Challenging times produce successful conference.

The venue – the Hilton Copenhagen Airport hotel - proved ideal. There was plenty of space in the conference room, so no repeat of the last P&E conference in the city, when all available space was booked well in advance of the event. And with a direct connection to the airport terminal, it could not have been more convenient for overseas visitors.

In advance of the conference, delegates had the opportunity to attend a reception hosted by MAN Diesel & Turbo, at the company’s nearby Diesel Research Centre. As well as food and drink, there was a chance to get a preview of MAN Diesel’s dual-fuel low speed research engine. The existing large test engine at the centre, the 4T50ME-X, has been rebuilt as a 4T50ME-GI, to research and demonstrate the feasibility of running large two-stroke engines on LNG as well as HFO. The official unveiling was scheduled for the week following our conference, but guests could get a close look at the engine as well as visit the control rooms and see the other work being undertaken at the research centre.

The conference itself began with a welcoming address from chairman John Aitken, secretary-general of SEAaT (Shipping Emissions Abatement and Trading), the well-known industry body promoting sustainable shipping and clean air.

The keynote address, which followed, came from Bo Cerup-Simonsen, vice-president of Maersk Maritime Technology, who spoke about taking environment friendliness of ships one stage further. In the case of Maersk, ‘one stage further’ means making use of established , proven, technologies, which when combined as part of the ship design can significantly enhance efficiency and fuel economy, and thus reduce emissions. He gave the example of Maersk’s new container ships currently in build in Korea at DSME, which, when compared with the standard design and specification of equivalent vessels from the same yard, showed a 22% gain in efficiency. In the case of the next-generation container ship, the Triple-E (which received coverage in our April 2011 issue) this figure is doubled, approaching 50%. Of course, such gains do not come for free. The technology, although well-proven, involves extra cost, but the investment is worthwhile in terms of both economic payback and the advantages to the shipowner of demonstrable environmental credentials.

The first conference session dealt with the regulatory issues involved in ‘green’ shipping, with the scene being set by BIMCO’s senior marine technical officer Fleming Sandstrom, who outlined the current and forthcoming legislation, and the means available to achieve these limits and to further reduce shipping’s carbon footprint. Yannis Calogeras, who deals with gaseous fuels for Bureau Veritas, gave the classification society perspective, while Galen Hon, from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) described the various greenhouse gas reduction options available for ships, and how cost effective they were likely to prove.

These presentations, and all the subsequent sessions of the conference, will be available soon for purchase as hard copies or to download from the conference web site. Many will, we hope, be summarised in future issues of The Motorship.

The other sessions of the day dealt with making the most of currently-used fuels (in the current enthusiasm for gas fuelled ships, it is easy to forget that the majority of ships will continue to depend on oil-based fuels to varying extent), engine technology (which encompassed dual-fuel diesel and gas engines, including the MAN ME-GI engine that delegates had seen the previous evening, electric propulsion motors, and new technologies), propulsion system efficiency and lubrication.

A further highlight of the event was the superb gala dinner, supported by DNV, held on the Wednesday evening at the Sankt Gertruds Kloster, a 700-year-old former monastery in Copenhagen, where delegates got the opportunity for networking as well as enjoying some top-rate food and wine.

The second day of the conference saw sessions on monitoring for cleanliness and efficiency, exhaust emissions reduction, future fuels and renewable resources, and the holistic approach to ultra-efficient future ships. All the presentations were interesting; if any one was worth singling out it would be that from Peter Boyd of the rather confrontationally-named ‘carbon war room’. The CWR has come in for some scepticism from the maritime community, mainly because it is backed by airline boss Sir Richard Branson. But as Boyd pointed out, it recognises what shipping is doing and is geared to cleaning up the whole transport industry, rather than promoting one form at the expense of another. It is committed to a sustainable shipping industry, in which better information is the key to economic and environmental transformation.

We were reminded too that it is not just the engine that contributes to low-emission ships, Tobias Huuva of Berg Propulsion showed how the propeller can make a difference, while monitoring various parameters is essential if we are to know whether or not our ships really are ‘greener’. Onboard systems from the likes of Eniram and Napa were shown to play their part, while Kittiwake founder Chris Leigh-Jones gave an insight into how exhaust emissions are, and should be, measured.

After each session delegates got the opportunity to ask questions and make points, discussions which where carried forward to the coffee breaks sponsored by Chevron on Day One and Reederei Blue Star on Day Two, as well as the conference lunches sponsored by Bureau Veritas.

The organisers acknowledge the valuable contributions to the event made by the speakers, the delegates, the chairman John Aitken and all the supporting and sponsoring bodies. As well as those mentioned already, these included Aalborg Industries (Gold sponsor), Infineum (Silver sponsor), Kral pumps, Klüber Lubrication, Germanischer Lloyd, Rolls-Royce, Napa, GEA Seaprotect, Kyma, Kittiwake, Green Instruments, JF Mimic, Hamworthy, Lemag and Wärtsilä.