Seaspan Orders Fuel Heating System for Eight Container Ships

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Friday May 15, 2020

Seaspan Ship Management has contracted engineering company Alfa Laval to install a fuel heating system on board some of its vessels to avoid problems when using very low sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO).

Alfa Laval will install a steam boiler system on board eight of the company's container ships over the next two years, Seaspan said in an emailed statement Thursday.

"The composition of low-sulphur fuels was uncertain when we first decided for them, but it quickly became clear that high paraffin content would be an issue," Alrvin Dsouza, fleet manager at Seaspan, said in the statement.

"To avoid wax formation, the fuel temperature has to stay above the pour point at all times.

"But the existing boiler solution on the above-mentioned vessels can't guarantee the required steam capacity as these vessels do not have heating coils in all the designated fuel oil tanks and rely on a shifter system."

The work is expected to be carried out at a shipyard, but can be done at sea if necessary.