Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries, part of South Korean Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, revealed that it has completed the world’s first very large crude carrier fitted with an exhaust gas cleaning system which meets the IMO’s 2020 Sulfur Cap requirements.
The supper large tanker, boasting 310,000 in dwt and a length of 336 meters, features a SOx scrubber, which can reduce sulfur oxide emissions to less than 0.5 pct from the existing 3.5 pct, according to the shipbuilder.
The gas cleaning system is 11 meters high and 8.3 meters wide and uses seawater to clean the exhaust gas waste.
The VLCC, named Almi Atlas, is also described as highly energy efficient mainly due to the high-tech rudder and propulsion technology installed onboard.
Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries hosted a naming ceremony for the green tanker on Tuesday, March 13. It is the first of two ships ordered by Greek shipowner Almi Tankers in August 2016.
The shipbuilder believes the gas cleaning technology would enable it to become the preferred builder of green vessels of the future that would need to replace the outdated vessels in order for shipowners to comply with the 2020 Sulfur cap.
Estimates from Clarkson Research indicate that about 10 percent of the total of 92,000 of world’s vessels which will be 20-years old in two years would have to be replaced with environmentally-friendly units.
World Maritime News Staff