ferry operator profile
regulations that are due to come into force in January 2015. These will require that all vessels operating in the Baltic
Sea, Channel and North Sea Sulphur Emissions Control Area (SECA) must not emit more than 0.1 per cent of sulphur in their emissions to air. “We are heading towards a very difficult place in January 2015,” Mr Garner said. P&O Ferries has played an important role in the study of how to meet the regulations, dating back to 2003 when its Pride of Kent became an early adopter of technology deployed to meet the regulation. The operator installed a full-scale wet scrubber to all main engines and generators on the vessel but the project ended unsuccessfully in 2005. Mr Garner explained that there were a range of challenges to meet, such as being able to demonstrate continuous compliance with the regulations, which required total reliability and continuous operation of marine scrubbers with minimum intervention by crew and manufacturers. P&O Ferries tried again with a wet scrubber installed on a
generator by another manufacturer. Mr Garner recalled that there were both pros and cons to the installation: “we had to monitor the sulphur content of the emissions from the funnel and developed wastewater criteria, which were later approved by IMO. This involved putting the hard sediment ashore in sludge tankers. Unfortunately, there was a lack of reliability, a lack of continuous running and the scrubber needed regular intervention by crew or manufacturer during operations.” P&O Ferries, along with the manufacturer, applied for class
approval status, but the ferry operator decided to withdraw this after its class society Lloyd’s Register said that modifications would be needed to the ship’s fuel supply system, to permit the generator to be supplied with fuel of higher sulphur content than the main engines and other generators. The system was withdrawn from the ship in March 2012. “Further costs would have been incurred to make these changes,” Mr Garner said. “The prototype unit had served its purpose under field trials on the Dover – Calais route, it was very valuable and Pride of Kent helped to develop this technology for the benefit of the industry.” He believes that marine scrubbers have the potential to meet
the 0.1 per cent sulphur requirements for SECAs but said that “this technology is not quite ready or mature enough yet to give the confidence needed by shipowners and won’t be available with sufficient production line quality units by January 2015.” As well as wet scrubbers, dry scrubbers can be used, which use calcium hydroxide granules to absorb the sulphur. But Mr Garner flagged up the logistical challenge of having to change and replace the material, which would amount to about 75-100 tonnes every 10-14 days, due to the size of P&O Ferries’ ships, requiring up to eight hours to exchange. P&O Ferries is still studying all of its options, but it seems
clear that using other alternatives, such as marine gas oil or LNG, are routes that the company believes to be very challenging to follow. Mr Garner pointed out that the former is already
John Garner: snapshot CV
John Garner has 39 years of experience, both at sea and ashore. His previous positions include senior master to the Stena HSS project team and fleet operations manager responsible for the Stena UK fleet. He was also deputy director of operations and director of standards at UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency. He joined P&O Ferries as fleet director in 2004.
around 52 per cent more expensive than heavy fuel oil and that this price difference is expected to reach 60-70 per cent due to insufficient availability once the new rules come into force, before the price stabilises as the demand flows though. LNG is not an attractive option either. “We have done a study on LNG retrofits and this will cost millions of euros, due to installation cost, supply of equipment and loss of revenue while vessels are being retrofitted,” Mr Garner said. “Also, there is a big issue with the supply chain – as there isn’t one.” An LNG depot is being built in Rotterdam but, to use that, LNG barges would be needed to bring it to Dover. “The EU wants to see a network of LNG Depots across Europe, but this is a vision and is not in place,” he said. There is one more option that Mr Garner believes is worthy of further consideration: the UK Chamber of Shipping has said that it supports the “implementation of tightly controlled route- and time-specific exemptions” once the new sulphur rules come into force in January 2015. P&O Ferries welcomed this, Mr Garner said, and if this became an option then the company would consider applying for exemptions for a limited number of its older ships. “These vessels all have four main engines and two or four generators so a scrubber installation is complex. The difficulties experienced will be lack of space in which to install scrubbers, loss of cargo deadweight and lack of stability to take the extra weight of seawater high in the vessel.” He predicted it would be difficult to get any payback on installation and capital costs due to the age of the vessels, as some are over 20 years old and two will be 28 in 2015. Mr Garner also pointed out that there would be a loss of revenue due to additional time out of service of four to six weeks to fit the scrubbers. Both Mr Garner and P&O Ferries have been lobbying the
European Commission and member states to make them aware of the difficulties of meeting the new sulphur rules in the SECAs in 2015. The company is a founder member of Shipping Emissions Abatement and Trading (SEAaT) and Mr Garner is a director of that organisation. P&O Ferries is also a member of the UK Chamber of Shipping and Mr Garner is chairman of its Safety and Environment Committee and a member of the chamber’s board, so the ferry operator is lobbying via these associations. “It is absolutely clear that the scrubber technology will not be
fitted to the circa 600 ships that spend 100 per cent of their time in or ply the Baltic/North Sea/Channel SECA by January 2015,” Mr Garner said. He added that there was also the concern that the result of the sulphur regulations would be a modal shift from
sea to road transportation, which he said would increase CO2 emissions and cause more road congestion. However, there was some encouraging news: recently the
Pride of Kent trialled a full-scale wet scrubber in 2003
www.passengership.info
UK Department of Transport arranged a meeting between manufacturers of scrubbers and shipowners to discuss how there can be greater interaction between the two. Mr Garner described the meeting as “very constructive”. At the time of writing, the meeting’s notes were in the process of being written up, so that more action could be planned. PST
Passenger Ship Technology I 2nd Quarter 2013 I 33
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