Becker Mewis Duct in high demand

(Posted on 08/05/19)

Within ten years, the Becker Mewis Duct has become a globally successful product. Demand for the energy-saving device is rising again as the new IMO environmental guidelines come into force next year. Accordingly, there will be great interest at the Nor-Shipping trade fair taking place in Oslo from 4 to 7 June 2019. Becker Marine Systems will also be presenting other manoeuvring systems and energysaving solutions for ships.

tWell over 1,000 units of the Becker Mewis Duct have been sold to date, for both newbuildings and retrofits. Worldwide, emissions of CO2 have been lowered by more than seven million tonnes by employing the energysaving duct. “Our company has written a success story with this product,” says Dirk Lehmann, Managing Director of Becker Marine Systems, “and demand continues to grow unabated”.

One reason for this are the stricter environmental regulations of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). According to the IMO 2020 regulation, starting 1 January 2020 vessels may only operate on the high seas with fuel that has a maximum sulphur content of 0.5 per cent instead of the previous 3.5 per cent. For the shipping industry this means considerable additional costs, which however can be reduced by lower energy consumption.

“By employing the Becker Mewis Duct, consumption is lowered by an average of six per cent for both empty and fully loaded ships,” says Lehmann, “reductions are often higher for older ships.” For this reason, many owners are taking advantage of the opportunity to upgrade their ships to the state of the art by retrofitting. “Delivery time is currently around three months, plus one week for retrofitting at a shipyard,” says the Managing Director of the ship supplier.

This means that there is enough time to react to the IMO 2020 regulation and to reduce the rising costs for fuel through the efficient use of the Becker Mewis Duct. The same applies to the guidelines relating to the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI). Here too, the Becker Mewis Duct is a tried and tested way of lowering CO2 emissions and enabling more sustainable shipping.

“By the combination of reducing additional costs and at the same time acting in a more environmentally friendly way, we expect a further increase in interest in the duct at our exhibition stand in Oslo”, commented Lehmann on the forthcoming Nor-Shipping, one of the world‘s most important trade fairs for the maritime industry.

Becker Marine Systems is the market leader for high-performance rudders and energy-saving manoeuvring technology solutions for any type of ship.