Cruise Update 1-2013

Fire safety Sulphur on the agendaDNV point of view

cruiseupdate NewS From DNV to the cruiSe iNDuStry No 01 2013

CONteNts

2 | cruiSe uPDAte NO. 1 2013

front cover photo:Port everglades, Ft Lauderdale, Florida is the busiest cruise port in the world. Picture from a busy Saturday afternoon. ©Port everglades

Maritime excellence ............................................................... 4Resolve – the salvage company ................................................ 6Resolve bridge simulator ........................................................ 8Port Everglades .................................................................... 10

Norwegian Breakaway ........................................................... 12

Celebrity Cruises .................................................................. 14

Holland America Line .......................................................... 18

TUI Cruises ......................................................................... 22

Carnival Corporation ....................................................................... 26

Prestige Cruise Holdings ...................................................... 30

Bringing airline safety to cruise shipping ............................... 38

Fire safety awareness campaign ............................................. 40

USCG getting ready to use LNG as fuel for cruise ships .......... 42

Fuel management challenges ................................................ 44

Sulphur on the agenda ........................................................ 46

we welCOme yOuR tHOugHts!

cruise update

Published by DNV market communications

editorial committee: trond Arne Schistad, Director Global cruise centerhelge hermundsgård, Business Development managermagne A. røe, editorLisbeth Aamodt, Production

Design and layout: coormedia.com 1301-054print: 07 oslo as, 5000/03-2013

Please direct any enquiries to [email protected]

online edition of cruise update:www.dnv.com/cruiseupdate

DNV (Det Norske Veritas AS)No-1322 høvik, Norwaytel: +47 67 57 99 00Fax: +47 67 57 99 11

© Det Norske Veritas AS www.dnv.com

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We hope this magazine will give you some food for thought and relevant input.

Over the past year, there has been an increased focus on safety on the part of cruise companies, stakeholders and industry associations. This proves that the cruise industry is committed to safety and the continuous improvement of its performance.

DNV is passionate about the marine aspects of the cruise industry and dedicat-ed to being at the forefront of developments. Looking into the crystal ball, we see three main areas that will be critical for sustainable business performance with-in our scope of work.

Safety will always be one of the key success factors and require constant atten-tion and appraisal. You can take the view that the cost connected to safety is an excellent investment with a high return, or that robust safety performance comes at a cost. Both views are in a way right. The challenge is to measure the return in a credible way and to maintain the standard when cost levels are scrutinised. This creates dilemmas and conflicting goals. There will always be dilemmas; the key

is to develop capabilities to manage these dilemmas, make the right decisions and be consistent. Objec-tive situational awareness is a prerequisite for senior management and the board of directors in order for them to set the right priori-ties and ensure real safety-performance leadership.

Technology innovation and the design of marine platforms will become more and more important in the future. These areas deter-mine the company’s future ship-specific OPEX and technical vulnerability level, in addition to the com-pany’s CAPEX. Based on developments in, for exam-ple, ECA regulations and fuel prices, success within these areas will ensure you are in ‘pole position’. In other segments of the ship-ping industry, enhanced efficiency is foreseen to generate a two-tier market. It will be interesting to see if this will happen in the cruise market. What we know for sure is that the most successful player will have lower costs than less successful competitors.

The cruise industry has undergone major changes; the 1970s were the entre-preneurial years, the 1980s

were when companies became established, in the 1990s the size-matters issue started, and in the 2000s the size-matters issue is continuing, with ves-sels becoming more of a destination in themselves. What will the next decade bring? The company’s effi-ciency per APCD will attract increased attention. We see opportunities for step changes in the technology, but we also think there are significant opportunities within operational models. Looking back in history, the basic operational principles are the same. There is even little difference between the operational principles of small and large opera-tors. We believe the cruise segment will now enter an era of industrialisation and modernise the way in which it operates and man-ages ships. This is applica-ble from new building to operation. Some examples: which other industry buys assets worth billions of dol-lars with only a high-level specification, obtains lim-ited guarantees and trusts that the yard (which might be in a challenging finan-cial situation) will deliver fit-for-purpose solutions.

And how can synergies

from operating a large fleet of cruise vessels be realised when there is little or no change in the way in which the land-based organisation is set up? We believe there are significant opportuni-ties for step changes to performance by applying best practices from more industrialised sectors in the maritime industry and from other land-based opera-tions.

The cruise industry has made many achievements over the past few decades but, looking into the future, we believe the nature of the challenges is chang-ing and that opportunities cannot be realised without us rethinking our prac-tices. Probably the most important success factor is to address leadership capa-bilities. This is what will drive change and realise the industry’s potential. As a leading classification society and competence partner for the cruise industry, DNV is dedicated to supporting its customers in a collaborative way to ensure safe and sustainable business performance in a wider context.

welCOme tO DNV CRuise upDate 2013

trond arne schistadDirectorGlobal cruise center [email protected]

Helge HermundsgårdBusiness Development manager [email protected]

THE POWER OF INSIGHT

SafetyQualityEfficiency

www.dnv.com


DNV pOiNt Of View

Maritime excellence– a critical success factor for sustainable

business performance in the cruise industry

excellence in maritime capabilities is more important than ever. however, we still see very traditional approaches to maintenance and repair, safety and technology innovation. the maritime

industry is a traditional industry. however, it is now time to develop and implement strategic changes in order to improve business by putting maritime excellence back on the executive and board agendas and applying industrialisation principles and best practices from other industries.

TEXT: HELGE HERMUNDSGÅRD AND TROND ARNE SCHISTAD, DNV

MAINTENANCE AND REpAIR Mainte-nance is often a cost centre in the organi-sation and is to a large degree subject to strict budget control. Such control is a necessity, but will not alone be a driver for sustainable business improvement.

Maintaining the vessel to the right standard in the most cost-effective way and always ensuring that the vessel can generate revenue are key targets. This includes main-taining technical integrity and keeping the vessel compliant with rules and regulations.

Both small and large companies oper-ate in the same way and shore-based organisations are to a large extent staffed by experienced chief engineers with sea-going experience. If you ask maintenance management employees what they spend most of their time doing, they will prob-ably say firefighting and purely adminis-trative work, and most will acknowledge the need to spend more time scheduling, optimising plans, measuring performance, analysing performance/maintenance data and driving improvement.

Maintenance management requires structured and streamlined processes that allow employees to collect and ana-lyse data. We see that companies which streamline their maintenance process and utilise data across the fleet can significantly improve their maintenance work with respect to cost performance, reliability and

compliance with rules and regulations. To succeed in this, there must be teamwork between the experienced chief engineer, analytical maintenance specialist and IT experts. This is about industrialising the approach. It could be interesting to com-pare the competence/experience require-ments for the senior maintenance manage-ments of land-based infrastructures and of vessels with the same complexity and asset value. You would probably be surprised by the difference.

Maintenance and repair is measured in monetary terms (cost) and is an exact exercise. Actual cost does not necessar-ily give the right picture. There is a need to include and understand risk exposure and the potential implications of failures when making decisions in this area. It is therefore advisable to use a risk-based philosophy and strategy in the strive for improvement.

SAfETy Safety is a key priority in any marine operation. One challenge is that there will always be other priorities battling for attention – and this often creates settings where safety is not receiv-ing the attention it deserves and substand-ard practices are starting to develop and be accepted.

Our experience tells us that it is essen-tial to ensure that the senior management

have a true situational awareness, under-stand the company’s vulnerability and real-ise that the company is exposed in some major risk areas. An important element in this understanding is also to emotionally connect to the fact that, as an executive of a cruise company, you are responsible for thousands of passengers and employees who trust you with their life. The respon-sibility for safety performance is a critical element of leadership that cannot be delegated. Safety deserves to be among the hot topics from the board of directors and to cascade down in the organisation.

Ensuring safety excellence comes at a cost, and this is the cost of doing business. A test question about maturity within the safety area is how we treat this cost when we are under financial pressure. Are we maintaining our efforts to get it right or are we cutting back? Cutting back is a very clear signal to the employees that safety is not as important as stated and the culture will gradually be degraded.

Another key element to get right is how employees are rewarded and promoted. What we find is that wrong behaviour is rewarded if it has a short-term financial gain and right behaviour is punished if it has a short-term negative financial impact.

Managing safety is a key leadership chal-lenge, it comes at a cost and it needs to be reflected in all we do.


DNV pOiNt Of View

TECHNOLOGy INNOvATION There are still significant technology opportunities in the cruise industry. There are chal-lenges ahead that will have a major impact on profitability and sustainable business performance.

Many cruise companies, and shipping companies in general, have had a clear strategy of not being technology first movers. Historically, this has probably proven to be a financially effective strategy but, with the rapid change in the frame conditions, we believe there is a need for a more proactive strategy within this area. The company that resolves some of the key challenges will gain significant benefits compared to late movers. The new ECA regulations represent one of these chal-lenges. Companies that succeed in finding solutions for cleaning exhaust or using LNG, for example, will have significantly lower costs than companies that need to run on MGO.

There are a lot of solutions that claim they might solve issues or significantly reduce fuel costs, for instance. The chal-lenge is that not all these solutions are proven, so making decisions is a gamble.

This requires new approaches to the identification, qualification and imple-mentation of new technology. There are established practices for qualifying technol-ogy, e.g. within the offshore industry, and these are relatively easy to transfer to the maritime industry. We see that some of the leading shipping companies have estab-lished separate units that constantly screen potential solutions, qualify solutions and implement new solutions in a structured way on both new builds and existing ves-sels. The companies that are most likely to succeed have separate units making these investments and ensuring the return on these investments.

Challenging traditional ways of working may lead to significant business gains. This requires new ideas to be brought into the industry, but we can draw a lot of inspira-tion from other segments. However, it is important not to just copy what others are doing, but to tailor this to the cruise industry. ©

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ResOlVe

Resolve – the salvage company working on accident prevention

Joseph e. Farrell Jr. is seated behind the wheel of his Ford F 150 double-cabin pick-up truck outside reSoLVe marine Group’s headquarters in Ft Lauderdale, Florida as we prepare to visit Port everglades. “i came to Ft Lauderdale from Boston back in the late 70s with dive gear, a set of tanks, uSD 500 in my pocket and a dream of living in a warm climate,” he tells us while driving up to a low, grey two-storey building that looks like a ship and warehouse hybrid. “in 1980, i acquired my first tug, and i

was chief engineer, captain and owner,” he tells us. Farrell is the ceo and founder of reSoLVe.

TEXT: MAGNE A. RØE, DNV

The building we are approaching is the Resolve Maritime Academy’s fire fighting simulator and the smell of smoke is very noticeable. We climb up to the first level of the three-deck, 150-feet-long “ship” where the fire fighting helmets of the trainees make them look like aliens from outer space. But this is serious business, as cruise ship crews are the essential front-line fire fighters should a fire break out onboard.

Our guided tour of the port continues to a RESOLVE warehouse, where salvage and fire fighting equipment, generators and other gear are carefully stored so the company can immediately respond to any maritime emergency. Resolve has similar warehouses, not only in the U.S. but in many other locations worldwide. When the huge earthquake shook Haiti in 2010, Far-rell loaded up one of his tugs and salvage crane barges with emergency equipment, food and medical supplies and headed for the island at his own risk and expense. “ ‘To leave the world a better place’ is our corporate motto. It’s important to us at RESOLVE to help others who are truly in need ,” said Farrell. After deliver-ing the supplies , the team spent a week opening a demolished port just north of Port au Prince. “We were then asked by the U.S. Admiral in charge of the Haiti International Relief Response, to clear the main port of Port au Prince of the large,

semi-submerged container crane that had collapsed, blocking access to a section of the port. With resources for our volun-teer mission nearly exhausted, we had to decline. Then, realizing that our efforts had been voluntary up to that point, the Admiral promptly arranged for our pay-ment by the U.S. government to complete the job.”

For more than 34 years, RESOLVE’s phenomenal growth has continued, with an unsurpassed safety record. With no major shareholders to satisfy, Farrell views it this way. “We come into the world with nothing and will leave with nothing, so why not try to do as much good as one can – and we may get to stay here for an extra ten minutes. The irony of always giving more than one asks for in life is that we always get much more back than we ask for – and this does not always involve money.”

THE RESOLvE MARITIME ACADEMy “We have had more than 20,000 person-nel come through our training programs at our Academy,” says Farrell. “I decided to build a training centre to help prevent accidents at sea from happening, and the timing of this proved to be very good. We opened just after the Exxon Valdez acci-dent in 1989 and then demand for train-ing sky-rocketed with the new OPA 90 (the US Oil Pollution Act of 1990) regulations

that followed. At that time, there was no one else to turn to for training. Soon, there were new training requirements through the STCW and IMO and we quite simply grew -- and continued to grow,” says Farrell.

OpA 90 AND MARITIME EMERGENCy RESpONSE In the company’s core service areas, salvage and emergency response, RESOLVE was already well positioned to provide the salvage and marine fire fight-ing (SMFF) response services that were new requirements specified by OPA 90. For a salvage and response company in the US, it had become essential to be qualified by the US Coast Guard in accordance with OPA 90 in order to continue to serve the international commercial fleet. By expand-ing and honing its emergency salvage and marine fire fighting response capabilities, RESOLVE was among the first to qualify as a USCG approved responder for com-mercial tanker emergencies in US waters. RESOLVE provides SMFF coverage to almost 40 per cent of all tankers trading in the US. In 2006, RESOLVE acquired a port facility near Mobile, Alabama to serve as an operations base in the Gulf of Mexico. In just the past four years, the company has expanded internationally, opening bases in the UK, Singapore, Mum-bai and New Zealand, and forming a Ship


ResOlVe

Pollution Response Organisation joint ven-ture in China. Shanghai-based SRSOC pro-vides oil spill response services throughout the People’s Republic of China ports and coastal waters. RESOLVE is constantly involved in salvage, wreck removal or other maritime operations worldwide. Among the more high-profile assignments was the Deepwater Horizon oil-spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico, a six-month operation requiring more than 120 RESOLVE owned and contracted vessels for skimming and coastal operations throughout the Gulf. Presently, the company is involved in removing the wreckage of two stranded vessels -- a large container vessel off the coast of New Zealand, and a cable- laying vessel on the coast of Namibia. And just recently, RESOLVE mobilized its fleet in the Gulf of Mexico to assist a major cruise line, towing and provisioning a +4000 pas-senger and crew vessel, after an engine room fire disabled her.

