Hydraulics & Pneumatics March 2022

COMPRESSED AIR 94 HYDRAULICS & PNEUMATICS March 2022 www.hpmag.co.uk OceanPact orders retrofit compressors for AHTS vessels Brazilian shipowner OceanPact has contracted TMC Compressors (TMC) to deliver the marine compressed air system for two of the shipowner’s anchor handling tug supply vessels (AHTS). OceanPact has upgraded two of its recently acquired AHTS – Rochedo de São Pedro and Rochedo de São Paulo – and will retrofit new marine compressors onboard. TMC will supply new compressors to each of the two vessels, which both are on contract and in operation. TMC has not disclosed the value of the contract. Sustainable operation “OceanPact is dedicated to running a sustainable operation. Our marine compressed air system is energy efficient and operationally reliable, which reduces both emissions to air and the need for unnecessary offshore travels. We believe these have been key reasons for choosing our equipment,” says Hans Petter Tanum, TMC’s director of sales and business development. OceanPact is a Brazilian subsea and logistics company that develops and implements safe, efficient and innovative solutions in three segments: environmental, subsea and logistics and engineering. The company offers services for the study, protection, monitoring and sustainable use of the sea, the coast and marine resources for customers from different sectors of the economy, such as oil and gas, energy, mining, telecommunications, port, navigation, tourism, fishing and aquaculture. Rochedo de São Pedro (formerly Skandi Pacific) and Rochedo de São Paulo (formerly Skandi Saigon) are both AHTS vessels of an STX AH08 design. Both vessels were originally built in 2011. TMC is a global supplier of compressed air systems for marine and offshore use. The company is headquartered in Oslo, Norway. www.tmc.com Hans Petter Tanum: “Our marine compressed air system is energy efficient and operationally reliable, which reduces both emissions to air and the need for unnecessary offshore travels.” From April this year, fuel duty changes effectively put an end to red diesel use. The stated intention of these changes are to reduce industry’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions. The headline affect is that each litre of diesel will cost an extra 46.81 pence in duty. These changes, although announced in 2020, have not been well-publicised and we’re beginning to receive calls from clients asking for advice about alternatives. ‘Glaring omission’ As things stand, HVO fuel, a diesel alternative with up to 90% less carbon emissions, is also subject to the duty changes. This, in our view, is a glaring omission by the government as a switch to these fuels (which all GenAir diesel compressors are compatible with) would achieve the carbon emission goals of the government with minimum disruption to industry. There is a lobbying effort in progress arguing for this but, so far at least, there is no sign that a lower duty will be applied to HVO. Ready to go The only other ready-to-go alternative is to move to electric drive compressors. Even before duty changes are applied savings can be made on running costs by using electric and, by April, they will be dramatic. In our hire fleet, we already have our hybrid drive 830CFM oil free machine, 400cfm and 120CFM electric drive compressors with the 400cfm and 120cfm machines available in road-towable configurations. The challenge with electric drive is the availability of a suitable power supply. On city centre sites this is less of an issue but in other locations more planning may be required. One solution is the use of a single large generator to provide site wide power and, where possible, replacing diesel plant with electric. The availability of hydrogen powered generators can also further reduce costs with this option. Unavoidable hit In some cases, the only piece of plant on site will be the compressor, geotechnical drilling for example. In these circumstances the duty change is causing an unavoidable hit to operators because the only option is to use a diesel drive compressor so choosing an efficient, well-maintained machine is vital. www.genair.co.uk Fuel duty changes in April will impact the compressed air market By Paul Starling, sales director, GenAir.