Cargo Condensation Prevention Apparatus

We have developed and patented an apparatus in cooperation with Shin Kurushima Dockyard that prevents the condensation and rust damage that usually accompanies marine transportation of steel products (Patent registration: No. 3678713).

Warm air ventilation by means of heater

Nozzles inside the hold

Warm air circulation diagram

This apparatus aims to reduce the temperature difference with the open air dew point of the port of unloading by blowing warm air into the hold of the freighter and raising the surface temperature of the steel. This prevents the condensation (occurrence of saturated water vapour, adherence of water droplets) that occurs after releasing the hatch cover.

Conventional systems of dehumidifiers and mechanical ventilators have prevented condensation occurring during the voyage but have had no effect on the condensation that occurs due to the steel coming into contact with open air of a higher temperature and humidity at the port of unloading, and invites a decline in material quality due to rusting. As in recent years the steel exported from Japan to China and countries in south-east Asia has increasingly become “high quality steel” for consumer electronics and automobile components, both the quality control during transportation and the increase of yield rate during manufacturing have become an issue. This apparatus was developed in order to respond to these demands.

The “Cargo Condensation Prevention Apparatus” was installed in order to simplify packing and crating and to increase the yield rate during manufacturing, and is also useful from the perspectives of environmental and resource conservation.

We are promoting the sequential installation of this apparatus in new freighters (two deck vessels) with 15 currently commissioned and a further 9 installations planned for construction hereafter. (Current as of February 1, 2010)

Equipping New Ships with a “Ballast Water Treatment System”

We decided to equip three new ships going into commission in 2010 with a “ballast water treatment system” as a standard specification.

The ballast water that is introduced to the bilge in order to stabilise the hull can sometimes contain aquatic life, which is then transported to a distant region in the ship. There is concern that the subsequent ejection of said aquatic life into a location that is essentially a foreign habitat has a negative influence on the ecosystem. The “International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004” was adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in February 2004 with the intention of preventing this problem.
Similar treaties to require ballast water management (the exchange or processing of ballast water at sea) in ships navigating through the jurisdiction of other countries are not currently in effect. However we have decided to be the first to utilise this system and bring this treaty into effect, considering it to be an initiative which follows one of the MOL group corporate philosophies - “Marine and regional environmental conservation”. The system that we have now adopted is manufactured by Sweden's Alfa Laval.

Continued investigations are planned for the equipment on ships constructed from the year 2011 onwards as well as on existing ships, including new methods that will be developed hereafter.