The maritime industry is at a crossroads, with tightening global regulations pushing emissions monitoring systems to the forefront of shipowners’ and charterers’ priorities. Navigating this evolving landscape is no easy feat, which is why futureproof, flexible, and modular solutions are becoming critical characteristics in advanced emissions monitoring technologies. These systems are not just about compliance anymore; they’re about enhancing the operational efficiency of entire fleets.
Enter VPS Emsys, a company that’s not your traditional Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) manufacturer. From the get-go, their vision has been “Emissions Monitoring for Ships,” a mission that’s driven the growth and development of their product portfolio. Numerous ship owners and operators have already benefited from Emsys systems onboard their vessels, steering them towards decarbonisation and sustainability.
The maritime industry is facing a profound transformation, with regulations set to become more stringent and low-to-zero carbon fuel adoption evolving as technology, safety, availability, and commercialisation advances. This evolution presents uncertainty for shipowners, but the implications can be mitigated with investment in scalable emissions monitoring systems that can adapt with upgrades and further integration.
Retrofitting and upgrading new technology on ships is a constant challenge, and vendor selection is crucial. Trust is built on accuracy, reliability, and support. For ships, a vendor with the ability to provide global service with a team of dedicated marine service technicians is key. When it comes to emissions measurement technology, laser technology offers superior performance. Coupled with gas extraction via “Hot-Wet” capabilities, this technology removes the need for cooling and dilution of the extracted exhaust sample, making the system easier to install and maintain.
“Using solid state laser technology which does not require cooling to operate reliably, means that its calibration does not drift in service,” says VPS Emsys. This is particularly relevant for global trading vessels that can experience large changes in ambient temperatures. The advantage? It removes the need for regular system calibration and investment in expensive calibration gases.
Single analyser laser technology, configurable for multiple gas measurement without the need for instrument air, gas conditioning units, or large amounts of space, makes them ideal for retrofit projects or complex new-build applications where space is at a premium. With shipowners and operators in mind, employing technology such as this enables vendors to offer low through-life operation cost, due to low maintenance and minimal consumables, thereby significantly reducing OPEX.
Simplicity through reduced complexity alleviates major failure points, increasing reliability and the demand for in-service maintenance by ship staff or specialist technicians. An assured trust in accuracy is vital for shipowners to ensure a sound commercial investment. Whilst the technology used and how it is deployed contributes to this, third-party verification through classification society “type approval” to the necessary regulation, such as the NOX technical code, provides further confidence and peace of mind for shipowners to make the right choice of emissions measurement system.
A common question arising from conversations in the industry is, “I have data, but what can I do with it?” It’s a valid question, and something advanced CEMS systems are increasingly capable of helping to answer. The best solutions offer data in real-time, enabling vessels to assess the amount of emissions produced during a particular operating condition at a particular point in time. Armed with this knowledge, vessels can make informed decisions to alter their operating circumstances in a way that achieves lower emissions outputs.
Emissions data collection is multifaceted, with reporting being the obvious main feature. However, historical and retrospective data is incredibly valuable for analysis, learning, and improvements too, especially when combined with off-ship data technology for shore-based analysis. Taking this further, by linking on-board emissions hardware & software to decarbonisation cloud-based platforms, enables automatic processing through verifiers to submit regulatory reports on behalf of shipowners. This reduces the administrative burden of managing and processing the data collected, with the confidence of ensuring compliance.
Each vessel has its own operational nuances, meaning that every optimisation process is slightly different. With that in mind, solutions that are easy to use, both onboard and ashore, which give crews and shore-based teams greater insights, will ensure that precise measurements and continuous improvements are realistic, scalable goals for any vessel.
Keeping up with evolving regulations is probably the biggest challenge faced by shipowners today. Therefore, it is also the challenge for technology companies, system suppliers, and integrators to provide the solutions to successfully overcome these challenges. In the opinion of VPS Emsys, the best way to achieve this is to intimately understand their customers’ challenges and needs. Transparent collaboration between shipowners and vendors is a key way to make that happen. With this approach, aligned in a common goal, together we can help to ensure the shipping industry meets the ambitious targets set out by the IMO and decarbonise our industry in an efficient and sustainable way.
This news underscores the importance of adaptable, reliable, and