Sustainable Technologies News

Like so many other industries in transportation, the marine industry is being challenged on multiple fronts—from a shortage of manpower and emerging digital technologies to sustainability requirements. In the face of these growing pressures, ship designers increasingly rely on digital transformation to stay competitive and deliver higher-quality products. Digital transformation offers many solutions across a ship’s lifecycle, from design and crew training to interconnectivity and automation…

You can feel it in the air, and increasingly on the water: a steady increase in momentum toward a global economy that prioritizes sustainability. Government stakeholders at all levels, and shipping customers across industries, are setting ambitious goals and high expectations for environmental performance, and that includes the transportation of U.S. and global commerce on the waterways.For the tugboat, towboat and barge industry, which moves nearly 700 million tons of cargo on America’s rivers, coastal waters and Great Lakes annually, it’s both an exciting and challenging time.

Dutch offshore installation contractor Van Oord on Saturday held a christening ceremony in Rotterdam for its new cable laying vessel Calypso."The Calypso is equipped with the latest sustainable technologies and will be a key strategic addition to Van Oord’s offshore wind fleet," Van Oord said.The vessel was christened by Ms. Inca Cerutti. She is the wife of Niek Hoek, chairman of the Supervisory Board. After the ceremony, the  christening lady and employees and guests had the opportunity to board the vessel for a guided tour.The Calypso Van Oord’s second cable-laying vessel.

MAN Energy Solutions announced it will begin developing retrofit solutions for medium-speed marine engines as part of a research association including WTZ Roßlau gGmbh and TU-Darmstadt. The three-year research project, ‘CliNeR-ECo’, is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) with initial work having already commenced at the beginning of 2023.CliNeR-ECo aims to develop concepts for diverse, medium-speed, marine engines that will enable the retrofitting of entire ship fleets at reasonable economic and technical costs.

In the 45 years since the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY) opened on reclaimed land in Bahrain, the Middle East has become one of the world’s ship repair hotspots. A broad range of shipyards now service both regional and global markets.Regional yards have a ready market, with hundreds of offshore rigs working across the region together with the service ships that support them. Then there are thousands of tankers and gas carriers that arrive each year to load energy cargoes for far-flung destinations.

Houston-based Bleutec Industries, a company which describes itself as the builder, owner, and operator of Jones Act-compliant offshore wind turbine installation vessels, said Thursday it had secured "a significant capital commitment" from EnCap Investments L.P.Bleutec said the support from EnCap would enable the company to develop its Jones Act wind tubine installation fleet "quickly."“Partnering with EnCap, a strategic capital provider with a strong track record facilitating portfolio company growth…

Foreship made two senior appointments to grow its design and technology capabilities to support shipping’s sustainable future. From November 1, Joonatan Haukilehto joins Foreship as Lead Consultant, Newbuilds & Decarbonization, while Pekka Pohjanen is appointed Senior Technology Specialist, Sustainability.Based at Foreship’s Helsinki head office, Haukilehto and Pohjanen add extensive expertise in advanced marine technologies and ship decarbonization to the leading naval architecture and marine engineering firm’s consultancy knowhow to serve the cruise and commercial shipping industries.

Karl Lander, Director, Regulatory Compliance and Outreach of Armach Robotics joined a host of leaders in sustainable technologies and innovation at the 3rd Decarbonizing Shipping Forum, being held in Hamburg this week. He introduced the concept of autonomous robots making proactive in-water cleaning a reality, in support of the worldwide goal of decarbonizing in shipping.During the presentation, Lander discussed the impacts of fouling, and the need for a more proactive approach to biofouling…

Looking back, it is easy to wonder if one could have done better by taking the other fork in the road. I grew up in Holland in a maritime family and am pretty sure I would have stuck with maritime there. In 1968, when I was 8 years old, my father left Holland America Line and joined the United States Salvage Association. At the same time, their main customer, the U.S. marine insurance industry, became heavily involved in the development of North Sea offshore oil and gas, and it resulted in an economic boom that made USSA’s Rotterdam office wildly profitable.

The NEcOLEAP project, led by Meyer Turku, is determined to design and build a climate-neutral cruise ship.Meyer Turku was selected to take part in Business Finland’s financing project for leading companies and their partner ecosystems, which aims to help companies to increase their RDI investments in Finland. Meyer’s NEcOLEAP project develops carbon-neutral and sustainable technological solutions for cruise ships through an extensive partnership network. The goal is to secure a billion-order cruise ship order for Turku Shipyard.According to the shipyard…

Singapore has held onto its spot atop the list of the world's best maritime cities, according to a recent report from classification society DNV and Menon Economics.The 2022 edition of the Leading Maritime Cities (LMC) report launched Thursday provides fresh insights into which global hubs offer the best infrastructure, technology, finance, and world-class talent, to help the maritime community connect and prosper.There have been many dramatic developments since the last edition of the LMC report was published in 2019. For one, we are still living with the pandemic.

