A new shuttle tanker concept developed by the world’s largest provider of shuttle tanker services; Teekay, in close cooperation with Wartsila, will offer a new level of ecological and economic solutions by using Wartsila’s smart technology in innovative ways.
The concept has been endorsed with orders for four of these ‘next generation’ vessels for Teekay. The ships will be built at the Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) yard in South Korea and will feature a very broad assortment of Wartsila’s latest technology innovations, all of which are central to the concept’s overall performance gains. These orders with Wartsila, worth in total over 110 MEUR, were booked in December 2017 and January 2018.
The concept offers a new level of economic and ecological performance, and is expected to reduce annual emissions of CO2 equivalents by more than 40 percent, compared to conventional shuttle tankers. In addition to operating on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) as the primary fuel, the dual-fuel engines will also be able to run on a mixture of LNG and recovered Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), the gas evaporating from the oil cargo tanks during loading.
By utilising the recovered VOC as fuel rather than venting it to the atmosphere, the harmful emissions will be eliminated and the ships’ bunker needs will be significantly reduced. The concept also means that Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) emissions from the engines’ exhaust will be reduced by more than 80 percent, Sulphur Oxide (SOx) emissions will be almost entirely eliminated, while particulate emissions will be reduced by more than 95 percent. These environmental benefits are matched by equally important economic advantages, with a significant reduction in fuel consumption compared to conventional solutions.
Also included in Wärtsilä’s integrated solution for this vessel concept is Eniram’s Vessel Performance Management system. Eniram, a Wärtsilä company, will provide a data collection platform having the capabilities to optimise the vessel’s operations, while also providing the owners with analytics and reporting. The Performance Management system ensures that the full potential of the vessel as well as the fleet, will be utilised.
Shuttle tankers are used for transporting oil from offshore fields to land-based terminals. Their various operational modes present significant challenges in maintaining efficiencies. The new concept has been conceived to overcome such challenges. (Source: Wartsila)