Image: Yara Marine Technologies

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Goltens and Yara Marine Technologies have entered into a non-exclusive global engineering and installation agreement for Yara's SOx Scrubber System from 2018.

The deal with Goltens - a provider of repair, maintenance, reconditioning services and trading of engineering components for shipping, offshore marine installations, industrial plants and power stations - also covers sales representation in North America, the Middle East and Singapore.

Commenting on the pact, Kai Latun, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Yara Marine, said: "The value of a strong sales and service network cannot be underestimated. Goltens brings proven global environmental retrofit expertise and solid maritime relationships to this agreement."

The tie-up between Goltens and Yara comes at a time when many shipowners and operators are evaluating their fuelling options ahead of the global 0.5 percent cap on the sulphur content of fuel in 2020.

One aspect being promoted by Goltens and Yara is the return on investment (ROI) with scrubber technology compared to the higher cost of spending more on lighter fuels indefinitely.

"The regulatory emissions deadline is no longer in doubt. It is happening," remarked Goltens COO Roy Strand. "When emissions regulations are applied globally, the investment in exhaust cleaning will make more sense to many operators. There will be more customers who choose to invest in scrubber technologies due to the clear payback."

Latun also considers Yara's "simpler, lighter and more efficient" scrubber systems to be an advantage for shipping firms.

"The Yara in-line system has no internal moving parts, and our magnesium oxide technology is cheaper to operate and maintain, and safer than competing systems that use caustic soda," Latun stressed.

Strand added: "Yara Marine is a leader in exhaust gas cleaning systems. The addition of their well proven SOx Scrubber System to our Green Technologies sales and service offerings is a real win for Goltens, and an added advantage for our customers.

"Yara's SOx scrubbers add a new dimension to the Goltens Green Technologies portfolio. Their technology fulfils the strictest IMO requirements, and we are very happy to be able to partner with Yara Marine and offer this line of high quality compliance products to our customers."

Yara says it has designed and installed more than 100 SOx scrubber systems and 1,600 selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems.