Tag: future of shipping

 Lloyd's Register (LR) has released a new study entitled ''Oil and Gas Technology Radar 2015'' revealing the need for greater collaboration, data analysis and cultural change to address the innovation challenges in oil and gas industry.The report finds that 47% of oil and gas executives say they have fallen short of their innovation goals in 2015 – a twofold increase since early 2014.It also reveals that 2/3 of respondents say they are under pressure to collaborate more with other organisations within the sector.The study points to the continuing challenges to innovating successfully, including collaboration, data collection and analysis and industry culture, highlighting the continuing need for innovation in the current industry environment and for the future sustainable development of the industry The oil and gas industry is undergoing a period of significant uncertainty”, said John Wishart, Group Energy Director, Lloyd’s Register. “The oil price slowdown is clearly impacting investment in innovation initiatives. However, our report finds that contrary to perceived wisdom, innovation has a crucial role to play in the current environment, where it creates operational efficiencies and is cost-effective.”“To innovate properly and achieve business goals companies must address a number of common challenges, including collaborating more openly, using data more ...

DNV GL Innovation Day examines shipping in the age of digitalization

The Rolls-Royce Unified Bridge Design has won this years Ergonomics Design Award, presented by the UK Chartered Institute of Ergonomics & Human Factors.

 A new $1 million relationship between Michigan State University and ExxonMobil will expand research designed to progress the fundamental science required to advance algae-based fuels.David Kramer, MSU’s John Hannah Distinguished Professor in Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics at the MSU-DOE Plant and Research Laboratory, says that the overall goal of the partnership is to improve the efficiency of photosynthesis in microalgae to produce biofuels and bioproducts.“Photosynthesis is the biological process that plants and algae use to store solar energy in biomass. It is how all our food is made, and we would starve without it,” said Kramer, who is leading the grant with Ben Lucker with the PRL and Joe Weissman, Distinguished Scientific Associate at ExxonMobil.The key to bioenergy is the efficiency of photosynthesis, the process algae use to capture solar energy and the first step in converting the energy from the sun into a liquid fuel. Past research has shown that algae photosynthesis can be highly efficient under optimal conditions in the laboratory. Under realistic growth conditions however, this efficiency drops. There is a need to improve photosynthesis under simulated production environments.“Fortunately, nature has provided us with a great potential for improvement. There are many different strains of algae that have ...

Unmanned vessels are already a reality in todays shipping industry, and will play a larger role in future, delegates to The Nautical Institutes latest seminar were told.

Yesterday, the innovation project EfficienSea2 was qualified by international maritime stakeholders

Representatives from shipping industry discuss about maritime technology and the future of shipping

The Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative; designs for next generation ships Rolls-Royce is to lead a new 6.6 million project that could pave the way for autonomous ships. The Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative will produce the specification and preliminary designs for the next generation of advanced ship solutions.The project is funded by Tekes (Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation) and will bring together universities, ship designers, equipment manufacturers, and classification societies to explore the economic, social, legal, regulatory and technological factors which need to be addressed to make autonomous ships a reality.The project will run until the end of 2017 and will pave the way for solutions - designed to validate the project's research. The project will combine the expertise of some of Finland's top academic researchers from Tampere University of Technology; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd; Åbo Akademi University; Aalto University; the University of Turku; and leading members of the maritime cluster including Rolls-Royce, NAPA, Deltamarin, DNV GL and Inmarsat.Rauli Hulkkonen, Tekes, Chief Advisor, said: "This project is a fantastic opportunity to establish the Finnish maritime cluster as the world leader in maritime remote control technology.Esa Jokioinen, Rolls-Royce, Head of Blue Ocean Team, said: "Rolls-Royce ...

   Business leaders and experts from across the global maritime community met at Nor-Shipping Conference to focus on the future of shipping – the industry that holds world trade together. Delegates turned up to listen to the hard-hitting discussions that looked to, among other things, innovation, investment and transformative technology. Global geopolitical and economic scenarios were also debated. After the attendees stood up to welcome His Majesty King Harald V of Norway, they were treated to a short piece of music by acclaimed violinist Charlie Siem, son of Norwegian shipping magnate Kristian Siem. Sturla Henriksen, CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, then welcomed delegates with an inspiring speech on the shipping industry, which he said “contributes vitally to global economic growth and prosperity.” “This industry is key to a sustainable global economic welfare. Carrying 90% of world trade, it represents less than 3% of global CO2 emissions. That makes this industry the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation. So shipping is part of the solution.” New Norwegian maritime strategyIn her opening address, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg referred to her government’s newly announced national maritime strategy, saying that the the Norwegian government wanted to establish a forward-looking framework for the ...

  John Kokarakis, VP Engineering, Bureau Veritas presentation during the 2015 GREEN4SEA Forum The tsunami of emission related regulations and the need for environmental friendliness also dictates the utilization of alternate fuels less polluting than HFO. The star player is LNG but  not the only player though. Future ships will burn a variety of fuels; hydrogen, synthetic fuels and biofuels will be chosen depending on the characteristic of the ship.   Nowadays, we are facing an utterly confusing and conflicting tsunami of fuel regulations. Fuel is the most expensive OPEX item and plays an important role in defining the future of the shipping industry. The drivers for new marine fuels are: regulations, financial considerations and available technology. In the future, there is going to be coexistence of multiple fuels. Be aware that the wrong fuel choice has major impact on commercial performance of the vessel. Pioneer owners may be confronted with unforeseen technical issues costing time and money. However shipping thrives through innovation and technology development. The fact that the charterer pays the fuel removes the motivation from the owners to use alternative fuels. Lack of bunkering facilities and supply chains are barriers for the introduction of new “exotic” fuels. Due to ...