EMEA News
Bunker Saving Bubbles Fail to Produce Real-World Savings for Maersk
An air lubrication system trialed by Maersk on a retrofitted containership has failed to produce efficiency savings, media reports.
The system was attached to the bottom and sides of the hull of a 3,000 twenty-foot equivalent (TEU), 240 metre long vessel, which had been retrofitted with compressors connected to two kilometres of piping leading to 124 openings.
Although the system's effectiveness had been proven in a laboratory, Jasper Boessenkool, head of strategic R&D for Maersk Maritime Technology, told reporters at Maersk's headquarters in Copenhagen "We sailed it with the system on and off but we really couldn't find the saving".
"We couldn't find the balance between the energy we put into creating the bubbles and the energy we saved" he said.
However, Boessenkool was quick to point out that "There are still quite a lot of people investigating and creating various ways of creating these micro–layers of bubbles."
Other companies are reportedly installing the system only on the bottom and not the sides of vessel hulls, where the bubbles supposedly are better able to cling.
Earlier this year, Silverstream Technologies met with better success when it installed its first commercial air lubrication system for greater operational efficiency aboard Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Bliss, which is slated for a spring 2017 delivery.
