Furetank receives grant to fit OPS connection to tanker

The vessel is currently being built at the shipyard in China. When delivered in Q1 2024 it will become number nine in the Vinga vessel series designed by Furetank and partners.

The funding will be provided by Klimatklivet, an initiative by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and NextGenerationEU. The funding will meet half the cost of installing the shore power connection which will be designed to fit the land-based connection planned in the Port of Gothenburg. The port has also received funding from Klimatklivet.

“This grant is a very positive response to our environmental efforts. It confirms that we are doing the right thing. We have chosen to install a very powerful 6.6 kV high voltage shore power capability which even supports the cargo pumps during unloading. They consume a lot of energy which can now be provided through the electrical grid instead of ship generators. This eliminates all harmful emissions while in port close to densely populated areas,” says Jonatan Höglund, newbuilding inspector at Furetank.

Emissions in port can account for up to 20% of the total emissions from a tanker.

If ports offer electricity of sufficient capacity stemming from green and clean sources, the climate investment has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 600 tons annually. Another positive effect is an improved working environment on board as noise and vibrations are significantly reduced.

While there has been talk of ports offering shore power for a long time, many ports hesitate to make the investment as tankers traffic many different ports and it is hard, not to say impossible, to predict when and how often an equipped vessel will frequent a specific port, says Furetank. At the same time, shipowners hesitate to make the investments as no ports offer the opportunity yet, even though a few have projects underway.

“It is a classic chicken-and-egg dilemma where we now choose to progress before the infrastructure is in place. We hope and believe that our move can contribute to the expansion of shore power connections gaining momentum in Sweden and beyond,” says Höglund.