A new manual from classification society Germanischer Lloyd (GL) shows how owners can make use of a suite of retrofitting solutions to ensure that existing vessels remain economic.
Today's newbuildings now consume up to twenty to thirty per cent less fuel than vessels built only three to five years ago, which is leaving owners searching for solutions to remain competitive in the market.
Increasing Energy Efficiency of Existing Vessels
The manual looks at how technical, operational and managerial solutions can increase the energy efficiency of existing vessels. It contains a number of possible options, background information on the technologies and important considerations for their implementation, as well as a chart which indicates the potential of the retrofit measure for each ship type in respect to its age, the required investment, payback time, ease of execution required planning time.
Technical Measures
Over thirty technical measures suitable for energy efficiency retrofitting, grouped into such categories as hull and superstructure, propeller and rudder, main and auxiliary engine, supporting systems, energy consumers on board and capacity enhancement are outlined and assessed. Potential savings are often found in adapting a vessel to a vessel's current, rather than design, operating profile.
Measures taken to optimise hull, engine and propulsion, as well as supporting systems, can pay for themselves quickly. Fuel expenses are currently the largest single cost for shippers, some thirty to sixty per cent depending on vessel segment and operational speed, and this cost pressure is set to increase.
Retrofitting Pace Lower than Could Be Expected
The manual shows that while essentially all of the retrofitting technologies are known and proven solutions, the pace of retrofitting of existing vessels is much lower than could be expected. It identifies lack of information, confidence, capital and investment incentives for owners as significant hurdles to their uptake. A lack of retrofitting expertise also means that shipping companies can find it difficult to identify the optimum solution among the large variety of options available. While the economic assessment for individual retrofitting options also often fails to be made in a professional fashion.
