Price increases on third SSA vessel conversion

Board representative questions why they aren’t pursuing an electric engine.

By
Sam Houghton
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10
HOS Lode Star is one of the offshore supply vessels the SSA acquired in 2022. — Courtesy SSA

The Steamship Authority is going forward with the retrofit of a new freight vessel, the third in line from a series of vessels purchased from a Louisiana company in 2022. The price tag for the latest conversion costs is loftier than its predecessors by a few million dollars — which Steamship officials attributed to some additional work required as well as labor shortages and supply chain disruptions seen across the maritime industry.

The work is needed for the new vessel to fit SSA slips and to allow passengers and vehicles onto the freight deck.

The M/V Monomoy will ultimately join the M/V Aquinnah and M/V Barnstable as the newest Steamship freight vessels. The three boats were originally used in the offshore oil industry.

While conversions for the Barnstable and Aquinnah cost over $14 million with change orders, the Steamship board approved a contract with the maritime company Alabama Shipyard to convert the Monomoy for $17 million.

Director of marine operations Mark Amudsen said that a significant price difference with the Monomoy was due to extending an exhaust system in order to provide more room for vehicle access. Additionally, general manager Bob Davis said that over the last year-and-a-half, the industry has seen an 18 percent increase in costs.

Steamship officials also noted that the Monomoy could become one of the most efficient vessels in the fleet. With plans to convert the vessel to a Tier-4 engine — the top of the line for fuel efficiency for diesel engines — Steamship officials say they would effectively be cutting down on particulate matter and reduce fuel usage by as much as 10 percent with the conversion.

But while board members were supportive, Vineyard representative Jim Malkin questioned why the Steamship wasn’t considering converting the Monomoy to an electric-diesel hybrid vessel. Some in the public have pushed the Steamship to fall in line with the state’s efforts to go fossil-fuel free within the next few decades.

“I applaud the fact that we are going from 0 to a Tier 4,” Malkin said. “That’s a great move and reflects reality and the concern for the environment. But why are we making a more efficient diesel operation, instead of eliminating oil from the fleet?”

The response from the administration was essentially cost. COO Mark Higgins said that converting the vessel’s engine to 50 percent electric would cost upwards of $21.5 million, not including charging infrastructure.

Higgins noted that there’s an opportunity to convert the engines when they required “mid-life” maintenance, and when the electric technology was further along.

In addition to converting the engine to a Tier-4, he said they are also exploring alternative forms of fuel that are more environmentally friendly.

“I see us being more aggressive as we go,” Higgins said. “We’re on the right track and this is the first step,” he said of upgrading the engine.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. While Jim Malkin is worried about converting to electric, the question he missed asking was: “is converting to a tier 4 diesel going to cause reliability problems for the vessels that need to be running on time and on schedule?” At this point, the environmental concerns surrounding the boats needs to take a backseat to running the vessels reliably and efficiently (dollars). Will the decrease in fuel cost be offset by higher maintenance costs and more missed boats?
    The twenty trucks sitting around idling waiting for their ferry that is delayed or canceled can be much more of an environmental issue than the boat itself.

  2. Electric is less reliable than diesel?
    Where are you getting your maintenance costs?
    Why are the trucks allowed to idle?

  3. Albert – do you like your food spoiled or not? The refrigeration on these trucks needs to run or your food won’t get to the island in the edible state that I assume you like it in.
    In the winter, the drivers need to remain warm especially since there is barely a waiting room left.
    Those are just two reasons out of the many that the trucks and their refrigeration units will idle while waiting for a broken down ferry.

    And I didn’t say that electric was less reliable. I said that Mr, Malkin should be concerned with thier new fangled high efficiency diesel vs older diesel technology was to be examined for reliability differences.

    Sometimes I think your constant need to get your constantly sarcastic comments into the MVtimes keeps you from actually practicing reading comprehension. I must not be the only person thinking that you and Don need to get out a little and get a life outside of the comment section of this website.

    • Bill, truck trailer refrigeration is not run by the truck’s 600 horsepower engine.
      Trucks trailers run refrigeration 7/24, even parked at Stop & Shop overnight.
      Its 2024, trucks do not require a 600 hp diesel to heat 150 square feet.
      2 hp is more than adequate.

      Mr. Malkin is concerned about efficiency, the efficiency of lower fewer consumption.

      Mr. Malkan is concerned with older technology puking black crap into the air, are you?

      Electric is the direction, should it be stopped?
      Should electronic fuel injection be stopped?
      GM Detroit two strokes forever?

      Sarcasm is a very effective communication tool, see a DJT rally, we love the poorly educated… (Sarcasm, Right?)

      Bill, you are a very regular commenter, do you have life outside the comment section of this website?

  4. I rarely comment but, the truck is idling because it’s running through a “ regeneration cycle” stuffing the exhaust through a urea based cycle to burn of the “ bad emissions”. If not the truck is ( there are exceptions) generally restricted to 5ph. So basically inoperable.so to save a tiny amount of sulfur emissions the overall efficiency of the engine uses twice the fuel because it’s essentially choking on its self. Dont believe me ask anyone who owns a diesel truck made after 2006. Im a complete believer in man made climate change but this isn’t the solution.

  5. Also d.e.f systems constantly, constantly, fail. They are insanely expensive to maintain, and again incredibly inefficient. So to the point the tier 4 question is accurate and poignant.

Comments are closed.