SAfER CRUISE OpERATIONS With world headquarters squarely in the middle of

the world’s cruise ship centers of Ft. Lau-derdale and Miami, Farrell recognized the need and the opportunity to provide training for officers and crew. “At our expense, to the tune of $6.5million USD, we created a world-class, state-of-the-art Maritime Academy complete with a full mission bridge simulator, mini bridges, type specific ECDIS classrooms and an engine room simulator under construc-tion. Trainees begin with a clear focus on building a bridge team, with emphasis on the importance of interpersonal inter-actions between team members on the bridge. The consequences of a lack of communication can be deadly. We have seen time and again the consequences of a lack of a team dynamic or clear communi-cations on the bridge. The use of the same terminology on the bridge and among the crew is essential – in the day- to- day opera-tions and when it comes to damage con-trol if something should go wrong. There are no secrets in the cruise industry when it comes to ship safety . The whole industry is literally “in the same boat,” -- safety and

accident prevention are essential to all,” says Farrell. RESOLVE’s timing for opening the Academy in early 2012 came at point in the cruise industry history when there was industry – wide recognition of the need to take a closer look at shipboard safety and training. “Our main reasons for opening

›› Joseph e. Farrell at the resolve firefighting simulator with crew getting ready for fire fighting training.

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resolve Salvage & Fire, inc., a division of resolve marine Group, rests its reputation on an excellent success rate, experienced salvage masters, and an extensive resume of salvage, lightering, and wreck removal projects in various countries around the world.

resolve is also a uS coast Guard approved oPA-90 “Primary resource Provider” and operates the various emergency response vessels, salvage barges, tugboats, fire fighting equipment, and other assets necessary to meet the needs of any salvage, fire, or wreck removal.

(Source: www.resolvesalvage.com)


ResOlVe

Getting it right at the Resolve bridge simulator

ENHANCE SAfETy The new, USD 6.5 million, +7000 square foot training center offers programmes designed to enhance safety at sea for ships, personnel, passen-gers and cargo. This is done by applying real-time simulator experiences, virtual navigation and shipboard experiences to improve competencies. The main focus is on human factors, teamwork attitudes, behaviours and communication. Through ongoing individual assessment, student competencies can be measured and that information is then used to support man-agement decision-making and career development. “Being at the Simulation Training Center is not a walk in the park, it’s an important factor in ensuring that the individuals manning a ship perform to company and international standards and know how to deal with emergencies as a team. This may, of course, be a challenge for some, but then being responsible for thousands of people on board a ship is only a task for those who are qualified,” says Boldt.

THIRD pARTy “This is an expensive class-room that delivers high value training,” says Boldt. We are on the main bridge, but there is also a separate bridge wing simula-tor for safe docking and departure as well as classrooms with smaller, but still fully operational simulators. “We use state-of-the-art navigational tools within a modern cockpit-style layout, and we also license officers to use ECDIS (Electronic Chart

Display and Information) which is man-dated in the industry. This is ship handling in real time, including back-to-basic ship navigation if there should be a need for that. We also have a role as an independ-ent third party in assessing individual and team performances. Now, as always, safety is a critical part of the core business for cruise ship operators, and one of the lead-ing cruise lines has booked 60 weeks of training with Resolve just this year. To me, training, including simulator training, is and must be an ongoing key element in safety at sea, just as there are requirements for airline pilots to have simulator train-ing and pass exams. Talking about airline cockpits crews – first officers are trained to challenge the captain in his decision pro-cess. The same must happen on the ship’s bridge. This does not mean decisions by ‘committee’, but decisions based on com-petence,” says Boldt, underlining that ship-ping must have a system in place to do just this when something happens “ – to get all parts of the brain to kick in when needed.”

AUDIT “The only way for ship operators to get this right – all the way from the top management to officers -- is to conduct audits, to actually audit operations for compliance with procedures. This can only be done on the ships and based on the training in the individual companies’ procedures. Over the years, we can also base audits on the statistics we receive and focus on the areas that are identified as

the cruise ship is approaching the iconic Golden Gate Bridge to pass underneath into San Francisco Bay. Fog, wind, other ships, technical problems,

power blackouts – there are many possible sources of problems that are not likely but may happen. “Simulator training is about getting it right or you are out. Procedures are important and we work up a sweat on our

trainees,” says Dave Boldt, manager of the resolve Simulator center in Ft Lauderdale, Florida. “we focus on the human factor and teamwork, as bad decisions must be minimised by training on the many possible scenarios.”


this aspect of training is two-fold: first, to improve the safety of mariners and per-sonnel at sea; and second, to introduce the industry to RESOLVE and our core salvage and response services so that we can lend assistance—anywhere in the world—if a vessel casualty should occur.

“It may seem odd that a maritime sal-vage company would reduce their odds of getting salvage jobs by training the indus-try in safety and casualty prevention at sea. We attend to many needless disasters, and we know this is the right thing to do. The fact is that as long as we are dealing with machinery, with Mother Nature and with human nature, there will always be a need for Resolve and our fellow sal-vors. By training our clients, we have the opportunity to build trust and relation-ships that will be valuable over the long term --and before a critical need arises.

“Another irony is that my grandmother, at 15 years of age, fled the Black and Tan army that had been sent to Ireland to deal with the Irish problem. After a 100-mile donkey cart ride from County Mayo to Cove Ireland, my great grandmother refused to let her daughter board her intended vessel, the Titanic. Advertised as unsinkable, Titanic had no need of the grace of God. My grandmother, instead, made the crossing to the U.S. on the Lusitania. It is well known that steerage passengers aboard Titanic did not fare well, and I would not be here today, lead-ing one of the best maritime training centers on the planet, had that young woman made her planned voyage.”

When in the U.S., Farrell attends church every morning. He explained it this way. “We can all easily agree that death is a lot longer than life, and if you had as many near misses in life as I’ve had – and have health, family and every-thing you require – then you would go to church as well.” Farrell added, “It was not always this way, and it took me awhile to connect the dots and arrive at this point in life. What a difference it makes in life when one looks up.”


safety-critical. When audit systems are in place, the ship-owning company or opera-tor can be sure that the ship’s crew is actu-ally operating according to international standards as well as company standards. When you think of it, a ship casts off and may be under way for 30 days or more and the owner has no knowledge of the ship, the operations or the procedures. There is only the signal indicating where the ship is. Apart from that, the crew is on their own with your asset, people and cargo – and that should be a somewhat scary thought,” says Boldt, again underlining the only answer: training and audits.

AvOID THE pANIC bUTTON “Counter-ing the natural human reaction to panic is important to the training . We go through failure after failure, we deal with them, analyse and act. If a situation should arise, at least the crew will have gone through all the scenarios in a setting that feels real. We offer the full bridge view. In addition, we have the firefighting simulator and engine room simulator and we train to deal with all of this and see the vital links between all these ship operations critical areas.”

TRAINING pROGRAMMES All Resolve simulation training programmes meet or exceed the IMO Model Course require-ments and are approved and/or reviewed by the USCG as required. The instructors are approved in accordance with USCG requirements. Instructors and staff excel in their areas of expertise and have the technical competency to operate and maintain the facility’s state-of-the-art simu-lation equipment. Courses include: Bridge Resource Management (BRM), Electronic Chart Display InformationSystem (EDICS), Integrated Bridge Systems (IBS) and Ship Handling – Podded and Conventional, and courses in Dynamic Positioning Systems (DP), RADAR/Automatic Radar Planning Aids and Engine Room Resource Manage-ment will all be offered soon.

ResOlVe

›› Starboard wing simulator view.

›› Dave Boldt heads up the resolve Simulator center in Ft Lauderdale.

›› the resolve Simulator center with a ship “heading for” San Francisco with the Golden Gate bridge clearly visible.

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›› A busy day in Port everglades.

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Exceptional growth for Port Everglades

Port everglades is located in Ft Lauderdale in Florida. it is one of the busiest ports in the world, with most of the leading cruise brands using it. the record number of crew and passengers handled on a

Saturday in 2010 was 53,365. when considering the short time window to get people, luggage, supplies and fuel off/on ships, this number is just amazing. “on days like that, we run out of taxis to get people to hotels, the airport or their cars,” says Steven m. cernak, chief executive and Port Director. Looking out of the office window in the Port Authority building, rccL’s Liberty of the Seas was the only ship to be seen, but then this was a wednesday. Port everglades also handles cargo, containers and fuels

and, according to a study by research company martin Associates, it generates approximately uSD 15.3 billion worth of business activity and supports 11,400 jobs directly and some 160,000 jobs statewide.


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Why is this port growing so fast?

I think easy access is the key. We are located just minutes away from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. This is one of the fastest grow-ing airports in the United States and for cruise companies this is of course most convenient, with a short transfer time and literally a five-minute drive. For pas-sengers, Fort Lauderdale is easy to reach from most large US cities and many inter-national destinations, and we are close to the Interstate highway. The port and airport can and will explore synergies, as

some four million passengers come and go from our port on an annual basis. It is also easy to access our port and from a logistical point of view that is good for the shipping lines. RCCL’s Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas, for instance, require some 40 semitrailers in and out over a short time period. They all need to be offloaded and some are also re-loaded with return materials from the ships. To us, it is in other words important to be attractive to our customers and seamless to their customers, meaning the passen-gers. We must always strive to improve and learn from our experiences. Building a better operation is important to us.

So you are rather optimistic about the future?

The question is how big the cruise mar-ket can be. Today, only some 5-10 per cent of Americans go on a cruise. If, for instance, an additional just one per cent took a cruise, the numbers would increase rapidly. I believe the numbers will increase, so we anticipate growth and if we, for instance, look at the 20-year pro-jected passenger growth, the figures are substantially higher than they are today. In our projections, the growth rate is rather stable, meaning that I can be quite optimistic. We are also looking at possible expansions of the port as today we are ‘sold out’ when eight cruise ships are in port at the same time. We cannot expand towards the south as we will be in conflict

with the airport runway, so we are looking at other options. We are also a cargo port and from here the export of goods out of the US is larger than the imports, so indirectly that is a positive contribution to the US balance of trade. The whole trans-port pie is expanding and we are growing with it.

There are many discussions about using LNG as a fuel for cruise ships too? Is Port Everglades ready to handle LNG should there be a need for this?

We are already a fuel port and we handle oil products and chemicals. To me, LNG is just another fuel that we can handle.With the North American ECA coming into full force in 2015 with the .1 per cent sulfur fuel requirement, there will prob-ably be a demand for LNG as a shipping fuel, or as a supplement to other fuels, as that is a natural evolution. These are early days in which to discuss the possible use of LNG as fuel and the concepts must be tried and tested. Then there are the infrastructure investments needed and, in addition, the topic of educating the public to get them to accept LNG as a fuel, as it is a safe fuel solution with obvious environmental benefits. The industry needs to demonstrate its invest-ments in cleaner burning fuels to the public.

›› Steven m. cernak, chief executive & Port Director, Port everglades.

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exotic cruise vacations and international trade are what makes Port everglades an economic powerhouse for Broward county and one of the most diverse seaports in the united States.

Located in the heart of Greater Fort Lauderdale and the city of hollywood, FL, Port everglades is one of the busiest cruise ports in the world. it is a leading container port in Florida and among the most active cargo ports in the united States. And, Port everglades is South Florida’s main seaport for receiving petroleum products including, gasoline and jet fuel. A foreign-trade zone and available office space inside the Port’s secure area make Port everglades a highly desirable business center for world trade.

the Port everglades Department is a self-supporting enterprise Fund of Broward county government. it does not rely on local tax dollars for operations or capital improvements.

the total value of economic activity at Port everglades is approximately $15.3 billion. And, more than 160,000 Florida jobs are impacted by the Port, including 11,400 people who work for companies that provide direct services to Port everglades.

(Source: www.porteverglades.net)


NORwegiaN

Norwegian Breakaway represents next generation cruise ships

christer Karlsson is the Vice President for New Buildings at Norwegian cruise Line (Norwegian) and the majority of the Norwegian new building department is located at meyer werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. the first ship to be delivered from meyer is Norwegian Breakaway, scheduled for delivery in

April, to be followed by Norwegian Getaway in January 2014 and then there will be a delivery of a larger Breakaway Plus ship in late 2015, with the option for a second. the new Norwegian Breakaway is what Norwegian labels New york’s ship, meaning that it takes the best of New york and brings it to sea. the ship will also be the largest ship to homeport year-round in New york, sailing to Bermuda, the Bahamas

& Florida and the caribbean. Norwegian Getaway will operate out of miami. with so much activity going on at meyer werft due to these new ships, which are to DNV class, it is only natural for Karlsson

and most of his team to be located in Papenburg with support functions backing up from miami.


What is the advantage of having most of the department to Meyer Werft?

