Reporter of China Industry NewsGuo Yu
The innovation of the new energy chain under the background of "dual carbon" has brought opportunities for the high-quality development of the shipbuilding and offshore industry.
The Yangtze River Delta, the core area of China's shipbuilding and offshore industry development, plays a very important role in promoting the construction of a shipbuilding power. Li Renxin, vice president of China Shipbuilding Industry Association and president of Zhejiang Shipbuilding Industry AssociationAt the 2023 Shipbuilding and Offshore New Energy Chain Development Forum, it was pointed out that in the field of traditional shipbuilding and offshore chain, Zhejiang's overall competitive advantage is not significant enough, but with a strong industrial foundation and complete industrial categories, with the release of supporting demand brought about by the new energy revolution, Zhejiang can quickly form high-quality production capacity, take the lead in the transformation and upgrading of new energy in shipbuilding and offshore engineering, and contribute more Zhejiang shipbuilding and offshore engineering strength to the integrated development of China's Yangtze River Delta.
*：pexels
In different stages, scenarios and segments of the decarbonization process of marine engineering, alternative fuels such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol, ammonia, and hydrogen will play their respective important roles.
For the new opportunities that will be brought by the transformation and upgrading of new energy in marine engineering, industry experts saidThe decarbonization strategy of ships can be divided into "two steps", that is, high-carbon to low-carbon, and low-carbon to zero-carbon.
At present, the decarbonization technology path of the shipping industry can be divided into three main types, namely the application of alternative fuels, energy-saving technologies and emission reduction technologiesAmong them, the research on alternative fuels is the most extensive, the application of energy-saving technologies is the most mature, and the emission reduction technologies have emerged rapidly in recent years.
Alternative fuelsIncluding LNG, methanol, hydrogen, ammonia, biofuels, lithium batteries and fuel cells, the advantage of alternative fuels is that they can achieve theoretical zero carbon emissions through biological production or green electricity production, but there are still many uncertainties in many aspects from policies and regulations to investment economics to technology maturity.
Energy-saving technologyIncluding hull optimization, efficient propulsion, sail boost, air film drag reduction, etc., the advantage is that the technology is relatively mature, the initial investment cost is relatively low, and the disadvantage is that the energy saving efficiency is relatively limited, at most about 15%-20%, which can be used as a transitional means of carbon reduction, but the road to zero carbon emissions still needs to be combined with other technical means.
Marine carbon capture systems are currently hotEmission reduction technologiesThe advantage is that the carbon capture efficiency can theoretically reach more than 99%, which is close to zero carbon emissions, but on the one hand, the installation of the system itself will increase energy consumption and additional emissions, and on the other hand, the pursuit of excessive carbon capture efficiency will greatly increase operating costs, so considering the balance between technology and economy, there is still a long way to go from zero carbon emissions in the true sense.
At present, alternative fuels have firmly accounted for half of the ship orders and will continue to maintain a steady growth momentum.
Take China Merchants Heavy Industry (Jiangsu)** as an example of alternative fuel power orders in the past decade. In 2022, alternative fuels accounted for 54% of the company's new orders. At present, there are nearly 1,500 alternative fuel ships in the global fleet, accounting for 49% of the current orders in gross tonnage5%。
Judging from the specific distribution of alternative fuels, LNG fuel is still the most mainstream choice in the current market. It is understood that since 2016, the proportion of orders for LNG fuel power of China Merchants Heavy Industries (Jiangsu)** LNG fuel power has been growing rapidly, and in 2022, it will even exceed conventional fuel orders, accounting for nearly 50% of all orders. In particular, the proportion of methanol fuel orders this year has shown a rapid upward trend.
From the perspective of the distribution of ship types for alternative fuel applications, LNG LNG carriers and LPG LPG carriers are almost 100% of the alternative fuel application rate because they both use their own liquid cargo as fuel.
*: Photo.com.
According to experts in the marine industry,Among all alternative fuel types, LNG technology is currently the most mature and the fuel bunkering network is relatively complete. It is reported that there are 172 ports in the world that can provide LNG bunkering, and another 94 ports plan to provide LNG bunkering services, and at the same time, vehicle-to-ship and ship-to-ship LNG bunkering technology and solutions are also very mature, so stronger fuel availability, better bunkering convenience and better fuel economy make LNG fuel power at least in the next 5 to 10 years will remain in the leading position in alternative fuels.
In view of the changes in future ship technology, industry experts**,At present, there is no clear direction for the technical route of alternative fuels, and different shipowners have different preferences, and the battle for alternative marine fuels is still full of great uncertainty.
The decarbonization of the shipping industry will be in a spiralDifferent types of alternative fuels will play their respective roles in different stages, scenarios and segments of the decarbonization process, which requires the joint efforts of the entire industry chain.
Judging from some typical projects signed recently,In the face of an uncertain outlook, at the moment, shipowners are more conservative in their choice and prefer a variety of possibilities. For example, more shipowners are choosing energy-saving devices such as hub cap fins and pre-rotating catheters, which is one of the effective ways to reduce the energy consumption of ships. It is understood that at present, about 29% of the ships in the global fleet in terms of gross tonnage use energy-saving devices, and at the same time, nearly 50% of newly delivered ships are equipped with different types of energy-saving devices.
With the increasing requirements of regulations for the improvement of ship energy efficiency, the number of energy-saving devices installed on existing ships is expected to further increase, especially the application of new energy-saving devices such as sail booster devices and air lubrication systems has shown a momentum of accelerated commercialization.
Review: Yu Zaozao.
Editor-in-charge: Huo Yue.
Editor: Hu Na.