Based on IMO’s strict sulphur regulations, the shipping industry is looking for ways to take its shipping in a greener and more sustainable path by innovating in the technological fields. As IMO has demanded, the shipping industry’s sulphur emissions should not exceed the 0.50% m/m of sulphur, by 2020 unless the ships are equipped with scrubbers or get along with other options available.
According to Bloomberg, many are the companies that aspire to look for green technologies and adapt to the new environmentally friendly regulations. Specifically:
- Sailing
Firstly, start-up, Japan-based, Eco Marine Power has designed a sail with solar panels on its body. This aims to improve fuel saving and decrease emissions.
Also, A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is thinking of using a modern version of sail to help its vessels. The devices, which are being tested on one of Maersk’s tankers, look more like huge marble columns placed on its yacht.
The two 10-story-tall cylinders can harness enough wind to replace 20 % of the ship’s fossil fuels, as stated by Norsepower, the company that makes them. The fuel-efficient technology expected to save approximately 10% in fuel consumption and associated emissions on 109,647 DWT product tanker vessel.
- Smart ships using air lubrication to save fuel
A first option is air lubrication, which is a system used in vessels by using air to decrease the frictional resistance of the hull of a ship. As a result, the vessel glides easily through water. Tiny air bubbles are pumped through vents fitted in the hull of the ship.
Another option, being tried by firms including Samsung Heavy Industries Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., is streaming bubbles out of tiny holes in a ship’s underbelly, as a lubricant, to help it slice more cleanly through the water.
- Robot Cleaners
All the biggest cargo lines are using submarine robots to strip away debris and enhance fuel efficiency.
One device, developed by a Japanese startup called Hullbot, looks, as stated, like a propeller-powered go-cart with nylon brushes and a vacuum on its belly.
Thrusters on its back keep it pinned to the vessel’s hull. No divers are needed, but the machine still requires a human operator to guide it by remote control.
- Hydrogen Fuel
Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., announced in 2018, that it’s developing hydrogen-fueled engines for its massive vessels.
Also, a small ferry made its appearance, as the first fuel-cell passenger ferry, the Water-Go-Round, which begins operating on San Francisco Bay.
Hydrogen-based ferry systems are also planned in Norway and Scotland’s remote Orkney islands.
- Battery Boats
In Norway, where the government wants two-thirds of all ferries carrying passengers and cars along its Atlantic coast to be electrified by 2030, Kongsberg Gruppen ASA is offering battery-powered ship engines and developing a short-haul electric container vessel.
In 2017, China launched the first fully-electric cargo carrier. The vessel is emissions-free and is ran by batteries sufficient enough to power three dozen Tesla sedans.
- Exhaust Scrubbers
Within the next few years, some 10 to 15 % of ships are projected to install scrubber systems.
Companies such as Finland’s Wartsila OYJ and Sweden’s Alfa Laval AB, state that there’s already a big backlog of orders, so many ships won’t be outfitted in time for the 2020 rule change.
- Fossil Fuel Switch
The most immediate alter is switching to lighter marine gas oil. It’s still a fossil fuel, but less polluting because it’s been more thoroughly refined.
Liquefied natural gas is another option, but the cleaner fuel requires whole new engines and port facilities to store it.
In 2016, Nippon Yusen KK launched the world’s first LNG-powered car carrier. Whereas, last October a Russian super tanker crossed the Baltic Sea, running on the condensed gas.