In-depth | SHIPYARDS
of labour in Japan is higher, Japan can still compete through improved productivity. “If Japanese materials costs can be the same [as the Koreans’] then we will be alright,” he says. Higaki also admitted to buying some
minor Korean materials, anchor chains and some steel, but says that Imabari’s strategy is to maintain high quality and not to compete on price. “We do not intend to enter a battle for the lowest price,” Higaki underscored Imabari’s strategy. Imabari has three years’ worth of work
on 250-260 ships currently on its orderbook with the majority of these vessels having been ordered prior to the collapse in prices in 2010. In 2011, the yard took 40 repeat orders, but in 2012 it has only had 15 new orders to date. Some 80% of Imabari’s orders are from domestic owners, but 50% will be who will chartered by foreign owners. In contrast Oshima, which says it delivers
three ships per month and so needs around 40 orders a year to maintain its orderbook, which currently stands at 110 ships, with 20 new orders this year. Oshima also suffers from limited space at
its yard, building more complex ships would take longer and so the yard only produces its own designs of bulk carriers, including its latest design for the Wood Chip/Lite Bulk Carrier 70,000dwt design. Imabari differs from Oshima in a number
of other ways; the yard has 11 berths with eight factories within the group and these factories compete internally to offer the best prices for marine equipment. Higaki’s view is that it is important to
use the technological advantages that Japan has established to compensate for the higher cost of production in Japan. “We have the technical staff to create new technology,” he insisted. Implying not only that Imabari can
deliver superior technology, but that Japan’s designers as a whole could deliver vessels that would be fuel efficient and affordable. “Mitsui is developing the first low speed
gas engine, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries [MHI] has developed a LNG system and new ship designs can reduce conventional fuel consumption from 120tonnes/day to 102tonnes/day,” says Higaki. He added that Imabari will start to
produce new fuel efficient bulk carrier designs next year. “Te trend is to run ships at a lower speed to save fuel, using electronic
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[injection] control, with slower speed comes the derating of engines and bigger propellers,” he explained. MHI and Imabari have also cooperated
on the design of container ships and the companies are negotiating jointly for a 10-12 vessel container ship order, with the yards aiming to produce six of the ships each, though Higaki would not be drawn on which owner and the details of the order. However, he did hint at some changes that
would be made to the vessel designs: “When container ship speeds are changed, the shape [of the ship] also changes. The standard is changing to 18knots so the shape can be wider, increasing the stability which means the container stacks can be higher increasing the cargo load and producing an energy saving of 20%,” says Higaki. Imabari is also using MHI’s air lubrication
system, the Mitsubishi Air Lubrication System or MALS, for larger vessels. “We have our own air lubrication system, but this is better for shallow draught ships, small ships with a draught of around 10m, we have a certified net energy saving of 5% with our system,” explains Higaki. He went on to say that larger vessels, with a 14-15m draught built at Imabari will be fitted with MHI’s MALS system, though he added “I am not sure of this system’s efficiency.” Ueda, however, is certain about the MHI
system’s efficiency, claiming a 10% net energy saving on container ships and 7% for the slower bulk carriers. Tere was a proviso, however; “We can guarantee these levels of energy savings for ships built by MHI, if it is built by a third party we cannot guarantee the fuel savings,” Ueda explained. Te technology being developed by MHI
is a way for the company to remain involved in shipbuilding, but Ueda concedes that the newbuilding rates and also freight rates are too low for bulk carriers so the yard is concentrating on more sophisticated ships such as LNG carriers and container ships. However, the market for these vessels
is also slow and with the effective end of commercial shipbuilding at MHI’s Kobe yard in July the design and sale of new technology could play a major role for company. It is for this reason that MHI is launching a MALS research project on a new ferry, Naminoue, that Ueda says will show that the air lubrication system “can be applied to slender hulled vessels”.
In addition MHI is offering other energy
saving technologies such as its waste heat recovery system, which drives a steam turbine or gas turbine to produce electric power. From a shaſt mounted generator. In addition, MHI has produced its own
high pressure LNG injection system for use on LNG powered vessels. Te system will be produced under licence by Mitsui Engineering Systems, which produces MAN Diesel & Turbo engines under licence. “We hope to sell these systems to many other yards,” says Ueda. Other medium sized Japanese yards are
using Japan’s technological expertise to their advantage and oſten combining this strategy with cost cutting measures. Typical of this approach is Namura Shipbuilding which has designed an all new bulk carrier. The 34,000dwt vessel is an improvement on its 32,000dwt predecessor, but it is not only larger it is also 16% more fuel efficient. Syuzou Yoshioka, representative director and vice president at Namura, says: “We asked Nakashima Propellers to develop a new propeller and the new ship uses a derated, electronically controlled, MAN Diesel & Turbo engine.” Namura is also looking at reducing
costs, “by using Japan’s maritime cluster” to develop new materials and techniques and by sourcing some materials from abroad, such as steel plate from Korea. Onomichi
has made similar
improvements to its tanker designs, but also includes a fin that improves the flow of water through the propeller, improving the efficiency of the screw. Naikai Zosen Corporation has developed
the Super Stream Duct, in collaboration with Universal, similar to the duct described by Onomichi. Te yard has also improved the design of the bow of its vessels. “Te X-Bow is more fuel efficient in rough seas,” says Masakazu Omote, director of design at Naikai. Trough collaboration and innovation
along with the cutting of costs, either by using cheap foreign imports of materials and equipment or by looking to invest abroad or through a combination of all these strategies Japan’s medium sized yards are hoping to maintain their competitive edge against cheaper competition. Success for these yards may be determined by the length and intensity of the maritime industry’s recession. NA
The Naval Architect September 2012
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