Brittany Ferries Goes Green
Image Courtesy: Brittany FerriesFrench ferry operator Brittany Ferries has entered the final phase of its GBP 60 million (USD 85.1 million) project to install scrubbers to six cruise-ferries in its fleet.
According to the company, these exhaust systems, which were installed during an 18-month period, strip sulphur from funnel emissions and cut particulate output.
Brittany Ferries’ flagship, the 2004-built Pont-Aven, is the last of the six vessels to return to service following the installation of the new scrubber system.
Pont-Aven, which operates from Portsmouth to Spain and France, as well as from France to Ireland, underwent the modifications at the Polish Gdansk shipyard.
The new scrubbers aboard the 2,400-passenger ferry will be fine-tuned over the next few weeks, Brittany Ferries said.
Under the project, which was launched in 2014, the company’s five other ferries, namely Mont St Michel, Normandie, Cap Finistere, Barfleur and Armorique, already received the new equipment.
The investment in Pont-Aven and Armorique, the latest vessels to return to service, amounted to around GBP 30 million.
The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) stringent sulphur oxide emissions regulations, which propose a reduction of the maximum sulfur emission for all seafaring vessels by 90% in the Emission Control Area (ECA), came into effect from the beginning of 2015.
According to IMO, the currently allowed sulfur oxides in the ECA shifted from 1.0% to 0.1% by January 1, 2015.
The IMO approved maximum permissible sulfur content outside of ECAs from 3.5% to 0.5% by 2020.
