Ice-class Aframax tankers are ready for renewal

Summing up the Arctic’s potential in a September 2012 lecture at London’s Cass Business School, Massachusetts Institute of Technology emeritus professor Ernst Frankel described the region as possibly the most attractive development area on Earth “not just because of the immense, largely untapped resources that are becoming increasingly accessible, but also for the opportunities for shorter sea routes and greater accessibility to markets”.

He pointed out that although many Arctic sea routes are still only accessible part of the year, and usually require special ice-class vessels as well as ice-breaker escort, more and more operators are taking advantage of the huge savings in fuel and travel time between major trading areas such as the Europe/US East and West Coast and East Asia or Northwest Europe and East Asia trades.

In 2011 there were nine tanker voyages across the Russian North Sea route. A number of large ice-class tanker voyages from Arctic production fields to China and South Korea, among other countries, were performed that year. Though this service requires special vessels and support services, it is attracting a growing number of operators who recognise the long-term opportunities in these trades. To quote Prof Frankel: “Some compare it to a new gold rush.” There is also growing interest in the Northwest Passage across the north of Canada from Greenland to North Alaska, which was explored by the Onassis-owned tanker Manhattan over 40 years ago.

Fast-forward to the present and Mikko Niini, the managing director of specialist ice technology consultancy Aker Arctic Technology says the gold rush metaphor is apt, especially for carriage of liquefied gas cargoes. “This year has seen the number of gas condensate shipments using Aframax and Suezmax tankers increase.” The total volume of North Sea Route shipments for 2012 will be close to 1.3 million metric tonnes. In 2011 it was around 800,000 metric tonnes and in 2010 just 200,000 metric tonnes. Aker Arctic is presently advising Novatek, Russia’s leading independent gas producer, on the development of the Yamal LNG plant being developed at Ob Bay in northwestern Siberia. Novatek is leading the scheme, which calls for the construction of a large export plant at a new port, Sabetta, to be built on the Yamal peninsula. The LNG carriers envisaged for Yamal would have to negotiate ice cover over considerable distances in the Northern Sea Route approaches to and from the loading port. Therefore, in order to build up operational experience, Novatek has chartered a number of the vessels that have transited the Northern Route this year.

Mr Niini also foresees opportunities in more established ice-class theatres. He says that many operators of ice-class Aframaxes built between 2002 and 2005 are struggling to be competitive in today’s challenging and overtonnaged market, and some are even contemplating scrapping them. “We are developing a new generation of ice-class Aframax tankers that would reduce emissions and be more fuel efficient than the 60 to 70 vessels in this class built between 2002 and 2005.” Mr Niini says the new vessels will also be competitive in open waters. While the work is confidential, Mr Niini did say that discussions have taken place with Japanese and Korean yards and the optimised hullforms would reduce ice resistance when operating in Baltic Sea conditions. His expectation is that a design will be formalised by the middle of 2013.

Aker Arctic Technology sits on the correspondence group that is following the development of the new IMO Polar Code. The group has collected commentaries from all the IMO member states and it is now starting to draw up specific proposals. The new code will significantly impact shipbuilding and shipbuilding markets, says Mr Niini. “Owners typically think that if they build a 1A ice-class tanker or a 1A super class-tanker, the vessel will automatically be fit for purpose in difficult ice conditions. But this will not be any more the case with the proposed Polar rules.” While discussions on the Polar Code have tended to concentrate on vessel safety and strength, they have yet to define performance requirements. There are differing views on how far the rules should go in this direction. European interests are especially keen that this should be included. The Canadian philosophy has been that the code is a safety issue and the owner should decide the level of performance he wants in his vessel.

Thermal cameras offer enhanced visibility when transiting Polar regions

TMS Tankers, part of Cardiff Marine, has installed FLIR M-625XP thermal imaging cameras on board two oil tankers operating in ice-infested waters.

Ice is not always easy to detect in Arctic waters, even by radar. This is particularly true in heavy sea conditions where the radar returns from ice floes may be lost in the so-called ‘sea clutter’, which makes it difficult to distinguish between ice and the waves. During long Polar nights a searchlight only illuminates objects in the narrow path of its light beam and they can be obscured if there is fog.

The FLIR M-625XP is equipped with an uncooled, maintenance-free Vanadium Oxide detector that produces thermal images of 640 x 480 pixels. It needs no light to work. The system is capable of operating between -25°C and +55°C and has a heating system that prevents ice formation on the lens.

The thermal imaging cameras were installed at the bows on the masts of the oil tankers, as recommended by OCIMF. This is the highest point where navigational lights are installed.

The images are transmitted onto an LCD display installed on the bridge of the tanker. The joystick control unit is integrated into the bride console and allows for continuous panning and tilting of the camera.

The cameras are powered by the foremast electricity switchboard. To run the video cable from the camera to the LCD on the bridge, existing cable ducts were utilised. The Ethernet cable was also run though these same cable ducts. No extra power is needed for the JCU because this power is supplied by the FLIR M-625XP itself through Power over Ethernet.

Delta Marine debuts latest ice-class design

Turkish design consultancy Delta Marine has created an ice-class 1A version of its standard 12,500 dwt oil product and chemical design. The first order, Miranda, is due for imminent delivery from the Marmara Shipyard.

The vessel is a standard single-screw, oil product chemical tanker for unrestricted navigation and service. It will transport a range of liquid IMO II-type cargoes with specific gravity up to 1.54 t/m³ at 66°C.

The main propulsion package comprises a MAN 8L32/44, 4,480kW main engine at 750 rpm. MAN B&W also supplied the auxiliary and emergency diesel generator.

Hydraulic-driven cargo pumps have been chosen due to their high efficiency and because cargo pumps have been placed in an enclosed catwalk, which is not suitable for electric-driven pumps. For easy maintenance the cargo is heated by deck-mounted heat exchangers.

Hullform optimisation of the vessel was carried out in two phases in conjunction with Delta Marine’s solution partner, Mesh Engineering & Software Co. The first phase involved the flow analysis to rapidly identify the wave resistance, dynamic pressure distribution and streamlines by using in-house software code DeltaFlow. This was followed by detailed computational fluid dynamics studies covering calculation of the ship’s friction, form and wave resistance, which resulted in improvements in the performance of the hullform. The results fed into modifications to the design that support lower fuel consumption at service speed.

The vessel has a shaft generator, stern tube and take-me-home device. A spade-type rudder governed by a piston-type steering gear has also been installed. The bow thruster is of the hydraulic type, and is supplied by Jastram. The BU 60F model has a power output of 450kW.TST