Su reveals another patent
Taipei: Serial shipping inventor and troubled shipowner, Nobu Su, the chairman of TMT, has registered a patent in the Republic of Liberia for a hybrid technology that he developed, and which enables a variety of vessels, including bulk carriers, tankers, PCTCs and LNG ships to enhance fuel consumption.
The innovation, known as Hybrid Ship, consists of a conventionally driven main propeller and an electrically driven duct propeller. The different sailing modes allow reduction in fuel consumption, particularly when a vessel is travelling with minimum ballast.
Su commented: “I believe that most of the patents pending will eventually be registered, as the technology complements the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention, which aims to control the ecological, economic and health problems resulting from the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens via ballast water. With the Hybrid Ship technology, a vessel requires minimum ballast water, and therefore reduces the risk of transferring contaminated water from one location to another, which has already led to a severe damage to biodiversity.”