Seaspan Ship Management has selected Alfa Laval to help resolve steam balance and redundancy issues connected to sulphur-compliant fuels. The comprehensive solution – an integrated steam boiler plant comprising oil-fired steam production, waste heat recovery, advanced control and connectivity – will soon be implemented on eight Seaspan owned large container ships.
Prior to the IMO global sulphur cap’s entry into force, Seaspan Ship Management made the decision to work with sulphur-compliant fuels on its container vessels. Like most container vessels, however, the Seaspan owned vessels have only a single oil-fired boiler and a waste heat recovery boiler on board. This provides no redundancy, which is problematic when using sulphur-compliant fuels.
“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,” says Arvin Dsouza, Fleet Manager at Seaspan Ship Management. “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. We chose to work with Alfa Laval, who found the answers we needed.”