The WASP Sting

WASP, or Wind Assisted Ship Propulsion, remains a hot topic in the maritime industry as key players contemplate their strategy towards lowering greenhouse emissions. This plays into the same conversation as alternative fuels.

Primary corporate entities behind wind power are COSCO, MOL, Cargill, and K Line. It is not surprising that three of these are large Asian shipping companies that have had several decades of experience in wind assist.

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Skinning A Cat Part 2

I have written several blogs on the hottest subject in the green battle: the fuels of the future and how they are being received by ship owners and operators. LNG is still a shaky option because of its current high cost and nowhere near zero-emissions

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Skinning A Cat

This 2-part blog looks at various ways to potentially reach mandated GHG emission levels aside from new construction, and what this new technology means to marine surveyors, appraisers, and lenders.

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Who’s In Charge Here?

As pointed out in past blogs, technology is advancing at a swift pace powered by ecological regulations and ESG investments; however, laws (particularly Admiralty laws) can’t advance at such a pace.

The state of maritime law as it pertains to these new areas of the marine industry is very important to lenders, lessors, and marine underwriters. What does the insurance policy cover and who is/are the beneficiaries? How can a lender protect their position? Here are some things to consider:

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What To Do About CO2

In many previous articles, I have written about the marine industry reacting to the CO2 emission reduction standards required for 2030, 2040, and the final Zero Emissions of 2050. These articles have been about the competition among alternate lower emission fuels (such as LNG and ammonia), changes in hull designs (to include rudders and propellors), improvements in dual-fuel engines, wind assist, and how all of these changes will be funded.

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Another Look at the Fuel Gauge

First, a look at the current leader, LNG. Even though the World Bank came out against LNG encouraging owners to skip LNG and concentrate on hydrogen-based fuels. We’ll get into hydrogen as a fuel later in this edition. The World Bank’s reasoning is that LNG is not that clean because of methane slip. Methane slip is not a term we hear too often

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BITS AND PIECES

With rapid technology changes and the endless flow of fascinating R&D press releases, some of the updates I wrote just three months ago are already old news. As one purpose of this blog is to help people not entirely in the maritime industry to keep up, here are some of the latest innovations (or proposed innovations) in maritime design and marketability

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MY GREEN IS BETTER THAN YOUR GREEN

I’ve been writing a lot about the ecological movement and the greening of merchant ships. DLS Marine is deeply involved in the appraisal side of the marine survey business and a good number of the readers of this blog are involved in maritime lending or insurance. The greening of the world’s fleet involves huge amounts of money.

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The Fuel on the Hill

Petroleum is still here and will be prominent, although fading, for a few more decades. Due to an interesting combination of world events and reactions to these events, the oil industry has new life. Oil is closing in on $100 a barrel in some areas.

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In Honor of 2021

As we begin a new year, I’d like to do a recap on the topics I discussed in 2021. Just about every subject matter has shifted, some like a glacier and others at, for the marine industry, flank speed

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