Appropriate Technology News

If the global commercial fleet reduced its speed by 10%, it would reduce underwater radiated noise by 40%, but nothing’s ever that simple.The main thing holding the shipping industry back from reducing its underwater radiated noise (URN) is not a lack of appropriate technology. It’s argued that many of the technologies being implemented today to reduce fuel consumption also reduce noise. So, the noise reductions could essentially come at no net cost to the shipowner, but there’s a lack of regulation and a lack of targeted incentives…

BP and EnBW are collaborating with research and development experts at the UK-based Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult to investigate using zero- or low-emission support vessels at offshore wind farms.The two companies are jointly developing three offshore wind projects in two UK locations – ‘Morven’, a potential 2.9GW lease area off the east coast of Scotland, and ‘Morgan’ and ‘Mona’ within a 3GW area in the Irish Sea. The offshore wind farms will require maintenance support from Service Operation Vessels (SOVs) and Crew Transfer Vessels (CTVs).According to ORE Catapult…

ROVOP, the global subsea robotics specialist, is the latest company to join the ORCA (Offshore Robotics for Certification of Assets) Hub offshore robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems development program. The ORCA Hub is a consortium of five universities – Heriot-Watt University, University of Edinburgh, University of Liverpool, University of Oxford and Imperial College London – that are working together to develop highly specialized robotics and AI technologies for the inspection, repair, maintenance and certification of offshore energy platforms and assets.The partnership will see ROVOP support the research the ORCA Hub is carrying out in the subsea domain.

Coldharbour Marine, developer of an in-tank, in-voyage and inert gas-based ballast water treatment system for large tankers, bulkers and LNG vessels, has signed an agreement with Sembcorp Marine that will see the latter offer the Coldharbour GLD BWT as part of the Sembcorp Marine Green Technology Retrofit (GTR) solutions for ship owners. The GTR solutions provide carefully evaluated ballast water treatment systems from a select group of equipment manufacturers with whom Sembcorp Marine is working closely.

The global ballast water treatment systems market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 21 percent from 2012 until 2019. The retrofit market is expected to account for a substantial share of the global market during its peak installation period in 2018. Bulk carriers as well as oil and chemical tankers will be key end users, generating cumulative revenues over the forecast period. Europe will dominate market revenues from 2017 to 2019 while Asia-Pacific will display consistent performance throughout the study period. On this subject Frost & Sullivan is organizing an online conference open to all companies interested in learning more about future trends and challenges facing the global ballast water treatment systems market.

Drones do it and spacecraft have too, for many years. Recently, also, automobile makers and small boat makers have introduced their first autonomous vehicles on the streets, and waterways. Unmanned vessels on the ocean is no longer a dream – it is a reality. And according to those in the know, the reality will really start to come to fruition in the coming decaded. The MUNIN project (Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligence in Networks) is investigating potential concepts for a fully or partially unmanned merchant vessel. The case ship is a dry bulk carrier of handymax size, operating on routes between Europe and South America in the beginning.

The U.S. continues to lead the push towards "LNG as Fuel" in the commercial shipping sector, as these 'historic' announcements are now becoming more routine. Totem Ocean Trailer Express (Totem Ocean) announced that Wärtsilä will supply main engines, generators and integrated LNG storage and fuel gas handling systems (LNGPac(TM)) for the largest LNG conversions ever undertaken in North America. In making this decision John Parrott, President of Totem Ocean, cited Wärtsilä's proven technology as a deciding factor in selecting the company.

During the Italy-Russia Business Forum in Trieste, Italy, Fincantieri secured a contract to build a semi-submersible floating platform for the transportation of nuclear submarine reactor compartments. The company also signed an agreement to define plans for an advanced technology offshore energy drill-ship. Fincantieri has been contracted by RosRAO, the Federal State Unitary Enterprise for radioactive waste management, to build a semi-submersible floating platform for the transportation of nuclear submarine reactor compartments.

A report released by the Canadian Shipowners Association (CSA) has found that American regulations to require the installation of ballast water treatment equipment on Canadian domestic vessels beginning in 2014 will cost the Canadian economy  1.1 billion dollars over the next five years. Further complicating this situation is the reality that ship owners cannot comply with the regulations at this time, as the appropriate technology does not exist. The United States Coast Guard…

Demonstration Aboard the Maersk Taurus Containership. Belco Technologies Corporation (BELCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont, headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., USA, has reached an agreement with A.P. Moller – Maersk, headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, to design, manufacture and supply the BELCO advanced marine scrubbing system for demonstration on one of the auxiliary engines aboard the Maersk Taurus. The system will be designed to remain on board as a commercial installation following the successful demonstration. The BELCO Exhaust Gas Cleaning System can be used to reduce SO2 from ship engines and boilers as an economic alternative to using a more expensive low sulphur content fuel when operating in SO2 restricted areas known as emission control area (ECA) zones.

International oil services company Aker Solutions takes its subsea business to Sweden through establishment of an office in Gothenburg. The objective is to tap into the Swedish engineering market to help further grow Aker Solutions' subsea business. The global subsea oil and gas market is expected to grow significantly over the next decades, driven particularly by field developments in deep and ultra-deep waters. Having access to a large base of engineering resources with appropriate technology know-how will be vital to meet Aker Solutions' ambitious growth targets.

Bureau Veritas announced strong growth in 2005, its tenth consecutive year of growth. BV increased turnover to $2 billion, up 16 percent over 2004. Bernard Anne, managing director of the marine division of Bureau Veritas, says, “Focusing technology and delivering it where and when it was needed brought strong growth to both Bureau Veritas and its clients during 2005. Overall, the Bureau Veritas group grew across every industry on the planet, reinforcing its leading position as by far the largest and strongest body involved in ship classification and certification. Bureau Veritas today is a service company specialising in quality, health, safety and environmental management and social accountability.