We need to be close to the new-building process. This means that we can approve technical drawings and details here and make any adjustments directly with the yard and class. There are also many issues relating to the architectural and design aspects of the new buildings and this makes the decision-making process short and efficient with back up from our Miami colleagues. With the construction of Nor-wegian Breakaway, we are back to podded propulsion with pods from ABB with the implementation of the new XO Pod. Our latest new building, Norwegian Epic, has a shafted propulsion system, but now we feel that pods are the right solution for us. We save fuel and get vastly improved man-oeuvring capabilities and an ADO (Azipod Dynamic Optimizer) system. Include the ship’s asymmetrical X-tail and we achieve fuel savings from just this of about four per cent compared to more traditional solu-tions. The Azipods are rated at 2 x 17.5 MW propulsion power. This gives us a top speed of 22.5 knots and a cruising speed of 21.5 knots. There are four main engines

rated at 14,400 kW and 16,800 kW, giving total installed power of 62,400 kW.

How energy efficient will the new ships be?

Taking as a given that we will operate at the same speeds as we always have done, the new ships will be some 20 percent more fuel efficient than those of the past

per passenger transported. Much of that improvement is due to the optimisation of the below-water hull as well as the opti-mised speed. We have worked closely with the yard to develop an Energy Manage-ment System. This includes a heat-recovery system through a waste-heat exchanger where we reuse this energy source. Then there is a new type of sludge-recovery system that will recover sludge and after processing the sludge is transported back to the bunker tanks. This represents an average of some USD 100,000 a year in savings. We have the Eniram trim-optimi-sation system on board to compliment the other energy-saving measures and we can very efficiently position the ship at any location using the Dynamic Positioning System. The new ECA and SECA demands may also pave the way for scrubbers on the ships as we are closely monitoring new developments, assisted by DNV.

The passengers will also meet a new and modern ship. What about passenger comfort and safety aspects?

There is a lot of focus on providing safe and energy-efficient ships. Let’s start with

›› christer Karlsson, Vice President for New Buildings, Norwegian cruise Line.

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the energy aspects. There is a Remote Cabin Control system for each and every cabin. This means that the cabin tem-perature will increase when there are no passengers in the cabin and the lights will be out. Then we use LED lights on the ship - 30 per cent of all lights will be LED lights. Close to the passengers, you will also find the ship’s galley which comes with its own Galley Energy Management system so that the chef can at all times monitor energy use. On the passenger-safety side, there is a new Cisco-based

passenger-management mustering system. This means that all passengers can be monitored for lifeboat drills and reporting to muster stations, as the small chip in the smart key issued to each passenger holds that information as well through electronic tracking. If there should be any mishaps, the ship itself is the safest “lifeboat” with safe return to port (SRTP) implemented, and we put a lot of effort into designing the ship for this eventuality. The ship ton-nage will be 146,600 GT and the outside cabin ratio is 74.8 per cent.

Meyer Werft, building new ships in huge indoor halls, has an assembly-line style approach to ship building. How does that work for you?

Shorter lead times for design and con-struction, and a breath-taking 18 months from first steel-cutting to delivery, put heavy demands on both us and the yard. For us, this means being here and working very closely with the yard. I look forward to the first delivery of this new-generation of ships for Norwegian.

›› Artist impression of Norwegian Breakaway.

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Norwegian cruise Line is an internationally operating cruise line headquartered in miami, Florida. NcL (Bahamas) Ltd., wiesbaden office is the responsible branch office for the continental european market.

Norwegian cruise Line is the innovator in cruise travel with a 45-year history of breaking the boundaries of traditional cruising, most notably with the introduction of Freestyle cruising which has revolutionized the industry by allowing guests more freedom and flexibility. in october 2011 the company launched its new brand platform “cruise like a Norwegian” that celebrates the community of diverse holiday makers who are passionate about their experiences and highlights the key elements of Freestyle cruising.

today, Norwegian cruise Line has 11 purpose-built Freestyle cruising ships, providing the guests the opportunity to enjoy a relaxed cruise vacation on some of the newest and most contemporary ships at sea. the company has two 4.000-passenger vessels on order: Norwegian Breakaway for delivery in April 2013 and Norwegian Getaway for delivery in April 2014.

Norwegian’s largest and most innovative Freestyle cruising ship to date, Norwegian epic, debuted in June 2010. three of the modern Freestyle cruising ships are deployed in europe in the 2011/12 season; with the largest european deployment in the company’s history, the cruise line will have four ships sailing in european waters in the 2012/13 season.

Norwegian cruise Line is the official cruise line of Blue man Group, appearing for the first time at sea on Norwegian epic, as well as the official cruise line of Legends in concert, howl at the moon Dueling Pianos, and Nickelodeon, the number-one entertainment brand for kids. cirque Dreams® & Dinner is also featured on board Norwegian epic as the first show of its kind at sea under a big top.

in September 2011, the cruise line received the world travel Award as “europe’s Leading cruise Line” for the fourth year running.

(Source: www.ncl.eu)


CelebRity CRuises

Celebrity growth of 60% in four years

celebrity cruises’ iconic X logo is the mark of modern luxury, with their ships’ cool and contemporary design, warm spaces, and dining experiences where the design of the venues is as

important as the cuisine. then, there is the amazing service only celebrity can provide to create an unmatchable experience.


The latest addition to the fleet is Celeb-rity Reflection. This ship entered service in July 2012, in response to the growing success of Celebrity, whose 60% expan-sion in capacity over the last four years underlines the most important fact about, and feedback to, Celebrity: travellers like the upmarket concept and come back for more, and new groups also come on board. Company President & CEO Michael Bayley has been in the role for only six months but, having accumulated more than 30 years of operational experience from Celebrity’s parent company RCCL, he is expected to bring the company fur-ther success.

pASSENGER fOCUS “We are a large brand within Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. (RCCL), having merged with Royal Carib-bean International in 1997, and we run our fleet under our own brand. What sets us apart from others is our focus on giving our guests what I call the right product. All our vessels are beautifully designed and deliver guest experiences above expecta-tions,” says Bayley, who is a British nation-al. “We have a guest-to-staff ratio of nearly 2:1 to serve the guests on our Solstice Class ships.”

Among the total Celebrity fleet of 11 ships, the Solstice Class is stunningly designed, and provides onboard experi-ences for vacationers who appreciate the

finer things in life. Celebrity Solstice set sail in 2008, Celebrity Equinox in 2009 and Celebrity Eclipse in 2010. Each can carry 2,850 guests and has a tonnage of 122,000. Celebrity Silhouette was introduced in 2011, can carry 2,886 guests and has a ton-nage of 122,400, while Celebrity Reflection was introduced in 2012, can carry 3,030 guests and has a tonnage of 126,000. These are exceptionally welldesigned ships with a concept that sets us apart: Premium ships visiting premium destinations,” underlines Bayley, adding that Celebrity Xpedition, the line’s megayacht sailing year-round in the pristine Galapagos Islands,remains very

popular among guests seeking a once-in-a-lifetime premium vacation experience.

ENvIRONMENTAL ISSUES “We operate in ECAs, and I welcome the new rules which will eventually lead to a better environ ment. As a shipping company and as an industry, we are working to respond to these changes. New technologies are available to reduce our emissions and allow us to run on low sulphur fuel. As an industry, we need to work closely together, and options like running ships on LNG not only when in port but also in coastal areas may be options that you will soon see. Ports will also have to be vocal on the issue of fuel options and facilitate this; that is,provide both the fuel and the systems for port operations. The fuel providers must build up the infrastructure, but that again depends on a critical mass – enough business for them to provide, for instance, LNG. Then we need to get the LNG on board and store it in order to run our ships on this fuel.”

pEOpLE fOCUS AND SAfETy “We want our people to stay and grow with the company. We spend much time and effort ensuring that our crew is happy. It’s about successfully managing people and offering a variety of in-depth training pro-grammes. Our employees appreciate their relationship with the company, and we

›› President & ceo michael Bayley, celebrity cruises.

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›› Celebrity Reflection, newest ship in the fleet.

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are dedicated to to offering career paths and new challenges. After all, any cruise is only as good as the crew on board. To me, safety is the prime success factor, and the safety focus and procedures must start at the top and run through the whole organisation – at all levels. The safety must come through in everyday leadership and here we operate from a solid base with a focus on continuous improvements,” says Michael Bayley.

EvEN MORE LUxURy Celebrity has offered rich, pampering experiences since its inception. Its latest guest-inspired attributes are found on Celebrity Reflec-tion, including 441-square-foot “Signature Suites” with 118-square-foot verandas; the brand’s first “AquaClass Suites,” build-ing on the popularity of Celebrity’s spa-inspired AquaClass staterooms, by adding additional space and 24/7 butler service to the host of amenities already associ-ated with AquaClass; the jaw-dropping “Reflection Suite,” a two-bedroom suite with a total of 1,636 square feet and

194-square-foot veranda, and a distinctive, all-glass shower extending out over the edge of the ship.

Celebrity Reflection also presents an entirely new, multi-functional Con ference Center, and the host of industry-first venues and experiences introduced on Celebrity Silhouette in 2011, including the interactive “Lawn Club Grill,” where guests can select and grill their own meats side-by-side with Celebrity’s expert chefs, or have them cooked to order; the relax-ing, private, wi-fi-equipped cabanas called “The Alcoves”; “The Porch,” a breezy, casual dining spot offering sandwiches, coffees and captivating views of the sea and the ship’s lush lawn, and “The Art Studio,” where vacationers can bring out their inner artist. The ship also pre-sents another venue first introduced on Celebrity Silhouette, “The Hideaway,” an intimate, quiet space reminiscent of a childhood tree house, not to mention the diverse array of other modern venues and attributes already associated with Celeb-rity’s Solstice Class ships.

CelebRity

Since its inception in 1989, celebrity has held true to its original commitment of taking the very best aspects of classic, elegant cruising and updating them to reflect current lifestyles. in 1997, we merged with royal caribbean international to form royal caribbean cruises Ltd.

what sets celebrity apart from other vacation choices today is the cruise line’s passionate dedication to providing guests with a cruise experience that exceeds expectations. this has become the definition of celebrity cruises, and has set the worldwide standard for today’s expression of what first made cruising famous – high quality, superior design, spacious accommodations, grand style, attentive service and exceptional cuisine.

(Source: www.celebritycruises.com)


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›› Pool deck onboard Celebrity Relfection.


HOllaND ameRiCa liNe

Leading a safety culture by example

“talk is cheap. i’m a firm believer in doing what you say you will do. Let’s start off discussing safety, since holland America Line and DNV have a common interest in that important topic,” says Stein Kruse, President and chief executive officer of holland America Line.


“We have a strong safety culture at Hol-land America Line (HAL) and its sister company Seabourn. It’s important to reiterate our commitment to safety: Safety starts with me and our executives – it must start at the top. We understand the safety challenges of operating a fleet of cruise ships, and the need to have an open, hon-est and transparent company culture. With 15 HAL ships and six Seabourn vessels, we have approximately 30,000 passengers and crew at sea on any given day. That’s a huge responsibility, and trust in this company is the key to meeting that responsibility. I trust our officers to manage the large and diverse organisation that is required to operate a cruise ship,” he continues.

Has safety become more important now than it was in the past?

Safety has always been a key issue for us. We are a part of the Carnival Corporation & plc group of cruise companies (see the article on pages 26 to 29). The question we are focusing on today is: “We have a strong safety program, but is there more we can do?” To answer that question, Carnival Corporation is performing a safety review across the brands, and we are looking at best practices from each. Also, the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) recently issued new operational policies for the storage of heavy objects, guidelines for life vest storage in public areas and requirements that harmonised bridge

operations. This is an opportunity for the entire cruise industry to review their safety programs and make meaningful improve-ments. To me, this reiterates the reason Carnival Corporation established a board of directors – level HESS committee for Health, Environment, Safety and Security (see the article referred to above). We have this opportunity to reinforce our safety culture based on an environment of trust. Our safety journey does not have an end; it is on-going with respect to under-standing and managing the risks associated with operating a fleet of ships.

Talking about journeys – HAL has a 140-year history of providing journeys. What is required for 2020 and beyond?

First and foremost, we must have a product that meets our customers’ needs and exceeds their expectations. Trends, demographics, the quality of our services, our facilities, experiences and destinations – all these elements are constantly evolv-ing. We must understand our customers in order to continue to deliver the once-in-a-lifetime experiences our guests have come to expect. We have a programme at HAL called Signature of Excellence, which involves the continual enhancement of our on board experience. We are also growing cautiously, and in just the past several years we have added 6,000 beds and entered new markets. We have broadened our guest sourcing outside of North America and now have offices in Rotterdam (serv-ing the Benelux countries), United Kingdom and Australia. The awareness and popularity of cruising is growing in these international markets, and we plan to continue our growth in countries like Brazil, Russia, China and India, which are currently served through our partnerships with local General Sales Agents.

The questions of fuel and emissions are con-stantly moving closer. What are your views on these? For instance, will LNG be a usable fuel source in the foreseeable future?

The cruise industry will continue to rely on fossil fuels. Solar and wind power cannot provide enough energy, but look-ing forward I see us gradually moving away

›› Stein Kruse, President and chief executive officer of holland America Line.

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›› holland America Line’s MS Eurodam in Ålesund on the Norwegian west coast.

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›› MS Nieuw Amsterdam.


from heavy fuel oils toward distillates and gas, perhaps even LNG. There are a lot of technical issues related to changing fuels. We already have engines that can use different fuels and the technology will only improve in the future. Issues that must be overcome include fuel storage and supply, risks and safety issues before a safe, practical and economical gas-powered ship is on the horizon. The need to reduce sulphur levels and lower emissions of CO2, SOx and NOx means that we will migrate toward gas. The supply of LNG will have to be ensured, but when there is enough critical mass, i.e., enough ships running on LNG, the fuel will also be more readily

available. There are technical and opera-tional challenges ahead, but those chal-lenges can be met.

