Decision to retrofit 10 vessels made in response to upcoming low-sulphur regulation; first 13,000-TEU ship will be ready to sail in March.
Hapag-Lloyd has ordered 10 hybrid ready exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCS), which gradually will be installed in 10 of its Hamburg Class 13,000-TEU vessels during 2019 and 2020. Hapag-Lloyd said the retrofitting will allow the company to comply with the upcoming IMO 2020 low-sulphur regulation.
The retrofits will start in March, when the first EGCS will be installed in the vessel Hamburg Express at Qingdao Beihai shipyard in China. Hapag-Lloyd is estimating all of the installations to be finished before the end of 2020. The IMO 2020 regulation limits the sulphur emissions caused by marine fuels to 0.5 percent as of Jan. 1, 2020.
“Using compliant low-sulphur fuels is the key solution for Hapag-Lloyd. However, we want to make sure we test and make use of all relevant solutions, which is why we decided to also retrofit our Hamburg Class vessels with EGCS,” said Anthony Firmin, COO of Hapag-Lloyd.
Hapag-Lloyd said it also has 17 new vessels in its fleet that can be converted to use liquefied natural gas. The company will retrofit one 15,000-TEU vessel during 2019 and will then test whether LNG is a suitable alternative to low-sulphur fuel.
Hapag-Lloyd installing exhaust gas cleaning systems
