Polarcus, a Dubai-based seismic company, recently achieved DNV’s highest standard for environmental and energy-efficient ship operations by being awarded DNV’s Triple-E Level 1 rating for 6 of its modern seismic vessels.
The Polarcus fleet of eight high-spec seismic vessels is all built to the fuel-efficient ULSTEIN X-BOW? design and runs on marine gas oil as company policy to reduce the emissions of SOx. In addition, the vessels are equipped with exhaust-gas catalysts for the main-engine exhaust-gas lines in order to further reduce the emissions of NOx, HC and soot. The minimum discharge to sea is controlled by installed ballast water treatment systems, bilge water cleaning systems with a max threshold value of 5 ppm and the use of biodegradable lubricant oil, amongst many other initiatives.
“It’s one thing to invest in green technology on board the vessels,” says Rønningen, “but quite another to transform this into a lower environmental impact. We can actually demonstrate that our fleet emits a weighted average of five times’ less emissions in ECAs and 15 times less emissions in non-ECAs compared to a vessel operating according to a MARPOL compliance standard.”
Source: DNV
About Triple-E
Triple-ETM is a voluntary environmental rating scheme for ships, providing ratings from Level 4 to Level 1, where 1 is the highest. The requirements are based on environmental management, ship operation and ship design. The rating is issued based on a verification of a ship’s actual energy efficiency and performance and gives a transparent and detailed view of the company’s and vessel’s environmental performance.