau have been working since the beginning of 2023 on the new joint project “MeOHmare”, which is receiving eight million euros in funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection.Dr. Daniel Chatterjee, responsible for technology strategy and sustainability at alliance coordinator Rolls-Royce Power Systems…

Sofar Ocean is on a quest to extract and put to use data from the world’s waterways. Co-Founder and CEO Tim Janssen discusses how his team’s hyper-focus on data is helping to improve weather routing via Wayfinder.Tim Janssen and his Sofar Ocean team continue their ‘Epic Ocean Data Quest,’ remaining laser focused on doing its part to help extract and put to use increasing quantities of information from the world’s oceans. For its part, Sofar continues to build scalable networks to gather information premised on its Sofar Spotter buoy.

Australian shipbuilding group Austal will develop a high-speed that runs on hydrogen fuel under a recently signed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Sweden's Gotlandsbolaget (Gotland Company).A 130-meter-long high-speed catamaran able to operate on hydrogen and other fossil-free fuels, the new vessel Horizon X will be able to run at 35 knots, while transporting 1,650 passengers and up to 450 vehicles.Håkan Johansson, CEO of Gotland, said, ”This is an important step in our climate journey.

Cargill, one of the world's biggest ship charterers, is stepping up a push to resurrect wind power for cargo ships as the agricultural commodities group moves to cut emissions from its chartered fleet, a top executive said.With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world's CO2 emissions, yet environmental campaigners say regulatory efforts by the sector to cut emissions are still slow.Cargill will test a dry bulk vessel with two wind sails carrying cargo onboard later this year…

In no uncertain terms, the goal of “future capable” ship’s propulsion is confusing. We have been pressed into a regulatory environment that asks us to reduce emissions, and in the same breath deliver power sufficient to meet commercial schedules and allow the vessel to weather a storm and be safe at sea. To reach that end, owners are presented with a basket of new alternative fuels to achieve the latest January 1, 2023 Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regulations. Add that most operators have no previous historical experience or data with these alternative fuels…

An innovative kite system is being put through its paces on board a cargo ship crossing the Atlantic as wind propulsion takes off for commercial shipping as a means to reduce fuel burn and harmful environmental emissions.The system, called Seawing, has been developed by France-based Airseas, and is currently being trialed on the 154-meter ro-ro vessel Ville de Bordeaux, which is operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs (LDA) and chartered by Airbus, Airseas' minority shareholder and launch customer.As the ship transports aircraft components between Europe and the United States…

The latest installations of wind propulsion technology on large commercial vessels have tipped the amount of cargo that can be transported on vessels that make use of wind as a renewable energy source over the one million tonnes of deadweight (DWT) milestone.The timing of wind-powered ship propulsion passing this pivotal milestone comes in the same week that the industry celebrates World Maritime Day and its theme "New Technologies for Greener Shipping".In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in equipping vessels to harness the power of the wind.

Carnival Corporation's Holland America Line brand announced it has completed a 20-day trial of cleaner-burning biofuel on board its cruise ship Volendam, reporting a decrease in lifecycle emissions compared to marine gas oil.Wrapping up at Port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, the long-term test was conducted in partnership with GoodFuels, a producer and supplier of sustainable biofuels for the transportation industry, and Wärtsilä, manufacturer of power and propulsion technologies and lifecycle solutions for the marine market.The assessment was completed September 7.

Tore Hoem, adventures director at Hurtigruten Svalbard, has lived on Svalbard, the remote Norwegian archipelago just a few hundred miles from the North Pole, for more than two decades, long enough to witness the sea ice retreat significantly and more rain creep into the early and late snow season.These alarming effects of climate change are among key drivers behind the Hurtigruten Group’s sustainability efforts, including a new hybrid-electric excursion vessel recently put into service in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s largest inhabited area.

A pair of 40,000-cubic-meter-capacity liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers being built for Geogas at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard (HMD) in South Korea are the first to received Bureau Veritas’ (BV) ‘ammonia prepared’ notation, the classification society said on Wednesday.The HMD hull numbers are 8350 and 8351 and the first delivery will be in June 2023.Ammonia-prepared is applicable to newbuildings, and was developed to support ship owners, designers, shipyards and charterers. Ammonia…

Classification society Lloyd’s Register (LR) said it has awarded Approval in Principle (AIP) to Norwegian ship owner Egil Ulvan Rederi AS for its zero-emission self-discharging hydrogen-fuelled bulk carrier, With Orca. The vessel is planned to enter into a long-term transport contract with cargo owners Felleskjøpet Agri and Heidelberg Cement.With Orca will be fully zero-emission in all operations. It will be powered by hydrogen, stored onboard in compressed form, and the hydrogen combustion engine will be optimized for increased efficiency.

The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA) awarded $45.3 million in grant funding to help buy, repair, and modernize ferry boats and terminals.The fiscal year 2021 grants have been awarded to projects in 11 states and territories, providing funds for capital projects that support existing passenger ferry service, establish new ferry service, and upgrade ferry boats, terminals and related facilities and equipment. The grants also help transit agencies and ferry companies offset the considerable cost of introducing new…

A French ro-ro ship will be the first commercial vessel to trial a novel wind-assisted propulsion system designed to curb emissions from shippingAirseas said it has installed its Seawing system on the vessel Ville de Bordeaux owned and operated by Louis Dreyfus Armateurs. The ship, which is chartered by Airbus to transport major aircraft components between France and the U.S., will deploy the 500-square meter Seawing on its monthly transatlantic journeys from January 2022, conducting…

Northern Xplorer AS (NX) announced itszero-emission, luxury cruise concept, designed to feature 'clean' technologies including fully electric propulsion, battery energy storage, hydrogen fuel cells and auxiliary renewable energy supply (wind and solar power). Northern Xplorer will provide opportunities to travel ‘off the beaten track’, connecting passengers with unique locations in the Nordic countries in a personal way,” said Rolf André Sandvik, the company's founder and CEO. Sandvik is a master mariner with extensive experience with cruise lines NCL and Crystal Cruises.