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High-tech ship sets course for green ocean transport
By Simon Johnson
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Will technological advances, fuel costs and environmental concerns bring back commercial sailing for cargo ships?
Shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen (WW) has designed a high-tech "back to the future" freighter powered solely by wind and waves in the expectation that increasing regulation and shipping costs over the next 20 years will force the industry to come up with greener vessels.
"In part it is legislation, in part that we want to be seen as innovators," said Lena Blomqvist, WW's vice president with responsibility for the environment. "We realize that we are part of the problem and we want to be part of the solution."
The Orcelle will have emission levels near zero and WW hopes the design would allow such a ship to carry up 10,000 cars and trucks and set the pattern for the future transport of cargo.
Propulsion for the five-hulled ship, named after an endangered species of dolphin, would come from high-tech sails and a set of pods below the water line that would trap the energy of the waves. Additionally, solar cells in the sails would charge fuel cells to power electric motors.
"When we are on the ocean we have almost limitless access to energy, but a modern vessel fights the elements," said Per Brinchmann, the naval architect who designed the ship to turn the power of mother nature into motion on the ocean.
"The albatross gets 98 percent of its energy for flight from the wind and two percent from its wings."
Concern for the bottom line has already pushed WW to cut the fuel use of its existing fleet by 10 percent over the last few years and reduce nitrogen and sulphur dioxide emissions.
Sulphur dioxide causes acid rain and nitrogen emissions upset the balance of nutrients in the ocean, both big problems in the Baltic Sea where WW is based.
LEGAL AND CORPORATE PRESSURE
Regulators are also stepping up pressure.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) will introduce rules to cut sulphur in fuels for some ocean regions in 2006. WW said its low sulphur fuels costs around $20 dollars per tonmore than the standard fuel.
Tighter rules on oil emissions in bilge water, anti-fouling paints and recycling are also likely to follow.
At the same time, companies which transport goods by ship need to reassure increasingly concerned investors that they are taking green issues in their supply chain seriously.
One of the firm's major clients, an auto manufacturer, now audits the emissions of shipping firms.
"Other customers will come and ask for it as part of their own corporate responsibility work," said Blomqvist.
It is not just pollution from marine diesel -- higher in sulphur and worse for the environment than more refined types of fuel -- which the new ship would eliminate.
Clever design on the Orcelle eliminates the need for ballast water, which can contain up to 7,000 marine species that have a huge impact when dumped outside their native ecosystem.
"Ballast water is a huge, huge problem," said Dr Simon Walmsley, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature's British marine program. "It affects biodiversity and has the potential to wipe out indigenous species which are sensitive."
Areas like the Arctic are particularly at risk, he said.
Between 3 billion and 5 billion tons of ballast water is transported around the world by ships each year, not far behind the 6 billion tons of cargo carried in 2003.
IMO rules on ballast water should be introduced in 2009.
Wallenius Wilhelmsen is showing off its design at the World Expo in Japan, which opened at the end of March.
Although the Orcelle may never to be built, WW believes that like a concept car, much of the technology showcased on the ship will find its way into vessels over the next 20 years.
"This vessel is a demonstration of what is feasible, what could be feasible and what should be feasible," said Brinchmann, who began his career designing lifeboats.
The WWF backs the move but wants shipping companies to go even further.
"It is a step in the right direction," said the WWF's Walmsley. "But the whole shipping industry need to be looked at every level from design through to decommissioning."
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