You have a long and interesting track record in shipping and especially within cruise shipping. You are also a Norwegian national, having lived most of your life in the US – now in Seattle.

HAL’s headquarters are in Seattle and I joined the company in 1999 as Senior Vice President, Fleet Operations. I became President in 2003 and CEO in 2004. And with the transition of the management of Seabourn to our offices in 2011, I became

Chairman of Seabourn. There are approxi-mately 1,200 people in our land based operations and another 15,000 worldwide on board the 15 HAL and 6 Seabourn ships.

I have been in shipping for many years. When I finished Norwegian secondary school, I went to the Norwegian organisa-tion for students abroad and inquired about universities in the US. I was invited for an interview and ultimately received my bachelor’s degree at Purdue University. I later went to Harvard, where I did my graduate work at the Business School’s Advanced Management Program. I got

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›› cabana on MS Nieuw Amsterdam.

›› Pinnacle Grill, MS Nieuw Amsterdam.

my first job at the New York office of Nor-wegian America Line (NAL) as a manage-ment trainee. Then, in May 1992, NAL was sold to Cunard Line and I liked being in New York so I joined Sea Goddess Cruises, which was also acquired by Cunard. I worked in Singapore after that, setting up a cruise line with a business concept that did not really work. Then I worked for Japanese shipping company Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, and from 1997 to 1999 I was the SVP and Chief Financial Officer for “K” Line in the US. Following that, I was the Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer for Radisson Seven Seas Cruises and the CEO of Seven Seas Cruise Line. Then

I joined Holland America Line and now have responsibility for Seabourn – both large global brands within the even bigger Carnival Corporation & plc.

Seabourn’s profile and brand are quite different from HAL’s?

Holland America Line positions itself in the premium cruise category, while Sea-bourn is in the ultra-luxury category. The ships are small and intimate (just 104 or 225 suites), and the service is high end. The line was originally founded by Nor-wegian businessman Atle Brynestad. In 2000, Seabourn was acquired by Carnival

Corporation and was initially run by Cunard. Then in 2011, Seabourn was moved from Miami to Seattle, allowing this small brand to leverage our operational and back-office efficiencies. The long-term outlook for the ultra-luxury segment is good, as people have more time, are living longer and are more affluent. Three of the Seabourn ships are classed by DNV. Class is an important part of shipping, and DNV has proud traditions based in Norway. In addition to statutory work, class should also improve our business.

›› Pinnacle Grill, MS Nieuw Amsterdam.


tui CRuises

TUI Cruises expanding well-being concept for the German-speaking markets

tui cruises is in relative terms a newcomer to the cruise market. it was founded in 2008 and today operates two ships, the mein Schiff 1 and mein Schiff 2 (my Ship 1 and 2), targeting

the German-speaking markets, i.e. Germany, Austria, Switzerland and other German-speaking countries. the cruise line is a 50/50 joint venture between royal caribbean cruises Ltd and tui AG. the mein Schiff 3 is under construction at StX in Finland, and the cruise line has confirmed

its option to build the mein Schiff 4 at StX too. expansion is now key to the successful tui cruises and we have been invited to the hamburg head office to discover the business philosophy

and driving force behind the company by talking to its energetic ceo, richard J. Vogel.


Starting a brand new cruise line must have been an exciting challenge?

Absolutely! After registering the company on 22 April 2008, five of us sat down around a conference table and realised: now we’re a cruise line, so what do we do now? RCCL is one of the world’s most experienced cruise lines and TUI is a well-established operator in the Ger-man market, and both wanted to offer an excellent cruise alternative to this market. Established as an independent cruise line, we could pitch the best from both owners, and we did. First, we needed to decide on just what sort of ships we would go for. Tailor-made new ships would of course be the best, but it takes time to design and build ships, so that was not really an option at the beginning. With good help from RCCL and especially technical direc-tor Harri Koulevarra, we started to exam-ine the RCCL sister company ships from Celebrity Cruises. Mein Schiff 1 became Celebrity Galaxy whereas Mein Schiff 2 became Celebrity Mercury – European-made ships for the US market. We found that two ships here were in very good

condition and spacious, so we decided to rebuild them for our purposes, spending some Euro 50 million per ship and adding some 200 balconies, for example. We also added some 430 tons to each ship, thus increasing stability and allowing for more weight in terms of balconies. We were able to take out the casino and create more passenger space for well-being, including a large spa that is not separate for men

and women as it is for the US market. The retrofit was done at Lloyd Werft in Bremerhaven in an unbelievable 45 days per ship, which of course takes some considerable planning. The Mein Schiff 1 entered the market in 2009 and Mein Schiff 2 came in 2011.

So now you have two purpose-retrofitted ships which you market as “well-being” ships – can you explain the concept?

Germans have “too much” holiday in the sense that most people have six vacation weeks per year and they are champions in travelling. Most travel two to three times a year. The cruise industry’s market penetra-tion in Germany is only 1.7 per cent, meaning that we have a huge, untapped German holiday market. We have analysed this market and found that travellers want individual service and to relax, eat well and enjoy a spa treatment and exciting desti-nations while still being able to holiday in their native language. Our well-being concept fulfils all their expectations and we are proud of its success. For instance, we were not impacted at all by the global

›› richard J. Vogel, ceo, tui cruises.

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›› Mein Schiff 3.

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financial crisis. Germans will become even more affluent over the next decade and I’m optimistic about the future. To be a bit more specific about the well-being concept, the Mein Schiff 1 has 962 cabins with verandas and balconies of up to 24 square metres and a sundeck covering some 12,000 square metres. Everything is geared for relaxation and the ship has a very generous spa covering two decks and German-speaking personal trainers. We made use of our experience here when we built the Mein Schiff 2. Here, we have further enhanced the relaxation areas and included the innovative Meerleben (Sea Life) lounge area on deck six and the Thalasso Spa, which uses specially pre-pared seawater for treatments. The culi-nary experience is common to both ships and there are nine different restaurants on the Mein Schiff 1 and eight on the Mein Schiff 2. The passengers decide where and when to dine and book tables themselves. The cruises are booked as all-inclusive (called “Premium Alles Inklusive”), and the only additional fees relate to some of the restaurants, the on-board shopping and the shore excursions.

Now you have two new ships on order – what are their characteristics?

The new ships will be the ultimate in well-being, with some very exclusive luxury suites that also include individual balconies one stair up from the 68 square-metre living area. Of the 1,250 cabins, 90 per cent will be outside cabins and 82 per cent balcony cabins. The first ship, the Mein Schiff 3, will be delivered from STX in the spring of 2014 and the Mein Schiff 4, which is also from STX in Finland, will be delivered in the spring of 2015. What was important to me when ordering these ships was that we will get new ships that are not “old” by the time they are delivered. Let me explain: We, i.e. the industry, will be subject to ECA and SECA rules stipulating that emissions can only have a 0.1 per cent sulphur content. It is important to me that the new ships comply with all regulations from 2014 onwards. Stability is also important with double hulls and the EEDI requirements must be satisfied. Our new ships are being built to DNV class ; our existing ships are under Lloyds Register classThe close cooperation with DNV for the newbuild-ings is fruitful. We are also very interested, like DNV, in safety issues and we always have a muster station drill before leaving port, thus educating our passengers on safety.

You just touched on the environmental con-siderations and also on ensuring compliance with all environmental requirements in the future. Can you further expand on this?

Some of the solutions may be hybrid solu-tions and others may be the extended use of LNG as fuel. We are open to them all and, based on our operational experience, we have been actively building the right solutions into our next-generation ships. In the port of Hamburg, for instance, it has been discussed an interesting solution with the Eckelmann Group involving the use of LNG power while in port to avoid running the diesel generators. This is a very good example of how this may work in the future. The LNG-based power barge will generate and supply electricity while in port and thus reduce our environmental footprint considerably. Once implement-ed, it would allow us to produce 25 per cent less CO2 and virtually no SOx, NOx or particle emissions. The system could be used here in Hamburg for both our existing and new ships. We believe that this is a much better alternative than cold ironing using power produced elsewhere, for instance from a coal-fired power plant which in the bigger picture results in more overall pollution.

›› Suite living room onboard Mein Schiff 3.

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in the financial year 2008, the way for the entry into the German volume market for premium cruises was paved by the formation of the company tui cruises. this joint venture between royal caribbean cruises Ltd and tui AG began operations in spring 2009 with the liner “mein Schiff” (which translates as “my Ship”). the second was commissioned in may 2011 and is named “mein Schiff 2”. Further growth is now signalled by the subsequent expansion of the fleet with two brand-new vessels. “mein Schiff 3” will be launched in may 2014, with sister ship “mein Schiff 4” following one year later.

(Source: www.tui.group.com)

›› First steel cut – Jari Anttila, StX (left) and richard J. Vogel, tui cruises.

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RiCHaRD J. VOgel, CeO tui CRuises

Since the founding of the company in April 2008 richard J. Vogel has been the chief executive of tui cruises Gmbh, a joint venture between tui AG and royal caribbean cruises Ltd. mr Vogel started his career in the tui Group on 1 June 2005 as the head of Special Projects. in this role he developed the strategy for entering the volume cruise market. Previously richard J. Vogel was senior vice president for marketing and sales for the Aida brand, operated by the Seetours shipping line, a subsidiary of the carnival corporation. in 1984 mr Vogel gained his first tourism industry experience in the club hotel sector and following a spell as managing director of itc club calimera he moved to the cruise business. in 1996 he was appointed managing director of Arkona reisen, where he played a key role in implementing the Aida club ship concept. in 1997 he also assumed responsibility for the marketing division of Arkona touristik, the holding company for the tourism activities of the German shipping line Seetours. After Arkona touristik took over Seetours from tui in November 1997 Vogel also became the managing director of Seetours. Since 2000, in his position as senior vice-president at Seetours, Vogel was responsible not only for marketing and sales but also for the sectors of revenue management, pricing, tourism and services, corporate communications and brand promotion. From 1998 to 2004 Vogel was a member of the managing board of the Deutscher reiseVerband (DrV).

(Source: wtflucerne.squarespace.com)


CaRNiVal CORpORatiON

Getting it rightcaptain James m. hunn is the carnival corporation & PLc Senior Vice President in charge of corporate

maritime Policy. he has overall responsibility for the management of maritime policies, procedures and risk relating to health, environmental, Safety and Security (heSS) issues and for matters relating to sustainability across the corporation. the corporation is the largest operator in the cruise industry,

with carnival, costa, cunard, holland America, Princess, P&o, P&o Australia, AiDA, iberocruseros and Seabourn brands under the carnival umbrella. captain hunn joined carnival in 2002, prior to which

he was with the u.S. Navy for 32 years, reaching the rank of captain. Among his responsibilities were ship construction and repair and working to reduce the Navy’s environmental footprint. heSS issues are

a key factor in carnival corporation & PLc’s operations, and we discussed these with captain hunn.


What keeps you up at night and what do you focus on most? How is the situation different from five years ago and what will it be like five years from now?

Today we are, as you might expect, very focused on safety after the Costa Concor-dia accident. We are working hardest on making sure we give our ships all the tools they need to do the best and safest job possible and on improving our safety cul-ture. That is both my primary job and my biggest concern, and we have redoubled our efforts in this area. When I first came to Carnival, our primary focus in the HESS area was on environmental matters. We invested a lot of our efforts and resources to ensure our environmental footprint was the best it could be. We established a new position of Environmental Officer on each ship, and we implemented the ISO 14001 environmental certification across our fleet. We maintain both of these today. Five years ago, we were probably more focused on security and piracy issues. Fortunately, those issues have become less severe in recent years. While there have more recently been some issues with civil unrest and crime in some areas of the world that have required our focus, we have developed robust methods for understanding these issues and dealing

effectively with them. Concerning the next five years, the well-being of our crew, which has always been a priority, is taking on even greater focus. Improving the quality of life for our crews through eve-rything from better preventative medicine to better computer and internet access is being reviewed. I also think we are entering another period where new and very challenging environmental issues will develop. We see that already with the requirements of more stringent air and water regulations and the expectation that we will be ever more environmentally friendly. This brings us full circle on HESS issues – health, environmental, safety, and security.

How would you describe the key role of a corpo-rate function like yours?

We have published a corporate HESS Policy that clearly states our commit-ment to protecting the health, safety and security of our passengers, guests, employ-ees and all others working on behalf of the company and to protecting the environ-ment, including the marine environment where our ships operate, minimising any adverse impacts and using resources wisely. The key function of my position and my role is to drive the initiatives that

will mitigate risks in these areas. There is a saying that you can’t manage what you don’t understand. We need to constantly improve by robustly analysing risks in the HESS areas and then developing and implementing policies and procedures to minimise these risks. Our commitment to excellence in HESS culture starts at the top. DNV has helped us to measure our current culture and is assisting us in devel-oping the tools that will ensure continuous improvement of that HESS culture.

What are the challenges and benefits of being a large corporation with one hundred plus vessels compared to a smaller organisation when it comes to excellence in HESS performance?

The benefits are pretty obvious in terms of economies of scale and influence within the industry. It is easier to funnel sufficient resources in the appropriate directions in a big company. But there are also chal-lenges. Change is difficult and resistance to change is inevitable. The bigger the company, the more different points of view there will be. In a diverse, multicul-tural and decentralised company like ours, it is sometimes difficult to get everyone moving in the same direction, and some-times it is not apparent that one direction is exactly the right answer. On the one



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CaptaiN James m. HuNNcaptain James hunn joined carnival corporation & PLc in may 2002 as Vice President, corporate environmental compliance, responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring environmental policies and procedures for the company’s various cruise-operating units. he currently serves as Senior Vice President, corporate maritime Policy, with overall responsibility for the management of maritime policies, procedures and risk in the disciplines of health, environmental, Safety, and Security and with overall responsibility for matters relating to sustainability across the corporation.

captain hunn earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and an mBA from Auburn university and a master of Science in mechanical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

A member of the American Society of Naval engineers and the American Society of mechanical engineers, he earned his Professional engineer’s License as a mechanical engineer and a u.S. coast Guard License as chief engineer unlimited tonnage/unlimited horsepower, Steam and Diesel Propulsion.

