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The 30th Annual Motorship Propulsion & Emissions Conference 2008 review
10 Sep 2008
Many thanks to all the speakers, sponsors and delegates who attended the 30th Annual Motorship Propulsion & Emissions Conference, May 21 & 22 2008, SAS Radisson Scandinavia, Gothenburg, Sweden. The conference took place in May in Gothenburg and because the two subjects are now virtually inseparable combined the two previous conference topics of Propulsion and Emissions. Following an introduction by Chairman Lars Carlsson of SEAaT, and a keynote address by Neils Bjorn Mortensen of BIMCO, the first presentation set the scene with a bang.
Jorn Winkler of the DK Group reminded us that the true scale of shipping emissions was rather more serious than normally thought, and that the new IMO proposals were nowhere near strong enough. He even suggested that the shipbuilding boom in the far East was a negative factor, using established yards skilled in higher-technology, more efficient, vessels would be a more practical option in the longer term.
Far from being a promotion for his company's own air cushion technology, however, his paper underlined the strong economic, environmental and technical case for fitting exhaust gas scrubbers to all HFO-burning ships. The rest of the papers, though no less interesting in themselves, provided a firm backup to this powerful introduction. Not all the speakers or delegates may have agreed with all of Mr Winkler's figures, but few could disagree with the general tone of his paper.
The conference provided a logical flow through engine development, fuel and oil technology, and ended with a look at emissions from the ports perspective. A final panel discussion between owners and suppliers suggested that things are indeed moving in the right direction, but in many ways underlined Mr Winkler's theme that things need to be progressed more quickly, and with the shipyards and class societies making a bigger contribution.
The conference was supported and sponsored by Lloyd's Register of Shipping, the major sponsor of the gala dinner; BIMCO; Westfalia Separator; SEAaT, Wärtsilä; Krystallon; Aalborg Industries; Infineum; Sustainable Shipping and Bunkerworld. Our thanks to them all.
