Announced in 2012, the world’s first green-ship equipment certification centre opened for business earlier this month in
Gunsan, Jeonbuk,
South Korea. The
Korean Register (KR) – an International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) member class society – is a founding partner in this project.
Costing a total of 30 billion won (US$29.4 million), the new centre has been set up to test, evaluate and certify green-ship equipment. Fully supported by South Korea's
Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, the centre is also due to carry out joint research and development (R&D) projects focussing on green-ship technology, expand Korea’s test and certification business and attract related businesses to the area.
The centre was created in response to the International Maritime Organizaton's (IMO) greenhouse gas emissions reduction and maritime pollution regulations and will enable KR and its partners to certify essential green-ship components, including engines.
Mr
Jung Young-jun, Executive Vice President and acting Chairman & CEO of KR said: "The completion of the centre means that we have created a solid foundation of infrastructure to certify green-ship components and machinery. This allows us to facilitate the development of technology to respond to IMO's greenhouse gas reduction and other environmental regulations. We expect to revitalize the marine equipment industry by establishing a holistic cooperative forum with relevant research institutes, organizations and academic institutions as well as shipyards and marine equipment businesses.
"I am confident that this new centre will become a global focus for green-ship equipment and machinery resulting in KR and its industry and academic partners establishing themselves as leading authorities on maritime technology that is designed to lessen the impact on the natural environment."
The new centre is equipped with an 8MW-class engine test-bed, hybrid power systems, a fuel Q/P and emission bench, Organic Ranking Cycle (ORC) systems and other facilities.
The 8MW-class engine test-bed is the first to be available anywhere in the world and is said to have attracted "significant interest" from major shipyards.