Prior to joining carnival, captain hunn served for 32 years in the u.S. Navy in a variety of engineering positions. his most recent Navy assignments (both as a Navy captain) were:

• Senior engineering inspector and Deputy for the Board of inspection and Survey (iNSurV), responsible for periodic major in-depth material inspections of all u.S. Navy ships.

• chief engineer of uSS cArL ViNSoN (cVN70). this ship was the Navy’s pollution-prevention (P2) test ship, used for testing and proofing of all new and advanced equipment and procedures to reduce the Navy’s environmental footprint. in this position, captain hunn gained valuable expertise in response to environmental challenges and in improving maritime environmental performance.

›› captain James m. hunn, Senior Vice President, maritime Policy and compliance. carnival corporation and PLc.



hand, external stakeholders want to view Carnival Corporation & PLC as a single entity. On the other hand, each operating company has its own cultural background and history and to a certain degree its own customer base, which is a major strength of the company. A recognition that each piece of the company can benefit from a degree of central management of HESS risks is allowing us to more efficiently and effectively mitigate those risks.

What is the leadership role in securing excellence in HESS performance?

In my view, it is just doing what our HESS policy says, and that is to assign health, environmental, safety and security issues the same priority as other critical business

matters. I think we have done a better and better job of doing that over the past decade. If you read our financial filings and compare them year to year, you will see an increasing recognition of the technical risks and actions we take to miti-gate them. Then there is the role of this large but decentralised company. On the one hand, our size helps us to demonstrate leadership. If we take a specific action or implement a specific policy on 100 ships, the rest of the industry must at least have a look at what we are doing to determine if they should take similar action just because of the numbers. On the other hand, the diversity of our brands, their individual cultures and the variety of flag administrations and class societies that help us govern them may be even more

important. This diversity gives us a much broader view of and exposure to different perspectives, which are invaluable in deter-mining best practices.

What are the key challenges for the industry?

There are some obvious ones, like the global financial climate and its impacts on our operations. We also have to pay close attention to the social turmoil in some areas for its potential impact on where and how we can operate. Then there is the availability of human resources. Sea-faring is not necessarily as popular with the younger generation as it has been in the past. There is increased competition for seafarers from other maritime sectors as maritime trade grows, and there are

›› Carnival Breeze outside St. thomas in the carribean.

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carnival corporation & plc is a global cruise company and one of the largest vacation companies in the world. our portfolio of leading cruise brands includes carnival cruise Lines, holland America Line, Princess cruises and Seabourn in North America; P&o cruises and cunard in the united Kingdom; AiDA cruises in Germany; costa cruises in Southern europe; iberocruceros in Spain; and P&o cruises in Australia.

these brands, which comprise the most recognized cruise brands in North America, the united Kingdom, Germany and italy, offer a wide range of holiday and vacation products to a customer base that is broadly varied in terms of cultures, languages and leisure-time preferences. we also own a tour company that complements our cruise operations: holland America Princess Alaska tours in Alaska and the canadian yukon. combined, our vacation companies attract 10 million guests annually.

carnival’s wide-ranging product offerings provide our guests with exceptional vacation experiences at an outstanding value. our success in providing quality cruise vacations has made carnival the most profitable company in the leisure travel industry. carnival’s stock is dually listed on both the New york Stock exchange and on the London Stock exchange under symbol ccL. carnival is the only company in the world to be included in both the S&P 500 index in the united States and the FtSe 100 index in the united Kingdom.

headquartered in miami, Florida, u.S.A., and London, england, carnival corporation & plc operates a fleet of 100 ships, with another seven ships scheduled for delivery between now and march 2016. with approximately 200,000 guests and 77,000 shipboard employees, there are more than 277,000 people sailing aboard the carnival fleet at any given time.

(Source: phx.corporate-ir.net)

an ever-increasing number of shoreside opportunities for those with a continu-ing maritime interest. The end result is we have to take steps to ensure we can properly man ships that are increasing in complexity with adequately trained and qualified personnel. That sometimes means a bigger investment in training, and you see that happening across the industry. Perhaps the biggest challenge is the will to get it right. It comes back to giving HESS matters the same priority as other critical business matters. While that is not always the most popular or easy thing to do, the industry recognises the importance of this and is taking the right actions to make it happen.

What can the cruise industry learn in the HESS areas from other maritime players and industries?

We can learn how to improve our safety culture, or more appropriately our HESS culture, in some areas from the tanker and offshore industries and from the aviation industry. We study accidents and incidents that occur in other maritime sectors and make comparisons to our own operations to determine where we might be vulner-able to comparable issues. We have also been very actively benchmarking the avia-tion industry, particularly in the manage-ment of safety culture, monitoring of key operational parameters and in trending and reporting of parametric information.

What do you see in the crystal ball for the cruise industry when it comes to HESS-related aspects?

First and foremost, I see continuous improvement in the safety and efficiency of our operations, complemented by better technology and better monitor-ing of things that can go wrong. We can always use better tools for shipboard crews to deal with things that inevitably do break and go wrong in order to help in the decision-making processes. But we can’t take people out of the loop, and this to me means more and better training. We are continuing to fine-tune our train-ing philosophies. One huge example is our state-of-the-art bridge simulator and engine-room simulator trainer, CSMART, in Almere, Netherlands. It has the best physical facilities for the hands-on training of our bridge and engineering operations teams to help mitigate the human-factor risks inherent in these operations.

How can one become “best in class” in HESS matters?

We need to have the ability to recognise where and when change is needed, be willing to admit where we are not ‘best in class’, apply the resources and have the resolve to change. Resources for HESS issues are easier for the large companies than for the small ones. But, as I said before, creating and sustaining the will and resolve can be more difficult for the larger

and more diverse companies because of that very diversity. Change is uncomfort-able and hard. We employ change-manage-ment techniques to identify and enlist the vocal minority who embrace change and work to convince ‘fence sitters’, those who are hesitant about the change. We have to find best practices wherever they are, in this company and in others, and commit to implementing them. We just completed a major review of our safety procedures across the corporation and participated in a CLIA/ECC-sponsored operational safety review across the industry. We are now in the next phase, implementing the lessons learned from these reviews. The reviews confirmed good practices, but there is always room for improvement and we are committed to making these improvements.

In ten years’ time, when sitting on a cruise vessel crossing the Atlantic, what will you be most proud of having achieved at Carnival Corporation?

Whether it is a Cunard, Princess, Holland America or other Carnival Corporation ship, I believe my proudest achievement will have been helping to improve trans-parency and communication both within the corporation and with our stakeholders. Open communication is the key to under-standing improvement opportunities and efficiently implementing change.


pRestige CRuise HOlDiNgs

Prestige Cruise HoldingsPrestige cruise holdings (Pch) is the parent company of oceania cruises, which has a fleet of five ships, and regent Seven Seas

cruises, which has a fleet of three ships. “Both brands operate in the upscale segment of the cruise industry, targeting the over 55s who are seeking truly refined and casually elegant travel experiences,” says Kunal S. Kamlani, President & coo of Pch in this interview.


You are at the upper end of the cruise market’s exclusive segment. How do you manage to fill your ships?

Prestige Cruise Holdings has two distinct brands – Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises – that offer differenti-ated products with unique value proposi-tions and memorable experiences for our passengers. Both brands enjoy enviable past-guest ratios, and we are highly tar-geted in how we position and market each line to our valued travel agent partners, their clients and potential new passengers.

Each brand employs separate sales, marketing and hotel operations teams and we have successfully combined back- and middle-office functions while maintain-ing the brand integrity of each line. This organizational design works for us. We sail full and focus on yields.

If we look at the Oceania cruise brand first – what are its distinct features?

As Oceania Cruises has evolved since its launch 10 years ago, we’ve never lost track of what our guests want: first and foremost, great food, elegant accommodations in a “country club” casual atmosphere, exem-plary destination experiences and, as our guests themselves have described it, antici-patory service. Best of all, we deliver this at an incredible value.

Our goal with our newer ships, Marina and Riviera, was to build elegant mid-size ships (maximum 1,250 guests each) that would provide the space to enhance the core elements of our brand. That meant enhancing the onboard experience, while maintaining the level of service and inti-macy onboard that our guests expect. We built larger staterooms, expanded the spa and took the concept of fine dining to an entirely new level.

Consistent with our brand, we, of course, focused on the culinary offerings. The ships offer an unheard of 10 dining

venues for ships this size, with six open-seating, gourmet restaurants – including a French bistro by Master Chef Jacques Pépin. In partnership with Wine Spectator, we bring the concept of “wine dinners” to new heights in La Reserve by offering tastings and seven-course pairing dinners with premium wines selected in consulta-tion with the magazine’s editors. And we haven’t forgotten the coffee. We take this so seriously, we’ve also placed true Italian baristas in our Baristas coffee bars.

We transformed what was the best din-ing experience at sea to the best experien-tial culinary offering available on land or sea with The Bon Appétit Culinary Center. This first true culinary school at sea pro-vides hands-on cooking experiences for our guests. They learn cooking techniques alongside an expert chef at dedicated work stations outfitted with state-of-the-art cooking equipment. It has been extremely popular.

Another benefit of our mid-size ships is that we are able to take guests to a refresh-ing mix of classic cities and boutique towns and villages.

What about Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ features?

Regent Seven Seas Cruises is the world’s only all-inclusive luxury cruise line. Deliv-ering ultra-luxury travel experiences,

›› Kunal S. Kamlani, President & coo of Prestige cruise holdings.

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Regent’s fares include all-suite accommo-dations, round-trip air, acclaimed cuisine, fine wines and spirits, a wide selection of sightseeing excursions in every port, a pre-cruise luxury hotel package and gratuities.

Ensuring our guests the highest quality of service and attention is a top priority and our teams deliver personal and intui-tive service that is matched by one of the highest staff-to-guest service ratios in the industry. And, with some of the highest space-per-guest ratios in the cruise indus-try, accommodations are considered the most spacious at sea.

Our guests are well-educated, affluent, seasoned travelers, for whom destination, quality, service and value for luxury are

key factors when choosing a cruise. We are seeing a growing number of families enjoy-ing voyages, especially multi-generational groups traveling together.

In 2012, Regent Seven Seas Cruises made the all-inclusive experience even richer with the introduction of new con-cierge-level amenities that provide guests in Concierge Suites and above a range of perks and privileges, including priority shore excursion and restaurant reserva-tions, upgraded hotel package, additional discounts on land programs, plus in-suite espresso machine, binoculars and cash-mere blankets to enjoy while cruising.

We also introduced a new dining con-cept on all three ships: Sette Mari at La

›› Seven Seas Voyager

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pRestige

Prestige cruise holdings is the parent company of oceania cruises and regent Seven Seas cruises. Formed in 2007 to manage select assets in Apollo management’s cruise investment portfolio, Pch is led by chairman and ceo Frank Del rio, the founder of oceania cruises. Pch is the market leader in the upper-premium and luxury segments of the cruise industry with nearly 6,500 berths between the oceania cruises and regent Seven Seas cruises brands.

(Source: www.prestigecruiseholdings.com)



Veranda. Masterfully repurposing La Veran-da, the ship’s popular breakfast and lunch buffet venue, Sette Mari welcomes dinner guests with an extensive menu of authentic antipasti and Italian specialty dishes, pre-pared al momento (cooked to order) and paired with distinctive Italian wines.

How do you market and sell your brands?

Each brand has a separate sales and mar-keting team with strong relationships with travel agency partners. We truly believe our brands are “sold”, not bought. Our travel partners understand our two distinct brands and do a great job of selling our cruises to their clients. Last year, both brands sailed full, with each brand provid-ing a totally different sailing experience and that wouldn’t have been possible with-out our travel partners.

Both lines practice highly targeted mar-keting strategies with distinctive and mem-orable advertising support in appropriate consumer and travel agent media. We’ve created memorable campaigns that focus on distinctive benefits and value. And we continue to find direct mail and digital marketing to be highly effective.

Consumer engagement for each line extends into social media channels, which

we anticipate will grow in importance as the 50-year old and above consumer is its fastest growing segment. Our Facebook fans, for example, are highly engaged past and future guests who post, share, “like,” and comment consistently. And the nature of each brand -- the destinations, on-board experience and shore excursions -- provide a steady stream of fresh content, images and video for use across the social media landscape.

Where do you see Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises in the future?

We are constantly looking for ways to enhance and evolve the cruise vacation experience and elevate the long-term value proposition for guests on both lines. And while we see adding capacity to both fleets in the future, in the short-term, our goal is to continue to enrich the overall experience for both Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises at every guest touch-point.

As an example, Oceania Cruises has a reputation as a destination cruise line, offering experientially rich excursions and extended time in ports around the world so our guests can truly immerse them-selves. With Riviera we launched a new

range of culinary enrichment program-ming that we are in the process of rolling out to the entire fleet. These new Culi-nary Discovery Tours combine hands-on cooking and learning opportunities with visits to local markets side-by-side with an expert chef. With Marina and Riviera, the tours will include a component in the Bon Appétit Culinary Center.

As for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we have a precise insight as to what resonates most with our guests and are committed to continuing to evolve our product, already great service and invest our efforts in creat-ing even better guest experiences.

