Multraship and Damen agree deals for three more ASD Tugs

 Leading towage and salvage specialist Multraship and Damen Shipyards Group have confirmed an agreement for three new ASD (Azimuth Stern Drive) Tugs, all for delivery in 2015.

After delivery in Vietnam, scheduled for the end of first-quarter 2015, two state-of-the-art ASD Tugs 3212 will operate for Multraship as sister vessels to the 83-tonne bollard pull Multratug 19, which was built by Damen in Romania and delivered in 2012. The tugs will have excellent sea-keeping behaviour, superb manoeuvrability and outstanding towing characteristics.

As part of Multraship’s continuing fleet expansion an ASD Tug 2810 Hybrid is scheduled to be delivered in Romania in first-quarter 2015. With an expected bollard pull of 61 tonnes, it will be the second vessel of its type built by Damen to come into operation. The ASD Tug 2810 Hybrid has a diesel-direct, diesel-electric and battery-powered propulsion system, resulting in reported fuel savings of between 10 and 30 percent and reduced emissions of about 60 percent, depending on how the vessel is used.

Leendert Muller, managing director of Multraship, says, “Multraship continues to expand its client base in the offshore energy sector as well as in its harbour towage operations. All three ASD tugs are highly suitable for these markets whilst their FIFI 1 fire-fighting equipment makes them especially valuable for emergency response. We are delighted to have collaborated with Damen on our fleet expansion programme. We are both family-owned companies with a Dutch heritage and an international outlook, so we make a good fit.”

                             

Multraship is a leading Dutch towage and salvage company. It is a division of the Muller Maritime Group, which has been engaged in the shipping industry for more than 230 years. The company's core activities include harbour towage, salvage & wreck removal, ocean towage and support to offshore energy & dredging industries. Multraship operates and manages a large fleet of tugs, salvage vessels, floating sheerlegs and other craft equipped with modern towage, salvage and fire-fighting equipment and manned by experienced and highly-trained masters and crew. www.multraship.com

Damen Shipyards Group operates 32 shipyards and ship repair yards around the world, employing 8,000 people. It has delivered more than 5,000 vessels in more than 100 countries and delivers approximately 160 vessels annually to customers worldwide. www.damen.com

  

For more information contact:  

         

Eline Muller                                        

Multraship B.V.                                  

+31 (0) 115 645 000                          

emuller@multraship.com

Tecnitas launches energy management software tool

Tecnitas, the consultancy arm of Bureau Veritas, has launched a powerful new software tool, E2, aimed at optimising energy usage for both individual ships and across fleets. E2 is a user-friendly tool which enables shipowners to maximise the gains in energy efficiency and emission reduction which can be obtained through proper use of IMO’s Ship Energy Efficiency Monitoring Plan (SEEMP).

Claude Andreau, head of engineering, Tecnitas, says, “The SEEMP seeks to improve a ship’s energy efficiency through four steps: planning, implementation, monitoring and measurements and self-evaluation and improvement. We hear a lot about energy saving devices which can be fitted and operational savings which can be made, but in our experience shipowners do not know which measures provide the best savings simply because they don’t have the right information to base decisions on. E2 solves that problem by collecting and evaluating all the information needed to make energy saving decisions. It then produces KPIs and benchmarks individual ships or whole fleets against them.”

E2 has different modes. Initially it is used by ships’ crews in the Acquisition mode to monitor, measure and record actual consumption on board in a variety of different cargo and navigation conditions. The software can then calculate the corresponding fuel Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and emissions KPI’s.

Two additional modes are available for running E2 software: the Simulation mode and the Benchmark mode, both of them providing decision-making tools for the ship or charterer’s operational management.

In Simulation mode E2 will give access to reference values for a given voyage and to the corresponding calculated reference fuel KPI’s. Data collected in the on-going Acquisition mode can then be compared with the Simulation to deliver the information needed to implement improvement measures and calculate the Yearly Energy Efficiency Operating Index (EEOI).

The purpose of E2’s Benchmark mode is to benchmark, follow up and monitor the energy efficiency performance of different ships within the fleet or of the same ship for different voyages.

The combination of Acquisition mode, Simulation mode, and Benchmark modes mean that E2 software is able to deliver useful information for defining the fleet management strategy for energy efficiency.

