Media MEDIA CLIPPING
Hamilton Spectator, thespec.com
June 9, 2011
-Steve Arnold
‘Green’ ship makes first Great Lakes stop in Hamilton
The MV Federal Yukina may look like any other ship as she slices through the water of the Great Lakes or the Pacific Ocean. She just burns a lot less fuel in the effort.
As much as 15 per cent less.
That, combined with the much smaller cloud of carbon dioxide coming out of her stacks, means the ship’s contribution to a cleaner environment is the equivalent of planting 5,000 new trees.
The vessel, barely seven months old, made her first call to a Great Lakes port in Hamilton Thursday, bringing a load of industrial slag. When she leaves, her holds will be filled with steel-making coke bound for Mobile, Alabama.
Owned and operated by Montreal-based Fednav Limited, Federal Yukina is being touted as the next generation of ocean-going ship to ply the Great Lakes — a vessel tricked out with the latest technology and ideas for reducing the environmental wake of shipping.
“The thing about this new generation of ships is the fact they’re built to be more fuel efficient,” explained Paul Pathy, president and co-CEO of Fednav. “She’s brand spanking new, built from scratch in Japan seven months ago.”
The Fednav Group includes Federal Marine Terminals, the largest terminal operator in the Port of Hamilton. Privately owned Fednav Group is the largest ocean-going user of the St. Lawrence Seaway, with an average of 100 trips each year. That means Federal Yukina could be a frequent visitor to the port.
In the cutthroat world of modern shipping, Pathy said companies that can reduce their costs through technology and other methods will be the ones with the advantage — an advantage he wants to keep for Fednav.
One of the Federal Yukina’s advantages is her hull design.
“Essentially she glides through the water better so you burn less fuel and less gas comes out of the stack,” Pathy said, adding the ship’s engine is also the latest design, emitting far less acid rain-causing nitrogen oxide. But the industry is reaching the limits of the efficiency gains that can be made from current technology.
“The basic engine of a ship has gone as far as it can. You can do some minor tweaking, but until we move to alternative fuels … we’re getting to the limits of what an internal combustion engine can do,” he said. “There’s really two ways to do it, limit the amount of fuel you burn or the type of fuel. We’re not there on the type of fuel, so we’re just doing our best to burn as little fuel as possible.”
Federal Yukina is the first of three new ships commissioned by Fednav, part of a $100-million investment to equipment the company with the most efficient vessels possible.
Like other bulk carriers, Federal Yukina will handle dry goods such as wheat, corn, grain, sugar and steel. In the Great Lakes, where the draught of ships is limited, she’ll carry 25,000 tons. For ocean voyages she’ll be able to carry up to 35,000 tons.
The ship flies the flag of Hong Kong while its crew of 22 are all from India. That’s a common twist in the marine business — by registering the ship in another country the owners don’t have to pay Canadian wages and benefits. The relatively small crew is another advantage brought to the company through technology.
“That would generally be the full complement for a ship like this. That’s the modern computerized ship. Everyone has a job to do and we get things done with the right amount of people,” he said.
Trips like Thursday’s port of call, loaded with one product and leaving with another, are a good example of what the ship will do over its average 25 year life span, says Pathy.
“We’ll bring a wide variety of industrial cargos from all over the world into the Great Lakes and Seaway,” he said. “She will carry out grains and wheat products mostly to every corner of the world.”
Hamilton Port Authority president Bruce Wood said the ship’s arrival in Hamilton is an important event for a facility that is becoming a real driver of the local economy.
“It’s very important for us to have new assets coming in that are more efficient, cost less and burn less fuel. That just helps the economic model for sure,” he said. “This is a very important event, no question about that.”
Drawing efficient ships like the Federal Yukina to handle grain from Hamilton, he added, is all part of a strategy to make Hamilton Canada’s top grain port.
“We are going to be the largest grain port on the Great Lakes, period, end of story,” he said. “It’s a good news story. We are happening like we haven’t been happening in the last 25 years.”
