Coastlink’s April conference in Hamburg: Trends in ship design and propulsion as the shortsea shipping industry
At its conference in Hamburg (19 & 20 April), Coastlink, the independent organisation dedicated to the promotion of multimodal/shortsea container services, will incorporate a session on the trends in ship design and propulsion as the shortsea container shipping industry faces the twin challenges of rising fuel costs and the financing of newbuildings.
The emphasis will be on costs and economics rather than technical matters. Shortsea and feeder containership operators compete vigorously with road and rail transport. Any increase in the cost of transporting containers by sea could have a serious negative effect on modal shift. The European Commission’s public commitment to shortsea shipping is very much under threat.
The session will be chaired by Alexander Saverys and commence with a presentation by Ian Adams, Chief Executive of the International Bunker Industry Association. He will set the scene by outlining the difficulties in meeting the new EU emission levels, noting that shortsea shipping is already having to live with sulphur limits of 1.00% and faces a reduction to 0.10% in 2015. For those operating solely in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, the prospect of having to run their ships on diesel fuel is very real and Mr Adams will consider the implications of this, both in terms of cost and supply.
Looking specifically at ship design, a shipbuilder and a shipbroker will describe the current shortsea container fleet and invite the audience to consider whether ‘more of the same’ will satisfy the market much longer. They will of course outline their own views on what they perceive the market will require. Both speakers are specialists in the containership sector: Roel van Eijle is product director of Damen Shipyards in Rotterdam while Mathias Reimann is with the Hamburg shipbroker Walther Möller & Co. In difficult times, radical solutions are often needed and Wärtsilä’s Oskar Levander, Director Concept Design, Marine Lifecycle Solutions will present his thoughts on the use of LNG to power shortsea containerships.
LNG is of course an extremely clean fuel and using it in main engines, whilst relatively new, is based on well proven technology. On the other hand, the bunker logistics needs to be developed and ship owners tend to be quite conservative. What would an LNG-powered shortsea ship look like? What is the feasibility of operating on LNG compared to the other fuel options? Coastlink believes this presentation should also be thought provoking for those delegates attending from port authorities because if LNG fuel systems are adopted, then ports will have to provide suitable bunkering facilities.
Who will provide the new containerships? There is little point in developing new containership designs if no-one will build them. Financing for newbuilds is extremely hard to come by explains Dr Johann Killinger, Managing Partner of Buss Capital and Buss Group. In the shortsea container trades, most of the vessels currently operating were built by KG partnership companies. With the collapse of the KG market, he will explain how he thinks new vessels will be funded and considers the likely implications.
www.coastlink.co.uk