Norwegian shipping company Solvang will pilot a retrofitted carbon capture and storage (CCS) system on one of its ethylene carriers in an effort to test the technology as a potential solution to support decarbonization in the shipping industry.Wärtsilä Exhaust Treatment said it is designing the retrofitted unit while it also completes a land-based 1MW test system at its Moss headquarters in Norway. The land-based unit will be completed in Autumn 2021, and the companies expect to retrofit the pilot CCS system on Solvang's 21…

Classification society ABS said it has been selected to class a former drillship that is being converted to a subsea mining vessel.The industry-first project will see Allseas’ 228-meter Vitoria 10000, now renamed Hidden Gem, equipped with a deep-sea mineral collection system to recover polymetallic nodules from the ocean floor and transfer them to the surface for transportation to shore. The nodules contain high grades of nickel, manganese, copper and cobalt—key metals required…

The future could be bright for small island nations. Cheap sustainable energy is the core component of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.Engineers like making things, but rarely think of the social impact that flows from their creations. Today, while we are standing at the threshold of sustainable energy, we should take a moment to reflect on the social impact of sustainable energy. Access to sustainable energy puts us at the threshold of massive social change and…

Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) is expanding its management team further: in April, Carsten Treuer starts as Head of Operations and Bernd Liedtke as Head of Sales.“I am very much looking forward to working with these two shipbuilding specialists,” says Philipp Maracke, CEO of Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, about the expansion of his team. “Our common goal is, on the one hand, to align production even more specifically with the requirements of our portfolio in the future.

The AmmoniaMot (Ammonia Engine in German) project initiated by MAN Energy Solutions with partners from industry and research institutes aims to define the steps necessary to produce a dual-fuel, medium-speed engine capable of running on diesel-fuel and ammonia. Supported by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi), and due to run for three years from December 2020, project partners include the University of Munich, Neptun Ship Design, WTZ and Woodward L’Orange.MAN Energy Solutions Dr.

Singapore-headquartered shipping company Eastern Pacific Shipping (EPS) said on Friday that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with OCI N.V. (OCI) and MAN Energy Solutions (MAN) to develop methanol and ammonia as marine fuels to aide in industry-wide decarbonization and environmental preservation efforts.The partnership involves using select conventional vessels from EPS’ existing tanker fleet that use MAN engines to be retrofitted, allowing them to be powered by methanol and ammonia which will be supplied by OCI. Also, EPS will construct newbuild vessels with MAN engines powered by the same two alternative marine fuels. OCI intends to charter the first retrofitted vessel from EPS.The announcement is in line with EPS’ agnostic approach to its alternative marine fuel program.

Dutch offshore contractor Van Oord has ordered a "green" cable-laying vessel from the Norwegian shipbuilder Vard. The ship will be built in Tulcea, Romania and Brattvaag, Norway for scheduled delivery in 2023.The vessel, equipped with the latest sustainable technologies, and expected to be fully operational in 2023, is targeted for deployment in the burgeoning offshore wind market. The new DP2 vessel will be based on the VARD 9 02 design and equipped with a below-deck cable carousel and a second carousel on deck, with a total cable-carrying capacity of 8,000 tonnes.

Norway's Kongsberg Maritime has signed a deal with China Merchants Jinling Shipyard (Weihai) to deliver a propulsion and maneuvering system for two 230 meters roll-on, roll-off passenger (RoPax) vessels being built for Baltic Sea-focused operator Finnlines. The two Finnlines' flagship Superstar RoPax vessels, vessels, equipped with sustainable technologies for green operation, will each have a capacity for 1,212 passengers. Under construction in China, the vessels are expected to be delivered for deployment in the Baltic Sea by 2023.For Kongsberg Maritime…

A pair of first-of-their-kind passenger vessels installed with all-electric propulsion will bring Niagara Falls sightseers to experience one of the wonders of the natural world undisturbed by exhaust fumes, engine noise or vibrations.The zero-emissions ferries, named the James V. Glynn and the Nikola Tesla, respectively in honor of the Maid of the Mist chairman and the renowned energy pioneer – are the first all-electric vessels built in the U.S., with power drawn from a high-capacity battery pack supplied and integrated by ABB.

Norwegian offshore vessel owner Solstad has signed a cooperation deal with Westcon Power & Automation, a provider of hybrid- and fully electric solutions, to develop environmentally friendly and sustainable technologies, with the final aim to make the company carbon neutral by 2050.Solstad, providing support vessels for offshore oil and gas, and as of recently, the offshore wind industry, has said that it has in past years installed green battery hybrid packages onboard seven…

Naval architecture students in Galati, Romania and Gdansk, Poland, used their technical and soft skills to compete in the final of ShipDX (Ship Design Exercise), the first naval architecture competition in Romania.GLO Marine, the organizer of the competition, looked at current industry trends to propose the theme of this year’s edition: the concept design of a highly autonomous, self-propelled floating house, with a focus on integrating green and sustainable technologies into the smart design.

A group of Danish transportation and energy companies including shipping giant A.P. Moller - Maersk have teamed up to develop an industrial-scale production facility to produce sustainable fuels for road, maritime and air transport in the Copenhagen area.Maersk is joined in the project by DFDS, Ørsted, Copenhagen Airports, SAS and DSV Panalpina, who have brought together the demand and supply side of sustainable fuels to develop a new hydrogen and e-fuel production facility as soon as 2023.