We’re acting today to cut emissions and preserve resources in tomorrow’s world. That’s why we’re involved in various research projects and equip our new ships for technological alternatives.
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Innovations to stop emissions
Cleaner alternatives
One of the key challenges in environmental protection is air pollution – for example through sulfur, nitrogen monoxide and particulate matter emissions. In order to avoid harmful emissions even more effectively in future, we are committed to the development of alternative ways to generate and use power in maritime transport.
• In port, shoreside power is one option, as where this is used, fuel need no longer be burned for power generation on board. A single global standard for shore power systems is to be adopted shortly, and many ports are looking into the possibility of installing the required infrastructure. We also wish to promote the use of new technologies. To this end, we are currently engaged in intensive discussions with the city of Hamburg. Together, we want to introduce a shore power supply in the port of the Hanseatic city. However, if shore power is to be used on AIDA ships, it is essential that its generation be cleaner and more efficient than generation with the modern systems on board the ships themselves. As soon as a solution is found, we will react immediately. That’s why in recent years, we have prepared all of our new builds for a possible shore power supply. We are also installing the systems necessary for the use of shore power on our new ships, to be launched in 2012 and 2013. The new builds due for completion in 2015 and 2016 will also be prepared for this environmentally sustainable option.
• A further model for the port area also exists: The use of what is known as power barges. It is expected that these powerships will generate almost emission-free power using natural gas/liquefied gas and could use this to supply large cruise ships. However, to date no power barges are market ready.
• A particularly promising alternative for the reduction of air emissions generated by cruise operation is liquefied gas – and not only in ports, but also at sea. Currently, engine manufacturers, shipyards and classification organizations are working under pressure to achieve technological advances in the operation and shoreside supply of passenger ships with liquefied gas. Although liquefied gas is more of a medium-term solution, we will be equipping our new generation of ships with dual-fuel motors from 2015 at the latest. These dual-fuel engines operate on both marine diesel and liquefied gas. Because even if we have to wait for its implementation at sea, we can already use the liquefied gas for operation in ports which make the necessary infrastructure available to us.
Scrubbing exhaust gas
In order to eliminate harmful substances as completely as possible from the exhaust gas from our ships’ funnels, we are examining the feasibility of our different possibilities. For daily operation at sea, exhaust gas cleaning systems, called scrubbers, could be introduced. They clean the sulfur emissions from the funnel’s exhaust gas. The disadvantage of these kinds of systems is, however, their high energy consumption and the space they require. The latter makes retrofitting them on an existing ship almost impossible. Furthermore, in any case the treatment leaves a residue, which generally has to be discharged as hazardous waste – and as yet there is not a sufficient network of disposal companies who are equipped for this. Nonetheless we are looking into this alternative and are in contact with well-known manufacturers. The installation of diesel particle filters is currently not possible, as filters for cruise ships of this size are not yet ready for series production. Here again we are already in contact with manufacturers. Furthermore, we have commissioned a feasibility study which should come to a conclusion on which forms of exhaust gas cleaning are the quickest to implement.
A new generation of ships
Both of our new cruise ships, which will be launched in 2015 and 2016, are being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan. What’s special about them? Mitsubishi has a large department dedicated to sustainable energy generation, which manufactures products such as solar panels and wind turbines – and the shipyard also benefits from this. Furthermore, this Japanese corporation holds several patents for groundbreaking products. With the help of these, the cruise industry could save even more energy in future. For example, our new builds for 2015 and 2016 will be among the first in the world to use the Mitsubishi air lubrication system. It creates air bubbles which reduce the friction between the hull and the water – allowing the ship to float on a carpet of air. This also allows fuel savings of around 7 %.
Ongoing research projects
In 2011, we started work on an internal project concerned with the “ship energy system”. As part of this, we examined energy consumption for the generation of power, heating and cooling on AIDAsol and measured the existing energy flows. Currently, we are developing models based on the knowledge gained from this project to uncover further potential ways of optimizing our fleet’s energy consumption. This know-how gained will flow into the construction of our new ships.
We also participate in “e4ships”, a German government research project that looks into the use of high temperature and fuel cells on ships. These could be used to drive low-emission ships in the future. Back in 2010, again within the framework of e4ships, we contributed to the development of the heat recovery system, a pioneering process. The system helps to reduce energy consumption for heating and cooling purposes.
Gas-fuelled motors would be an alternative to fuel cells. In future, these motors could drive our ships generating very limited emissions. We also support the development of the following technology: As part of the nationally sponsored research project “GasPax”, we are working together with shipyards, machine manufacturers and other players on the technical requirements for secure storage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) on board. And within the framework of the EU’s BunGas project, we are attempting to answer the question of how LNG can be safely transported on board, in other words bunkered.