Additionally, we will continue to offer guests more overnight visits and extended evening port stays, so guests have ample time ashore. However, equally important is to offer at least one sea day per voyage, as our guests love spending the time on the ship and taking advantage of all the vari-ous amenities.

Is there a new ship in Regent Seven Seas Cruises future?

While there is no announcement to make about a new ship at this time, there is always a new ship in the future of every successful cruise line. So stay tuned.

›› oceania Bon Appetit culinary center class

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›› Oceania Riviera

›› oceania owners Suite Bedroom

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›› cleaning the Marina’s bulbous bow during marseille dry-docking.

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Ticking boxes for energy conservation

Prestige cruise holdings is committed to reducing energy consumption on its ships. Supervising the dry-docking of the marina in November

2012, Senior Vice President for marine operations Paolo mele discussed the company’s energy conservation initiatives and marine operations.

Between the maintenance and refurbishing work, the marina ticked several boxes on the company’s list of new energy conservation initiatives.

TEXT: MARIANNE WENNESLAND, DNV



In the next three to four years, Prestige Cruise Holdings (PCH) will implement nine energy-conservation initiatives on its ships. The energy-conservation project is currently in its first phase of imple-mentation. “A reversed osmosis plant for on-board fresh water production is being installed on the Marina as we speak,” says Mele. “This method requires less energy than traditional fresh-water evaporators. Installation in several other vessels is close to being completed.” Mele attends all dry-dockings of the company’s eight ships, coordinates the dry-docking team and is responsible for the technical aspects and timely delivery.

Built in 2011 and Oceania Cruises’ second-newest ship, the Marina brings 1,250 guests to exclusive ports of call in luxurious accommodation that make diamonds look dim. During the Marseille

dry-docking in November 2012, the ves-sel had several new energy-conservation initiatives installed, including a switch to energy-efficient LED lights and the instal-lation of 3M energy-saving window film. The 3M film reduces heat transmission and hence the need for more ventilation and air-conditioning. In addition, it scores marketing points through ensuring UVA/UVB protection for the ship’s guests.

Eniram, software which monitors and optimises the trim of a vessel, is one of Prestige Cruises’ main initiatives to enhance fuel efficiency. “Eniram’s Dynam-ic Trim Assistant (DTA) module is already in use on half of our vessels, including the Marina, and is scheduled for installa-tion on the rest,” Mele explains. “Simply put, it provides on-board and shore-side staff with weekly analyses of vessel per-formance based on extensive on-board

measurements. It finds the optimum trim for the vessel and achieves this through balancing on-board liquids.”

PCH plans to further enhance vessel performance by equipping its fleet with the Eniram Optimum Speed Assistant and a module for managing engine loads known as the Vessel Performance Man-ager. “In the past, the trend for cruise ships was to slow steam in coastal areas and go full steam ahead between them,” Mele says. “With the role that fuel efficiency plays in today’s market, this is no longer the best course. We aim to optimise speed management throughout the frame of our itineraries.”

The energy-conservation project looks into optimising itineraries and precisely predicting departure times to enable good speed management between ports of call and thus reduce fuel consumption.

›› Senior Vice President for marine operations Paolo mele attends all the dry-dockings of Prestige’s eight cruise ships. here at the marina dry-docking in marseille with captain Giulio ressa (left) and Deck officer Piers Boileau-Goad (right).

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›› the marina brings 1,250 guests to exclusive ports of call in a veil of luxury which makes diamonds look dim.

›› Brand new propellers will bring the marina out of the dry dock. Prestige cruise holdings aim to optimise speed management throughout the frame of its itineraries.


A move from underwater hull cleaning to the use of a type of innovative paint for anti-corrosive low-friction performance is another step toward increased fuel efficiency. Further initiatives include the installation of emulsified fuel systems and variable speed frequency drives. The company will also test a new type of equip-ment intended for waste fuel recovery on selected vessels.

DRAWING ON vAST INDUSTRy ExpERI-ENCE Once a Genoa-born kid watching cruise ships with eyes aglow, Paolo Mele has collected vast industry experience over the years and fulfilled his childhood dream. Mele graduated with a nautical engineering degree from Genoa’s San Giorgio Nautical Institute and spent 21 years with Carnival Cruise Lines as a ship officer, shore-side manager and finally director. He prepared vessel recovery sys-tems for the company’s Y2K project and was part of the newbuilding team that mon-itored the construction of the Fantasy class: first as a ship engineer on board, then as

superintendent for the Fincantieri NB, and finally as a director for the Fantasy Class vessels. “The years spent on the construc-tion of the new builds, first as a ship officer and then as a superintendent, were by far the most valuable for my work in marine operations,” Mele says. “They provided me with a complete and detailed picture of how ships are put together. That knowl-edge is key to understanding all the stages of a ship’s life.” In 2008, he joined PCH’s Marine Operations Office for Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

ExCLUSIvITy is the main component in the company’s cruise concept – with regard to both ports of call and on-board facilities. “We even dock at Easter Island, as one of only a few cruise operators in the world to do so,” smiles Mele. PCH has several vessels that are smaller than con-ventional cruise ships. These are able to sail in otherwise inaccessible waters and to ports in, for example, the Mediterranean, Middle East, South America, Alaska and the fjords of Norway. “Our cruises are

designed for passengers who value excit-ing destinations and on-board luxury,” says Mele.

THE WAy fORWARD Besides “keeping an eye on the Chinese market like every-body else”, how and where the leader in the upscale cruise market will charm the future is yet to be disclosed. “While we have no announcement to make about a new ship at this time, there is always a new ship in the future of every successful cruise line,” says Mele. The company is continuing to assess and plan how to take Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises to the next level for its guests.

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›› maintenance work during the dry-docking of the Marina in marseille.

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steVeN CHealaNDeR

Bringing airline safety to cruise shipping to connect the dots

Steven chealander radiates trust and confidence, a man who knows what he is talking about, with the experience only a long career can bring. he has a most impressive background as a Lieutenant colonel in the uS Air Force entrusted with the nuclear launch codes in the days of ronald reagan’s

presidency, as a chief pilot and flight safety manager with American Airlines, and as a member of the uS NtSB (National transport Safety Board) who conducted air crash investigations.


He has just retired from his last job as Airbus Vice President and Flight Opera-tions Support at the Miami Airbus Train-ing Center and is now a consultant on safety issues. In this capacity, he is a member of RCCL’s Marine Safety Advisory Board working out of Phoenix, Arizona. We met Chealander at the CLIA confer-ence in Ft Lauderdale in late autumn last year.

Mr Chealander, what can you bring to the cruise industry?

I have always had a passion for safety and the human element. After the Costa Concordia accident last year, the industry wanted to bring in more expertise and operational experience from the airline industry. RCCL chose me because I can connect the dots. It is rarely the machinery that is the problem, it is almost always a human factors chain of events and how we react to that chain of events usually dictates the outcome. My approach to this is how you deal with this from an airline perspective and how can that be applied to the cruise industry. Running an airline is about taking responsibility for millions of lives every day. You close the cockpit door and there are two individuals in charge of a hundred or more lives – you leave port and there is one captain in charge of thousands of lives. So how could the Costa

Concordia accident happen – a perfectly good ship? I can focus on what is different and what should be focused on.

What is your assessment of the shipping industry?

Aviation and shipping are two differ-ent worlds, but have many parallels in safety. There are many regulations in both industries, but leadership is missing in shipping. And this is all about leadership. If ship operations cannot get it right in all aspects of safety, you may as well get out – just don’t do it. In the airline indus-try, we have the FAA (Federal Aviation

Authority) setting the standards and the safety bar or level. Even low-cost opera-tors have to comply with the standards and leadership principles defined by the FAA. Shipping has the class societies and regulations, but it is just simply on another level, with much room for improvement. Focus must be the leadership provided by, for instance, the VP in charge of opera-tions. In the airline industry, I dare to say that the airline goes in the same way as its operations. The CEO must operate a safe company with the right safety culture.

And safety is the key?

Safety is not just the key and a priority – safety is in your DNA, it is who we are. We are not making pencils – we physically move lives. This requires a keen sense of awareness by the bridge officers. And not everyone is cut out to be an officer or ship master, a captain. So we need to test and test again, as, for instance, is done by the military and airlines. Every day is a test, and you have to pass this test. So the ship-ping industry will have to become more sophisticated in selecting the best – and it pays to pitch for the best individuals. Com-pany leadership must set the standard so that non-performers are given other tasks. The person responsible for human safety must report directly to the CEO as this is a key position within any cruise line, for

›› Stephen chealander.

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instance, and the position must be free of company politics. If there are any mishaps, accidents or other issues, then the line goes to the CEO and there is no question of responsibility. You are responsible for doing the right thing. This is a little like raising a child – you set the standards, the rules, the limits – you are “raising” the captains!

What are your recommendations?

Do the checks and ensure that every-thing is done on board according to your priorities. Checklists are key to always doing things the right way. Not just once, but always. Airline cockpit crews must

always, every day, get it right. So must captains on ships. For instance, when I asked about the daily briefing by captains on cruise ships, I found out that they do a pre-cruise briefing in port, but after that no more briefings. The cruise does not stop after the first day! There should always be a daily operational briefing. And then there is another check that is vital: line checks. Back to the airlines. When I was an airline captain, there would be other captains riding along on the cock-pit jump seat to check the cockpit crew and that operations were according to instructions, manuals and checklists. To me, that was a welcome check to ensure that safety was taken care of. Airlines can

keep track of every captain and pilot, their track record, their successful landings and more bumpy landings, their mistakes – and trends can be identified. Shipping must raise the bar on the individual’s performance and track record. There are few checks today. This would also prevent corners from being cut. Officers may think that, as they have done a certain trip hundreds of times, they can cut corners since that is not normally a problem. To me there are no corners to cut. Deviations must not become the norm. The Costa Concordia was a deviation from the norm with a fatal outcome. So my recommenda-tion is: shake the CEOs in shipping up as to safety!

›› Steven chealander has a long career as a pilot and working actively with airline safety, his latest job for Airbus. he has worked as consultant to the cruise industry on applying best practices on safety. Pictured below the latest addition to the Airbus family, the A 380.

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fiRe safety

Fire safety awareness campaigneach year, fires lead to casualties and severe damage to vessels and equipment. when looking at the fire statistics, passenger vessels seem to have a higher fire frequency than other types of vessels. this could be because the focus on passenger vessels is high and such fires are usually

reported in the media. in addition, passenger vessels normally have more compact engine rooms, with more machinery and equipment. Larger engine rooms may improve fire safety as the

distance is greater between the source of ignition and the potentially combustible material.

TEXT: TUvA fLAGSTAD-ANDERSEN AND HANNE SOLUM, DNV

The potential consequences of a fire on board a cruise ship are serious and empha-sise the importance of having the right focus and of compliance with rules and regulations to avoid fire. DNV has chosen to focus on reducing the risk of engine room fires throughout 2013 by launching a Fire Safety Awareness Campaign.

fIRE pREvENTION An evaluation of where fires start on board ships shows that approximately two out of three fires originate in the engine room and that oil hitting hot surfaces is by far the most common reason for engine-room fires. We estimate that 50% of all incidents in the engine room originate from oil leakages/spray on hot surfaces. Other main contributors to the fire and explo-sion risk are excessive blow-by, caus-ing scavenging-space fires or crankcase explosions and hot-running of bearings. Leakages of hot gas due to bad pipe fixa-tions or connections are also a common cause of fires.

In light of recent low-sulphur regula-tions, low-sulphur fuel with a viscosity which is lower than that of conventional heavy fuel oil has also proven to represent a risk with regard to fuel oil leakages in the engine room.

Based on the above, DNV has identified the insulation of hot surfaces as well as the screening/shielding of potential leakage areas as main priority areas for our Fire

Safety Awareness Campaign. Additionally, maintenance and proper cleanliness in the engine room are important in reducing the risk of fire.

HOT SURfACES Most fuel oils, lubrica-tion oils and other flammable oils have an auto-ignition point above 220°C. If a leakage hits a surface hotter than this auto-ignition temperature, the liquid may ignite spontaneously.

Any such hot spot consequently repre-sents an immediate hazard in the case of an oil leakage. Identifying and removing hot spots is therefore considered to be an important factor in preventing fires.

Good indicators of hot spots include faded or burned paint and destroyed/burned insulation. Over a period of time, unpainted steel that has been repeatedly heated will attain a surface colour that is different to that of unheated steel.

Some known hot spots are:n Indicator valvesn Cut-outs for pressure/temperature

sensorsn Cylinder coversn The exhaust pipe from each cylindern The transition into the exhaust manifoldn The exhaust manifold, in particular

overlaps between steel sheets and laggings

n The foundation and lifting lugs on exhaust ducts and manifolds

n Turbochargers, in particular flanges, uncooled gas casing and uptake

n Turbine casings, boilers casings and steam piping

Some known risks of leaks (flammable oils) are:n Flexible bellows carrying flammable oiln Unshielded low-pressure pipes and

flangesn Improper routing of pressure pipesn Unsuitable insulationn Unauthorised level gaugesn Sounding pipes terminating in Class A

machinery spaces

Feedback from DNV surveyors shows that missing/deteriorated insulation is still a common finding during surveys. During operations and maintenance work, it is quite common for insulation material to deteriorate, and it is therefore important that defective insulation is repaired or renewed before being reinstalled. Oil-soaked insulation should always be renewed.

JACkETED HIGH-pRESSURE fUEL-OIL pIpES AND SHIELDING There is no reliable way to prevent directly sprayed flammable fluids from penetrating beneath the insulation covering surfaces with temperatures in excess of 220°C. All external high-pressure fuel lines between the high-pressure fuel pumps and fuel


fiRe safety

injectors must therefore be protected with a jacketed piping system capable of containing fuel from a high-pressure line failure. Any high-pressure line failure should lead to a fuel-oil-leakage alarm.

