Shipping’s challenges are coming from all sides, which is why Shell Marine prioritises applying cylinder oil research, technical services expertise and logistics to the day-to-day trials of ships in operation
Shipping’s continuing tonnage oversupply has brought very low freight and charter rates for customers, Jan Toschka, Shell Marine General Manager[ds_preview], observes, with more modern ships still to come into the business. »At the same time the increasing complexity and reach of regulations have caused higher operating costs for vessel owners. Environmental regulations such as ECA zones and a global sulphur cap will present more challenges and also uncertainties.«
Ships operating inside and outside ECAs now run on fuels featuring different sulphur contents, while the advent of slower steaming from 2009 exposed newer two stroke engine types to the risks of cold corrosion. Combined, these challenges have required responses from cylinder oil suppliers that are both comprehensive and address the detail of operational issues.
»As an integrated energy company we collaborate with all relevant parties to provide the right lubricant solution and technical services in an increasingly complex shipping environment, helping our customers to cope with their full range of operating conditions,« says Toschka. He heads a marine lubricants business drawing on over 40 lubricants blending plants and 15 grease manufacturing plants, covering close to 700 ports across 57 countries, and supplying over 10,000 vessels.
»We work closely with the engine manufacturers as well as with our colleagues from fuel trading and refining, while we have our own in house testing capability and extensive field experience, coupled with the monitoring, analysis and advisory services to respond to the market with proven and comprehensive solutions.«
At SMM in Hamburg, Shell gave an insight into its latest work to protect the most modern ultra-efficient diesel engines against cold corrosion while still optimizing cylinder oil feed rates. Toschka disclosed that, following formulation and laboratory testing in 2015, the new ultra-high BN (140BN) cylinder oil Shell Alexia 140 had successfully completed over six months of shipboard trials with a customer.
Shell Alexia 140 joins a suite of cylinder oils developed for two stroke engines whose lowest base number product is the 25BN Shell Alexia S3, formulated for ships operating on low fuel sulphur content within emissions control areas. The range also includes 60BN, 70BN and 100BN variants, formulated for different vessel operating conditions and fuel sulphur contents. Shell Alexia 140 is targeted for use in ultra-efficient engines as a standalone product or as part of an onboard lubricant blending or mixing solution where high sulphur content fuels brings the risk of the cold corrosion that can induce cylinder liner wear.
MAN Diesel and Turbo told at 2016 CIMAC in Helsinki that it had been trialling ACOM (Automated Cylinder Oil Mixing), with the intention of establishing best practice in matching lubricant BN to fuel sulphur content whilst minimising lubricant feed rates. Toschka points out that the first ACOM unit has been running since September 2015 in cooperation with a ship-owner on an oil tanker featuring a 6S50ME-B8 MAN B&W main engine and using Shell Alexia S3 (BN25) and Shell Alexia S6 (BN 100).
Toschka emphasises that Shell Marine has needed to be just as agile in developing its technical services to ensure cost efficiency as well as reliability from the cylinder oil performance point of view. Many shipping companies make Shell technical services part of their planned maintenance, he points out, with Shell Marine expecting to analyse about 18,000 cylinder drain oil samples in 2016 alone. According to Toschka major OEMs now recommend cylinder drain oil analysis as a way for ship owners to optimise feed rates as it allows them to strike the right balance between corrosion protection and minimised oil consumption.
The cost benefits are tangible, Toschka says. He cites a collaborative project to cut fleet running costs with Hamburg-based owner Oskar Wehr, which sought to optimise cylinder lubrication feed rates on the main engines of 13 bulk carriers and twelve container ships within OEM guidelines, using the Shell LubeMonitor Service: »The monitoring revealed that the cylinder oil feed could safely be reduced by a significant 25%, cutting its cylinder oil costs by reducing the oil feed rate by 0.2 g/kWh in each of 25 vessels while complying with the equipment manufacturer’s feed rate recommendations.«
Shell LubeMonitor also played a critical role in Berge Bulk Maritime switching its cylinder oils from a 60BN product to 100BN product Shell Alexia S6. The higher BN product addressed the owner’s cold corrosion concerns, but it also satisfied a request to reduce the consumption of cylinder oil and lower operating costs.
Using LubeMonitor the vessels’ crews received regular scavenge drain oil analyses and advice and, over time, reduced the average feed rate on two vessels from the 520 l/d needed for 60BN product to a rate optimised for Shell Alexia S6 of around about 370 l/d. Based on approximately 280 sailing days a year, Berge Bulk Maritime estimates net annual savings of around 113,000$ across four vessels.
