SIMIC

HELSINKI-BASED Wartsila has received its first order for carbon capture and storage-ready scrubber systems - CCS-Ready scrubbers, the company said in a statement, reports New York's MarineLink.
The Finnish company said that four 8,200 TEU container vessels, being built at an undisclosed Asian-based yard, would be fitted with Wartsila's CCS-Ready 35MW scrubber in an open loop configuration.
The scrubbers are termed CCS-Ready because, as part of their installation, the company will perform additional design and engineering work to ensure that future retrofits for a full CCS system on the vessels have already been accounted for during the newbuilding construction stage, Wartsila said.
Wartsila said that having a CCS-Ready solution assures that the shipowner, whose name was not revealed, has continued regulatory compliance for SOx emissions and opens the door to "smooth CCS system adoption in the future".
"By installing scrubbers that have been designed with the space and capabilities to have a CCS unit added, Wartsila is enabling ship owners to futureproof their existing assets, while remaining competitive and compliant," the company said.
Said Wartsila exhaust treatment manager Scott Oh: "By investing in a CCS-Ready scrubber, ship owners will futureproof their assets and enable a smooth transition to CCS adoption once the technology is mature in the very near future.
"CCS is one of the key solutions to enable maritime decarbonisation in a short timeframe, and we look forward to progressing our technology further," Mr Oh said.
Wartsila is currently testing its CCS system at 70 per cent capture rate and a pilot installation will take place within the next 12 months, the company said.