The general condition of the high-pressure fuel-oil system should be checked regularly, and special attention should be paid to any possible leakages from the high-pressure pumps.

The best way to prevent flammable liquids from reaching hot surfaces is by shielding the piping system and compo-nents like filters, heaters, coolers and pumps.

MAINTENANCE AND CLEANLINESS Equipment and material should be regularly checked to confirm that the insulation has been correctly installed. When equipment has been maintained or repaired, checks should be made to ensure that the insulation covering the heated surfaces has been properly reinstalled

or replaced. Special attention should be paid to insulation areas where vibrations may be present, the discontinuous part of the exhaust-gas piping and turbo charger and other suspect parts. It is also very important that all parts are assembled correctly to prevent failure when starting up after maintenance. Additionally, DNV experiences that the crew’s attitude to general cleanliness is very important and is an important factor in reducing the risk of fire.

DNv’S fIRE SAfETy AWARENESS CAMpAIGN The top detainable deficiency during port state controls is reported to be related to fire-safety measures, and insur-ance companies and DNV statistics state, as previously mentioned, that the majority of on-board fires originate in the engine room. As safety is a top priority for DNV, we want to have a continued focus on fire safety in the engine room in 2013 through the Fire Safety Awareness Campaign. We

believe that, by maintaining a continuous focus, the awareness level within the indus-try will increase and have an impact on the safety level on board.

Even though it is the manager’s and crew’s responsibility to maintain the vessel to applicable standards in order to prevent fire, the maritime industry expects DNV to verify compliance with applicable rules and regulations during periodical surveys. Expectations as to class are high but, since most of the surveys are carried out on the vessel during a short stay in port and with machinery running at low load, it can be difficult to detect all the potential safety hazards, even with thermographic scan-ning of hot surfaces.

The purpose of the Fire Safety Aware-ness Campaign is to ensure our continuous strong focus on fire safety during periodi-cal surveys and show our customers how engine room fires may be prevented.

›› typical mistake when re-fitting insulation.

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›› commander Buddy reams, the uScG Liquefied Gas carrier National center of expertise.

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USCG getting ready to use LNG as fuel for cruise shipsheaded by commander Buddy reams, the uScG Liquefied Gas carrier National

center of expertise is located in Port Arthur, texas. this is one of the seven centers of expertise established according to the uScG marine Safety enhancement Plan

implemented in 2008. the Port Arthur center’s purpose is to supply the coast Guard with experts on liquefied gas ships, including those that use LNG as fuel, and to ensure

the cG’s consistent application of international and uS liquefied gas ship standards.


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Commander Reams, what are the challenges in your view of using LNG as fuel on cruise vessels?

There is work going on within IMO and the shipping industry to come up with appropriate operational and design stand-ards as well as practical solutions for using LNG as a ship fuel. It is important, right now, for my office to stay on top of all aspects of this effort. We do that in many ways, not the least of which is participat-ing actively in meetings, conferences and committees within the industry as they get ready for LNG as fuel. We are grate-ful for our frequent interaction with the gas industry experts, notably classification societies, shipping companies, operators, and engineers that are ushering in this new fuelling option to help us maintain awareness.

Why do you think the cruise industry may be heading in the direction of LNG as fuel?

A number of different engineering and fuel sourcing options are being considered to address the emission limits established in the various ECAs worldwide. One of those options is using LNG as a fuel. Here in the U.S., we’re already aware of many ongoing ship design projects utilizing LNG as fuel. As ship owners and operators are making these decisions, I’m certain that there are dozens of individually unique factors that have to be considered. The technology for LNG fuel is available now and I expect a well rounded set of safety standards to be in place soon so that whatever decision is made by each opera-tor, we’ll be able to ensure continued safe operation.

Do you see any specific challenges with LNG on board cruise ships?

Risks for all existing fuel sources are addressed through training, design, and operational safety standards. LNG is another fuel solution and I am confident that the rules for how to store this fuel and use it on board ships will consider all

the risks, as well as previous best practices, so that this will be another safe solution. After all, LNG has been safely handled as a marine cargo for decades and LNG as a fuel solution also has an excellent safety record when it has been used. As its use as a fuel is expanded to other parts of the marine industry, the inspection proce-dures and methods used on those ships will be adapted to address the new stand-ards. For cruise ships, the USCG’s existing and very robust inspection program and training provided to our marine inspectors will be updated as the new safety standards are put into place so that we continue to ensure safe operating ships for the crew and passengers.

In preparation for the LNG fuel option – what is the Coast Guard doing?

Besides the obvious and important inter-action at IMO with new gas-for-fuel standards for ships, the Coast Guard is developing policy to address LNG bun-kering issues here in the U.S. We’re also looking at where our existing marine inspector competencies and marine inspector guidance need to be updated to address the new standards. We have a role in each of these steps at the Liquefied Gas Carrier NCOE. To carry out this respon-sibility effectively, we must communicate very openly and collaborate actively with all the experts in the industry.

But there is also the matter of getting the fuel on board the ships safely. How do you view this aspect?

We strive to be engaged and knowledge-able in all aspects of the LNG fuel supply process and that includes the ports. One potential challenge we are aware of is con-ducting simultaneous passenger/cargo and LNG bunkering operations. For a cruise ship’s time in port, with several thousand people, goods and suppliers going on and off the ship during a short period, it may be a challenge to find a time when no pas-sengers or crew are present or moving on and off. Our focus is on developing the right safety standards and thus the right solutions.

As a center of expertise within the USCG – how do you collaborate with the other centers?

Having supervised both the cruise ship NCOE and, now, Liquefied Gas Carrier NCOE, I can attest to how well all of the centers communicate and share/build on one another’s best practices. I say “build on” because there are no two NCOEs that are exactly alike, inasmuch as their refer-ent industries have unique characteristics (i.e. cruise ships and liquefied gas ships). As the cruise industry begins to utilize LNG as a fuel, these two centers will be working very closely as the Cruise Ship NCOE incorporates new field inspection procedures and training needs into the existing program. Equally important to NCOE collaboration is our very well estab-lished interaction and advisory role with Coast Guard-wide marine safety program managers, field units, and the professional training centers.


fuel maNagemeNt

Fuel management challenges for the cruise industry

Some of the challenges faced by the cruise industry differ from those of the general marine industry, especially in terms of bunkering and other fuel related issues. cruise ships operate on a tight schedule, with limited time in port, and most of the ports visited on a typical seven-day itinerary have limited bunkering facilities. this means that most cruise

vessels have a limited choice of ports and suppliers for their bunkering needs. congestion in big ports such as miami on a weekend can mean difficulties in securing access to

low sulphur fuel oil (LSFo) as there is limited barge availability and tank capacity.

TEXT: MARTIN ANDREW THOR vERLE, DNVPS

When problematic or off-specification bunker oil is received, the lack of tank space and time means that debunkering is not an option for most cruise vessels, except as a last resort. This results in cruise ships often continuing to run on fuels that the commercial fleet may not accept.

Distillate fuels with a low flash point have been a potential issue, and DNVPS saw a rise in the number of incidents of low flash point fuel a couple of years ago. Although the Danish Shipowners’ Associa-tion commissioned a study to look into this, the incidence of fuels failing the flashpoint limits has been falling recently. Nonetheless, it is a distinct possibility that the spectre of low-flash-point fuel will rear its head again in January 2015 when the maximum permitted Sulphur content in Emission Control Areas (ECA) is reduced from 1.00 %m/m to 0.10 % m/m.

DNVPS continues to see other issues with distillate fuels, including poor lubricity which has the potential to cause wear-related problems for the engines’ fuel pumps. Low viscosity fuels can also be a cause for concern due to the possible propulsion loss caused by the vessel’s inability to maintain the correct fuel injection pressure. We are also continu-ing to see problems with microbiological activity on a regular basis and this can be

very costly and difficult to eradicate from the vessel’s fuel system once it has taken hold.

Competition between marine and land-based industries as well as with the offshore sector could see diesel prices rise dramatically in 2015 unless refineries make changes to their production processes in time. However, this is unlikely given the short timeframe remaining. That being said, the increased use of LNG in land-based power generation may reduce the demand for liquid fuel and alleviate some of the expected upward pressure on diesel fuel prices.

The marine industry is currently showing a lot of interest in using LNG as a bunker fuel. Its low price and good environ mental profile due to its low sulphur content makes it an attractive proposition for any vessel that spends a significant portion of time operating in an ECA. For the cruise industry, however, the requirement of approximately four times the tank space volume needed for liquid fuel for an equivalent energy out-put may curtail LNG’s take-up. Another issue for the expanded use of LNG in the marine industry will be acceptance by the general public, who perceive LNG to be a dangerous fuel. The perception that LNG is unsafe is not borne out by the fuel’s

excellent industry track record due to effective rules and a good training regime.

DNVPS has issued an unprecedented number of Bunker Alerts since the intro-duction of the North American ECA last year, with some of the issues becoming recurring themes. The general trend in the bunker supply industry is that bunker fuel is no longer the preserve of the oil majors and is now the domain of specialist independent suppliers. These independ-ent suppliers source residual product and cutter stocks from all over the world. In North America, for example, the high level of refinery sophistication has meant that there is limited residual production, so most of the residual fuel supplied to the marine industry is imported.

With tight margins, the supplier is unable to carry out extensive testing on the various cutters used. Because of this limited testing and the 1.00% m/m sulphur requirement in ECAs, DNVPS has seen a rise in the number of cases of potentially unstable fuels that could result in significant operational difficulties for vessels, in particular related to their filtra-tion and separation equipment.

DNVPS has also observed a distinct trend towards LSFOs having substantially higher levels of abrasive aluminium & silicon or catalytic (cat) fines. These hard


fuel maNagemeNt

particles can cause rapid engine wear if not effectively reduced by the vessel’s treat-ment plant. The new ISO 8217:2012 stand-ard offers the fuel buyer added protection by reducing the maximum allowable alu-minium plus silicon level from 80 mg/kg to 60 mg/kg.

The incidence of high sodium and potassium content, which are part of the components used for desulphurisation and as H2S scavengers in the refining process,

has also been on the rise. These can cause substantial operational difficulties due to turbocharger and exhaust-system fouling in the marine diesel engine, and it should be noted that sodium and potassium will not be removed in the vessel’s fuel separa-tors when present in the fuel in the form of a base.

Although the take-up of exhaust gas scrubbers has not been very strong in the shipping industry, the cruise and ferry

industries have been at the forefront in trying out this technology. For instance, latest reports show that NCL is going to fit the Pride of America with a full system from Green Marine Tech. If this opera-tion is successful, we may therefore see the continued use of residual fuel within ECAs into 2015 and beyond.

›› Adventure of the Seas bunkering outside Santa cruz, tenerife.

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sulpHuR ON tHe ageNDa

Sulphur on the agenda

Ship owners face a time of difficult choices in the years to come. Stricter emission regulations, the high cost of fuel and low freight rates create a wearisome business environment. in this time

of decision-making, the sulphur oxide issue is not among the easiest. the choice of strategy for compliance with sulphur dioxide emission requirements is causing frustration and confusion

as owners weigh up the pros and cons of exhaust cleaning solutions against fuel switches. And rightly so: the introduction of Sox cleaning technology is a paradoxical problem. on the

one hand, there is a potentially very favourable economic solution with a pay-back time of between one and two years in special cases. on the other hand, there are the unknown risks

that accompany the introduction of new technology; what if it doesn’t work as intended?

TEXT: TOMAS TRONSTAD, DNV

The list of questions arising in relation to exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS) is long and intricate. Long – since this involves new technology of which the yards, operators and owners have little experience. Intricate – since the issue is inherently multidimensional and includes factors such as novel technology, opera-tional issues, compliance regimes and local and international authority enforcement strategies, to name just a few.

This article will provide a short update on the matter, based on DNV’s experi-ences so far. The focus will be on practi-cal implications for the yards, shipowners and operators. A good source of EGCS fundamentals can be found at www.egcsa.com. The article will provide examples of figures for some design parameters. These figures should be read with caution as the manufacturers are continuously develop-ing their designs.

How does the EGCS process work?

A wet EGCS works by allowing water to be intimately mixed with the exhaust gas, which leads to several chemical processes

taking place between the water and the sulphur in the exhaust. The sulphur is transformed and captured in the water phase, ultimately as sulphate. The waste water is cleansed, removing particles and rudiments, before being discharged into the sea. Seawater has a natural buffering capacity that neutralises acid by-products of the chemical processes, whereas fresh

water needs to have chemicals added to allow the same process. The chemicals most often used are caustic soda or mag-nesium oxide. The sludge rinsed out from the waste water is stored in tanks for later delivery in port.

In a dry EGCS, the exhaust gas is fed through a packed bed of calcium hydrox-ide granulates, forming gypsum (calcium sulphate). The produced gypsum (in granulate form) is stored in on-board containers. This means the containers must be replaced during ship berths. For a smaller vessel, typically short sea ship-ping, the exchange must usually be done once a fortnight. The dry EGCSs’ main advantages over wet EGCSs are: simpler systems, no sludge production and no discharge water. The systems will become rather heavy and large for power plants of around 20MW and bigger.

Will the discharge of sulphate be harmful to the oceans? And will stricter requirements come into force at a later stage?

Studies and in-field testing done to date show that the increase in sulphate due to

›› tomas tronstad, Principal engineer, environment and energy efficiency, DNV.

