Seaspan Corp’s boxships wrap up scrubber retrofits

The departure of the 14,000 TEU containership YM Welcome from Yiu Lian Dockyard’s anchorage in China after her successful sea trials, marked the completion of Seaspan Corporation’s scrubber project production phase.

The containership owner has installed scrubbers on ten ships, including five 10,000 TEU vessels and five 14,000 TEU vessels, making the endeavor Seaspan’s largest capital program outside of newbuilding projects.

“Beyond the numbers, the depth of technical provisions, their interdependencies, and the sheer scale of the equipment-the Alfa Laval PureSox and Wartsila Q-Sox scrubbers installed are among the largest in the industry-constituted a challenge often underestimated by the industry,” the company said.

As explained by Peter Curtis, Seaspan’s Chief Commercial Officer, “the gravity of the efforts that were engaged in getting to this point, since early 2019 through to today” cannot be expressed in few words.

The project was faced with numerous challenges from the pandemic, including suspension of the fabrication of equipment, grinding to a halt of the supply chains as well as blocked access to shipyard premises and quarantine regulations being imposed on the workforce needed to perform the retrofits. The project execution was further challenged by the fact that six ships had their installations carried out simultaneously.

“In spite of all the challenges, the tenacity of the team involved, their dedication rooted in the newbuilding programs, and the combined efforts of multiple quarters (Procurement and Commercial, to mention a few) have driven the project toward a successful completion,” the company said.

“The delivery of the industry’s third-largest scrubber installation in only 34 days and completion of the industry’s second-largest scrubber installation in only 36 days including commissioning, compliance testing and flawless sea trials are testament to our in-house comprehensive technical knowledge, to the power of teamwork and our ‘can do’ mentality.”

Earlier this year, Hong Kong-based containership operator Seaspan Corporation broke one million TEU threshold with the recent purchase of a fleet of four 12,000 TEU containerships.

Seaspan’s global fleet exceeds one million TEU at 123 vessels and 1,023,000 TEU, bringing the total contracted revenue to USD 4.6 billion.

Seaspan has a market share of approximately 7.8% of the global fleet.