The currently available version of E2 software (v1.2) is based on manual acquisition of the input data such as the fuel consumption recorded onboard. A demo version with full capabilities (acquisition, simulation and benchmark modes) but limited time access is available upon request.

Development work is underway on an upgrade which will acquire the inputs automatically through flow meters and GPS. These new capabilities will enhance the accuracy of the data acquisition and will give access to more advanced analyses and diagnosis.

The use of E2 can be licensed either for Acquisition mode only, typically in the context of an individual ship SEEMP, or for Acquisition, Simulation and Benchmark modes, able to improve energy efficiency across a fleet.

For a screenshot of E2 email john@merlinco.com

 

Tecnitas is a consulting company within the Bureau Veritas group.

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 58,000 employees in 940 offices and 340 laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

 www.bureauveritas.com   for corporate information                             

www.veristar.com    for marine information

 

For more information:

Claude Andreau

Head of Engineering

Tecnitas              

+33 1 55 24 79 20               

claude.andreau@tecnitas.com

Brittany Ferries first for Bureau Veritas energy-saving notation

LEADING international classification society Bureau Veritas has issued the first of its new voluntary SEEMP notations to the 1,500-passenger and 500-car cruise ferry Cap Finistère, operated by France’s Brittany Ferries. Higher efficiency, lower costs and less environmental impact are all benefits for Brittany Ferries and for everyone in the transport chain.

“Proactive ship owners like Brittany Ferries are voluntarily investing in eco-friendly technologies and operational practices,” says Martial Claudepierre, Marine Environmental Leader, Bureau Veritas. “Recognising those efforts and investments in the market place is vital to encouraging more widespread adoption of energy saving and CO2 emission reduction practices.

“The ability of passengers and freight operators to choose the best environmentally performing ship for any voyage, and the ability of owners to operate their ships at the maximum possible environmental efficiency, will redefine the shipping industry’s environmental landscape. From research and development through to procurement and retrofitting, industry experts are focusing their minds on finding the most effective technologies for saving energy, reducing emissions and mitigating fuel bills.”

Claudepierre adds, “To help transport operators choose the right ship, and to help owners operate effectively, there has to be a clear standard. That is why we at Bureau Veritas have developed a voluntary SEEMP Additional Notation. It builds on the IMO Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan. The SEEMP Additional Notation provides ship users, charterers and regulators with a tool to optimise and also make visible the environmental performance improvement of ships in terms of emissions of GHG and NOx and SOx, and will help owners to assess the potential impact of environmental investments. In this way, it will be possible to make a clearer estimate of the payback period for green investments such as trim and hull optimisation, new propeller systems, optimised maintenance periods for hull and propeller cleanings, and general fuel consumption reduction measures.”

Bureau Veritas introduced the SEEMP Notation scheme in July 2012. It covers a wide variety of ship types and is a powerful tool for creating meaningful energy management measures on new or existing ships, as well as helping owners target green investment effectively. “This notation demonstrates to authorities, Port Sate Control and other stakeholders that the development and implementation of the Ship Efficiency Management Plan complies with the requirements of the IMO Guidelines,” notes Claudepierre.

Bureau Veritas deploys sophisticated software tools to back the notation. “Realistic goals for energy consumption reduction can be determined or planned using BV’s SEECAT energy transfer simulation model of the energy usage on board the ship,” explains Claudepierre.

Frederic Pouget, a member of the board of Brittany Ferries, says, “Brittany Ferries has always been proactive on environmental issues. As a leading ferry company we believe that the SEEMP notation will contribute towards saving energy and reducing emissions. For us, the SEEMP notation is a further positive step in our energy management policy and a good way to certify all the efforts we have been making in this regard for a number of years.”

For a photo of the Cap Finistère go to: http://bit.ly/o4oUp8  or email chris@merlinco.com

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has 58,000 employees in 940 offices and 340 laboratories located in 140 countries. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

www.bureauveritas.com   for corporate information                             

www.veristar.com    for marine information

l Brittany Ferries is a privately owned French ferry company with 2,500 employees. It annually transports 2.6m passengers, 200,000 freight vehicles and 800,000 cars between France, Great Britain, Ireland and Spain. 

http://www.brittanyferries.com/

For more information:

Martial Claudepierre                                               

Bureau Veritas Marine Division              

+33 1 55 24 72 43                                       

martial.claudepierre@bureauveritas.com