In this interview, Dimitris Poulos shares their strategic vision and cutting-edge initiatives in response to the maritime industry’s decarbonization efforts.
Discover how they are leveraging advanced technologies, partner- ships, and innovative solutions to lead the way towards a more sustainable future.
As the maritime industry runs towards decarbonization and transitions to new fuels, which is the Alfa Laval stand on this direction?
Alfa Laval is looking on that direction with high focus and we want to be pioneer on that journey. We are giving very high focus in
the alternative fuel technology, as always we had an expertise in fuel treatment , and also to all technologies that are giving energy efficiency on board and reduces emissions, energy, waste and fuel consumption. Through our own R&D , alliances, acquisitions, joint ventures & minor stake holding in new start ups , we are trying to develop more our know how in new technologies that will lead future decarbonization & energy efficiency equipment. Is not easy exercise and there is very challenging to follow all these different tech- nologies and ideas that are coming globally. Our organization is not enough to cover all the possibilities and new ideas that are coming in the market, we have created a special department for this func- tion, and for this reason we are working mainly with partnerships and not only with other manufacturers but also with shipowners that are sharing same directions with us. Currently we are already in the fourth generation of scrubbers & preparing the new version after the last MEPC guidelines, we have configured our separators to work with biofuels, we have a new Waste Heat Recovery system with great success in the market and new energy storage system the E-Power Pack. Also, already we supply methanol booster systems to methanol vessels, we have more than 100 FSS modules installed or under order, we have ready our methanol burners for our boilers, we have a much more efficient Fresh water Generator, and we have a new joint venture with Wallenious to design & produce wind boost
systems, currently under construction the land installation for real scale tests and measurement. And already we are a company that produces air lubrication systems for fuel oil energy savings and al- ready becomes an ALFA LAVAL product with the name OceanGlide. Already we have tested and sold several systems , we are now on the finetuning stage of this technology and will be our main arrow for improving energy efficiency on the ships. The above are some of the new products & developments , for sure more will come soon, ALFA LAVAL wants to lead the way forward.
How challenging is the journey that you describe? Are the decarbonization targets easy to be achieved?
As we explained before , this is very complicated. Maritime industry really will be challenged a lot on that journey as the targets are very strong and strict from the timeframe point of view where other business areas are less. But targets must be financially viable in order shipowners to adopt. And there are so many stakeholders in the process that have to be aligned. In the end will be a cost for the alignment that this will be transferred to the cost of transportation operations. And as you know ship transportation represents the 90% of the global transportation. How ready are governments to absorb this increase of cost? See what is happening with the ener- gy prices and how much governmental policies are vibrating. In any case, a strong financial help will be needed in order maritime industry to be decarbonized and for sure this has to be done step by step in order to absorption of additional costs to be done smoothly. As a conclusion, we, our partners, our customers and others in the marine industry are working to achieve the decarbonization we all know must happen. The private sector can and must work faster, but a global framework of policies, resources and financial incentives is needed to make that feasible.
But expect the challenging future there is also the today. How Alfa Laval anticipated and helped customers in recent strong geopolitical crisis events and how you see the market today?
Recently are coming crisis events very challenging for shipping & all industries. Routes have been redesigned and traditional routes have been abandoned. A lot of technical issues must be solved by relevant distance. Alfa Laval with relevant global footprint & network was able to anticipate & really help our customers as we are present in more 100 ports globally and with three distributor centers and global sourcing facilities we have absorbed the supply chain issues generally much better than other manufacturers. The war added some more challenges especially in supply chain of certain parts but our global establishment really help us to anticipate. Market seems very fruitful for the tankers, bulk carriers are turbulent but
in the healthy levels , containers are normal and recently freights jump again and generally as average we are in a good momentum. Shipbuilding is continuing with strong numbers despite increased prices of new ships. This fact make us as a global manufacturer of shipbuilding equipment to see also short term period with high optimism about our operational & financial result.
* Marine Division Manager Adriatic Region – Managing Director Alfa Laval Greece