Norwegian vessel owner and operator Eidesvik Offshore and Norwegian continental shelf oil and gas player Aker BP have launched an ambitious joint technology project that aims to reduce emissions from existing supply vessels by at least 70%.
The so-called Retrofit project will evaluate various solutions for converting ships and make them as climate and environmentally friendly as Eidesvik’s Viking Energy, which will be equipped with an ammonia fuel cell in 2024 as part of the European ShipFC project.
The Aker BP-owned supply vessels NS Orla and NS Frayja, which are managed by Eidesvik, are potential candidates for the green upgrades, in addition to others owned by Eidesvik.
“We are now working to map available new technologies from a cost-benefit perspective. This is a big task, with several alternatives already on the table. During the next 12 months we hope to have a good basis in place to make decisions on what low-emission solutions we take forward,” said Eidesvik CEO Jan Fredrik Meling.
The project builds on a partnership Aker BP has with Eidesvik, Solstad Offshore and Simon Møkster Shipping to equip three offshore supply vessels with hybrid battery technology. One of the trio is Eidesvik’s platform supply vessel Viking Lady. Eidesvik is also set to invest in a corresponding battery upgrade on its PSV Viking Prince, which is also currently working for Aker BP.
“Newbuildings are often presented as the only solution to making the shipping industry greener and more sustainable. However, at Eidesvik we’re equally focused on the great potential for significantly reducing emissions from the existing fleet. From a climate and sustainability perspective, recycling old ships and building new ones requires a lot of energy that could otherwise be saved, not to mention the huge investment needed for newbuildings. As a shipowner we believe we can achieve increasingly large emissions reductions as well as save capex by prolonging the lifetime of existing vessels with new green technologies,” added Meling.
