Ulmatec Thermal Solutions wins record contract with Seaspan for Canadian Coast Guard vessels

Ulmatec Thermal Solutions (Ulmatec Pyro AS) has been awarded one of its largest contracts ever, for supplying its Integrated Central Heating System (ICHS) to six (6) Multi-Purpose Vessels to be built for the Canadian Coast Guard at Seaspan’s Vancouver Shipyards in North Vancouver, Canada. The build program can include up to an additional 10 vessels.

Seaspan is one of the strategic shipbuilding partners for building large vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy under Canada’s National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS).

Through the NSS, the Government of Canada has embarked on one of the largest procurement projects since the Second World War. The NSS is a long-term project to create a sustainable Canadian shipbuilding industry, secure long-term job opportunities and build the next generation of ships for the Canadian Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy.

“We are extremely proud and at the same time humble for the trust shown to Ulmatec Thermal Solutions by Seaspan Shipyards and the Canadian Coast Guard. It shows yet again that our value proposition of creating value from waste heat is a feature which is impossible to ignore for the future fleet, which must prioritize energy efficiency higher than ever. Our modular component platform enables robust, individually adapted and integrated heating solutions that re-purpose and optimize the distribution of machinery waste heat to lower the Owner’s operating costs (OPEX) and carbon footprint”, says CEO, Bernt-Aage Ulstein.

“As we continue to develop the design for the CCG’s new fleet of MPVs, Seaspan is pleased to award this contract to Ulmatec Thermal Solutions. Ulmatec Thermal Solutions’ work package stood out for its advanced integrated control solution, seamlessly uniting active heating sources like fuel-fired heaters and passive sources such as waste heat recovery from engines – together providing precise control over both systems and consumers,” said David Belton, Senior Program Director, Multi-Purpose Vessels at Seaspan Shipyards.

Mission critical in operation

The new Multi-Purpose Vessels for the Canadian Coast Guard are intended to operate year-round on Canada’s eastern and western seaboards and will support critical services such as icebreaking in moderate conditions, maritime search and rescue, scientific research, environmental response, emergency towing, maintenance and deployment of buoys, as well as support for offshore fisheries patrols.

“The operating environment and the harsh weather conditions make the Integrated Central Heating System (ICHS) a mission critical on-board system. Reliability and uninterrupted supply of heating energy is critical during missions”, says General Manager for Sales, Mr. Karstein Nygård.

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Integrated solution with a green footprint

The ICHS will continuously recover waste heat via heat exchangers from the vessels exhaust gases and cooling water by circulating technical water. Through Ulmatec’s proprietary Central Heating Management System, the waste heat will be re-purposed and distributed to the various heat consumers onboard automatically. This ensures optimum heat distribution and prohibits wasteful thermal energy management.

Consuming systems will be interior HVAC, de-icing systems, tank heating and various smaller systems for domestic hot water. With its closed-loop system design, the system itself also acts as a “thermal battery” or buffer, minimizing the need for additional energy to be introduced when heat demand picks up.  

The system is self-regulating and autonomous and ensures that fuel consumption from fuel fired boilers is minimized. “Free” waste heat will always be prioritized for consumption. With such automated operation, the Canadian Coast Guard can always be sure that the vessels overall fuel performance and carbon footprint are optimized at any time.

“Compared to not installing any features for heat recovery, this solution has an economical payback for the Canadian Coast Guard in a matter of months. In today’s general discussions of the fleet’s carbon footprint, it is strange that such solutions have not become mandatory, because the technology is available and the economics are extremely robust”, says Mr. Karstein Nygård.

Norway + Canada

With its long coastal lines in harsh environments on the northern hemisphere, Norway and Canada has much in common within the ocean space; fisheries, aquaculture, coastal patrolling and surveillance and environmentally conscious extraction of hydrocarbons offshore are examples of value chains within the ocean space.

“Within the contract is also an expectation for increased presence in the region. We see this as an opportunity. There are many opportunities for growth in Canada for a company like Ulmatec, but when, in which form and under what structure this will occur, is what we’ll be working with over the next year,” continues Mr. Bernt-Aage Ulstein.

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