Finnlines to Receive Another Alfa Laval Scrubber Retrofit

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Monday June 8, 2015

Alfa Laval has reported that the Grimaldi Group has ordered its tenth installation of Alfa Laval's PureSOx scubber solution for a Finnlines Plc (Finnlines) vessel, the fifth Finnlines vessel to receive the scrubber solution.

"The Finnmerchant will be the tenth installation of Alfa Laval PureSOx for the Grimaldi Group," says René Diks, Manager Marketing & Sales, Exhaust Gas Cleaning at Alfa Laval.

"We are proud of the continuing trust that the group has placed in Alfa Laval and our exhaust gas cleaning technology, and we are pleased to have it affirmed by class approvals of the first scrubber installations."

The first four of the Finnlines vessels, which travel in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, were retrofitted with open-loop PureSOx systems sized for operation in the low-alkalinity Baltic waters.

While the Finnmill and Finnpulp received multiple-inlet systems and the others, the Finnhawk and Finnkraft, received single-inlet systems, all vessels are said to have received systems that were designed to facilitate later conversion into hybrid systems.

The Grimaldi Group also currently has an additional five new PureSOx installations already underway for Atlantic Container Line (ACL) newbuilds, which are being built at Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding (Group) Co., Ltd. in Shanghai and reportedly set to be the largest ConRos in the world.

"In a newbuild project it is very important to fix the design of the scrubber system, which we were able to do quickly through good cooperation with Hudong and Alfa Laval," says Andrew Abbott, President/CEO of ACL.

Speaking on the Grimaldi Group's continued interest in the PureSOx scrubber solution, Dario Bocchetti, Energy Saving Manager at the Grimaldi Group, said, "today, there are several suppliers in the maritime scrubber market and even more that are eager to enter."

"However, there are just a few that passed the tight criterions set for our selection process.

"When shortlisting the candidates, a detailed analysis on access to core expertise, existing references, technological platforms used, delivery capability, project coordination capabilities as well as future service and support was done."

In May, it was reported that Alfa Laval had patented its scrubber wash water cleaning process.