Shipowner Berge Bulk said it will be carbon neutral by 2025 by focusing on greater efficiency through new technologies, new fuels and carbon capture.
Among the new technologies that will improve efficiency are anti-fouling paint and redesigned propellers that reduce fuel consumption by up to 5pc. The company has also installed Mewis ducts on two dozen vesselswhich improve thrust, save fuel and can cut emissions by 5-8pc.
Berge Bulk is also investing in several types of sails to help cut fuel use. It plans to install rigid wing sails on the 210,000 dwt Berge Olympus this month which is currently sailing from the Pacific to Tubarao, Brazil.
It is also testing another type of sail, Flettner rotors, which it will install on the 388,079 dwt VLOC Berge Neblina in late 2023. The four 35-meter-high, 5-meter-diameter rotors should cut fuel consumption by up to 10pc, the company said.
Berge Bulk also intends to build and operate zero-emissions vessels by 2030 and to achieve zero emissions fleetwide by 2050. It will do this by using new types of fuels, including biofuels, ammonia, methanol and even thorium molten salt reactors. There were a number of nuclear-powered cargo vessels tested in the 20th century, but the only one which remains operational is 33,240 dwt Sevmorput,which uses the pressurized water reactor KLT-40 which is the standard used on Russian icebreakers.
Berge Bulk already halved its carbon emissions from 2008 levels to 2.82g CO2/tonne mile in 2022 by building larger, more efficient ships, retrofitting vessels with energy efficiency improvement technologies, and optimising operational efficiency.
