Return voyage for Knutsen

Trygve Seglem, the managing director of Knutsen OAS Shipping, first came to China in 1984 to build a ship, a high-quality crude oil shuttle tanker that has now been in service for 20 years in the North Sea.

The company recently returned to start building ships again after producing crude oil, chemical, and liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels in other locales around the world.

The company has ordered four product carriers from Jiangnan Shipyard and two advanced crude oil shuttle tankers from China Ocean Shipping Co's (COSCO) Nantong Shipyard.

Seglem says that re-engagement with China is a balanced fit between Norwegian expertise and China's consistent development in shipbuilding.

"Norway is very advanced in shipping and shipbuilding innovations. When it comes to new designs, Norway has always been a leader," he says.

"China is now one of the world's best places to have ships built as they have ambitiously increased their shipyards' capacities, while at the same time impressively increasing their quality levels."

With almost 40 ships in service and 11 on order, Knutsen OAS Shipping says it strives to grow not just as ship operator but also as an innovation leader in the tanker-shipping segment.

The company has developed its own technologies for handling volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ballast water treatment, LNG boil-off reduction, and a new method for the marine transport of pressurized natural gas.

Knutsen says its VOC technology is an exciting development that is being installed on its own ships and available to other shipping operators.

KVOC is a new cost-efficient method to limit VOC emissions during loading and transport of volatile cargoes such as crude oil.

Besides reducing air emissions, KVOC installations also significantly prevent hydrogen sulfide release from the cargo during loading and transport.

With such advantages for health, safety, and less impact on environment, Knutsen offers the KVOC system commercially for use on all kind of liquid carrying tankers including FPSOs - short for floating, production, storage and offloading vessels.

Two China-built crude oil shuttle tankers Knutsen ordered from COSCO Nantong Shipyard will be the first tankers ever equipped with this pollution prevention technology while fabricated at the shipyard, while the first tanker Knutsen built in China, the Ragnhild Knutsen, was the first one to be retrofitted with KVOC.

As a leader in technology and innovation with a history of business with China, Knutsen says it looks set to be a great link between Norway's expertise and China's growth into higher tech shipping and oil and gas activities.

www.knutsenoas.com

(China Daily 04/14/2008 page29)