Torsten Barenthin, Oldendorff Carriers’ Director of Innovation, and Aleksander Askeland, Yara Marine Technologies’ (YMT) Chief Sales Officer, have signed an agreement for the first installation of YMT’s new U-type SOx scrubbers on board two bulk carriers at the Nor-Shipping conference and exhibition in Oslo on Wednesday, 6 April 2022. This follows in the footsteps of previous contracts that have seen YMT install scrubbers and perform MARPOL compliance testing on 96 Oldendorff vessels.

Torsten Barenthin says: “We are pleased to further strengthen our collaboration with Yara Marine Technologies, which began in February 2018. Equipping over 90 vessels with SOx scrubbers in less than two years was an enormously challenging project and we have been extremely satisfied with the results – allowing us close to 99% uptime. Given the high-quality performance of the existing scrubbers, it is no surprise that we have chosen Yara Marine as our partner for scrubber installations on our two incoming capesize bulk carriers Alice Oldendorff and Austyn Oldendorff.”

Aleksander Askeland says: “We are very happy with Oldendorff Carrier’s decision to install our U-type scrubbers on their new vessels, marking 98 vessels fitted with our scrubbers so far. There is no bigger compliment to the hard work of our technical team than when an existing customer chooses to equip their fleet with more of our products. We look forward to hitting the 100-vessel mark in the future and helping the Oldendorff fleet continue to improve its environmental performance. As we widen our portfolio of innovative and cost-effective green technologies, we look forward to closer collaboration.”

Scrubbers offer a sustainable way for any existing fleet operating on heavy fuel oil (HFO) or a hybrid of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and HFO to comply with global regulations on sulphur emissions. Many ship operators have also embraced scrubbers as a means to meet emissions targets and manage fuel costs, given the uncertainty of fuel prices and availability of low-sulphur fuels.

YMT’s scrubber portfolio encompasses in-line scrubbers (I-type and L-type) and packed bed scrubbers (U-type), with open-loop, closed-loop and hybrid options. New generation systems also benefit from Yara Marine’s Ratio Control system, which actively prevents over-scrubbing and reduces operational costs significantly. Older vessels can have the Ratio Control system added to their scrubbers via a software update.