By
Jon Ingleton |
KNUD E. HANSEN was established in 1937 as one of the first independent naval architect companies in the world. It has a strong reputation for designing small cruise ships and ferries and is skilled in designing specific functional elements for bigger ships.
“Today we have over 100 staff working across Europe, the USA and Australia, all with a background in either engineering or design,” says Finn Wollesen, managing director at KNUD E. HANSEN. “We specialise in new vessel design, but quite a big part of the business is dedicated to upgrading ships. We provide cruise operators with high-level engineering services, especially for certain big service installations like stability, fire and safety, HVAC and alternative fuels.”
The firm has built significant sustainability knowledge over the years and is now using this when designing new ships and working on refits. It helps shipowners to develop a strategic framework for transitioning their fleets towards more environmentally responsible operations by optimising energy use, harvesting waste energy and embracing sustainable technologies to reduce emissions.
“Right now, every shipowner in the world is considering their sustainability strategy, including the fuel they use and how to increase efficiency,” says Brian Bender Madsen, head of machinery and systems at KNUD E. HANSEN. “Most cruise and ferry companies don’t have the skills to do that entirely in-house, but we are well-placed to guide them through this process by helping them to consider all of the known factors and anticipating future factors.”
Madsen explains that it is easier for KNUD E. HANSEN to help clients develop a comprehensive green transition strategy if it is involved in the initial design and build process for the ship, but says the firm is “equally adept at working with shipowners to incorporate more sustainable technologies into existing fleets.” For bigger cruise ships, KNUD E. HANSEN will likely be part of a larger transition team and take responsibility for specific technologies.
Typically, KNUD E. HANSEN starts projects by reviewing the operating profile of each ship in the fleet and then establishes measurable targets, and short-, medium- and long-term strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also carries out a full audit of anything onboard the ship that consumes energy to identify energy-saving opportunities.
“For cruise ships and ferries, HVAC typically has one of the biggest demands on electrical power, so this is a fairly common starting point,” says Wollesen. “The galleys can also yield significant efficiencies but they are a little trickier because so many are tied to operational nuances, such as how many heating plates the catering team want to have on standby. We work through every shipboard system that consumes power, optimising each individually and this delivers collective gains.”
To make this process easier, KNUD E. HANSEN has developed a comprehensive tool that enables it to calculate the impact of different energy-saving solutions – such as power supply from batteries or fuel cells – so it can evaluate which are best for helping the shipowner to achieve its goals in the context of the broader green transition strategy. For example, potential energy-saving wins are weighed up against available budget and in some instances, KNUD E. HANSEN may recommend offloading ships in the fleet.
“Every conceivable data set can be entered into the calculation tool so that if the owner wants to consider different technical options, we can see how each choice will impact everything else,” says Madsen. “This allows us to find the optimum configuration at the point of design specific to the ship and operational profile.”
The firm conducts regular performance assessments for its clients, leveraging its powerful calculation tool to analyse current operations and identify areas where enhancements can be made.
“With these data sets we can get a good idea about the optimisation opportunities that are likely to deliver the biggest return for the owner,” says Madsen. “We don’t just write a report to hand over to someone else; we also offer to provide design work to see the project to a successful conclusion. We’re talking about maybe a range of 20 to 100 opportunities for improvement across everything onboard that might collectively reduce energy consumption by 30 per cent.”
Taking a holistic approach and developing a well-considered strategy eliminates the risk of shipowners making easy, one-off changes that may ostensibly save energy, but inadvertently compromise the results of other available options.
“While a change might improve one system, it could negatively affect another,” says Madsen. “When we analyse an opportunity, we’re making thousands of trade-off decisions across an entire ship so we arrive at the best cumulative solution for the owner.”
Discover more insights like this in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. Don’t miss out - subscribe for FREE to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.