Feature 2 | RO-RO FERRY Viking’s charge into a new era
New regulations limiting SOx emissions in Northern Europe leave ferry operators with three main options, find a clean fuel such as LNG, install scrubber technology or use distillate fuel. Gavin van Marle reports on the choices that some owners have made in the region.
place at the beginning of March at the STX shipyard in Turku, Finland. Te event represented the next tentative
T
step towards a new era in the ro-ro sector, the vessel type which is likely to be most adversely affected by the EU’s forthcoming sulphur emissions regulation, due to come into force at the beginning of 2015. It is no surprise then that it is in northern
Europe – principally the Baltic and North Seas, and English Channel – where the cutting edge in ro-ro design is taking place. Tese three areas will feel the full force of the regulations first in Europe, as they have been designated as special environmental control areas (ECA). Under IMO regulations (MARPOL
Annex 6 amendment), in 2020 all vessels globally will not be allowed to burn fuel that has more than a 0.1% content of sulphur oxide (SOx). Te current level is 1%, reduced from 1.5% in 2010. However, in the Channel, North and Baltic Seas, and all around the US coast, the 0.1% limit is due to be introduced on Jan 1 2015, which ship owners fear could cost so much that some will be driven to bankruptcy – one common estimate is that the cost of compliance in just one ECA is likely to be US$3.5 billion annually. There are considerable structural
problems with the introduction of the 0.1% SOx level in 2015, the foremost of which is that there is unlikely to be enough of the distillate marine fuel – which to all intents and purposes is the same fuel that the continent’s haulage industry uses – that would bring ship operators under the 0.1% level available in the region. Partly the problem is the lack of refining
capacity in Europe. At the recent Marine Propulsion conference held in London in March, it was estimated that Europe will require an additional 27 million tonnes
50
he keel-laying ceremony of Viking Line’s new state-of-the-art LNG-fuelled newbuilding took
of distillate diesel per year as a result of the regulation, and the EU is already a net importer of distillate fuels. Tat sort of jump in demand, with ships
competing with trucks, buses, farmers and domestic heating usage for fuel is clearly going to result in a sudden hike in fuel prices, and there are additional doubts that there may not be enough global refining capacity to cope with that demand.
Altogether, the company expects to receive
around €36 million (US$47.13 million) from the Finnish government when the vessel is delivered. Te subsidy was cleared by the EU’s competition watchdog and the Finnish government on the grounds that the company was going beyond what was required of it by law in terms of environmental performance. Te 57,000gt vessel will be 288m long and
have the capacity to carry 2800 passengers in over 880 cabins. Tere will be 1575 lane metres of cargo-carrying capacity for trucks, and another 500 lane metres for cars, with extra capacity for cars provided by hoistable decks. Viking Grace is due to enter service in early 2013 and will operate between Stockholm and Turku, with a stop at the Aland Islands. Viking and STX Finland returned to
Tony Ohman, technical director in charge of marine operations and newbuilding at Viking Line says the company is “entering a new era of gas-electric driven operation.”
As result, the hunt is on either for
alternative fuels, or ways of dealing with the emissions of heavy fuel oil that mitigate the SOx emissions, and it is in this context that Viking Line chose to specify that its new vessel, which will be christened Viking Grace, is to be dual-fuelled, aſter reaching an agreement with the Finnish government that it would be partially subsidised due to the expected environmental performance of the engine.
its normal engine manufacturer, fellow Finnish firm Wärtsilä, for the four dual-fuel engines, of the 8L50DF type – the largest of Wärtsilä’s four-stroke dual fuel range, with a 50cm bore and eight cylinders – as well as contracting the company to supply the transverse bow and stern tunnel thrusters, and two stainless steel fixed pitch, built-up main propellers with complete propeller shaft lines and environmentally sound shaſt line seal systems. Tony Ohman, technical director in charge
of marine operations and newbuilding at Viking Line, explained that the decision to go with Wärtsilä was not just about the specifications of its engines: “A domestic supplier close to us, Wärtsilä offers us the opportunity to collaborate in optimal operations, engine maintenance, technical training and field testing. All this is very important now that Viking Line is entering a new era of gas-electric driven operation.” Viking has also placed a follow-up order
with Wärtsilä for the supply of the LNG storage system for the vessel and the gas fuel supply systems, a product known as LNGPac, as well as an advanced compact silencer system, which minimises noise from
The Naval Architect May 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80