New shuttle tanker concept from TEEKAY and Wärtsilä

New shuttle tanker concept from TEEKAY and Wärtsilä


A new shuttle tanker concept developed by the world’s largest provider of shuttle tanker services; TEEKAY, in close cooperation with Wärtsilä, will offer a new level of ecological and economic solutions by using Wärtsilä’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 Wärtsilä’s latest technology innovations, all of which are central to the concept’s overall performance gains. These orders with Wärtsilä, worth in total over €110m, were booked in December 2017 and January 2018.

S - New shuttle tanker concept copy

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%, compared to conventional shuttle tankers. In addition to operating on 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 using 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%, Sulphur Oxide (SOx) emissions will be almost entirely eliminated, while particulate emissions will be reduced by more than 95%. These environmental benefits are matched by equally important economic advantages, with a significant reduction in fuel consumption compared to conventional solutions. 

Wärtsilä Marine Solutions, President, Roger Holm said: “Together with TEEKAY, we have developed a concept that takes the shuttle tanker sector into a new era, and which is further evidence of Wärtsilä’s ability to transform shipping by developing and utilising the very latest technologies. These ships will have tremendous operational flexibility with unmatched manoeuvring capability, and will achieve what all operators are striving for today, namely optimal economic and environmental performance.”

Wärtsilä solutions are at the heart of this concept. Among the many innovative features is the Wärtsilä Hybrid system, on which the power distribution will be based. The Hybrid system uses batteries for fuel savings, peak load shaving, and added overall system redundancy. This directly impacts the main machinery, resulting in fewer running hours with correspondingly lower maintenance time and costs.

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.

For more information visit www.wartsila.com

15th Jan 2018

 

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