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exhaust gasscrubbing will be insignificant when compared with the quantity already in the oceans. As to the content of other substitutes in the discharge water, special concern should be paid to Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). MEPC Guideline 184(59) states that further research into the effects of PAHs on the environment may require the future tightening of requirements, possibly with retroactive effect. The MEPC Guideline further recommends that a ship which has pro-vided wash water measurement data from an installed EGCS plant should be granted a waiver of compliance with possible future stricter discharge standards for this plant.

What is the difference between an open and closed loop EGCS?

An open loop EGCS utilises seawater as a scrubbing agent, pumping seawater up into the funnel and discharging the same amount of water after cleaning out debris. A closed loop system utilises seawater or fresh water) with added chemicals in a closed loop. A certain amount of water is regularly tapped from the closed water loop and then cleaned and stored in a tank. An equal amount of new replace-ment water is added to substitute the tapped water. A closed loop system is only able to operate in completely closed mode for as long as the discharge water tank volume allows – usually a few days’ operation.

What is the reason for the large physical size of EGCSs? Will they shrink in the years to come?

The chemical processes required need a certain amount of time to take place. Consequently, the EGCS body diameter is dimensioned to reduce the speed of the exhaust gas and the length is dimen-sioned to allow the necessary contact-duration period. Moreover, the lower the temperature of the exhaust, the greater the SO2 solubility, which is also why the process is space demanding, since the water spray also functions as the cooling media. For the reasons stated above, it

›› Ae scrubbers with deplume.

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is questionable that EGCSs will become considerably smaller in the future, although the manufacturers are working on this issue.

How much space does a typical EGCS require when installed? Do the available EGCS technologies differ dramatically in terms of size and weight?

For a 10MW power plant, covering main engine(s), auxiliary engines and boiler, the rough physical size requirements of the goose-necked EGCS body (in the funnel) are 7-10 m in length, 3.5-5 m in breadth and 5-8 m in depth, depending on the manufacturer. Columnar designs may be slimmer and longer (a diameter of 2.2 m and length of 12 m for a 10MW plant), and these tend to be fitted on each engine or boiler. The main space-demanding parts of the EGCS plant are the main EGCS body, process plants (water treatment, etc) and fluid storage tanks. For dry EGCS systems, there are no water-treatment-system considerations to take into account.

What is the typical weight of an EGCS and will it affect ship stability?

For a 10MW power plant, covering main engine(s), auxiliary engines and boiler, the weight of the EGCS body in the funnel would typically be about 7-10 tons in a wet condition. Additional weight will come from the tanks and systems, but these will be lower in the ship. DNV’s experience of stability issues is that the EGCS weight can usually be accommodated without any need for special arrangements. This is especially true for designs which can replace the silencer.

What are the main issues to consider when retro-fitting an EGCS on board a ship?

When retrofitting an EGCS, the funnel is usually expanded to allow for the EGCS body. Experience shows, however, that fitting other equipment is often a bigger challenge. The location of tanks, routing

of piping – especially the water pipes from below the water line up to the EGCS in the funnel and back to the sea, acces-sibility of equipment, routing of chemical piping versus personnel safety and accessi-bility for inspection are some of the main concerns.

What are the realities related to the EU require-ment for closed loop cycle EGCSs?

The European Council and European Parliament reached provisional agree-ment on the sulphur content of marine fuels on 23 May 2012, amending directive 1999/32/EC. This requires EGCSs to be of the closed loop type, but only if the ship is using fuel containing more than 3.5% sulphur.

Considering the possible onset of a global requirement of 0.5% sulphur content; could an EGCS potentially be smaller if it is to clean to 0.5% sulphur content only (not 0.1%)?

A wet EGCS that cleans to a 0.5% sulphur content will require less amount of process water, and hence lower pump capacity and power compared to one that cleans to a 0.1% content. The EGCS body may be made somewhat smaller in size, but probably not dramatically smaller. The auxiliary power requirement will be less however, as will the volumes needed for sludge- and water-treatment tanks.

What is the difference between class approval and IMO certification, and why does an EGCS need both?

Classification society approval covers the standard class issues such as core safety for people and property (including the vessel). In addition, IMO requires the equipment to be certified for environ-mental compliance with guidelines devel-oped by IMO – MEPC.184(59). The flag state may authorise classification societies to perform this certification, with the clas-sification society then issuing the approval and certificate on behalf of the national maritime administration.

Are there areas or ports that do not accept EGCSs as an alternative means of reducing sulphur dioxide emissions?

Exhaust gas scrubbing is an accepted supple ment to the use of low sulphur fuels under the International Maritime Organi-sation’s air pollution regulations (MAR-POL Annex VI). All ports accept the use of EGCSs within their waters, including the discharge of waste water. Specific ports and confined waters such as the Baltic Sea may forbid open loop EGCS systems in the future.

How does the EGCS affect the vessel’s EEDI and EEOI?

The energy efficiency design index (EEDI) or the operating index (EEOI) does not include explicit equations for EGCS plants, and EGCSs are as such not included. If the ship auxiliary power in the EEDI/EEOI is given from electric power tables, the increased fuel consumption due to an added EGCS will likely be added in the power tables and contribute to a small increase in the EEDI/EEOI. The details on how the EEDI/EEOI formulas will inte-grate the increased auxiliary power con-sumption may be specified for the actual newbuild project/EGCS retrofit project. If the auxiliary power consumption is pro-vided as a percentage of the main engine power, this percentage will also cover the extra power needed to operate the EGCS. In the latter case, the EGCS will not intro-duce any changes to the EEDI or EEOI.

What is the effect of the two different approval schemes, scheme A and scheme B, in IMO MEPC Guideline 184(59)?

Scheme A requires online monitoring of the plant’s wash water effluents and operating parameters, but only periodi-cal monitoring of air emissions. Scheme B specifies periodical monitoring of wash water effluents, but online monitoring of air emissions. The basis of the verifica-tion procedure under scheme A (may be viewed as a form of type approval) is that



if all relevant components and operat-ing values and settings are within those approved, then the performance of the EGC system is within that required with-out the need for actual exhaust emission measurements. Scheme B works under the assumption that “MEPC type approval” is not present, and thus online monitoring of air emissions is required.

What about possible future emission require-ments as to particulate matters (PM), including black carbon (BC) – will an EGCS manage to capture PM and BC to acceptable levels?

An EGCS plant designed to remove SOx is capable of capturing a significant share of the exhaust particulate matters as well. However, the physics behind the captur-ing of SOx from an exhaust gas stream is fundamentally different to that relating to the capture of particulates. Design-ing a wet EGCS to be efficient at particle capture will usually make it less suitable for SOx capture, and vice versa. The SOx EGCS will also tend to capture the largest particles, whereas it is the smaller particles that cause the greatest concern when it comes to detrimental health effects. That said; studies indicate that SOx EGCSs can reduce smaller particles and BC at an aver-age level compared to methods and tech-nology otherwise normally available.

What is the capex and opex of EGCSs, and what about the cost of installation?

Economy of scale also applies to EGCSs, so the capex per MW is usually less for a large plant than for a smaller. Since there are still relatively few EGCSs, the financing package developed for each project differs a lot, making it difficult to reveal and com-pare prices. That said, to DNV’s knowl-edge, representative cost figures to date typically range from 300 €/kW for smaller projects (up to 5MW) to around 200 €/kW for large projects and even to below 100 €/kW for the very large installations (>50MW). The figures given cover costs for the actual plant, installation and opera-tion comes in addition. Operational costs

›› Ae exhaust gas cleaning.

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differ for the various designs, depending on the cost of chemicals and added fuel consumption, but typical figures for cur-rent installations could centre at around 5 €/MWh. Installation costs also differ between the various designs and ship types depending on the project details. Yards are beginning to position themselves in this matter, and the experienced ones are able to offer technical knowhow and

streamlined processes. Costs of installation in the same order as the costs of equip-ment are known, but lower prices are also reported. The installation cost should also be non-linear, with an economy of scale benefiting large plants.

How much yard time should be expected for a retrofit of an EGCS on board a vessel?

In DNV’s experience, commercial projects will require up to a month’s time in the yard, although shorter periods have also been reported. For multiengine plants, typical of cruise ships and to some extent container ships, some suppliers are able to perform parts of the retrofitting of pipes and systems during normal operations, thus reducing yard time. Naturally, such a solution is stressful for the normal crew as well as for the installation team. The instal-lation of an EGCS during ordinary dock-ing is also known to be a challenge due to the already busy time plan.

What is the power needed to operate and run the EGCS?

Power needs differ depending on the supplier, technology and ship specifics, but a ballpark figure would be 3% addi-tional fuel consumption due to the EGCS’s auxiliary power needs. Any increased fuel consumption as a consequence of increased engine back pressure would come in addition.

How does the EGCS affect the engine/boiler/economiser/silencer operations?

The economiser will not usually be influ-enced or changed due to the EGCS. The EGCS may in some cases replace the silencer, providing space which makes retrofit arrangements easier. Multistream plants are available, meaning that one large EGCS can accommodate the exhaust from the main engine, auxiliary engines and boiler. Classification Rules require a multistream plant to have a bypass; thereby ensuring the availability of the main func-tion propulsion and power generation should the EGCS be blocked.

Corrosion and material selection – what are the risks involved? Can existing piping be used in retrofit projects?

Strong corrosion-resistant materials in the parts of the system exposed to low pH wash water or alkaline chemicals are required. Plastic pipes or GRP are in

›› Four Ae scrubbers.

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widespread use here. The material selec-tion is on the one hand a problem that should be manageable, given that the cor-roding substance is known. Recent years of on-board testing have provided several lessons when it comes to the selection of material for different equipment and com-ponents (valves, pumps, etc, in addition to the pipes). On the other hand, experience shows that the yards are on new ground in these questions and understandably also concerned about the material cost. Good communication lines between the supplier and yard are essential to ensure the cor-rect material selection. A retrofit system will not use existing on-board piping, with the possible exception of short sections of pipes leading from the sea chests and the cooling water pipes that discharge overboard. The latter is by far the most important with regard to material issues.

What are the main hazards and risks when it comes to the operation of the EGCS on board the vessel?

DNV’s experience with the EGCS risk assessment projects to date is that, for the operational phase, the high-risk categories identified are mainly related to the safety of people and high operational costs. These two groups are far more exposed than risk groups such as reputation, delay, environment and non-compliance. The safety risk is mostly related to bunkering and the handling of chemicals, notably caustic soda. The majority of the operation-al cost issues are related to having to switch to expensive compliant fuels during EGCS downtime or the improper functioning of the EGCS system. Through the risk work-shops, proper mitigating activities are iden-tified to reduce the risks to acceptable lev-els, and the responsible party is also given a deadline for completing the activity.

What are the main hazards and risks when it comes to the core EGCS technology on board the vessel?

For the EGCS system, the crucial items are related to the parts involving new

technology. EGCS technology has a good track record for use in onshore plants. In that this technology is now being “marini-fied”, several new solutions, adaptations and integration issues are being designed. Failures and malfunctions are being exposed and the solutions to these are maturing, getting rid of some inevitable “child diseases”. Concretely, the parts of the EGCS with the most and largest techni-cal hazards are usually the water cleaning equipment, the water system (seawater, fresh water and waste water), the exhaust system and components, the chemical systems, including dosing, and the control system, including monitoring equipment. Through the risk workshops, proper miti-gating activities are identified to reduce the risks to acceptable levels, and the responsible party is also given a deadline for completing the activity.

Will NOx-reducing equipment such as SCR plants also reduce SOx emissions? If so, can this allow for smaller and cheaper EGCS investments?

An SCR plant will also extract some SOx from the exhaust flow. However, it is the last 10-20% of the sulphur contents that are the most challenging to remove. Thus, an SCR plant will not allow for consider-ably smaller or lighter SOx EGCS plants. Research and development work is ongo-ing to develop combined SOx and NOx EGCSs. To date, simultaneous De-SOx and De-NOx technology has not been demon-strated in full-scale.

What logistics supply will an EGCS in operation require?

A wet EGCS with a hybrid or closed loop design will require a supply of the chemi-cal agent, e.g. caustic soda or magnesium oxide. This is usually delivered by truck on the wharf. A large cruise ship will normally require the bunkering of, say, caustic soda about every fortnight, typically in volumes such as 1 ton/MW/week. In addition, some manufacturers include water clean-ing technology that makes use of other

chemicals as well, such as flocculants and coagulants, but smaller quantities of these are required. The sludge removed from the wash water will need to be deposited in port. Most ports will have receiving facili-ties for such waste.

What are an EGCS’s maintenance needs?

Maintenance of the EGCS system is on the whole relatively undemanding and composed of generic maintenance tasks carried out on equipment such as valves and actuators, pumps, electric motors, heat exchangers, tanks, sensors, etc. The EGCS unit will usually be equipped with main-tenance hatches for periodical internal inspection, including of the spray nozzles, which could be required typically once a year. In general, there are very few or no parts to be greased or oiled periodically. For systems with MEPC Scheme B approv-al, the continuous emission monitoring system needs to be checked and calibrated periodically, and filters, etc, need to be replaced and cleaned.

What can be done to minimise the risks involved in implementing new technology?

DNV’s experiences show that there are a few important steps that should be taken in order to prepare for a successful project involving new technology: clarify stake-holders’ requirements (Owner/Operator, Yard, Supplier, Class); conduct a thorough examination of the technology and the operational issues, including a risk analysis; prepare action plans to mitigate the risks found to be above acceptable levels; and follow the plan to verify that the scrub-ber plant and integration are fit for the intended operation.

DNV maritime Services provide technology Assurance services and support as well as Scrubber Selection support.

contact [email protected] or [email protected]

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DNV is a global provider of services for managing risk, helping customers to safely and responsibly improve their business performance. DNV is an independent foundation with presence in more than 100 countries.

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