Interlake Steamship announced that M/V James R. Barker sailed on Sunday from Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding Co. in Sturgeon Bay, Wis., becoming company’s first thousand-footer and its second self-unloading bulk carrier to be outfitted with exhaust gas scrubbers.
Interlake became the first U.S.-flag fleet to test scrubbers on the Great Lakes in April 2015 after pioneering the emission-reduction technology on its M/V Hon. James L. Oberstar.
“Implementing this innovative scrubber system on our 1,000-foot-class ships will make an even greater impact on reducing our fleet’s carbon footprint,” said Interlake President Mark W. Barker. “Leading the way with emission-reduction technology is just another example of our commitment to continuous improvement across our fleet.”
Fincantieri Bay Shipbuilding handled the successful installation on the 806-foot Oberstar and was the clear choice to complete the second phase of installations on the 1,004-foot Barker and the 826-foot M/V Lee A. Tregurtha, which is slated to sail later this month.
A total of five Interlake vessels — including the 1,000-footers M/V Paul R. Tregurtha and M/V Mesabi Miner — will be outfitted with these types of scrubbers by 2017.
James R. Barker is equipped with the same single-inlet, closed-loop DuPont marine scrubbers from Belco Technologies Corp., a DuPont company, that were installed on Oberstar.
Source: Interlake Steamship
