PANASIA installs scrubbers on the world’s largest container ship

PANASIA, an eco-friendly systems expert, announced on September 17 that its scrubber installation had been completed for the world’s largest, 24,000-TEU container ship being built for HMM (formerly, Hyundai Merchant Marine) by Samsung Heavy Industries, and that the ship had been delivered on September 11.

This supersized container ship, which had been delivered as part of the government’s ‘5-year plan for the revival of the marine industry,” is the last of the 12 ships for which HMM (formerly, Hyundai Merchant Marine) awarded a contract.

The project includes five ships being constructed by Samsung Heavy Industries and seven by DSME. On the ships being built by Samsung Heavy Industries were installed not only the scrubbers but also the ballast water treatment systems and tank level gauging systems manufactured by PANASIA.

Starting in 2020, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) lowered the sulfur content in marine fuels from 3.5% to 0.5% for all types of ships around the world. Ship owners, both in Korea and overseas, opted to have scrubbers installed on their ships to comply with the new regulation while using inexpensive high sulphur fuel oils.

On the aforementioned container ship, three scrubbers with the largest capacity in Korea were installed and the largest of them weighs 45t and stands at 20m, which is almost as tall as a six-storey apartment.

As the prohibition of the discharge of wash water from open-loop scrubbers extends to more areas, a hybrid system was applied to the ship. The ship had only used cost-effective and easy-to-use open-loop scrubbers, but with the hybrid system, it can switch to closed-loop scrubbers, which can treat wash water when the ship enters any regulation area.

The ship features a wash water treatment system, the key part of a scrubber, developed by PANASIA. Reportedly, there are only two scrubber manufacturers in the world that have this specific technology. Equipped with its own wash water treatment system, PANASIA hopes to see its market share grow as more ships are taking steps to adopt the hybrid scrubber system.

According to PANASIA, HMM’s 24,000-TEU container ship constructed by DSME also features the ballast water treatment systems and tank level gauging systems made by PANASIA. This means PANASIA set a record by delivering all its scrubbers, ballast water treatment systems, and tank level gauging systems for the world’s largest ship.