Conference kicks off in dual-fuel style

The event began on the Tuesday evening prior to the actual discussions with a welcome reception hosted by MAN Diesel & Turbo at the company’s Copenhagen Diesel research centre. Here, guests had the opportunity to see the new GI dual-fuel two-stroke research engine, as well as other development projects currently in hand.

Conference chairman John Aitken on SEAaT welcomed the delegates and speakers, from a number of prominent shipowners and suppliers, and the discussions commenced with the keynote address from Bo Cerup-Simonsen, vice-president of Maersk Maritime Technology, who explained how, even with established and currently-available technology, it was possible to save a substantial amount of fuel – and hence money, not to mention carbon emissions. In fact the company’s container ships currently in build in Korea were looking at savings of well over 20% compared with the standard DSME ships. For the new Triple-E ships, this figure could approach 60%. The higher level of technology comes at its own cost, but this is likely to be rapidly recouped.

The event continued with sessions on regulatory issues, making the most of current fuels, engine technology, propulsion efficiency, and lubricants, in which both novel and established technologies were aired and discussed. The conference concludes on Thursday 12 May.