Evaluating commercial ship sustainability options

The pace has been brisk since Jonny Berglund joined Foreship in May 2024 as Business Development Director and started introducing long held commercial shipping contacts to the decarbonization expertise available in-house. 

“There are real challenges for ship owners in getting to grips with new EU regulations on emissions and shifting views on the strategies to deal with them,” says Berglund. “Readiness ranges from mature response strategies, with decarbonization teams at some companies, to denial that rules will ever be implemented at others.

“Some believe the best way to achieve a higher IMO Carbon Intensity Index ranking is to invest in new tonnage and swap out old after five years to keep a fleet above C ranking; others see better ROI in retrofitting more energy efficiency in existing fleets.”

With maritime regulations on decarbonization tightening, low carbon marine fuels at varying stages of maturity and future fuel pricing trends unclear, Berglund says there will be no “silver bullet” to satisfy shipping’s decarbonization needs.

Foreship adopts a holistic approach to evaluate the whole vessel, from hydrodynamic optimization to energy efficiency measures in machinery and accommodation, providing a complete view of a ship’s opportunities to decarbonize. The approach, combined with Foreship’s expertise in evaluating and integrating new technologies in newbuilds and retrofits, is attracting high levels of interest.

“Owners have been aware of the comprehensive work Foreship is doing to help passenger shipping right now to make progress on decarbonization,” says Berglund. Recent months have seen owners of higher speed container vessels, car carriers and ropax ferries proving especially responsive to Foreship’s overtures, he adds.

“Commercial ship owners are open to all options to establish the low hanging fruits and what makes sense against ROI - whether that is simply switching to LED lighting, installing tunnel thruster grids or waste heat recovery, or larger retrofit solutions like Air Lubrication System.”

Bigger cost items can also be cost effective, but Berglund emphasises how knowledge of individual vessels will be key.

Berglund also cites additional energy from rotor sails as a focus for bulk carrier and tanker evaluations over recent months, while many ship owners are increasing interest in improving propulsion systems and the efficiencies of air lubrication. Plans to draw on a specific area of Foreship expertise and install larger capacity batteries to improve vessel efficiency were also increasingly figuring in conversations with owners. 

“There are very few solutions out there that are truly off the shelf,” he says. “In reality, each ship is unique and for retrofit solutions to work at the optimum level, proper attention needs to be given to integrating and adapting in every case. For implementation, the owner’s interest is also best served by project management that offers independence of suppliers or yards.”