New tanker clocks up zero port emissions in Gothenburg
The dual-fuel tanker Tern Island (Source: Terntank)
A new dual-fuel tanker built in China and recently delivered to Swedish owner, Terntank, has docked in the Port of Gothenburg with zero carbon emissions. The Tern Island is a 15,000dwt products/chemical tanker which can operate on LNG or liquid biogas (LBG). The vessel will be commercially operated in a tanker pool by the North European Oil Trade (NEOT), a fuel company supplying Baltic States.
Designed jointly by Terntank and Kongsberg Maritime, the tanker was built at China Merchants Jinling Shipyard, Yangzhou, Dingheng Co. Ltd., and delivered in December. It is equipped with the tanker owner’s Hybrid Solution®.
The Tern Island is 100% biofuel compatible, with its main engine, boiler, and auxiliary engine designed to use the sustainable fuel. The vessel has a hybrid power system incorporating a battery pack, onshore power supply, and a DC-Link which, it is claimed, can reduce auxiliary energy consumption during port operations by close to 100%.
The company said that the combination of an optimised hull and rudder design and the use of 30% liquid biogas would enable the Tern Island to cut CO2 emissions by about 70%, as compared with a conventional vessel of the same size. SOx, NOx, and particulate emissions would be eliminated almost entirely.
Terntank and the Port of Gothenburg have worked closely on the project under Gothenburg’s Energy Port initiative which is targeting an annual reduction of about 1,800 tonnes of CO2. Similar projects are in progress at other Swedish ports.
Tärntank Ship Management’s Claes Möller, CEO, commented: “Today we achieve a milestone as Tern Island becomes the world's first shore-connected tanker, successfully enabling port operations with zero emissions. This would not have been possible without the good collaboration with NEOT, allowing us to build such a ground-breaking vessel and with the Port of Gothenburg, which facilitated the development of this solution as the first port in the world offering tankers an option to connect to electricity.”
