The Project Forward initiative led by Athens-Based Arista Shipping demonstrates that with LNG as fuel, an advanced hull design, and highly efficient propulsion machinery, it will be possible to meet the IMO’s target for a forty per cent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030.
Model tests of the Project’s concept vessel indicate that the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) is well below the currently most stringent Phase III level. The EEDI reflects the CO2 emissions per transport work and is a measure of carbon intensity. EEDI Phase III is applicable to ships built after 2025 and signifies a thirty per cent reduction from the 2008 reference level.
Carbon Neutral Fuels Mixed with LNG
The IMO has also announced that efforts should be made for a possible further reduction in CO2 emissions per transport work of up to seventy per cent by 2050. One commonly discussed way to reduce such emissions has been to limit the propulsion engine power, but this would require a significantly lower service speed, resulting in a serious impact on the chain of logistics.
Project Forward shows that this seventy per cent reduction in CO2 emissions target can be met, even without lowering service speeds, through the use of carbon neutral fuels mixed with LNG. Such carbon neutral fuels can be transported, stored, and consumed in a similar way to that of fossil LNG.
Optimised Hull and Novel Propulsion Arrangement
The concept vessel’s hull form has been optimised in cooperation with Finnish ship designer Deltamarin and classification society American Bureau of Shipping (ABS). The propulsion design concept for Project Forward is a novel arrangement of two Wärtsilä 31DF engines without auxiliary gensets.
In addition to Arista Shipping, Deltamarin, ABS and Wärtsilä, the French LNG membrane containment system designer GTT is also involved in the project. The vessel is fitted with an LNG tank positioned midships.
Picture: The Project Forward aim is to deliver the cleanest and most efficient fleet of cargo ships in the world (by Arista).
